Deep buttoning is the detail to skip in Marcaim. Each tuft and fold is a pocket for the powdery dust the estate sends over, and it cannot be wiped out, only picked at. A flat or simply panelled headboard in leatherette or a smooth tight weave cleans with one pass of a cloth. In homes on drier ground away from the trucks, a fabric finish is perfectly sound if it vacuums well. In the old village houses, on humid low land near the Zuari, an outside wall and a thick pad should not touch; hang the board a little off the plaster, or mount it on the bedstead. For rented rooms, a plain wall-mounted panel is enough.
- Bedrooms near the estate: flat leatherette panels, free of buttons and deep seams where dust would lodge.
- Houses on low ground by the river: a headboard hung clear of the plaster, in synthetic cloth that a damp rag will clean.
- Rented rooms: one slim, plain panel screwed to the wall, which outlasts changes of tenant and takes a fresh cover readily.
Marcaim, also written Madkai, is a village south-west of Ponda, near the Zuari. It is known for the Navdurga temple and for its industrial estate, one of the larger ones in the taluka, with the old village and its fields lying below.
There are traditional village houses near the temple and newer homes and rented rooms for people working in the estate. Factories and offices in the estate need blinds and, in places, strip curtains.
Marcaim is inland, with low ground near the river that is humid and prone to mosquitoes. The industrial estate adds dust and truck traffic.