Selma bai
Not long ago I was really delighted to hear of the Goa book club being formed
and thrilled to see an invitation by Savia
Viegas for our younger age group in Goa to enter the "Goan Short Stories
Competition 2011" the prize of which was a
monetary award.
I was astonished to see a missive by a Selma (was this you?) and another
criticising this initiative to get young people in
Goa (in a certain age group) to write, citing the reason as being "ageism". The
organisers of the competition would, I am
sure, have come to the conclusion that young writers in a different age group
have a different thought process in relation
to us more mature adults. If this competition did get off the ground, it would
be good if the winning entries are shared with
us.
I was a youngster once, played hockey, football and snooker, for the Goan
Institute in Nairobi. I also had the opportunity
to enter a worldwide essay competition run through the Swedish Embassy in
Nairobi. My entry came two thousand and
something but at least I got a hard copy of the winning fifty entries.
Then going back to the Global Goan Convention 2011 held in London, United
kingdom. I am reliably informed that the
excellent, informative book "The Sixth Night" by Silvano Barbosa was put "out
of sight" by Selma (was this you?) from the
visiting dignitaries from Goa in favour of books by other authors. Yet another
cold water moment?
These two are, if you agree, examples of the sorpotel school of thought
(peasant thinking) which still exists in our worldwide
community today. Like a disease it is hereditary, definitely "hurts" the
development and fabric of our community and its a
mystery why our so called "top people" have not found a formula to cure it? Or
has this been found and killed off by cold
water moments before being activated.
Melvyn Fernandes
Thornton Heath, Surrey, United Kingdom
melvynfernan...@virginmedia.com
30 November 2011
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