Decoding Comba

WHO could have guessed that the name Comba has its origins in ‘com’ (sprouts)? And that Comba had sub wards with names like Dongravaddo (named due to its sloping terrain), Combvaddo and that one region was named as Ghodevaddo because the Portuguese would keep their horse carriages there? And that a family crematorium existed right there in the centre of Comba? All these stories are told by Rujuta Borkar, the hostess of Soul Travelling team exploring the quaint residential locality in Margao.

- Pantaleao Fernandes

Comba also has a cluster of schools and cultural institutions located within a short distance of each other. The walk began near a landmark cultural hub known as Gomant Vidhya Niketan (GVN). Before the auditorium at the Ravindra Bhavan was constructed, most cultural events like nataks, tiatrs, English plays, and school gatherings were held at the auditorium here. Locals also visited the reading library where many news papers and magazines are displayed. Rujuta explained that it started out as Saraswat Brahman Samaj in 1912. Within a few months it changed its name to GVN to include all sections of society. Along with being a cultural centre, it also has an extensive reference section with over 2 lakh books.

A few hundred steps landed us near two ground floor structures resembling old Goan houses. A signboard declared this to be Popular High School. According to our Hostess, the school was started in 1931 by Teofilo D’costa and Pundalik Naik. It had a batch of 116 students passing out in its first year; which was a huge success. She also informed that the structure is the same since its inception; the only difference is the mud road that ran through the 2 structures has now been tarred.