Picture this. Waking up in the morning, pulling back the curtains, opening the double doors, and looking into fallow rice fields. Closer to the doors are waving coconut fronds, a betel nut palm, and other trees in the distance. In the rice fields, buffaloes graze, and white and black egrets keep them company. A few weeks ago, the bright orange-red gulmohar bloomed in the distance, contrasting sharply with the green.
This is waking up in the north Goan village of Revora. Every forty-five minutes, the train, which we can see from the back of the house, whizzes past, beyond the fields.