Shadow & Soul (The Goa Saga Book 1) by Eisha Sarkar

Part 3

Part 3

Goa

Chapter 16

"I thought Alphonsos grew only in Ratnagiri and Devgadh, not Goa," I told Aeram as we drove through the plantation.

"It's rare," he replied. "My father tried to maintain the old aapoos orchards he had inherited. They're not as popular as Ratnagiri's mangoes but they sell. Papa grew cashews and peppers as well. James manages the estates with his people now."

That's the first time I had heard him address his father as Papa. Goa brought out memories of Aeram's childhood spent here. He loved his father though he was only five when Richard died.

As we drove along, the orchard cleared and we saw a lawn on the other side of which stood an old-style blue Portuguese villa with a typical Goan tiled name plate in white and blue. Written in cursive hand was 'Albuquerque'. This was going to be our home for the next two months as Aeram was slated to shoot for two films and a couple of ads here.

People gathered around the villa to watch us as we unloaded ourselves and our bags. The household staff lined up to introduce themselves to the new mistress of the house, that was me.

Shortly after we had started dating, on his twenty-first birthday, Aeram discovered that he had inherited all his father's estates and the legal hassles that came with them. It's what drove him to go to Mumbai and become a successful actor. He loved the craft but he needed the big money. He danced at events, weddings, modelled for everyone who paid him, anchored and hosted events and acted in films and television serials just so he could become rich. He was criticized for his business acumen but he knew he had to play the game to win big. And win, he did. He fought off all the Albuquerque heirs in court or bought off their properties to become the largest landholder of all Albuquerque properties. Ironically, the Goa conquistador's sole legal heir after five centuries had the last name, Khan. Afonso de Albuquerque, the man whose one mission was to bring Christianity to this place, must have turned in his grave.

Unlike the old Portuguese villa which had earlier stood there, where Aeram and Sanam were born, the new construction that was only two years old was a two-storey structure. It was more a plantation house than a villa. The roof of the old house had collapsed and the furniture had decayed after more than a decade of neglect. When Aeram saw it four years ago, just a few months after he had moved to Mumbai, he knew he would have to rebuild the whole structure. Soon after Sherlock Gomes became a hit, he managed to get many endorsements. One such was a cement company. He leveraged those contacts, got ace Goan architect, Joanna Sequeira, on board and practically worked on the building of the house himself. It looked like the old house, with its blue walls, huge arches, the porch or balcão, the dome-shaped windows with grilles. It had a high plinth and a grand staircase leading to the porch, where hung a two-seater swing and there were a couple of armchairs. The huge front door was flanked with two huge octagonal columns. Downstairs were the sala or the living room where there were teak sofas with orange cushions, the modular kitchen and a bedroom, where Aeram did his costume trials and fittings. The floor was a mosaic of cobalt blue, white and chrome yellow tiles. There was a wooden false ceiling from which hung a Belgian glass chandelier. Upstairs, were two large bedrooms with attached bathrooms and a huge balcony from where you could see almost the entire orchard.

While the house was getting renovated, Aeram had asked James to bring the orchard back to life. After years of neglect, the old orchard had overgrown and been taken over by the jungle. James had planted and replanted neat rows of mango, chiku, papaya, banana, jackfruit, guava, lime, kokam and cashew. On one side, he had cleared the jungle to grow different kinds of chillies and peppers, turmeric, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, pineapple, and vegetables like cabbages, gourds of all kinds, tomatoes, brinjals and potatoes. On the other side of the orchard, he had left the jungle intact. The entire estate was almost two hectares of prime land situated close to the Basilica of Bom Jesus. Part of the responsibility of maintaining it would fall on my slender shoulders. I shuddered at the enormity of the task. In my twenty-four years, the only space I had had to manage and maintain was my room.