======================================================================== Ongoing: Exhibition of paintings, Art Chamber, Calangute www.goa-art.com Dec 13: Dance workshop, with Jaap Van Maanen. Tel 2275733 BB Cafe Dec 14 onwards: Shireen Mody's Goa 2002 exhibition, Arpora. Tel 2276759 Dec 14: Customer Relationship Mgt Seminar, Xaviers, Mapusa Tel 2262356 Dec 17, 18, 20: Indo-Portuguese furniture, lectures Fundacao Ph 2230728 Jan 18-19: International kite carnival at Morgim beach, Pernem ========================================================================
>From Sunday Indian Express/ December 8, 2002 Everyone loves a good fight Conservation of Goa's rich colonial heritage has now become a favourite pastime with its haute bourgeois but it has also made enemies of sworn friends. Sonu Chinna tries to call a truce between celebrated cartoonist Mario Miranda and chronicler Mario Cabral e Sa. Cabral is an intelligent man, but the problem with Goans is that there is little to do and they have crab-like mentality -- Mario Miranda Hunting for Goa's wicked sense of humour? You will have to tear your eyeballs off the rosy sunset and hit the national highway. Drive 30 minutes into the darkening heart of rural Goa to Loutolim (pronounced low-to-lay). Gasp, as first-time visitors do at the sight of the Portuguese-style mansion. A captain opens the French window -- all in your imagination -- on the first floor and rests his gloved hand on the wrought-iron rail. There is just one detail on the scene from the mad world of Mario de Miranda's doodles: A 118 NE parked in a shed painted a very strange shade of lavender. . Miranda marches you into his rose-pink study. The light is the equivalent of a stage whisper -- just about five watts. If you can squint unobtrusively there is a riot of art on the walls, tabletops and mantlepieces. For more on what the house looks like, rent a DVD of Shyam Benegal's Trikaal. With Miranda's personal interest in the fort, I thought (his being on the committee) was not on a level playing field -- Cabral E Sa In a soft voice, he demands to know the latest from the enemy camp. Mario Cabral e Sa, journalist and author of several government-commissioned books on Goa, is the cause for the mischievous twinkle in the cartoonist's eye. Cabral has romped home after an earnest campaign against Miranda's efforts to get an heiress from Britain to restore a fort. The fort is close to the seat of the government in the Capital, but so is Cabral. The widow of a British publishing magnate, Lady Hamlyn, who has been visiting and enjoying Goa for some years now wanted to return the generosity and hospitality of its people by doing some work for the state. Enraptured by Goa's untouched but precious heritage, Lady Hamlyn appealed to INTACH in Delhi to help find a site for restoration, fully funded by her. INTACH put her in touch with its chapter-head in Goa, Mario Miranda, and he pointed at the 450-year-old Portuguese Reis Magos Fort. After two years of negotiations, plans and background work done with various conservation bodies including the ASI, the project was ready to take off. But to everyone's shock, a once-enthusiastic state Government did a somersault and said no -- not only to a lavish endowment of 300,000 sterling pounds for the restoration work but also put its foot down on the condition of leasing rooms on the top level of the fort to Lady Hamlyn for 15 years. It also denied her permission to offset the leasing amount for the proposed apartment on top of the fort against her endowment. Miranda, who has satirised Goa's ways, is also quite at home with its quirks. "I have given up (on the fort)," he gracefully accepts defeat. The small matter of Cabral's victory run is, however, an entirely different matter. Miranda's delight is in tripping him up. "He doesn't realise, he talks to all my friends and they come and tell me all his lies." Bone of contention: Reis Magos Fort ----------------------------------- Cabral says the initial idea of tapping Lady Hamlyn's Trust to restore the Reis Magos Fort was his. Hah, says Miranda. "But after my second meeting, I thought I was being avoided," Cabral bares the cause behind his sulk. "He was being avoided? Cabral is old enough. Does he expect me to hold his hand and lead him around?" asks his new foe. "He is an intelligent man," concedes Miranda, "but the problem with Goans is that there is little to do and they have this crab-like mentality. You want to do something, there is always somebody to pull you down." Cabral's next grouse is complicated. On one of his many meetings with the State's Culture Secretary, he heard Miranda was on the committee that was to decide on Hamlyn's proposal. "With his personal interest, I thought the matter was not on a level playing field," he gripes. Miranda is zapped. "Of course, I had a personal interest. Lady Hamlyn is a dear friend. But what committee is he talking about?" A chat with the Director of Archaeology Department helps clear the air: Cabral has mixed up his committees. Miranda is on an unrelated fact-finding panel for fort restoration. "It was a picnic. They took us to all the forts and that was it," recalls Miranda. It was a picnic, the Director of Tourism is yet to submit his report which is due since March. A case of susegad, the special word they have for easy-going Goan life. "I was later introduced to the Lady at a party," continues Cabral e Sa, "and when I explained to her that the restoration idea was mine, she crooned and said, 'how nice'." Miranda grins like a cat. He listens intently to Cabral e Sa's conspiracy theory of the Lady's real intention behind restoring the fort: She wanted to convert the Reis Magos Fort into a private residence at the expense of the country's national heritage. "She has castles in Scotland and France, she doesn't need another house!" In a later proposal, according to Cabral e Sa, Hamlyn included a sound-and-light show, "perhaps to make it look like a public building." No, says Miranda. Over the phone, the journalist laments the fort controversy has ruined his friendship with the cartoonist of almost 40 years. "I knew him, I illustrated some of his books, but he was never a friend," Miranda's wry put-down should make their next meeting interesting. In Goa's small world it will come soon enough. Miranda moved into his ancestral house from Bombay two years ago. Conservation is a growing passion in Goa with several projects on the anvil. INTACH appointed Miranda to head its chapter in Goa. The native now looks for run-down heritage buildings, scouts for money and experts and then sets off on his toughest task -- convincing the government that restoration is indeed good for Goa. Some times, they miss the point. Then, there is some success, like the Museum of Christian Art. At par with international standards, the museum opened in Old Goa in January this year. Does he miss the 'Bombay' he knew? "Not really. Definitely not Colaba. But I miss the jazz and the films." Big sheaves of his cartoons lie on the table. He is clearly basking in his native Goa. Where else would he find a decent fight? (ENDS) ---------------------------------------------------------- ***** CHRISTMAS PARTIES 2002 ***** Dec 14 - Goan Association of New Jersey, Inc., Somerset +1 (732) 599-7644 Dec 21 - GOA-LA, Los Angeles, [EMAIL PROTECTED] +1 (714) 821-6168 (late fee on tickets after Dec 10) Please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] to announce a party. This service is FREE! ----------------------------------------------------------