A novel entitled The Sixth Night written by Canadian Goan author Silviano C Barbosa released in Goa recently, potrays the travails of a Catholic girl growing up in tradional Goa of the 1950s, during the last decade of the Portuguese rule. The novel starts with a detailed nostalgic background of the Goan village life, slowly taking the reader to a fast life of Liceista at Liceu Nacional Afonso de Albuquerque in the the Cidade de Goa, Pangim (Panjim), where it reaches its climax and the protagonist feels the after-effects of Indian invasion/Goan Liberation and from there the last part of the book takes the reader through complexities in life through the United Kingdom, Portugal and Germany and finally to Canada. The novel portrays the life of a Catholic girl Linda Cardoso who derives immense pleasure from the simple village life steeped in customs, traditions, feasts and celebrations. Until...She comes face to face with ugly caste discrimination inflicted on her people for centuries. An old Goan custom declares that the Goddess who visits the child on the Sixth Night after birth determines the destiny of the child forever. Was it her destiny to be beautiful, lively and excel at everything and yet be unhappy?
Maybe the goddess had not felt welcome enough...She falls hopelessly in love with a foreigner, only to lose him abruptly during the Indo-Portuguese conflict of 1961. Left alone, ostracised, helpless and pregnant with a half-Portuguese love-child, she struggles with thoughts of despair, single motherhood and the pain of separation as life drags her through three continents ultimately landing her in a new country - Canada. A story of love, hate, jealousy and intrigue - great insights into Goan life, traditions and customs. Will bad karma haunt her all her life? Or will her steely determination and innate goodness change what was written on The Sixth Night? Goa, the novel is a feel-good kind of a story, which rewards the reader for going through over 300 pages of interesting intellectual, social and political stimulation, deductiv reasoning, logical conclusioins and historical exclusions. The cover art is done by Venantius J Pinto (New York) and is published by Goa Raj Books, Toronto, Canada. It is available at all leading bookstores in Goa. The above review appeared in the December 25, 2004 edition of the newspaper, Herald, Goa. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Goanet - http://www.goanet.org - Goa's premier mailing list is 10 years old
