Panaji: Catherine Fernandes remembers carrying a stone on her head as a ten-year-old girl, praying for rain. It was an old village ritual, the kind passed down without explanation, simply understood to work. Now 76 and living in Calangute, her knees no longer allow her to make that particular offering to St Anthony. But she remembers, with unusual clarity, that the monsoon was never this delayed.She is not alone in noticing. Across Goa this June, the skies have stayed stubbornly dry, the heat has stayed obstinately high, and a state whose entire identity is built around lush, monsoon-fed greenery has found itself doing something it has not done in a long time– asking for rain.At Corjuem, the villagers turned to the saint of lost causes in hopes of some respite from the heat. Cutting across ages, faithful from the Mae de Deus chapel walked approximately 2.5km, some with stones on their heads, to the Corjuem fort to plead for the lost clouds to return to Goa’s dry hamlets.“As children, all of us would come together and carry stones on our heads and climb up the hill that is behind our waddo. We used to pray and together with the adults, we would go in procession and pray for rain,” said Tecla Maria D’Souza, a resident of Corjuem’s Pirmirwaddo.The 88-year old woman, who walked the entire distance on Sunday, traces the tradition back to 1951 when the elders in the family would tell the children to pray for rain. D’Souza said that for the last five years, the state has seen adequate rainfall and the need to turn to faith did not arise.Historian Sanjeev Sardesai says that the tradition of coming in procession from the Chapel of Mae De Deus to the fort of Corjuem, is ingrained in tradition, the local lifestyle and the history of the island.“Possibly, it was an act of penance and this penance was basically taken by the farming community, by the people who wanted water when the rain clouds disappeared,” said Sardesai.The numbers explain the distraught. Between June 1 and June 20, Goa received just 166mm of rainfall against a normal of 573mm, a deficit of 70%, among the highest in the country. Rising temperatures and high humidity have compounded the discomfort, leaving farmers anxious and reservoirs depleting faster than anyone would like.Water resources minister Subhash Shirodkar and drinking water minister Subhash Phal Dessai, tried to project calm by stating that the state’s reservoirs currently hold 63.9 acres of water, enough for more than a month. The Tillari dam has water sufficient for five months, Salaulim dam for two months, Anjunem dam for 25 days, and Panchwadi dam for roughly 20 days. Shirodkar said govt had no immediate plans to impose restrictions on potable water supply, with no crisis expected for the next 25 to 30 days, but he urged residents to stop misusing potable water for washing vehicles or watering plants.This reassurance has done little to stop Goans from sweating and fretting. For ordinary farmers, statistics and dam levels matter less than the absence of clouds overhead.“There are indications that the monsoon will resume but for now, our farmers are in trouble, they have a problem. We don’t know when the rains will come. The people of Corjuem have a tradition of praying to St Anthony, and invoking his help by coming in procession to the fort and we have seen the tradition of people carrying stones on their heads and leaving it here,” said Aldona MLA Carlos Ferreira, who also participated in the procession.This June has summoned memories from over five decades ago, when the heavens remained shut. Deoniz Sequeira, a Carmona resident, recalled a similar procession around 1973, when the parish priest announced from the pulpit that prayers for rain were needed because the fields had run dry. “There used to be fervency and there used to be hope,” Sequeira said, describing how the procession would wind through the village’s main road.“There were few tarred roads then. The procession would take an hour to ninety minutes, with the rosary recited and an invocation sung to St Anthony. Generally, after that Sunday, in five to six days it would rain,” Sequeria said. “Since 2000 there has been no dearth of rain. There were delays, but not like this, where it is so hot with no showers.”At Holy Trinity Church in Benaulim, nearly 500 parishioners gathered for a procession to the beach, reciting the rosary and interceding to St Anthony and Mother Mary, whose statues led the way. Some devotees prayed on their knees at the water’s edge. Parishioners of Donvodem in Fatorda held a similar procession.The state finds itself suspended between forecasts and faith, hoping that the south western monsoon remembers the way back to Goa. On Sunday, it rained.
