[Goanet] Book Review: Girish Karnad and mid-century Dharwad
https://scroll.in/article/998110/revisiting-mid-century-dharwad-in-girish-karnads-autobiography-interrogating-the-tug-of-nostalgia In her delightfully bibliophilic 2018 memoir *Listen to Me*, the novelist Shashi Deshpande describes her family’s dispersal from the small college town where she had grown up: “We little knew that it was also the end of something. We would never come back to Dharwad again. Nor did I know that for me Dharwad was not over, that, even if I left Dharwad, it would never leave me.” Deshpande explains, “Through the years, suddenly and in the most unexpected places, I would come across someone who recognised me, a person who said s/he was from Dharwad too.” She recalls an encounter at a Bangalore bus-stop, another at the airport in Tehran, and some “girl who shouted at me across the road in Mysore, in the midst of the Dasara Festival celebration”. There was Girish Karnad, “another Dharwad man, whom I met as a fellow writer in Bangalore” and in London, “a very elegant and beautiful woman” who proved to be [the author] “Aurora Figuerado [sic], now Maria Couto, an old friend from St. Joseph’s in Dharwad”. Later, in Lille, France, “during a literary festival, I was having lunch with other delegates when I heard a voice say, ‘My grandfather was a college teacher in a place called Dharwad.’ I don’t normally talk to people I don’t know, but I immediately asked the speaker who his grandfather was. ‘Armando Menezes,’ he said. Yes, my teacher.” Reading those passages soon after Deshpande’s book was released, I remember separate shivers of recognition. Yes, it was me at the other end of that improbable exchange in France, but everything else she writes about also strikes home. This is because both my parents were born in Dharwad, and the Menezes family remains steeped in the mores, ideals and loyalties they derived from its atmosphere of the 1940s-’60s. Even after they scattered all over the world, Dharwad has always remained with them. Thus, although my grandparents moved away in the 1970s, and my nuclear family never actually lived there, Dharwad’s impact lingers. One of the underlying tenets in the way I was raised was an understanding of the old college town as an India-flavoured Parnassus, where the country’s tryst with destiny was mined in an especially high-minded vein. That mystique is one reason why I relished Girish Karnad’s *This Life at Play: Memoirs*, originally published in Kannada as *Aadaadta Aayushya* by Manohara Grantha Mala in 2013. Recently released in English translation by the author (he died almost exactly two years ago) and Srinath Perur, it is an exceptionally forthright account of the making of an individual powerhouse, while also providing an outstanding social and cultural history of his milieu. *This Life at Play* is sectioned into 10 chapters that track the relatively familiar story of Karnad’s decades of ascent: infancy and school years, Karnatak College followed by the Rhodes scholarship to Magdalen College in Oxford, then playwriting, acting and film-making, and becoming the third director of the Film and Television Institute of India and marriage to Saraswathy Ganpathy (in 1976). But as I read this fast-paced and thoroughly absorbing book, another way to understand it became apparent: inner circle and outer world, Dharwad and everywhere else. The cozy college town was Karnad’s cocoon, launching pad, and refuge, with some stir-crazy angst interspersed. Unlike my family, and Deshpande’s, and most of his 1950s peers, he stayed rooted. His publisher was there, he nurtured a literature festival there and maintained a home there right until 2015. When he died, this consummate cosmopolitan was inevitably hailed as “Dharwad’s cultural ambassador”. Befitting an expert storyteller, *This Life at Play* grips the reader’s attention from the first page. It begins with a thunderclap curtain-raiser: during lunch when the “air at home was thick with self-congratulation” about his manifold achievements, his mother casually revealed she had intended to abort him. “I was stunned,” writes Karnad. “I was then thirty-five years old. Still, I grew faint at the possibility that the world could have gone on without me in it.” Then, with considerable aplomb, he proceeds to dedicate his book to the doctor whose chance tardiness preserved his existence. There are many other interesting reveals: Karnad’s parents complicated-for-the-times backstory, the fact this eventual Jnanpith Award winner didn’t study literature in college but instead chose maths to score the maximum marks, an engrossing exegesis on class in the UK, and uncommonly frank statements of fact about his love life. The concluding chapters of *This Life at Play* will interest anyone seeking to fill in the blanks of how Indian cinema and theatre evolved in the second half of the 20th century. However, it is the first section, with its intense focus on the author’s family and education, that is written with palpable d
[Goanet] Book Review -- Desi Delicacies: Food Writing from Muslim South Asia (Hindustan Times, 5/6/2021)
