Just as I finished catching-up with my old college-mate the Ponda-based businessman turned social worker Mario Coelho in-front of the Panjim muncipality, Dadu Mandrekar lay in wait for me. "What are you doing *now*?" he wanted to know, and insisted I go along with him to the Kala Academy... for something of a surprise.
Dadu has been a friend for a decade-and-half or more. In the Goan-styled apartheid system -- where one doesn't often get a chance to interact across religious, caste, linguistic or taluka lines unless you have to -- knowing Dadu gives one quite another insight into how 'the other Goa' (or is it the main Goa?) works. As an aside, the breaking down of the good old world is, fortunately, diminishing this ghettoisation too. One got to know Dadu through friends from out-of-state like Camil Parkhe, who came to Goa from Ahmednagar to become a Jesuit priest but ended up a journalist in the Navhind Times. (In our college days, we all admired Camil and others like John Aguiar... they could write *and* get published!) Some may know Dadu as the Dalit activist (of course, casteism isn't just about the Dalit problem, it has many other dimensions, but this is clearly one extreme end of the problem). Dalits are found in rather small numbers in Goa, compared to say the large aboriginal population (Kunbi, Velip, Gauda and Dhangars that have cut across religious lines and struggled for decades to get even a Scheduled Tribe status). But the Dalits are ghettoised in their enclaves often located almost at the end of the village or town. Dadu won the Goa Sudharop award in the recent past. With friends like Debashish Munshi was very helpful in opening our eyes to the rural reality of Pernem and issues like poverty in rural Goa, quite some time back. To cut a long story short, I was surprised to see Dadu's stall at the Kala Academy. It was packed with very interesting A3-sized digital prints, mostly scenic shots of rural Goa. Dadu had morphed into a digital photographer! Nice to see that technology can be utilised by all, regardless of the caste and class handicaps they may be born into. Being one of those who actively egged on Dadu to leave his government job -- talented people like him have much more to offer the planet -- one is really glad to see his work. He's planning a one-man exhibition of his photos from May 23 at the Institute Menezes Braganza, and the show opens at 4 pm. Do make it if you're around. It would be nice if the work of people like Dadu could also be show-cased in cyberspace. Just before leaving him, I mentioned looking forward to his work on the marginalised in Goa! --FN PS: Being dragged to the Kala Academy was nice for another reason -- there was an exhibition of (mainly Marathi) books on Goa inter alia, at an event organised by the government of Maharashtra. This is one section that my GoaBooks website is surely lacking! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha 784 Near Convent, Sonarbhat SALIGAO GOA India Freelance Journalist TEL: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks fred at bytesforall.org http://www.bytesforall.org
