call of the valley

Lush green fields of Goa, sunshine and beaches. Ram shackled houses

Chinar Bibi, was transplanted from Kashmir, to Goa. She had lost her daughter in a bomb blast . Her son-in-law was responsible for the blast. When Javed Miya a jaipuri vendor suggested that they start a Kashmir emporium in Goa chinar and her husband relocated to Goa with her daughter’s son. Shafique.

Shafique grew up like any other goan boy,, Sao Jao , carnival and floats very much part of his life, like  Karen  next door. Shops, cops, foreign tourists all part of his life. until Karen  parents talk of her marriage to Armando, Karen and shafique announce that they want to get married.

For Karen’s grandmother Nina Miranda d’mello it was re-living the ethnic bias of pre-liberation Goa.

For Chinar Bibi, it was reliving the trauma of her only daughter falling in love with  a nice traditional Muslim boy who turned out to be a pakistani .

For Karen and Shafique it was just the need to live their lives together in their faiths.