In the ‘party’ villages of North Goa, a quiet fight against deafening pub noise

On the evening of August 15, as the rest of the country was winding down their Independence Day celebrations, the party was just beginning in Goa.

In North Goa’s Anjuna village jurisdiction alone, there were more than 25 advertised club events.

Goa is India’s favourite party destination but not everyone has their dancing shoes on. For the beleaguered residents of the coastal villages along North Goa, this has meant window-rattling and bone-thumping music that begins every night and goes on well into the early hours of the morning.

The village of Anjuna, especially, sees an extraordinary number of music events every single day. With a high density of clubs and open-air venues in the area, the deafening music can be heard even 3 km or 4 km away from the source.

This has been the case for years, even decades, now.

But Independence Day this year was a tipping point.

With loud music reverberating around, residents of Anjuna and Vagator took out a candle march to protest against and to document the illegal playing of music over permissible decibel levels. As residents went around the hotspots of Anjuna, ample violations were evident.

What pushed frustrated residents onto the streets at midnight was the open flouting of court orders as well as the disregard for...

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