When I posted my Free Thoughts on World Goa Day, I had just glanced over Basilio Magno's post, World Goa Day Has Come To Stay. I feel Magno has gone a bit overboard by his praise of Rene Barreto, calling it "Rene's noble idea." As for me, I would have been rather circumspect in heaping lavish praise either on Rene, especially since Sudharop (California) has brought the issue into the open on who the originators are. I feel the Goan Welfare Society (Kuwait) is NOT a contender. I explain later why I consider so. While the issue is still at dispute and it would need a through examination of the Goanet archives to check who posted first in cyberspace on having such an event globally. Goa Sudharop has said that it was Filomena Giese's idea to have World Goa Day and had posted it in cyberGoa in 1999. I would request George Pinto or the Goanet administrator to provide us with a copy of this post. Gaspar's claim that the Kuwait Goan Association launched Goa Day seems true from checking the website on the report of the 1999 celebrations, saying it was the fifth one. In the context of having Goa Day celebrations, let me point out that the Goan Overseas Association in Toronto organized a Goa Day, maybe not exactly with that title, at the Harbourfront in 1986 (I could be wrong on the year). It was GOA's organization, but the idea to have such an event came from the late Ladis da Silva, writer and artist. I think he had expressed such an idea in the GOA newsletter. I am not sure how many times Goa Day was organized. However, now the GOA has Viva Goa, and I think this year was the sixth consecutive one. In 1988, the GOA had the First International Goan Convention. However, calling it the "first" was disputed. It was claimed that some Goans from neighbouring countries met in Paris for a meeting and it was, therefore, the "first" meeting of diaspora Goans. Not many had heard of this meeting, and I, for one, don't know what came out of this meeting. The Toronto convention was ground-breaking, and those who attended it can vouch for the manner it was conducted. There were a few hitches but overall it was a grand success. The International Goan Organization (IGO) born out of this meet. I will skip the later history of the IGO. The then president of the GOA, Zulema de Souza, is "credited" with the idea of having the international convention. In the aftermath of the success it was conveniently forgotten by her close associates and friends that she had admitted to have "borrowed" the idea from a similar convention held by Greeks. In the same vein, the person who proposed the idea for the IGO was never credited but these very people said it "came about" during the convention. No, it was proposed at one of preparatory meetings and it then included as part of the agenda for the convention. It was a deliberate attempt by this closely-knit circle, mostly of Uganda Goans, to deny the person the credit.
What came out of the convention was the idea to have the First International Youth Conference in Goa. Former MLA and the current deputy chairman of the NRI-GOA (I believe he still is), Herculano Dourado, who was present at the Toronto convention was appointed co-ordinator for the youth convention. The youth convention was a damp squib, to say the least. Similarly, the origin of the GOA Toronto is "messed" up. However, on record there are more than 100, I think, who are designated as "founders." It was a "compromise" because different people individually or as small circle of friends or sports teams claimed their rights as "founders." Some ten years ago another person, who was also part of the founders, I think, came to me with a flyer saying he was the first one to organize a Goan event. I told him why he waited so late. The GOA history begins with a series of sports and cultural events that ultimately paved the way to have a formal association. I also asked him why he can't write about his event on the GOA newsletter. His reply was that if I write, more as an independent observer and probably with some credibility as a journalist, it would at least have some impact. I have had a hand in providing some input to the GOA history when I edited the souvenir for the 20th anniversary. I shared the byline with a former president of the GOA. However, for the 25th anniversary souvenir, though I and this former GOA president were on the souvenir committee, the same article (can't remember if there were any changes or at least substantial changes) was carried with the ex-president's name. And mind you, it was the same person himself who had insisted that I put my name for the history written for the 20th anniversary souvenir. Why, despite me being on the committee, the story went as the way it did is another story that would take lot of space to write. On the question of who was the "originator" of the WGD will have to wait till we search the Goanet archives. In the meantime, I don't have any hesitation in believing George Pinto. What