https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/review-desi-delicacies-food-writing-from-muslim-south-asia-edited-by-claire-chambers-101622807669991.html On April 12, after a culinarily-themed episode of *Browned Off*, her fabulously arch podcast in conversation with publisher Faiza Khan, the UK-based Pakistani author Moni Mohsin posted her first “cooking” video on Facebook. She wrote, “immigrants’ food is only of merit to white people if it’s authentic and traditional. So here I am sharing an ancient recipe for an authentic Pakistani dish I grew up eating in my grandmother’s house in Lahore.” All plummy diction and poker face, Mohsin proceeded to mash shammi kebab on to processed white bread, before producing another ingredient, saying “it’s traditional, it’s customary, treasured and much-loved.” That *pièce de résistance* was tomato ketchup. Mohsin’s hilariously truthful insight provides useful context for the curious, eclectic *Desi Delicacies: Food Writing from Muslim South Asia*. This new anthology stems from the Forgotten Food: Culinary Memory, Local Heritage, and Lost Agricultural Varieties in India research project headed by Claire Chambers of the University of York, and funded by the UK government’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. Chambers takes an unusually collaborative approach, which has resulted in something resembling collage. There’s a foreword (by Karachi-based author Bina Shah), and also an introduction, as well as an afterword (it’s entitled “Dessert”) by Forgotten Food’s “chief investigator”, Siobhan Lambert-Hurley of the University of Sheffield. Each of the nine essays, with an equal number of short stories, is bookended by a recipe. Some are traditional, such as Kaiser Haq’s nigh-phantasmagorical Katchi Biriyani which commences “use castrated Black Bengal he-goat” then expands to 28 ingredients which require 36 steps of preparation. Others - to put it mildly - belong less obviously to Muslim South Asia, like Tabish Khair’s Quick Seafood Broth, which heroes (admittedly debatably) non-halal shrimp and mussels, while omitting any archetypically desi ingredients other than a teaspoon of garam masala and a handful of coriander. To be sure, the food of Muslim South Asia does necessarily comprise endlessly disparate multitudes, to reflect the tastes and traditions of over half a billion individuals. In fact, like Hindustani, the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan, which nationalists keep attempting to tortuously – and often fatuously – cleave into ostensibly distinct Hindi and Urdu, it’s probably functionally impossible to meaningfully parse most South Asian food (beyond obvious taboos) by religion. For example, Sauleha Kamal shares her recipe for *baingan ka bharta* in Desi Delicacies, and Sarvat Hasin adds one for *kali dal*, yet, besides biographical vicissitudes situating both women across the Wagah border from India, what’s distinctively Muslim or Pakistani about the food they’re writing about? Awkward contextualization isn’t exclusive to Forgotten Food, and doesn’t substantially detract from the gems in *Desi Delicacies*. I savoured Rana Safvi’s impressively magisterial exegesis on the cultural, social and political history of the signature speciality of Mughlai cuisine. *Qissa Qorma aur Qaliya Ka* includes hard-and-fast cooking rules, an antiquarian recipe, and the author’s grandmother’s delightful maxim: *Masala aisa bhuno jaise dushman ka kaleja*! (Roast the spices as passionately as if they were the enemy’s heart!)” I also loved Nadeem Aslam’s very brief but deeply affecting *The Homesick Restaurant*, in which the acclaimed novelist writes, “each Pakistani woman spices her curries in her own way; each pan has a different aroma, the way each human body smells slightly different. The thickness, texture and the width of each woman’s chapati is also unique to her, depending on the size of her hands, the shape of her fingers, and the strength with which she kneads the dough.” While trying a new restaurant near his home in London, the author and his siblings found themselves “overcome with emotion very soon after we began the meal: the food – the flavour of the mutton, of the samosas – was the best we had tasted since our visits to our oldest aunt’s home.” The three kept eating, “each new mouthful sending us deeper into our memories” until – no spoiler alerts here – the mystery is heart-warmingly resolved. In her afterword, Lambert-Hurley says Forgotten Food was “conceived broadly to incorporate Muslim communities in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as the diaspora. The main justification is the vicious assault that Muslim communities have experienced on their food cultures in contemporary India.” She adds, “our response is to target those intensely rich food cultures from India’s cities with significant Muslim heritage for recovery, preservation and renewal. Such an approach enables exchange across South Asia’s deadly borders too.” These are creditable aspirations.
