Mario Miranda’s Loutolim in South Goa, now has another claim to fame. Amongst the many characters Miranda might’ve sketched in his goofy take on life in Salcete, one might well have been Redualdo Araujo, with a football at his feet. His grandson Maximiliano Araujo, became the first player of Indian-descent to score a FIFA World Cup goal, as he gained a 1-1 equaliser for Uruguay against Saudi Arabia. The Uruguay team member since 2023, has a remote, tenuous link to Loutolim but his grandfather did trace his roots to Goa and the large cultural village, 10 kms off Madgao. Maxi plays for Sporting CP in Portugal, and his debut goal came against Manchester City in 2024 Champions League, a 1-4 defeat. Interestingly, Loutolim, a colourful cultural hub that produced Miranda and his beautiful chaotic sketches og life in Goa and then Bombay, has two spots that seemed to have foretold Maxi’s history-making. Loutolim has a quaint colour fronted bright private museum called The Big Foot, which recreates scenery from rural Goa. In a part of Goa called “Ancestral Goa”, the Big Foot created by artist Maendra Jocelino Araujo Alvares, the open-air museum spread across 9 acres has homes with clocks, wall hangings, porcelain plates and a palanquin, according to a piece in Deccan Chronicle. “The highlight of the place is “The Big Foot” which is an impression of a big human foot that was found naturally on a rock,” the DC piece says. The museum also tecreates the process of making Feni. Football and feni are inseparable from Goa, and now the land has a World Cup scorer amongst its prized gloat-figures. Funnily, the Big Foot also houses a Left Handers Museum, on its campus, created by Sandeip Vishnoi since 2017, as per TOI. It has bronzed busts of famous lefties Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Brian Lara and MC Marykom, besides Diego Maradona, sculpted by Sunil Devre from Aurangabad. A welcome addition would be Maximiliano Ajauro. What position does he play? Left back – left wing ofcourse.
First Indian-origin scorer, Mario Miranda and Big Foot museum of Loutolim
