Flashback Goa – in the 80’s, by Karan Kapoor

This blog is dedicated to Flashback Goa – in the 80’s. And to Karan Kapoor.

They say an image can speak a thousand words. So in this blog, I’m going to use fewer words and more pics. That’s not only because of the phrase “an image can speak a thousand words” but also because I saw some gorgeous photos of Goa in the 80’s by Karan Kapoor. No. these aren’t my photos. They are Karan Kapoor’s photos. I claim no copyrights to those photos. But as a Goan, they evoke such nostalgia. I just had to share them with you and hope they will make you have “flashbacks” too.

It’s not the same anymore.

Flashback Goa in the 80’s. It was a different time. As Karan himself says (I quote) “We had a house in Goa. Since I was 12 or 13, we would go every Christmas. I knew the community. I’ve seen it change through the years. I never thought that I was documenting anything. Nobody knew things were going to change so much in Goa, but for, instance, the picture of the fishing boat coming in, that no longer happens. That part of my village no longer has fishermen. They’re taxi-drivers, work with tourist operators, they work in shacks.”

It’s also surprising when Karan says he doesn’t like to go to Goa anymore. It’s terrible, he says: “It’s not the same”. There it was: nostalgia

Here are Karan Kapoor’s glimpses of Goa in the 1980s. Oh yes. If you’re a millennial you’ve probably not heard of him. So, here is a small bio-data/profile. Karan Kapoor is a scion of Bollywood’s Famous Kapoor Khandaan. Son of Shashi Kapoor and Jeniffer Kendal Kapoor. Grandson of Prithviraj Kapoor, nephew to Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor. If you were a teenager in the 80’s you would certainly remember Karan Kapoor as the heartthrob Bombay Dyeing model…the one who appeared to the jingle “dream lover…” Karan not only acted in films, he was an avid photographer. In fact, he took to photography at age 15, before he took to acting and still loves to take photos.

Karan displayed his phots at an exhibition called Time & Tide, in Sept-Oct of last year. But for us Goans, these images are immortal. and will live forever in our hearts. They make many of us long to go back in time. But then, Time and Tide stop for no man. Our beloved Goa is here, it keeps evolving, keeps growing, keeps changing. So, for now, for a few minutes, let’s just “Flashback Goa – in the 80’s