CALANGUTE: For the first time since the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Calangute beach is flush with tourists. On the surface, it may seem like business as usual. It appears that the body of the 19-year-old that washed ashore on the beach last week is on nobody’s mind.
Any mention of it is treated almost as a taboo. But, in hushed voices, no one can resist speculating.
Deep down, those operating in and around the belt are shaken by the incident of the semi-nude body washing ashore their beach. After all, none of the locals recollect such an incident on the stretch in living memory.
“We have heard of bodies washing up on Arambol or Vagator beach. In Calangute, we see a lot of drownings of those attempting to swim being pulled in by the currents. But having a dead body wash ashore here is quite unusual,” said a local store owner.
Boys employed in the private shacks on the beach recollect the night before the August 12 incident being a very busy one.
“There were lot of tourists that night on the beach, and we wound up operations later than usual. It must have been 3am by the time we went to sleep inside the shacks. The girl’s body was discovered at 5.30am. So it must have washed up during this small window of time,” said a shack worker.
They find it surprising that the body turned up in inexplicable conditions in a prime spot, not even 400-500m from the lifeguard towers and shacks, on a busy beach stretch like Calangute. The condition in which it was found is the biggest subject of speculation.
“The girl’s body was intact, like the death occurred only a few hours ago. It wasn’t bloated, or the soles of the feet had not turned white, or the body was not nibbled on by crabs or fish, which is what happens when a body has been churning around in the sea for a few days,” said a local who had seen the body.
As drowning deaths and circumstances in which such bodies are found are not new to those along the stretch, they state with confidence that finding one without clothing is also rare in the case of drowning deaths.
“Only if someone is wearing a button-down shirt or a flowy dress is a body found without clothes. But a pair of jeans coming off is not heard of from all the drownings we have seen,” said the owner of a clothing stall near the beach.
The common belief is that the incident could have taken place at the Baga creek, leading to the body only washing up at Calangute.
“The Calangute beach is patrolled by police nearly round-the-clock. Any signs of unusual activity or struggle would have been visible. Stretches of the Baga creek are unlit and lonely at night, and it is the only place from where a body could wash ashore here looking intact, as it would be transported here in no time,” said a local woman.
To make matters more difficult to investigate, some of the CCTV systems on the stretch went out of order due to the impact of Cyclone Tauktae in May, and are yet to be repaired.
“Too many such incidents are being reported along Goa’s beaches. Life goes on as usual for the tourists and outsiders running stores here. But as locals, we care that the life of a young Goan girl was lost. The government must see that they get to the root of it,” said a woman running an eating joint.
