The Pandava caves in Lamgao village in Bicholim allow us a historical perspective into the natural surroundings of the locals.
Lamgao is one village in Goa that draws tourists because of its centuries-old caves, and as one traverses through the thick vegetation and encounters the locals, one begins a journey to Goa of the past.
The caves in Lamgao run deep. They are inviting in the beginning, but as one ventures deeper inside, the smell turns into a stench. Ominous large bats can be seen sleeping on rock beds, perhaps the reason for the stench.
Fear looms of an animal shooting out from a cave. There is, however, no fear of the caves collapsing despite their age. Nature seems to have ensured the stability of the caves.
No one in Lamgao knows when the caves were built. “Before we were born, for sure,” shouts Suresh as he walks away with his buffalo.
The village of Lamgao is not just about the caves or the rocks that abound in the village but the lifestyle. Women walk to wash clothes in waters of the lake while children sit by the waterbody playing, chatting and just enjoying nature.
“My strength in my resolve that mining will not start in this area stems from my belief in the gods of this place and the elders of my village. This place is too good to be able to be destroyed by anyone,” says a confident Shruthi Hoble.
Shruthi and her cousin Shreya come to sit by the village lake often in the evening. “We used to come and play here in our younger days. It is difficult to express the feeling, but my smile should tell you many things,” says Shruthi with a glowing smile.
The water from the lake runs across the vegetation, past the caves into the forest where locals plant vegetables and fruits. “Many foreign and Indian tourists come to visit the caves in May,” discloses Shreya Hoble, who is doing XI science in the hope of becoming a teacher like her mother.
Tourism is linked to financial gains but not to the villagers.
“There are no shops around the village, and therefore, there is no way, the arrival of tourists is going to benefit us. But, since they (tourists) come, the government has fixed pavers on the way to the caves and that has benefitted us,” says Ramdev.
Like a majority of villagers, Shreya and Shruthi are unsure and worried about whether mining will commence around their village. “They will destroy our village if they are allowed to commence mining,” observes Shruthi.
The conversation of mining continues near the Temple of Rudreshwar – situated before the caves – where the elderly are resolute that they will resist any such attempts.
“We have been having meetings among ourselves and the resolve is a ‘no’ to mining. We have been assured that mining will not start around our village, but one can never say,” retorts one of the elders, as he explains how the festival for the deity is celebrated on Mahashivratri.
The dip into the lake and a wash in the spring bring one closer to the tunes of nature, making leaving Lamgao to return to the city so much more difficult.