[Goanet] Book Review -- Encyclopaedia of the Visual Arts of Maharashtra (Scroll, 5/6/2021)
https://scroll.in/article/996729/in-an-encyclopedia-of-maharashtras-visual-arts-vivid-portraits-that-brush-across-linguistic-lines In our smartphone-saturated times, with every scrap of information you might want to know seemingly already at your fingertips, what good reasons could possibly exist to publish any whacking great 960-page doorstopper that weighs full three kilos? It turns out there are many. And all are embodied in the distinctive and rather wonderful English translation of *Visual Arts of Maharashtra: Artists of the Bombay School and Art Institutions (Late 18th to Early 21st Century)*, recently released by Pundole Art Gallery. Originally published in Marathi in 2013 as *Drishyakala Khand* by Hindusthan Prakashan Sanstha, this meticulously compiled encyclopedia is edited by Suhas Bahulkar and Deepak Ghare, with the eminent artists Sudhir Patwardhan and Dilip Ranade as associate editors. It spans from the year 1765 (the birth date of Navgire Gangaram Chintaman Tambat, the first artist from Maharashtra to “acquire proficiency in the Western style of painting”) right to the present day (its five youngest inclusions were all born in 1960). In between are detailed biographical notes of more than 300 artists, with an endlessly fascinating wealth of knowledge about their lives, the movements and institutions they built, and the web of relationships binding them to Maharashtra. The editorial team’s approach is refreshingly catholic: they included Carmel Berkson (an American sculptor who spent decades in India inbetween her New York life) and Magda Nachmann-Acharya (the Russian-German painter who married an Indian communist, and spent 17 years in Mumbai before dying there in 1951) as well as Mario de Miranda (whose prolific career is most strongly associated with his home state of Goa). Bahulkar explains in his Editor’s Note: “Though the state of Maharashtra was established in 1960, as far as this volume is concerned, it covers the notion of Maharashtra prevalent from the historic period of the Maratha empire, the Bombay province of the British era to the present-day Maharashtra state. The criteria behind [the] selection of names have been defined quite liberally to accommodate all the artists who have contributed in a great way. That is an impeccably broadminded scope, which makes it quite a disappointment that Bahulkar et al conspicuously omitted Shakir Ali and several other exemplary artists who studied at the JJ School of Art before Partition cleaved their lives away from India to Pakistan. I was also rather dismayed to note that the great bridge figure between the Bombay and Bengal modernists (he actually attended both JJ and Shantiniketan), who spent four decades painting in Pune, Angelo da Fonseca does not find his deserved place. Nonetheless, those concerns can be seen as quibbles, given everything else that has been brought to general attention for the first time. Much of what is in this marvellous tome doesn’t reside anywhere on the internet, and a good proportion hasn’t ever been available in English. This is why, ever since my copy arrived, it has surprised and delighted me upon every consultation, even on subjects that I have followed closely for many years. It is nothing less than an instantly valuable treasure-house of material that was previously exclusive to the Marathi archive. “English has afforded us this amazing opportunity to be world citizens but it is also part of what one might call, the brown man’s burden – we often fail to acknowledge the various languages and traditions it has displaced,” said Abhay Sardesai, the editor of Art India magazine for 19 out of its 25 years in existence. “There is a lot of important work in languages like Marathi that needs to be made available to a larger audience. How many non-Maharashtrians have heard of writers like DG Godse, for instance, who I feel is one of the finest Indian thinkers on art and history from the last century? I hope to translate some of his work soon.” Sardesai is an increasing rarity in the Anglophone Indian media world for his deft, literarily adept fluency in both Marathi and Konkani. “Given the fact that ours is a multi-lingual country that is continental in its diversity, translation as an act and event is quite central to our lives,” he said. “We swim between languages, dip in and out of cultural resources, and manage our composite lives with a degree of ease. Increasingly and rightly so, ‘translated knowledges’ that give us information and insight about our own aesthetic traditions have become crucial to a deeper understanding of our contexts.” It is undeniable that *Visual Arts of Maharashtra* brims with vivid narratives, ideas and understanding that hitherto simply did not exist in the English language. Just one example, of particular value to me, is the entry on Ramachandra Pandurang Kamat, who was born in 1904 in Madkai, some 25 km from my home in Panjim. You can look high and low online, but will only
[Goanet] Book Review: Flake by Matthew Dooley (Scroll.in, 29/7/2020)
