It was half past noon and I was lost in Fountainhas. The Goa Tourism
brochure urged me to ” explore the historic Old Quarter of Panjim on foot”
but I wanted to get out. I ducked into the nearest doorway and stopped
short at the macabre display of funerary crucifixes,memorial plaques and
thick gravestones propped against the floor. A girl approached, smiling. ”
These are for someone else” she said. Pointing towards the deeper gloom
at the back she spoke again, ” For you”. I saw it then – the marble cross
listing my name and date of birth. Below that, freshly carved letters
announced my date of do. – today’s date.