I was unaware of the genius of Mario Miranda when I first visited Goa, way back in 2014. While roaming the streets of Panjim, I happened to hop into what looked like a small art gallery and spent a considerable time admiring the works of many local artists that were on display. Art had always intrigued me, but it wasn’t a part of my life like it is now. It is here that I was first introduced to Mario Miranda, the man behind various artworks adorning many of Goa’s tourist spots , restaurants, walls, even washrooms at high end resorts.
Mario Miranda is without a doubt Goa’s most celebrated artist, and rightly so. Lauded with various accolades like Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and many more, Mario Miranda’s works take you back in time to a Goa that is blissfully unaware of the tourism wave that is about to hit it’s pristine coastline. His works had such a powerful impact on me so as to instantly transport me back in history and nurse a nostalgia for a time I wasn’t even born in. My repeated visits to various Mario Galleries scattered across Goa spanning last four years have something to do with the love for the artist as much as the love for Goa. An art lover’s paradise, they showcase his art that stretches across decades and connects the old and new beautifully.
I believe with all my heart that Goa is India’s happy place. I have been itching to write that line since months. Mario’s works prove that this not a current phenomenon, but something that was always there. I had the pleasure to go though his works that are as old as 1951 through a diary he wrote drew that year ( The life of Mario, 1951) Mario’s scribblings along with his caricatures of events through the year are a mirror of Goa’s timeline, still under the Portuguese rule. This was the year he had just began experimenting with color, and his dairy comes across like a comic book full of fun and laughter that transports you back to a simpler time.
It was peak monsoon and Goa was free of tourists, more or less. Spending an entire monsoon here is fodder for another post though. But, I can’t thank my stars enough that I read this diary while in Goa and decided to visit a few cafes that this great artist used to frequent. Some of them like Café Tato have transformed into heritage and are still loved by locals. I felt like I was transported into a page of Mario’s 1951 diary when I decided to wake up early and head to Café Tato for breakfast one day. Senior locals catching up over newspapers and coffee with bun maska on the side , it was as 1951 as it could get.
The vibe that is Goa is beautifully captured in Mario’s works. Whether it is his caricatures of village life, visits to Church for mass, pieces about his bus travels across the state to visit friends and family, sketches of hikes leading to beautiful views for a Sunday outing, or funny caricatures of getting drunk and merry making till wee hours of the morning – it is everything that is Goa, though literally everything has changed. What intrigues me even more is that when the rest of India was distraught , Goa seems to still have it’s party mode on, and passed the vibe check for a lot of fun and laughter. No wonder it turned into the party capital of India.
I couldn’t help but bring some art works with me and trust me, Mario Miranda’s works are the best souvenir of Goa you can bring back, even better than cashews and feni. His works are a perfect reminder of a beautiful and fun Goa we all love.
Shrinidhi Hande
Good to know about Mario and read your blog