https://scroll.in/article/968838/making-the-horror-more-bearable-wodehouse-prize-winner-matthew-dooley-explains-why-humour-matters Although still interchangeably called “comic books”, the exploding genre of graphic novels has far outgrown its origins in cartoon strips and the funny pages of daily newspapers. Ever since Art Spiegelman’s excoriating *Maus* (a Holocaust memoir where Jews are depicted as mice, the Germans are cats, and Poles are pigs) won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize, succeeding artists and writers have steadily expanded their ambit into previously unassailable precincts of “serious literature”. In 2018, another significant coming-of-age milestone when Nick Drnaso’s understated, chilling *Sabrina* (it’s about conspiracy theories in our post-truth world) was the first graphic novel longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. At the time, in an important endorsement of the entire genre, Zadie Smith said it was “the best book – in any medium – I have read about our current moment. It is a masterpiece…possessing all the political power of polemic and yet simultaneously all the delicacy of truly great art. It scared me. I loved it.” Earlier this year, another landmark achievement unexpectedly u-turned humour back into “the comics” when Matthew Dooley’s wry, delightful *Flake* became the first graphic novel nominated for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, which celebrates books “that really made people laugh.” On July 1, it was awarded the prize. Publisher and judge David Campbell said, “we had none of us, I think, expected a graphic novel to win, but we were all captivated.” There is, of course, inherent comedy in the juxtaposition of Bollinger (the pricey “official champagne of James Bond”) and Everyman (the 116-year-old classics imprint initially launched “to appeal to every kind of reader”) - which would no doubt have tickled P. G. Wodehouse immensely. The prolific author, whose uncountable legions of fans in India are second to none in their collective zealotry, epitomized identical contradictions in his oeuvre of wildly popular recurring riffs about the antics of the uppermost classes of England and the USA. Wodehouse reliably makes you laugh, which is the point of the prize named after him. Previous winners have included Gary Shteyngart (in 2015, for the absurdist *Super Sad True Love Story*) and Marina Lewicka (in 2005, for the under-rated *A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian*). In 2009, Geoff Dyer won for the part-hilarious, part-deeply-depressing *Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi*. In 2018, in a suitably amusing twist, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse jury refrained from awarding any prize at all. David Campbell announced, “Despite the submitted books producing many a wry smile amongst the panel during the judging process, we did not feel than any of the books we read this year incited the level of unanimous laughter we have come to expect. We look forward to awarding a larger rollover prize next year to a hilariously funny book.” That omnibus 2019 prize (it includes a large pig, in tribute to the famous ‘Empress of Blandings’) went to Nina Stibbe’s *Reasons to be Cheerful*, the final book in an acclaimed semi-autobiographical coming-of-age trilogy. I have not read Ms. Stibbe’s book, but a copy of Matthew Dooley’s prize-winner recently found its way into my covetous hands in lockdown Goa. And so, even as Covid-19 spread perilously in India’s smallest state, my 12-year-old son and I devoured *Flake* with tremendous enjoyment, accompanied by uncontrollable peals of genuine mirth. I can’t remember when a book last had me literally laugh out loud. But this delightfully deadpan rendering of the lowest-possible-intensity ice-cream turf wars in “the grumpiest enclave in Christian Europe” made it happen, again and again, which earns both my lasting gratitude and highest recommendation. Read it! *Flake* is a remarkable achievement, especially considering the limitations of “sequential art” (another useful term proposed for graphic novels, by all-time-great Will Eisner). Dooley has stacked his book with characters that make you truly care about them, starting with antihero Howard Grayling, crosswords-aficionado and lifelong ice-cream-van man, trundling around the route bequeathed by his father. His best pal – another crosswords lifer – Jasper once spent six months in a French prison “for trying to convert continental road signs from metric to imperial” and bears a monumental grudge because “the only local point of any elevation” has been downgraded from mountain to hill. To give away more about Dooley’s plot, and cast of wonderfully eccentric provincials, would deprive readers of serendipitous kicks and giggles. But let it be known that *Flake* is replete with wordplay, and gentle puns (many of the variant that Indians call PJs), with expertly weighted satirical skewering that induces pleasure without drawing blood. In addition, for the masochistic, there’s a cryptic crossword - sample cl
[Goanet] Book Review: The Mythmaking Around Parrikar’s Life Hid Many Compromises (Devika Sequeira, TheWire)
