When I posted my Free Thoughts on World Goa Day, I had
just glanced over Basilio Magno's post, World Goa Day
Has Come To Stay. I feel Magno has gone a bit
overboard by his praise of Rene Barreto, calling it
Rene's noble idea.
As for me, I would have been rather circumspect in
heaping lavish praise either on Rene, especially since
Sudharop (California) has brought the issue into the
open on who the originators are.
I feel the Goan Welfare Society (Kuwait) is NOT a
contender. I explain later why I consider so.
While the issue is still at dispute and it would need
a through examination of the Goanet archives to check
who posted first in cyberspace on having such an event
globally. Goa Sudharop has said that it was Filomena
Giese's idea to have World Goa Day and had posted it
in cyberGoa in 1999. I would request George Pinto or
the Goanet administrator to provide us with a copy of
this post.
Gaspar's claim that the Kuwait Goan Association
launched Goa Day seems true from checking the website
on the report of the 1999 celebrations, saying it was
the fifth one. In the context of having Goa Day
celebrations, let me point out that the Goan Overseas
Association in Toronto organized a Goa Day, maybe not
exactly with that title, at the Harbourfront in 1986
(I could be wrong on the year).
It was GOA's organization, but the idea to have such
an event came from the late Ladis da Silva, writer and
artist. I think he had expressed such an idea in the
GOA newsletter. I am not sure how many times Goa Day
was organized. However, now the GOA has Viva Goa, and
I think this year was the sixth consecutive one. In
1988, the GOA had the First International Goan
Convention.
However, calling it the first was disputed. It was
claimed that some Goans from neighbouring countries
met in Paris for a meeting and it was, therefore, the
first meeting of diaspora Goans. Not many had heard
of this meeting, and I, for one, don't know what came
out of this meeting.
The Toronto convention was ground-breaking, and those
who attended it can vouch for the manner it was
conducted. There were a few hitches but overall it was
a grand success. The International Goan Organization
(IGO) born out of this meet. I will skip the later
history of the IGO.
The then president of the GOA, Zulema de Souza, is
credited with the idea of having the international
convention. In the aftermath of the success it was
conveniently forgotten by her close associates and
friends that she had admitted to have borrowed the
idea from a similar convention held by Greeks.
In the same vein, the person who proposed the idea for
the IGO was never credited but these very people said
it came about during the convention. No, it was
proposed at one of preparatory meetings and it then
included as part of the agenda for the convention. It
was a deliberate attempt by this closely-knit circle,
mostly of Uganda Goans, to deny the person the credit.
What came out of the convention was the idea to have
the First International Youth Conference in Goa.
Former MLA and the current deputy chairman of the
NRI-GOA (I believe he still is), Herculano Dourado,
who was present at the Toronto convention was
appointed co-ordinator for the youth convention. The
youth convention was a damp squib, to say the least.
Similarly, the origin of the GOA Toronto is messed
up. However, on record there are more than 100, I
think, who are designated as founders. It was a
compromise because different people individually or
as small circle of friends or sports teams claimed
their rights as founders.
Some ten years ago another person, who was also part
of the founders, I think, came to me with a flyer
saying he was the first one to organize a Goan event.
I told him why he waited so late. The GOA history
begins with a series of sports and cultural events
that ultimately paved the way to have a formal
association.
I also asked him why he can't write about his event on
the GOA newsletter. His reply was that if I write,
more as an independent observer and probably with some
credibility as a journalist, it would at least have
some impact. I have had a hand in providing some input
to the GOA history when I edited the souvenir for the
20th anniversary. I shared the byline with a former
president of the GOA. However, for the 25th
anniversary souvenir, though I and this former GOA
president were on the souvenir committee, the same
article (can't remember if there were any changes or
at least substantial changes) was carried with the
ex-president's name. And mind you, it was the same
person himself who had insisted that I put my name for
the history written for the 20th anniversary souvenir.
Why, despite me being on the committee, the story went
as the way it did is another story that would take lot
of space to write.
On the question of who was the originator of the WGD
will have to wait till we search the Goanet archives.
In the meantime, I don't have any hesitation in
believing George Pinto. What Gaspar wrote about the
Goa Day
