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Goanet joins Noel Rebello to raise money for Daddy's Home (Margao, Goa) Sponsor Noel as he climbs Mt. Kilimanjaro (5,882m or 19,298 ft) Make a donation at www.Goanet.org, click on MAKE A DONATION, state "Daddy's Home" in the Donation comments For more information see: http://bit.ly/SupportDaddysHome --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Who the bleep cares about meeting famous authors? By: Selma Carvalho Source: Goan Voice Daily Newsletter, 19 Sep. 2010 at http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/ I must admit that one of the highlights of my summer vacation this year, was meeting Padmashree Dr Maria Aurora Couto. Meeting her was like meeting a teenage crush; butterflies in the stomach and an intense desire to make an impression. I needn't have worried. Standing in the archway of her breath-taking home in Aldona she was the very embodiment of her surroundings; graceful, charming and beautiful in a world of timeless Goan grandeur. Every new writer looks and hopes for a nod from one who is successful and established. My nod from Dr Couto came about two years ago when an article I had written caught her eye. Dr Couto is by nature generous with her mentorship but her encouragement meant a lot to me. Jason Keith Fernandes, a dear friend and one of Goa's finest minds, makes a point in his review that my own book, Into The Diaspora Wilderness, is also a daughter's story, told from the point of view of the disadvantaged. But Jason chides me gently for letting the issues of caste slide. I had an opportunity and yet I did not grab it full throttle. I mention it in passing and then meander away from it. Two reasons dovetailed to bring this about. Primarily, I can only narrate issues of caste in third person, as seen through the eyes of my parents. Growing up in the Diaspora, caste constituted neither a social nor an economic hegemony. If its ghost loomed in airless, conservative corridors of Goan society, it never peeked outside of these houses. In the Goan Diaspora, the construct of social hierarchy had been conveniently monetized. As long as you were earning well, living well and had children doing well, you were an acceptable member of the clan. But the second more important reason lies in the complexity of Dr Couto's book. Dr Couto relates her story from the vantage point of her own upbringing in the higher echelons of Goan society. However, nowhere did I feel disowned by her book, that it somehow had not reflected my own historical, cultural and social transformation. Of course, Goan society was governed by inequality and indeed exclusion of the sort that makes our 21st century sensibilities cringe and we must do everything to address the ugly sin of caste. But somewhere between sarkar (state) and padre-vicar, somewhere between the dekni and the mando, between tiatr and classical training in western music, between education and socialisation, the transformations which were happening at the top tier of Goan society were also percolating to the bottom. Regardless of where one landed on the caste hierarchy, Goans had absorbed very abstract and liberal ideas about gender equality, human sexuality, freedom of movement, social commentary through the arts, labour mobility and fundamental human rights. Seeing 20th century Goan village life through the eyes of my parents, I realize that, yes power hierarchies were primarily based on caste, but there were also informal power bases formed out of respect, intelligence and economic power. This was perhaps the greatest transformation taking place in Goa, in a way that the rest of the Indian sub-continent has not yet embraced. The tumultuousness of life in Goan villages, despite its inequality, was ultimately redeemed by a very early and profound understanding of human dignity. For three photographs of my meeting with Maria Aurora Couto, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/90182...@n00/sets/72157624980586586/ Do leave your feedback at carvalho_...@yahoo.com