goanet-digest Thursday, May 30 2002 Volume 01 : Number 4034
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In this issue:
[Goanet] Talk on Goan Community. Mertons' Forest of Dreams.
[Goanet] Meeting in memory of Hugo's life
[Goanet] Alfred D'Cruz's purported statements
[Goanet] FEATURE: Past the pulpit... sound-and-light at Old Goa
See end of digest for information on subscribing/unsusbcribing.
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Date: Wed, 29 May 2002 15:44:40 +0100
From: "Cliff Pereira" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Talk on Goan Community. Mertons' Forest of Dreams.
Talk on the Goan Community.
Date - Monday 8 July 2002
Venue - Wimbledon Community Centre, St. Georges Road, SW19.
Time 7.00pm
Entrance is free.
For more info see www.merton.gov.uk/arts
Merton's Forest of Dreams Festival, will include a talk by Cliff Pereira on
his recent and ongoing research on the Goan presence in London. The talk
will look at the positive and negetive aspects encountered while researching
this subject and will provide an historical outline of research on this
topic.
Also available will be some displays from the Bexley Local and Family
History fair held last year.
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.
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Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 22:06:41 -0700 (PDT)
From: Samir Kelekar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Meeting in memory of Hugo's life
An informal meeting to remember Hugo Souza
and his life
is called by Hugo's friends. This meeting will
be the kind of meeting Hugo would have liked.
It is going to be on Friday 1st June
at 5 pm in the
Freedom Fighters' office, Lohia Maidan
at Margao.
Your participation is urged.
regards,
Sam
Samir Kelekar, Margao/Bangalore.
- ------------------------------------------------------
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Date: Thu, 30 May 2002 15:32:15 +0530 (IST)
From: Frederick Noronha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Alfred D'Cruz's purported statements
Below is what AVF wrote in goanet-digest 4015.=20
As it happens, I recently got the chance to meet veteran journo Alfred
D'Cruz, and we got acquainted. As a matter of curiosity, I wrote to the
octogenarian writer, to check up the veracity of what was stated below.
I was surprised to hear what he had to say: the version below is totally
incorrect, and Alfred had made no such comments. In fact, his mother died
in Bombay, he told me.
Please note, that I am not taking sides here between those who favour the
pre-1961 situation and those who favour the post-1961 scenario. In my
opinion, today trying to show that one side is better than the other is an
irrelevant debate. What matters is the quality of life that any regime (and
obviously those who act as its local representatives in Goa, taking
cover under various hues of political colours) can offer to every citizen
of this state.
But, in whatever position taken, the facts relied on to build the argument
have to be accurate. Just that.... FN
PS: It would be interesting for historians to study this understudied
period of Goa's trajectory, and weed out the facts from the myth.
- ------------------------------
Date: Sat, 25 May 2002 07:04:09 +0000
From: "A. Veronica Fernandes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Compensate Tiatrists/Rape Victims
COMPENSATION FOR RAPE VICTIMS AND TIATRISTS TOO.
"GOENKARANCHO EKVOTT" DEMANDS COMPENSATION TO RAPE VICTIMS OF 1961^=D4
Dear Agnelo Gomes Bab,
=2E.. Alfred D^=D2Cruz was a renowned Goan journalist from Bombay, after wo=
rking
for 40 years at Times of India he retired and now leading a retired life at
his Bombay Bandra Home, near Linking Road. Hailing from Saligao Bardez and
coming from an aristocratic family he as a boarder at Arpora finished his
Matriculation and completed his double graduation in Bombay and soon joined
Times under the British Editor. While in Bombay he involved in Goa's
liberation movement and because of which he was banned by the Portuguese
Government in Goa from entering Goa. Even when his dearest mother died he
could not attend to her funeral though he tried his level best to cast his
last glance on his dead mother. Soon after Goa was grabbed by Bharat, Nehr=
u
was in Bombay addressing a press conference. During this conference Nehru
spotted D^=D2Cruz and asked him thus "Mr. D^=D2Cruz! Are you satisfied tha=
t
your beloved Goa is now liberated by our troops?" For this Alfred D^=D2Cruz
retorted thus "Mr. Prime Minister, it hurts me very much to ask you that -
have you sent your troops to Goa to liberate my Goa or to rape our innocent
women and loot my Goa?" For this Nehru was totally embarrassed, so too
others. The rapes, pillage and loot done by Indian Military personnel in
1961 was not a fake argument but a truth and REAL TRUTH....
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Date: Thu, 30 May 2002 15:39:57 +0530 (IST)
From: Frederick Noronha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] FEATURE: Past the pulpit... sound-and-light at Old Goa
PAST THE PULPIT; CHURCH LOOKS TO SOUND-AND-LIGHT AT OLD GOA
>From Frederick Noronha
For a change, the pulpit is passe. Goa's Catholic Church is showing signs
of embracing the new information and communication technologies (ICTs) as
it attempts to spread its message by means of a slick multi-media
sound-and-light show set up in a four centuries old shrine.
If you stand in the right place, you could feel a few drop fall as Goa's
seventeenth century missionary Fr Joseph Vaz prays for rain in Sri Lanka.
When it's time for Christ to die on the cross, the ground quakes below your
feet. Smoke effects leave behind a fragrant whiff at other places, as you
walk through this story of time.
In the little-noticed and long unused west-wing of the Bom Jesus Basilica, a
team of Church authorities have spent two years in telling their version of
the story of three men who shaped the Church in this once-critical outpost
of Christianity in Asia.
