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Book releases – coming of age
Academics, intellectuals, historians and researchers are celebrities too
By Cecil Pinto
Talk about August gatherings the function I attended last Friday
definitely qualified - and it was in August. The venue was Kala
Academy and the occasion was the release of a book of memoirs, 'From
Goa to Patagonia' by Alfredo de Mello. Not only on the dais, but even
in the audience were some of Goa's top intellectuals, historians,
academics, researchers and humour column writer. Very few members of
the press were present because neither was Rakhi Sawant expected, nor
was Remo mouthing dramatic sound bytes.
Speaking of which I have heard that in keeping with his "KG after PhD"
statement Remo will henceforward not be accepting any awards 'below'
Padmashri level. Also, apparently, after performing at such a major
event as the Big Chill festival in UK, Remo has decided he will not be
performing at anything lesser. "Fontainhas Festival and such small
time things are definitely out!", he is rumoured to have said. Another
story doing the gossip rounds is that Remo is returning all his fees
for performing at IFFI 2004. "There's no difference between the
Government then and the Government now. All bloody crooks!", is a
quote being attributed to him along with an upcoming song, "I'm a
Padmashriii. Don't mess with meee!"
Humility is rare quality to find among Goan achievers, but I had a
glimpse of it in Dr. Teotonio de Souza, the Chief Guest at the book
release function. Here is a man I was seeing face-to-face for the
first time but have always revered as a great historian. Dr.
Nandakumar Kamat (son-in-law of Aldona) introduced Teotonio. As a
seemingly never-ending list of accomplishments were being read out I,
and surely many others in the audience, slowly realised that we truly
were in the presence of greatness. From writing and presenting some
190 odd research papers to setting up institutions and teaching and
what-have-you the sixty year old Portugal based Moidekar Teotonio is
truly a living legend, but carries himself with a quiet dignity and
without any of the egoistical attitudes that seem to be the bane of
much lesser Goan achievers.
In addition to the book release, the event was also supposed to pay
tribute to the great Dr. Froliano de Mello, father of the book's
author. Maria de Lourdes Bravo da Costa, whose nostalgic history
articles are much appreciated, briefed us about, among other things,
the communal toilet habits in 19th century Goa as well as about some
businessman Caculo who excreted in his pants during his first plane
ride. Considering the serious nature of the function I found these
anal anecdotes quite amusing but I guess that's why I'm never invited
to speak at such occasions. Bravo Lourdes!
Why can't we report academic functions in the same way as we do
celebrity society events? With a lot of name dropping, insinuations
and descriptions of attire?
Engineer Sylvester D'Souza (Aldonkar) was present, in his trademark
light blue long sleeved shirt, accompanied by his charming wife Maria
'Bunota' Lilia, known to every scholar as the efficient head librarian
at Xavier Centre for Historical Research. Jason Keith Fernandes came
in late, but not as late as Frederick Noronha. Checked short sleeved
shirts, one size too tight and buttoned to the top, seem to be making
a fashion comeback.
Vivek Menezes of Aparanta fame was present. Margaret Mascarenhas was
not, and surprisingly neither was Maria Aurora Couto. Two great
writers having houses in Carona, Aldona. And then there's Prof. Isabel
Santa Rita Vas also from Carona, Aldona. Coincidence or what?
Fortunately in keeping with the formality of the function Vivek was
not wearing his trademark knee length shorts. Vanessa Anes was also
present in the back row. Who is Vanessa? Teacher Margaret's daughter
from Aldona. I don't know what was her connection but how come there
are Aldonkars wherever you go?
Historians Fatima Gracias and Prajal Sakhardandhe were absent, but Dr.
Sergio Mascarenhas was there in light grey trousers and a casual shirt
with broad dark blue stripes.
There was very little representation from South Goa intellectuals.
Jose Lourenco, of Parish Churches book fame, was not present, nor was
Savia Veigas who is doing a brilliant study of Goan Family
Photographs. Shridhar Kamat was also visibly absent; probably busy
with the Save River Sal thing. Fortunately Tony Correia-Afonso from
Benaulim was around with his enchanting wife Dr. Marina, who has an
eye for good humour writing.
Prof. Alito Sequera from Goa University's Sociology Department was
sighted as was anthropologist Rahul Srivastava who has recently taken
to wearing horribly trendy stomping boots like those worn by the young
men in AXE brand deodorant adverts or by those studs in Dhoom 1 & 2.
Somebody should tell Rahul to act his academia and not try to look
like one of those macho guys from the Garnier Hard Gel commercials.
Back to the dais. Fr. Loiola Pereira, from Benaulim, whose speeches
are always a delight to listen to, spoke about Dr. Froilano and also
about his connection to the Pereira family. No, Fr. Loila did not play
his guitar but someone told me he had brought it along and kept it
handy just in case there were requests. Historian Percival Noronha
walked us through a slide show of Froilano's beautification of Panjim
city.
As always Nandakumar stood head and shoulders above the rest not so
much because of his incredible wealth of knowledge but because of his
height. I'm sure he has to get his kurtas custom-made to fit his
extended frame.
Dr. Teotonio spoke about his hope that "… the trickle of memoirs and
autobiographies by Goans in recent time will soon turn into a tide. I
do believe in historical objectivity. It is a sum total of the
subjective reconstructions of individual historians, not necessarily
restricted to trained historians". "See that excellent book Domnic's
Goa. It unapologetically speaks of one man's experiences and has a
fantastic cover design too!" Of course he didn't exactly say the last
two lines, but probably wanted to.
Fernando Rego read out the Vote of Thanks from an e-mail sent in by
the book author himself. Uruguay based Alfredo de Melo was unable to
be present as he had an eye operation scheduled for the next day. Dr.
Carmo D'Souza introduced the function which was compered, in an unique
well rehearsed Convent School Annual Parents' Day style, by a girl in
black slacks and top. Marie biscuits and tea were served later,
probably sponsored by the Publishers and Distributors, Broadway Book
Centre, whose owner Khalil Ahmed and his son Faheem were ensuring
everything was going smoothly.
Two points worth noting: (1) Strangely enough for a Goan academic
event the word 'subaltern' was used only twice (2) Benaulim and Moira
may be famous for mild insanity, but also seem to produce intellectual
giants.
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The column above appeared in Gomantak Times dated 30th August 2007
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