Book Review: The Mythmaking Around Parrikar’s Life Hid Many Compromises A new biography of the Goan politician, who had a cult following but was obsessed with holding on to power, has something for both his admirers and disparagers. Devika Sequeira BOOKSPOLITICS Manohar Parrikar enjoyed something of a cult following within the BJP in Goa but also had his share of critics. These grew exponentially in his last term in power, when he failed to live up to his much-hyped promises. A recently released political biography of the former Goa chief minister, who also served as Union defence minister, has something for both his admirers and disparagers. But it fails to substantially analyse and contextualise the rise and legacy of a politician who was so hung up on power that he clung on as chief minister to his dying day at great cost to Goa and the democratic process of government. "In 2005, he told me the feeling of losing power was as painful as someone trying to rip off one's skin. He even said that he finally realized why Congress leaders would feel restless without power," one of Parrikar's confidants and RSS man Ratnakar Lele is quoted as saying. Whether the decision to not step down came from a profound sense of loyalty to the BJP -- to ensure the party's untrustworthy allies wouldn't conspire to form an alternative with the Congress -- or because of his abiding belief that only he had what it took to govern Goa, the authors fail to explore. == Sadguru Patil and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar An Extraordinary Life: A Biography of Manohar Parrikar Penguin (July 2020) == Written by Goa-based journalists Sadguru Patil and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar, An Extraordinary Life: A Biography of Manohar Parrikar (Penguin Random House India) released a little after a year since Parrikar died from pancreatic cancer aged 63, tracks the life and political trajectory of the BJP politician from his childhood in small-town Mapusa -- where his father ran a grocery store -- through his years at IIT Bombay, his political baptism via the RSS and his eventual rise to power. There's even a chapter on his quirky food habits. The authors say: "Dedicating a chapter about food and other habits may appear to be slightly incongruous in a political biography of a former defence minister and a politician who *went on to define an entire political era for Goa*. But his maverick personality, marked with oddities, charm and human flaws, *went a long way into the making of his aura*, which along with his sharp political acumen, carried him far." (Emphasis added) They claim, "By virtue of rank, Parrikar became the state's tallest politician ever, with his appointment as defence minister in 2014. Veteran Goan politicians like Ramakant Khalap of the MGP [Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party], Eduardo Faleiro from the Congress and BJP's Shripad Naik have served as Union ministers of state, but none could pass the vertical barrier to become a full-fledged cabinet minister." Parrikar came into electoral politics in 1994 with the BJP's debut in the state assembly. An early ambition to move to parliament was nixed with his 1996 defeat. The RSS's astute and hard-nosed deal brokering with the MGP (which eventually emasculated the regional party to a has-been) helped the BJP and also Parrikar grow in Goa. Even if unintended, the book does a harsh takedown of Parrikar in some passages: "His tenure in power, especially the later phases, was marked with some of the most brazen betrayals of promises and an administration that at best ranged from average to below par." The sweeping assertions and liberal use of superlatives (the "extraordinary" in the title for instance) play into the BJP's agenda of writing out the past to plug its new icons. (*Invincible*, a pictorial tribute to Parrikar as "India's most beloved Defence Minister", was released by the Centre on his first death anniversary this March. The Goa government too has commissioned a journalist who was close to Parrikar to produce an official biography for a fee of Rs 10 lakh.) As defence minister, Parrikar tried to insidiously erase Nehru’s role in liberating Goa by projecting only the armed forces, ignoring the many years of diplomacy between India, Portugal and the UN that preceded the 1961 action. With patience running out, Nehru defied the US to order military action which was launched on December 17 of 1961 and wrapped up in two days after Goa's takeover. "Although Parrikar insisted on returning to Goa for purely political and personal reasons, he would often raise the emotional, patriotic pitch with his trademark refrain that he returned to his home state after paying a debt to the Indian Armed Forces --by serving as the defence minister... 'The Indian Army liberated the state. I think
[Goanet] Book Review: Graveyard of Glorious Empires (Scroll.in, 25/8/2018)
https://scroll.in/article/891746/rebel-sultans-manu-pillais-history-of-deccan-empires-goes-well-beyond-us-versus-them-stories Just three years ago in 2015, Manu Pillai released one of India’s quirkiest and most charming contemporary history books. ‘The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore’ is an absorbing deep dive into court intrigues of what is now Kerala “from the era of Martanda Varma, the masterful warrior king, down to India’s liberation from colonial rule two centuries after his passing. It is the story of those intervening years when the region became a smouldering cauldron of social, political and cultural contestations, which would leave in their wake a new land so different from its incredible ancestor in the era of the Zamorins and the Portuguese.” Driven compulsively over nearly 700 exhaustive pages by the author’s evidently limitless passion and commitment, there is an intriguing