-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Add your name to the CLEAN GOA INITIATIVE | | | | by visiting this link and following the instructions therein | | | | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/033926.html | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Viva Goa! Sense has won over nonsense. Truth Triumphs. Satyameva Jayate.
The so-called "Desh Premi" of Panaji tried their best to block the flow of traffic at the "Corte de Oitero"[ meaning, in Portuguese, "bank of the creek"] road junction through which the traffic flows out of Panaji towards Santa Cruz[ meaning, in Portuguese again, "Holy Cross"] on the inaugural day of IFFI [ the official INDIAN abbreviation for the " International Film Festival of India"] using the Fontainhas Festival of Arts as a lame duck excuse. They could not agitiate against IFFI...because their 'guru' had brought it to Goa with great pomp, bravado, dust, traffic snarls and financial ruin! Like the 'IFFI in a jiffy' footpaths, their mask is now coming apart. The agitation was held beyond the boundariy of the Fontainhas Festival of Arts. There was not a soul from Fontainhas in the protest morcha led by a person from Atmaram Borcar Road and with a few people from Portais. The rest were all 'imports' from other regions of gondwana land. My friend, freedom fighter and former foreman of the mechanical section of the agriculture department, Shri Subodh Shetye, was there in their midst on 24 November and spoke on 26 November. I do not know if Rajendra Velingkar knows that Subodh Shetye is also a good friend of Pratpsingh Raoji Rane, incidentally the current Chief Minister of Goa. He is a past master of the "hunger strike"...something that Rajendra will be hard put to emulate. He does not come from a freedom fighter family! ----- Original Message ----- From: "rene barreto" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 00000000000000000000000000000 > > From a posting on GOACOM.COM. > www.goacom.com > 000000000000000000000000000000 > One flew over the koel's nest > > It is always difficult to define the "Goan" identity. > Is an English-speaking, schooled in Singapore, > Harvard-educated, resident of Sydney person born to a > couple of Goan origin in Macau more "Goan" than the > Konkani-speaking son of a Malayali woman and a > Tamilian man born, brought up, educated and working in > Vasco, Goa? There are three schools of thought: YES, > NO and MAYBE! If that is confusing to you, the > identity of the so-called "Freedom Fighters" is much > more confounded. Is a person jailed for two years for > smuggling gold coins hidden in the rectum of cows and > buffaloes, brought on hoof from British India to Goa, > more patriotic than a "Satyagrahi", who was jailed for > three months. Many criminals became "Freedom Fighters" > by paying the then eminently corruptible leaders of > the Goa Freedom Fighters Association. (Miguel > Braganza, GT) > 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 The Fontainhas Festival of Arts [FFA] was declared open at a simple ceremony outside "People's Panjim" at a people's function for a people's event. The building of the old "Peoples High School" was almost in ruins when the first FFA was inaugurated at the same place. Thanks to the attention drawn to it by the FFA, it has been restored and converted into a Reading Room and Art Gallery that is open to all. It is still educative to visit the old People's High School at Fontainhas. Dr. Wilfred de Souza, the Dy.CM and Tourism Minister was there. So was Ms. Kiran Dhingra, the Chief Secretary of Goa. They released the PARMAL [ meaning 'Fragrance" ], the house magazine of the Goa heritage Action Group, of which I am a proud, though recent, Life Member. The information Secretary Ms.Debashree Mukherjee was also there. So were some very senior police officers, traffic cops and a batallion of RAF. They were unnecessary for the security of the FFA...local Councillor and his 'boys' had taken care of that, plus we had a security agency in place......but it was nice for them to relax and enjoy the fire dancers and the terrific Jazz music. A large number of my journalist friends were there...their presence shows on today's newspapers.;-)) The show goes on for another week, till the feast of St.Francis Xavier. He was attacked by men many times but survived till pneumonia did him in. Germs are more dangerous than men. One should not fear men. No matter who says what, the soul of the GHAG rests[ or ,rather, is restless] in the dimunitive Ms.Heta Pandit. She is a much misunderstood, Goa-based, Konkani speaking statistician turned cultural and architectural conservationist. "What is a Parsi lady doing in Goa?" one might reasonably ask. So what was Dr.Annie Besant doing in India or Mother Theresa or St.Francis Xavier, or Akbar or Shah Jahan? Or what is Dr.Hargobind Khuran doing in the USA or Lord Swaraj paul in UK. Just one thing : exemplary GOOD WORK. If anyone is willing to do better than Heta, I am waiting to meet this person. I have been waiting for a few years...in fact, ever since the question was raised. All those "Goans" who ask the question are not willing to be a part of the answer. some of them do not even speak Konkani as well as Heta does. They will not be a part of the Solution. they remain a part of the Problem that haunts Goa. GAS.... Goan Association of Speakers. From my alma mater, St.Britto High School, Mhapsa, I have adopted the motto, DEEDS, NOT WORDS" for my life. It is the reference for my life as much as a measure of another person. Deeds, not words. Sanjit Rodrigues, the dynamic Administrator of CCP and Secretary of ESG was there. so was my friend , Nikhil. The young Nikhil Umakant Dessai is the son of the former Secretary for Legislature in the 1990s. He has been a part of the ESG team from Parrikar era. A former agriculture officer at Ela Farm[ which, incidentally, is on land formerly owned and cultivated by my father till its acquisition in 1965 by my childhood hero and standard of a CM, the pragmatic and secular Bhausaheb Bandodkar] at Old Goa, he is another upcoming officer of the Goa Civil Service. He is upright , too. Bhausaheb wanted to merge Goa into Maharashtra, I always want the Goan identity. That is not enough to make him any less worthy of respect. Nikhil and I do not see eye-to-eye on quite a few subjects, he is much younger than I...but I respect him. He respects me, too. Ditto for Sanjit. We need more persons like them in Goa administration. No one is perfect. These guys are pretty close right now. Viva Goa. Mog asundi. Fog maarat vesprak. Miguel