PANAJI
After missing dates for two years due to the Covid pandemic, the fun and frolic of the Bonderam festival returned to Divar island, with people thronging the island to partake in the sleepy village of Malar.
A host of activities formed part of the festival with this year seeing the introduction of the 'Bonderamchem Jevonn' apart from the usual 'Bonderamchi Passoi', khatoddeo, fancy dress competition and more.
The floats continued to be the star attraction of the festival with the four wards from the village presenting their traditional floats. The girls and the boys dancing to the Konkani tunes for the floats added to the glitter of the festival.
The four wards to present the floats included Churchward, Goddar, Amboi and Belsur Vaddo.
Earlier, a large number of people participated in the 'Bonderamchi Passoi' which began from the Sao Mathias church and took the participants on a tour of the four wards of the village with stops in each ward.
Curated by Goencho Festakar Marius Fernandes, the 'passoi' had elements of the flag march, skit, heritage, culture and the village life on display with traditional sweets being served at every stop to the participants.
Fernandes informed that this year, he has ensured that the 'passoi' had a representation of both the Hindu and the Christian community to make it secular.
“During the 'passoi', we stopped at houses of Hindus too, which was not the case earlier,” he added.
“We have also introduced the concept of 'Bonderamchem Jevonn' for the first time and in the coming years, we are going to try more concepts to make the festival more attractive,” Fernandes said.
Meanwhile, this time around, the host ‘Sao Mathias Sports Club’ was headed by a woman Efi Silveira e DeMelo, which is a first.
“Earlier, only the males used to head the Club but this year I have been nominated making me the first woman to do so,” DeMelo added and informed that in the executive committee there are three women members.
