Heta Pandit’s book ‘Stories from Goan Houses’ is an ode to Goan homes and the legacies they hold within their brightly painted facades.
At 69, Heta who grew up in Baroda says she defines herself as a pioneer of sorts.
In addition to working with Dr Jane Goodall on a chimpanzee research station in Tanzania, East Africa, Heta spent several years working as a volunteer to save several monumental buildings in Mumbai.
She was also one of the country’s first women tea plantation managers to work in the tea gardens in Munnar after the 1993 communal riots in Mumbai.
In 1995, Heta moved to Goa, and since then, has authored 11 books on Goan heritage. Her latest work — Stories from Goan Homes — weaves the tale around 21 select homes in Goa.
It tells stories about the love and care that has gone into the preservation of not just the house but the house as a crucible of Goan culture.
Through the pages of the book, it is evident how homes are sometimes more than simple brick and mortar, but gatekeepers of secrets, silent watchers of family traditions, and sometimes even members themselves.