The village of Reis Magos boasts of a fortthat has stood the test of time. Recently renovated, it was the dream of thefamous cartoonist, the Late Mario Miranda, to see the fort come back to life.Sadly, this dream did not see the light of day, due to his demise a few months priorto the inauguration.
The renovation of The Reis Magos Fort was undertakenon a massive scale, and equipped with its own arts and craft centre, is nowopen to the public. The walls are pay tribute to, and are adorned with MarioMiranda’s life’s work. The project is nothing to be scoffed at, and involvednearly four years of renovation undertaken by the Indian National Trust for Artand Cultural Heritage (INTACH).
The fort was built in 1551 by the Portuguese and it served as an outpost of theerstwhile empire of the Adilshah of Bijapur.
Betim: A riverbank of despair
Betim,Verem and Reis Magos may have a quaint aura surrounding them. However, theirissues are anything but quaint. Illegal construction and the influx of migrantshave the locals of the village struggling to deal with the basic necessities oftheir daily lives.Addedto all of this is the perpetual bone of contention between the trawlers and thecasinos on the Mandovi River. When askedabout the offshore casinos and how their presence affects the smooth operationof the trawlers he…