Gaspar wrote about the Goa Day having started in Kuwait is true, but I, in the matter of Goan diaspora, GOA Toronto preceded the Kuwait organization. On another level and to other questions, I think Wendell made a suggestion to have a corpus fund for Goa's development. Considering what Goa Sudharop is doing, I think it follows the same thinking, with their funds aimed for Goa's development. The IGO also contributed in the form of hospital beds to Goa. I am not aware what the body is doing now, or if the body is still in operation. If I recollect correctly, Godfrey Gonsalves, in other post not related to the issue of GWD, provoked diaspora Goans to come to the aid of the state. I think he said that we diaspora Goans should not just talk of helping but coming to Goa and held help physically in the uplift of the society. It would be a big sacrifice to do that on the part of diaspora Goans. I wouldn't go to that length at least for now, knowing the socio-political climate in Goa. Maybe the prospect of a good-paying job would act as a magnet. Perhaps when I retire, going to Goa would be an option. At a more "intellectual" level, I don't think having WGD makes any much impact on the Goan psyche. It does make any difference to my Goanness, since I celebrate it in different ways. Going to Viva Goa and having a separate GWD appears to me the same in the current format. Unless the parameters are changed to make the WGD stand out significantly against other Goan functions, meaning having seminars, workshops on Goan themes, it will be just dances, picnics, etc. I find this is just sentimental sop. I haven't come across other communities having such global celebrations, except that some communities have their annual conventions in North America, such as the Bengalis. I am not sure if the Konkanis have theirs annually, probably once every two years. I think the Sikhs had one in Dubai last year. The World Sikh Organization used it have their annual meeting with fanfare some years, more enthusiastically when the issue of Khalistan was hot. The Sikh community has been ruptured by the Khalistan issue, and more and more Sikhs, some of them ardent supports of the movement, have realized that Khalistan is a "dead" issue. >From Gilbert Lawrence's "complaints", I picked the one that I feel needs urgent attention. It's about his book which, he says is "still way under-utilized." I gather he means that the WGD organizers and other Goan diaspora organizations need to push the book among its members or to the Goan public at large. It's going to be a "hard sell" for associations to sell a book, though publicity could be provided in their respective newsletters. I tried hard to sell late Prof. Frank D'Souza book of his collected essays published by his family. I then got the current chairman of the GOA, Roque Baretto, to buy more than a dozen or so at a concession rate and keep the "profits" for the Salcette Association (I think). Few Goans buy books on Goan subjects, as I have seen at Viva Goa and other events. On the subject of books, though the idea seems financially unfeasible if one takes into account Gilbert's case, I want the Goan diaspora, rather directly the Goan associations, to consider putting a book together of selected articles from The Goan World and Anglo-Lusitano, both print publications that went out of publishing decades ago. I had approached Father John Correa-Affonso to consider such a project. He had informed me that the The Goan World magazine, the copies which he had obtained from Prof. Adolf Viegas's family, was in the process of being sorted out and arranged properly. Some he said were badly tattered. This was long time ago. I assume the copies must have been arranged. If so, whether they are available for the public at the Heras Institute, at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, is not known to me. The pages of the magazine and the weekly contain a wealth of literature from a galaxy of Goan intellectuals before my growing up and which, I doubt, would come again. Some of the stuff has been published by the families of different authors, such as Prof. Armando Menezes, and Prof. Francisco Correia-Affonso. The essays by others must be made available to this generation and future generations of Goans. Maybe the writings belong to another age and the issues no more relevant to our times, but it's essential that Goans who seek the knowledge of Goan issues as well as opinions of learned Goans on the national, regional and local issues of the day read them. The diaspora associations could come together to sponsor a researcher. The Heras Instituted could be approached to be a joint partner in this project. The computers-for-Goa can be an inspiration for diaspora Goans to join hands once again and carry the literary project, for which we could find a name, forward to fruition. Eugene Correia ____________________________________________________ Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs