Dear best friend Selma bhai Your cordial invitation to the viewing of The Documentary by The Histories of British-Goans project is acknowledged and placed on our mantle piece together with others received for this month.
As you will be aware when Africa was being carved up by the Europeans be it British East Africa, German Tanganyika, Italian Somali land, Portuguese Mozambique and Angola or Dutch South Africa to name a few, our scholarly elders played a key part "like glue" keeping the administrative structures together. In Kenya the Karanis (clerks) were highly respected or top shots in today's world but there was always a Bwana Kuba (the boss who was white European) and to the African he would be known as Bwana Kuba Kabisa (the big big boss). Mervyn Lobo, in goanet issue 606, Vol 7, Message 2, has kindly uploaded an example of this. Your project has brought home to us just how lucky we both are as we do not have any uncomfortable memories of Kenya and feel truly blessed and appreciative to our parents for giving us the best start in life there. We feel sure our families would not have stuck life there for twenty years if it had been unbearable. Gut instincts and the magnetic compass would have steered them on to greener pastures. The reality is our parents put together three successful homes in three different continents! Although we were not there at the time, the recent viewings on U-tube indicate some statements that do not sound right to us and we suggest that, as Project Manager, you use the question and answer session to verify these with academics in the audience thus giving an opportunity, if necessary, to make amendments for the polished version before it is placed on record with the British Library. We second Roland Francis's suggestion about The Documentary being fit enough for nomination to international short film contests and exhibitions. To start with you may wish to contact the British Film Institute (BFI) in London and also our own people in India for the annual IFFI festival held in Goa but please get it corrected first, happy to discuss. Hope your intellectual injection into the festival is justly rewarded with a full house that do not wander off to the pullao and sorpotel stall or prefer to spend their time chilling out and catching up on gossip. You need not be nervous as your fully trained volunteers should be on hand and all you have to do is follow the British motto "Keep Calm and Carry On". If all else fails, have a glass of Santogen wine by your side, historically, this has been known as a good tonic to calm nerves. It would indeed be good to meet but please accept our apologies as we have stopped attending this once great Goan festival that used to be a window on Goa and the pride of every stall holder who showcased their village and talents. Our community came to meet and greet, came happy and left happier. Today we do not have the same community spirit we once had and also we do not feel that the current Goan Association UK is a community organisation any more representing us in the United Kingdom. We look forward to viewing the uploaded polished version on U-tube, along with our worldwide goanet community, over a glass of chilled Rose wine. Melvyn and Rose Fernandes Thornton Heath, Surrey, United Kingdom 11 July 2012 melvynfernan...@virginmedia.com
