the ballroom falls silent

Tenzing Dakpa

Goa, 2023

The air is perfectly still but music travels through the arched glass doors,

funneling through the crystal chandeliers, in a room where the shade of cerulean was possibly christened.

In a 17th century Portuguese manor that once clamoured with giddy laughter and revelry, the ballroom falls silent

Outside, the world zips forward in a timelapse

But inside, the hourglass is lonely

Objects d’art, Paraphernalia, Momentos

All look back through thin glass cabinets

In their reflection, through shafts of the Goan sun

Are the creatures of Chandor

They brood and daydream and luxuriate in the legacy of the past

In this house of secrets

Strangers, friends, lovers?

The cruel beauty of an adversary.

Often spurned, but not forgotten.