This mix of technology with religious devotion focuses on Christ, sixteenth
century Basque missionary and co-founder of the influential order of the
Jesuits Francis Xavier, and the eighteenth century Goan missionary who went
out to the Canara coast (in today's Karnataka) and Sri Lanka, Joseph Vaz.
Currently, Vaz is the patron of the archdiocese.
"This idea came up when auxiliary bishop Filipe Neri Ferrao went to Varanasi
and saw a multimedia exhibition there in Hindi," says Joaquim Loiola
Pereira, the secretary to Goa's archbishop, and a key person involved in
this project.
But, in Goa, the venture is being termed as a 'sound-and-light gallery',
instead of a 'multimedia' show, because of the tendency to confuse the
latter with IT and computers alone.
For the Church, this is an attempt to package their message using near
life-size statues -- some of which move -- and a slick commentary together
with music.
Entering centuries-old solid walls, one is taken aback by suddenly coming
across almost life-size statues that transport you to the University of
Paris in the 1530s. That's where Francis Xavier studied.
You then come across John the Baptist, and there's actually water flowing
down the river Jordan. Sounds of gushing water amplifies the effect. As you
walk through what till recently were dusty corridors, now artistically done
up, the story goes on.
One needs the patience -- or perhaps devotion -- to go through the hour-long
presentation. "It took two years to work on this. Its costs is in lakhs of
rupees," says Loiola Pereira.
Since its inauguration by the papal envoy some time back, the gallery has
already started its shows, from 9 am to 5 pm, daily except Mondays. It costs
Rs 10 per adult and Rs 5 per child. "At peak, we can theoretically have four
shows an hour," says Loiola Pereira. Each could accommodate 15-18 persons.
To put forward an impressive message, the Church has requisitioned on a
number of noted artists from the region -- cartoonist Mario de Miranda,
medico-turned-artist Subodh Kerkar, Justino Lobo, the arty-couple Querozito
and Liesl D'Souza, Dominic Cordo among others.
"This is done fully in thread, except for a little bit of cloth. There's no
paint," says Loiola Pereira, pointing to one of the art-works by Liesl
D'Souza. Colourful batiks -- lit from behind -- came in from Sri Lanka.
Fibre-glass statues by Bicholim-born artist Sadashiv Kunkolienkar, now based
in Mumbai, and sculptures by the well-known Bicholim-based pottery artist
Zilu Harmalkar add to the rainbow of inputs.
After walking down the centuries, including a trip to a village renamed
after Joseph Vaz in Sri Lanka, one comes across a 21st century market place
in Goa. Christ's companions and people he encountered have meanwhile got
transformed into today's people from this state in their "different
avatars".
This Basilica of Bom Jesus (Good Jesus, or Infant Jesus, to whom the church
is dedicate) is better known as a large structure with red unfinished
exteriors to tens of thousands of pilgrims is also the home to the remains
of Francis Xavier. It was completed in 1595, over four hundred years ago.
Loiola Pereira believes that this must be one of the most ambitious projects
of its kind among all Church institutions in India. Because it is being set
up a decade-and-half after Varanasi's show, there was a chance to take
advantage of advances in technology.
Unlike other outdoor sound-and-light shows, this 'gallery' is located wholly
indoors. This means that shows could be held at any time, regardless of
weather or light levels.
Trilingual -- in English, the regional language of Konkani and Hindi -- the
programme makes use of a wide range of media to make its point. Fibre-glass,
plaster of Paris, paintings, canvasses, 3D mobiles (artworks that twist to
change the paintings visible), video, translites, LED boards, and sculptures
in wood or terracota and terracota-cum-copper are included.
In parts, the music marries Gregorian chant with the sitar, in a show that
an estimated 60 persons worked on to put together.
Priests from Goa, many of whom are steeped in musical talent given the
Church's emphasis on music till recently, contributed the background music..
Goa-born Leon de Souza, now in Mumbai, put together the musical
compositions. "He put them into one cauldron of his synthesizer, and
produced all the music. That's all done on one keyboard, not with an
orchestra, though it sounds so," says Loiola Pereira, himself a keen music
enthusiast.
This show's theme song's melody was composed by a talented recently-returned
musician Schubert Cotta. Some Indian musical background has been composed by
the the Mumbai-based priest Charles Vas, svd.
Some of the inspiration for this project came from the Hall of Horrors --
not the subject, naturally -- at Madame Tussads Gallery in London.
Church officials met up with Ray Kancharla, an artiste with Caritas-India,
who was then invited down to Goa, to devise the script and coordinate the
execution of the ambitious project. "It took two years of working together.
In his early trips, Ray just needed time to conceptualise it," says Loiola
Pereira.
Caritas (Goa) director priest Valariano Vaz, Communication Centre secretary
Fr Olavo Velho Pereira, theatre personality Isabella Vaz and Loiola Pereira
were entrusted with the project.
Goa's government has incidentally been talking for some time now of plans to
build its own sound-and-light shows to give something to visitors to keep
busy over, in a touristic state which literally goes to sleep after sunset,
with little healthy entertainment or infotainment possibilities. (ENDS)
- --
Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa * India 832.409490 / 409783
BYTESFORALL www.bytesforall.org * GNU-LINUX http://linuxinindia.pitas.com
Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] * SMS [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Saligao Goa India
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End of goanet-digest V1 #4034
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