Wendell gifted me Poskem a few weeks before he died was published by Om books in 2017 and is illustrated with Mario Miranda's cartoons. It's one of the many books I hadn't read.
When I took it up I realised that Poskem was a skilled essay in faction i.e. fact disguised as fiction. The problem about discussing a subject like *poskem* are many. For one thing if one does it as a realistic document then the question as to how to avoid the shame that the subjects might feel if their identities were revealed to the world is avoided. For another if one wanted to write about the emotional trauma that these people experienced how can one do it? Wendell resorted to faction. The book consists of a Prologue set in Hanuman Soda in Mapusa in 1984 at the height of summer, a time like now. This is followed by 4 sections dealing with Alda, Liana, Nascimento, Sita; and a 5th dealing with Shanta. They are all *poskim*. This is followed by an Epilogue. The Prologue and Epilogue are almost the same. Except that the Epilogue has the following lines: "Lord Ganesh fulfilled His blessings." "But like most humans who do not recognise a blessing from above... they never met again." Here again the narrative skills of Wendell come into the picture. The Epilogue is a meeting of the 5 *poskim* above with Wendell at Hanuman Soda. During this time we don't know exactly who these people are. It's like a flashback from a movie. However by resorting to faction, Wendell could play the role of a God-like omniscient narrator who knows whatever happens in the minds of his characters. The chapters that flashback further to describe the lives of the *poskim* in times past. This continues until the repeated Epilogue in the form of the Prologue where we realise what the early pages were all about. It's a very cinematically styled book which only a Wendell who knew the pressure that someone like a *poskem* would have to face, could write. Poskem could perhaps be made into an unconventional movie. Augusto