Korlai

 

 

Just the two of us that day,

On yet another offbeat way

The others could not come with us

Busy in their weekend rush

Some absorbed in their leisure goals

Others zealous with their career roles

But memories lost, one more dream

Un-forded one more sojourn stream

Yet, Korlai was a jewel box

A beach, a lighthouse, rampart rocks

A firangi fortress, whispering tales

The familiar breeze of Konkan sails

Fishing chawls on the Arabian Sea

A blend of Latin, Konkani

A scent of Goa, that old world charm

Lost in time, in Korlai calm

I look back now, at memories gold

Tales that can’t be sung or told

My friends won’t know their miss that day

Nor will they recall their work, or play

We seldom stay on the same page long

We rarely get to sing the same song

But when you do, walk that mile

Years later, you will always smile…

2^nd January, 2026

Perched quietly on the Konkan coast near the mouth of the Kundalika River, Korlai Fort is a lesser-known relic of India’s colonial past, built by the Portuguese in the early 16th century to guard maritime trade routes. Unlike grand, well-trodden forts, Korlai feels intimate and weather-worn—its laterite walls, broken ramparts, and abandoned watchtowers looking steadily out over the Arabian Sea. The fort sits above a small fishing village where Konkani life blends with faint Portuguese echoes, from old Catholic traditions to fragments of a creole tongue. Reached by a gentle climb and often wrapped in sea breeze and silence, Korlai is less about spectacle and more about presence—a place where history lingers softly, asking to be felt rather than announced.

Korlai was a lesser-known find of abundance. The lines above are inspired by real life memories – alas, the entire circle missed out that day for multiple reasons, stranding just the two of us to look back on what was a brilliant find of a fortress, a sparkling gem on the jewel box of the Konkan coast.