Rugs give little trouble in Farmagudi. The plateau is breezy and free of salt, floors dry quickly after mopping, and a wool rug or cotton dhurrie will not sour the way it does beside the sea. The caution is light: rooms with wide windows put strong sun on one edge of a rug, and a deep red or blue will show a pale stripe there, so turn the rug now and then or choose a mixed pattern. Summer dust blows in on the wind, so sizes that one person can carry out and shake are practical. Fitted carpet is more at home in a seminar room or office with air conditioning than in a house.
- Living rooms in family houses: a wool or wool-mix rug that reaches under the sofa and chairs, in a pattern that hides dust.
- Bedrooms in hostels and quarters: a small cotton dhurrie by the bed that can go in the wash or be beaten outside.
- Offices and seminar rooms on the campuses: wall-to-wall carpet in a low loop pile, which quietens footsteps and scraping chairs.
Farmagudi is the plateau just outside Ponda on the Panjim road. It is an education centre, home to the Goa College of Engineering and other institutes, with a hilltop park, a temple and a small fort memorial, and housing for staff and families around the campuses.
Housing is a mix of institutional quarters, hostels, flats and independent houses. Staff quarters and hostels need plain, durable window coverings in numbers; private houses are furnished like any family home.
The plateau is open and breezy, hot in summer and exposed to driving rain in the monsoon. There is no salt.
Hilltop and plateau homes
Airy rooms on high ground dry quickly, which is good for natural-fibre rugs. Large open windows mean more sun on the floor, so choose colours that will not show fading along one edge.
Inland homes
A drier inland home can use wool, cotton dhurries and jute without trouble. Rugs gather the dust that comes in from the road, so choose sizes that can be taken out and beaten or vacuumed easily.
