Second coming

Eroding from the base, the Portuguese fort of Reis Magos was crumbling into the waters of the Mandovi river&mdashher steady companion for half a millennium &mdash when she was rescued by the local government, the Goan chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) and the UK-based Helen Hamlyn Trust. Four years after the restoration began, she stands tall again, waiting to grow into her new role as a cultural centre in the northern district of Bardez. But the stately ramparts in laterite and the freshly whitewashed buildings&mdashnot a tile out of place on their sloping roofs&mdashlook pensively across the river towards Panjim&hellip As if to pay homage to another Goan stalwart, cartoonist Mario Miranda, who passed away last December. An important cog in the wheel of this project, Miranda&rsquos works&mdashwhich include a sketch of the Reis Magos fort&mdashwill also be exhibited here. On duty as a prison till about twenty years ago and boarded up thereafter, the fort will now hold its audience captive with exhibitions and performances.