Panjim: Lighthouses have been associated with legendary tales, even as they guided shipping to safe shores amidst the deadly, rocky outcropping in the sea that often smashed up unwary ocean-going vessels. Today, Lighthouses are being given a new lease on life through focus on their unique tourism aspects that provide thrills to tourists.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently expressed happiness over the inauguration of the Indian Lighthouse Festival (Bharatiya Prakash Sthamb Utsav) at Aguada Fort in Goa and noted the growing enthusiasm towards Lighthouses as key tourist spots.

The Indian Lighthouse Festival was held in Goa from September 23 to Sept 25 to highlight lighthouses, which are an essential part of navigation and whose structures have – throughout antiquity – beckoned ships and tourists alike with their mystery and scenic allure. The Festival witnessed cultural exhibitions, sessions highlighting maritime history and culture, classical performances, light and sound shows, melodious evenings with celebrity singers, coastal cuisine and community engagements.

Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal had inaugurated the Festival along with the Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and Union MoS Shripad Naik, besides State Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte and Goa MLA Michael Lobo.

The Festival aims to transform historic lighthouses into tourist hotspots through the Public Private  Partnership route,” Sonowal said, adding “This Festival is a process to unravel the rich heritage of these iconic sites, while rejuvenating  the  age-old classics among these lighthouses across coastal India to become catalysts of educational, cultural and tourist hotspots.”

“For far too long, these silent sentinels of our coastlines were left ignored while serving as the light of hope to scores of sailors and ships amidst the darkest nights,” he said, adding “This Festival is our Mission to inform, engage and educate all about the vital role this historic beacons have played in our nation’s history.”

The Festival is aimed at rejuvenating the rich maritime history of India’s 75 historical lighthouse sites that will be developed as major tourist destinations, while also unraveling their illustrious stories to the world. The Marina Beach in Chennai recently hosted a satellite event that celebrated the rich heritage  of the Indian lighthouses.

As part of the “Reform to Transform” initiative, the Modi Government enacted the “Marine Aids to Navigation Act, 2021 by repealing the Lighthouse Act, 1927 to provide a framework for development, maintenance and management of aids to navigation in India

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While Lighthouses are a “beacon” of hope through the stormy, deadly waters of the coastline, the lighthouse keepers often remain forgotten despite being the key players in operating and maintaining these silent sentinels of guiding light.

Anglo-Indian Joan Costa recalls the exciting journey of two generations of lighthouse keepers in her family. “My paternal grandfather William Noronha, who was a Portuguese, was a lighthouse keeper and when he retired at Tangaseri in Kerala, his son Bertram answered an advertisement to join as Assistant Lighthouse Keeper at Vengurla in Maharashtra, and embarked on this career journey that also included the lighthouses in +Oyster Rock+ (Karwar) and Bhatkal in Karnataka, besides Jaigarh, Uttan and Tarapur in Maharashtra.”

“The lighthouse keeper’s job was to flash the lighthouse light from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily for warning shipping and helping them to identify and avoid the rocky areas on their journey. Contact to the mainland was through a signalling lamp, besides a Grundig radio for  music and news” Joan said. “Going to the main coast for shopping and food supplies often witnessed Mum and a ‘Khalasi’ rowing the dinghy with Dad steering on the Rudder.”

“Dad took a milch cow to the Island to provide milk for his growing family (numbering nine children), while some protein came from our own poultry and from the fish we caught in the sea. Since the lighthouses were on islands in the sea, rowing a boat to and fro to shore for life’s necessities and emergencies was the norm, where otherwise Mum Blanche Jacob was the family all-rounder including house doctor.”

“Dad even ferried soil to the rocky island and grew vegetables, besides also two coconut trees of which one still stands tall even today.”

“Once the Prince of Bhavnagar came to buy an island and my Dad Bertram took him around the lighthouse. The Prince’s cousin Luv Kumar was an avian researcher and he came here to visit some islands, where he caught a huge eagle that they took to their palace in Bhavnagar. They later wrote a book about us and the lighthouse.”

Spooky stories were plentiful on these lighthouse islands and some lighthouse keepers still narrate tales about the +ghosts+ that haunt these places. “We had ghosts too. Bertram’s daughter Honorine saw a military-dressed man on the balcony of the lightkeepers house in Tarapur beach. He suddenly disappeared and when Honorine returned to her bedroom, she suddenly felt a strange presence in the room and ran out in fear but fortunately nothing untoward happened.”

“My Dad Bertram told us about strange happenings during his tenure at Oyster Rock lighthouse in Karwar. Whenever he took a nap in the late noon, stones used to suddenly rattle on his roof as if something or someone was waking him up in time to begin his night duty.”

“When Mum’s cousin Mr Green – who was on board INS Delhi – came on a rowboat to our Karwar lighthouse to spend two days with us, he saw a strange man who disappeared before his eyes.”

“The Karwar Island lighthouse was seven kms out at sea. Imagine Mr Green’s surprise when he narrated the disappearing man incident to my Dad, who simply said “Of course. That’s the ghost of Mr. Locker, who was the Head lighthouse keeper on this Island.”