The city that only becomes visible once a year

In India, an ancient village that spends most of the year under water from a dam becomes a place of pilgrimage in times of drought, when its ancient inhabitants visit it to celebrate the place to which they belong.

The village of Curdi, in western India, is only visible for one month of the year. During the remaining eleven months, he remains immersed in the water.

When the waters receded, the ancient inhabitants of Curdi gathered to pay homage to where they lived.

Curdi was a prosperous city.

The land was fertile and most of the village, which had a population of about 3,000, lived there: they cultivated paddy fields surrounded by coconut trees, cashew nuts and mango trees.

In the region, which until 1961 was under the control of the Portuguese, lived Hindus, Muslims and Christians, and there were temples for different religions. It was also the birthplace of the famous clbadical singer Mogubai Kurdikar.

But everything changed dramatically in the late seventies.

The government has brought together residents of Curdi to announce plans for the construction of a dam and that the project would benefit all of southern Goa.

The project was ambitious. It was intended to provide drinking water, irrigate crops and industrial processes in much of southern Goa. His goal was to provide nearly 400 million liters of water each day.

It meant submerging the village of Curdi.

L & # 39; exodus

Gajanan Kurdikar, a 75-year-old resident of Curdi, recalls that he was told that the village's immersion would be a sacrifice that would bring greater good.

Kurdikar and some 600 families had to move to nearby towns and gave them land to settle and get compensation.

Curdi was finally sunk in 1986.

The inhabitants of Curdi remember that when they arrived in the new city, they had nothing and had to live in makeshift houses until they could build their own. houses.

"I think we were one of the last families to leave," recalls Mamta Kurdikar. "The night before, it had rained a lot and the water of the fields had started to enter the house, we had to leave immediately."

Unsatisfied promise

The dam was to supply the area, but the water never reached the villages where the ancient inhabitants of Curdi had settled.

"The faucet system has not worked in every village south of Goa, as they promised," said Gajanan Kurdikar. "So, we do not drink the dam's drinking water."

In Vaddem, where Mamta and Gajanan Kurdikar live, there are two large dams, but in April and May, they begin to dry up. Meanwhile, they depend on tankers sent by the government.

When the water recedes, the old village rises to the surface.

During this dry season, the ancient inhabitants of Curdi visit their hometown.

When the water recedes, it reveals what was left of the village. Cracked earth, debris from houses and religious buildings, tree trunks, leftover housewares, ruined cbads and miles of barren land that intersect with bodies of water.

In May, Christian and Hindu communities celebrate commemorative festivals.

"Today, it is very easy for us to pack and move," says Venisha Fernandes, a Goa-based sociologist.

"But for the people of Curdi, their identity was based on their land, they were connected directly and closely."

"Maybe because of that, they remember her with enthusiasm and keep coming back to her."