back in the 1960s a few years before the kala academy at campal took over as panajis cultural hub there was the humble swami vivekanand society while the organisations premises may be a mere speck when compared to the academys expansive auditoria it brought the common man facetoface with such hindustani classical music greats as kishori amonkar bhimsen joshi and pt jitendra abhisheki treated enthusiasts to konkani and marathi dramas and stimulated the intellect through discourses and lectures incidentally the humble society housed across the entire sixth floor of junta house was not only panajis but also goas first public performance centre and the goto address when the state was in the midst of setting up its civil political and sociocultural identity every important state and national day such as december 19 january 26 and august 15 were marked as key dates and anywhere between 300 and 400 goans would line up to revel in an evening of intellectual religious musical and cultural events one of the societys oldest office bearers ajit kundaikar recalls i had to lay 20 folding metal chairs into 20 rows that was the capacity of the hall for all events even weddings were held here goas first chief minister dayanand bandodkar was instrumental in setting up some of the states iconic educational and cultural organisations and the swami vivekanand society rates high among these it was named after the great indian philosopher swami vivekananda and to this day functions by his objective of propagating social educational and cultural activities artistes from across the country along with their entourages would reside at the guest house on the floor below the societys hall they were paid anywhere between rs 800010000 for their performances shows would begin by 9pm and go on even after midnight advertising and promotion of events were simple messages on a blackboard at the entrance of junta house and through press releases kundaikar says as the years progressed the society shifted its focus and began nurturing budding talents its music school taught children as young as five years tabla harmonium sitar violin bharatnatyam and singing it was also the first to introduce yoga to goans in 1971 sometime in the 1970s when the society held music competitions for the first time at least 60 to 80 people including those from neighbouring regions would participate later nursery rhymes contests in english and the still popular badbad geet in konkani and marathi for school children began to be organised says society president sandeep naik its glory may have now diminished but theres much you can still find within its library that boasts of 4000 pieces of literature holy texts religious essays and philosophical interpretations of spiritual books the society presently hosts examinations for the esteemed akhil bharatiya gandharva mahavidyalaya mandal set up for the promotion of indian classical music and dances over a lakh aspirants answer these exams every year naik says