http://www.tehelka.com/story_main24.asp?filename=hub123006Cameo_collage.asp
Cameo collage A new anthology of writings on Goa leaves Arshad Said Khan exasperated and enchanted in equal measure REFLECTED IN WATER Jerry Pinto, ed Penguin 312 pp; Rs 395 Boasting of writers ranging from William Dalrymple to the 16th century's John Huyghen Van Linschoten (with several Indians in between), Jerry Pinto's archival genius shines through this odd anthology of historical essays, autobiography, novel extracts, short fiction, biographical snippets, folk tales, articles on food and feni, and a smattering of poetry. Not to forget a graphic fable and extracts from the Internet. Phew! This smorgasbord of pop-history-cum-pop-account of Goa and Goan culture packed into watercolour-shaded blue, pick-me-up paperback looked appetising enough. And Reflected in Water has glorious moments, many of them. One can be charmed by the Chaucerian romp in Richard Burton's "From Goa and Blue Mountains", while the fragmented "Catrina and Her Followers" by Mario Cabral e Sa will leave you longing for more. The very postmodern "Virtual Goa" (possibly blog, e-group or chatroom dialogue) was entertaining as was the article on tiatr, Konkani farcical theatre. The opening "Konkani Folk Songs" by Jose Pereira and Micael Martins was an instant seduction — followed, sadly, by some fairly stodgy reading on Liberation myths, the role of pigs in the laterite system, the language problem and how Goa has been misrepresented. This part was all very educative but not terribly interesting: it's hard suppressing a yawn when one is made to learn for the third time how St. Francis Xavier's toe was severed. The book points out that Hindus are the majority in the state — not that one would have guessed going by the Table of Contents, peopled mostly by Christian writers and their varied perspectives. Courtesy Reflected in Water, I learnt more about Goan Catholics (especially the Jesuits) than I ever will in my life. Goa is, after all, a hybrid, a pastiche of the foreign and the local, parts of it terminally insipid and parts of it utterly fascinating Pinto's Army will tell you that some in Goa miss the Portuguese, some do not and some are ambivalent. George Menezes (in an unintentionally funny piece) mourns the loss of Iberian etiquette while R. Parthasarthy speaks of bloody conversions. Also apparent is the Goan Catholic-Gothic gloom, rather a regional noir of sorts, that pervades the writings of Nisha Da Cunha, Sonia Faleiro and Margaret Mascarenhas. Sticking out like a sore, black-inkstained thumb, however, is the graphic short fiction piece, "The Old Crone Says: Three Goan Death Stories" by the editor himself along with Pria Agni and P. Vel Kumar. After such motifs as the 'bad woman', the 'drunken bastard' and the baroque church facing into a storm, you'd think all Goans lead quirky lifestyles in creepy old mansions. More convincing revelations are to be found in Prabhakar S. Angle's "Misunderstanding Goa" and Richard Lannoy's "The Inner and Outer Life of Goa", the latter providing not only information but a pidgin perspective. Well. That is all nice and fine, but where's the party? The more popular and frivolous face of Goa finds space with Cleo Odzer and Alexander Frater. Then there are enchanting cuisine tales like "The Goan Bread Vendor" by Laxmanrao Sardesai and Antoine Lewis' "No Blood in the Snake Oil" — which is where I met the moral of the book (I wasn't looking for one, promise, it just happened to me). Goa is, after all, a hybrid, a pastiche of the foreign and the local; parts of it, like this book, terminally insipid and parts of it absolutely fascinating. But I guess that's what collections as diverse as this can offer. As Sonia Faleiro would have it — if sometimes one "snags a tooth on a piece of plastic or a tangle of weed, well then, that's life, isn't it?" Dec 30 , 2006 -- Thanks to Goanvoice.org.uk for the link