Explore Goa’s cultural legacy at Heritage First Festival

On a late Sunday afternoon, the air, redolent with the fragrance of fresh marigold garlands, has just been rinsed in a sudden downpour. The courtyard at 100-year-old Fallary House in Goa’s Margao, opens up to a colourful patch of sky, reverberates with soulful strains of thumri in the deep, resounding voice of classical singer Shakuntala Bharne.

This live-music performance for an intimate gathering of culture seekers, peppered with stories and a house tour, is an initiative of Heritage First Goa, led by Heta Pandit, author of Houses of Goa, Jack Ajit Sukhija and Snigdha Manchanda. Founded in November, 2024, Heritage First Goa is dedicated to preserving and promoting Goa’s built, natural and cultural heritage.

Before we even step into the house, we take in the quiet grandeur of its majestic exterior. The imposing façade has high ceilings, ornate wooden doors and a charming wraparound veranda hugging its length from one side. 

“Can you guess why the balcão outside is wider that the ones you would find in a Catholic Goan home? Obviously, because Hindus always sat cross-legged,” points out Heta.

Tale spin

Heta’s research on Goa’s history and culture lead her to write 10 more books that explore Goa through the lens of domestic and monumental architecture, oral history and traditional art. She documents stories of families who have chosen to turn Goan houses into cultural hubs. After 25 years of penning after her first book Houses of Goa, she decided it was time to chronicle the stories of those houses; as a remembrance of tales about Goa’s freedom struggle, culture, heritage and of its people. And, thus, the book Stories from Goan Houses was born.

“It’s been a long process of research,” says Heta. “For Houses of Goa, I took a lot from the archives, sat and read at the library of Xavier Centre of Historical Research. But truly, it was not a first-person narrative, just information I gathered. The new book has primary information and I spoke to a cross section of people, digging up long-forgotten stories from homeowners, masons, carpenters, painters and all those who made these Goan homes.”

Margao’s glorious past

As we enter the ornate door and step inside Fallary House, it feels as if time stands still.

This house belonged to a tobacco merchant, Vaman Raghunath Fallary. It did go through its fair share of transmutation by two of the three brothers who inherited it and reconstructed it on modern lines, but this portion was preserved by the immediate family.

“This portion of the house was inherited by my father-in-law, who passed away this March at the age of 94. It used to be brimming with festivities and many spiritual gatherings throughout his time,” shares grand-daughter-in-law Meghan Fallary.

She shares how the house resounded with religious music every year during the Ganesh festival, and when it ended, they had to take the idol for immersion, with heavy hearts. Along with it, went a filled pot or kalash of water, decorated with flowers and mango leaves. The children of the house returned from the immersion, crestfallen, and so the filled kalash would receive the pride of place in the courtyard platform, and songs would be sung around it.

Fallary House has a distinctive Goan architecture, which is reflective in the use of laterite stone and misses the usual sloping red-tiled roof one would find in the Portuguese style of architecture. The beige and taupe colour façade is refined, yet stately, with the use of jaali or trellis work creating an ornate, lace-like pattern. The rooms are all functional and arranged around the rajangan or the courtyard, the prime gathering place for the family, “where the kartaa or head of the family often presided over matters or simply sat lounging in his large, ‘planter’s chair’,” says Heta, before leading the party into the inside of the house, towards the nahni or bath. 

I look at at the design and aesthetics and am amazed to discern a few differences with some of the old houses I have been to in South Goa, here in Margao and Chandor. The Portuguese style definitely is more façade forward, with a verandah, balcão and pillars. Hindu homes are more inward facing, with rooms arranged around a central courtyard.

Traipsing through heritage

Goa has numerous gems like Fallary House, all relics of its bygone era. Heritage First Goa has been on a mission to preserve and uphold them.

On till December 7, this year’s edition of Heritage First Festival comprises 41 walks, including Khazan walk through salt pans, a market walk in Panjim and caves walk in Chicalim. The poetry walk in Parra, was one such interesting traipse through village by-lanes and old churches, after which we sat down to write poetry with prompts that came up along the way. The kunbi sari workshop was a peek into Goa’s weaving heritage and the village saunter in Saligão and Chorao island were like walking through the pages of storybooks.

The walks are priced at ₹750; Heritage First Festival is on till December 7. For more details, connect with Heritage First Goa on Instagram @heritagefirstgoa or visit heritagefirstgoa.com

Published – December 03, 2025 10:46 pm IST