... These were some of the issues that came up at the Goanet-Goa Sudharop annual Goa meet held at Clube Gaspar Dias on the penultimate day of the year, on a pleasant and cool Sunday evening.
Speakers did a good job of presenting various facets of Goa, some telling us why we have urgent cause for concern, others embarking on some new and useful initiatives, and yet others shaking us out of our Goan complacency in the attitudes we hold towards The Other and the rest of the world. I particularly enjoyed ex-Principal, former Chief Election Officer (Goa), the Goa Forward party president who quit to register his protest Dr Prabhakar Timble's thought-provoking thrust, marked by serious points camouflaged behind some humorous comment. Timble was talking on the (assigned) topic of 'What's wrong with politics in today's Goa....' But he made a strong case for why blaming/depending on politicians alone is not enough, and why citizens themselves need to take a stronger stance in making things better. His presentation was marked by good logic, factual arguments and provoking statements. Talented Goan women filmmakers Sonia Filinto and Nalini Sousa -- even despite not being able to display their trailer [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjqwBLpD1T8&feature=youtu.be] gave a rousing talk on their plans to create a film on the humble Goan pao. Adv. Albertina Almeida raised issues related to activism in Goa, while Pune-based engineer Denzil Simoes explained why creating a free, sharable online dictionary (Wiktionary) for Konkani could be important in the years ahead. Rajan Parrikar outlined his journey into photography and building awareness about the deterioration of Goa's charm, Robin D'Souza gave a concise but useful introduction to his year-old CCR TV (available via YouTube worldwide, and also as an app on the Google play store), while Soter D'Souza made a powerful intervention on communalism in Goa and his own early (1990s) experience with the BJP, a party which he was among the very few Catholics joining at one time, and then also quit it when it was at its peak in the early 2000s. Filomena Geese, born in Margao but who shifted to Singapore while still a child, spoke about the campaign she and a few others had pushed to seek sainthood for Jose Vaz, now Goa's first saint. Acaria Almeida of Goa Sudharop spoke on expat and Goan issues. Among those present were young engineering student Tanmay Pereira-Naik, historians Michael von Tangen Page and Shirley Gonsalves, designer Veema D'Mello, GoaWeb (which later launched into GoaCom) founder Marlon Menezes, engineer-author Aloysius D'Souza, long-time Goanetter Ana Maria Goswami, engineer Bijon Shah, expat Cellie Gonsalves, librarian and researcher Terence Rodrigues, bureaucrat-turned-politician Elvis Gomes (AAP), young Goan working in the prestigious Economic and Political Weekly Jemimah Gomes, Commander (Retd) John Eric Gomes, CEO for India of the Swiss-India Chambers of Commerce Larry D'Souza, teacher of Portuguese Aurobindo Couto, among others. Goanet Founder and Chair Herman Carneiro made it to Goa in the first fortnight of December. Uly, you there? Prof George Pinto of San Jose (also a prominent member of Goa Sudharop since the start of this century) and musician-lawyer Francis Rodrigues co-organised the event. FN +91-9822122436 PS: Does the talking drum of the Goan cyber jungle work? Goanet is trying to help someone from ORADELL, NJ, 07649 who might have had his purse stolen in Mapusa to get part of his belongings back. -- FN* फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا +91-9822122436 AUDIO: https://archive.org/details/@fredericknoronha TEXT: http://bit.ly/2SBx41G PIX: http://bit.ly/2Rs1xhl Can't get through on mobile? Please SMS/WhatsApp - *"Debt is how the rich extract wealth from the rest of us, at home and abroad." David Graeber *