Goa, Feb. 28 -- Alexandre Moniz Barbosa

Think Carnival and the first image that comes to mind is that of King Momo. He is, today, on every poster or post or reel, advertising the Goa Carnival. But it was not always so. There was a time when Carnival in Goa was not synonymous with King Momo. Take a glance at the 1964 Goa Carnaval postcard of Mario de Miranda pictured alongside, there is, as one can see, no King Momo in it, just people in masks having fun on the streets and a lady on the balcony above drenching the revellers with water or perhaps she is just watering her plants. That is because the first King Momo trundled through the streets of Panjim precisely 60 years ago in 1965.

That story of Timoteo Fernandes, then a young 29 as the...