Social scene:

Govalkote has several temples, the major one is that of the local deity Karzabai, followed by the newly built Ganesha temple in Bamanwadi (which has replaced the Hanuman temple), where I had spent several hours of solitude during my childhood, under the 'peeple' tree (which no longer exists), waiting for the ripe mangoes to fall to the ground during the month of April and May. The village has two mosques and madrassas. Festivals such as Shimgo are celebrated in a lively fashion during which village deities like Karzabai are honoured. Other festivals like Gawwar and Ganapathi and Janamaashtami and Ghudi padwa are well known for the village community. Muharram tazia and sabeel models were created by vthe village youth, using technological ideas, which were a bi-product of advice from pioneers of social change such as Alimiya Master. There are two built-up Dargahs and a tomb of Jahanbaazwali. One of the saints namely Arif Aba, is linked to the Hazwane (Mukaddam) family. Urs celebrations are held every year.

The Marathi medium school and Baitu-ulum Urdu school have provided the village community with vital inspiration in the past years. Teachers such as Babat master, Halyal master, Qadiri and Razzac and Ibrahim Master of Kaluste gave an unique status to the village educational scene.  Hairat Kokani (or Hamza Master) was a renowned poet and I have witnessed him putting pen to paper and within a matter of a few hours creating poems, which were then recited during the Eid-e-Miladun-Nabii parade...namely "Aao badhayen milke hum , sab rahe maula mein qadam Hai aaj yawme muh-tasham , Salle Ala Shahe Ummam..." Poets such as Sharaf Kamali and his father Mohammed Mullajee of Kaluste had their origins in Govalkote as well. The well known social worker of Konkan Retd Captain Faqir Mohammed Mistry also has family links with the village. The late Mohammed Mullajee (Mukaddam) paid special attention to the advancement of English education in the village and the philanthropic work of the late Zainuddin and Abdul-Qadir Koltharkar (Mukaddam) of Capetown South Africa, enhanced the outlook of the Baitul-Uloom school from the time of  its inception.

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