wrinkle. Pillai started his research when still a teenager, and was only just 25 when his book was published (it deservedly won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puruskar). Still conspicuously short of his 30thbirthday, this rather remarkable young author is back with ‘Rebel Sultans” The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji’, which promises – as per the prominent front cover blurb from Sunil Khilnani – to reposition “the Deccan to the centre of our attention – where it belongs”. In a positively racy Introduction, Pillai writes “often the Deccan has been reduced to a mere battlefield in that titanic clash between Aurangzeb and Shivaji, everything else languishing in the shadow of their sensational vendetta…But the Deccan was remarkable even before the advent of the Marathas, witness to a saga launched long in advance of the first Mughal conquests in India.” With that, he introduces a cast of wildly colourful “Rebel Sultans” who “birthed a whole new universe, a horizon of breathtaking achievements and startling contradictions. And in the end they shaped a land that became the envy of the early modern world and the object of many an emperor’s doomed desire.” These are, to be sure, already heavily trafficked annals of history. Pillai’s bibliography lists 147 books alongside some 50 journal articles, and the author takes pains to acknowledge his new contribution “stands on the shoulders of many generations of scholars. >From H. K. Sherwani and P.M. Joshi to Ricjard Eaton and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, it is to the depth of their scholarship and the painstaking detail of their research that I owe my chief debt as the writer of this volume.” But here again a curious twist. In terms of conception and pace (and a bit uncannily, even the narrative voice), this avowedly “short, readable account” more closely channels the writings of the Persia-born 16thcentury historian Ferishta, whose monumental Gulshan-i Ibrahimtracks the rise of Muslim power in India with particular emphasis on the Deccan (his chief patron was Ibrahim Adil Shah of Bijapur). Thus, ‘Rebel Sultans’ features an old-fashioned (or “classic”) authorial voice, and limits its ambit to the exercise of power and the recounting of exploits by the ruling class. This is what Thomas Carlyle described in the 19thcentury when saying, “the history of the world is but the biography of great men.” A good part of the reason for Pillai’s choice is undoubtedly simple expedience. He says, “To know India, then, we must know the Deccan. But to tell allits tales together is a daunting proposition – the land is rich, and a thousand pages would not suffice.” Instead, we get a fast-paced greatest hits of the region’s medieval roller-coaster ride, overflowing with “remarkable men and women who all claimed for themselves the esteem of posterity.” Less than a page into Rebel Sultans, there is a crucial insight, “The Deccan, to the world, was uniquely Indian: to India, however, it was a mirror of the world.” This vast, heavily populated triangular plateau spread between the Eastern and Western Ghats, and extending north as far as the Satpura and Vindhya mountain ranges, has a complicated cosmopolitan history that is neither identical or particularly meaningfully congruent with the back-and-forth existential struggles between invasion and resistance that define the identity and character of much of North India. Pillai aptly highlights one particularly crucial contrast, “Islam, tradition claims, had arrived on the Malabar coast during the lifetime of the Prophet himself, touching the Deccan, at any rate by the tenth century thereafter. The process was peaceful, with traders serving as worthy ambassadors for the faith, while some came seeking sanctuary from persecution in their own homelands…Islam in the north, however, launched an age of conquest and violence.” That might seem an ultimately inconsequential detail in what indeed did rather quickly evolve into yet another “age of conquest and violence.” But as David Shulman usefully summarizes in his Foreword to Sanjay Subrahmanyam’s brilliant ‘T
[Goanet] Book Review: From Delhi to The Den: The Story of Football’s Most Travelled Coach
http://www.hindustantimes.com/books/review-from-delhi-to-the-den-the-story-of-football-s-most-travelled-coach-by-stephen-constantine/story-cHOXe0ctjnuG1s7SP6lxzJ.html Even by the abysmal standard of Indian sports, the men’s national football team is a disappointment. Despite enjoying huge popularity second only to cricket, the beautiful game yields disastrously ugly results for this nation of 1.2 billion. Since FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) began ranking its members in 1992, India has mostly dropped straight downwards, eventually bottoming out at 171 in the world in 2014. It’s no laughing matter. A few years ago, while honouring India’s 1956 football team, which beat Australia to finish fourth at the Melbourne Olympics, then sports minister MS Gill seriously told the bemused septuagenarians, “Even now you may beat the current team by two goals.” Enter Stephen Constantine. Back in the country for his second stint as the national coach, this 55-year-old England-born football lifer has produced a string of winning performances against the same kind of minnows which used to regularly trip up India: Laos, Bhutan, Puerto Rico, Myanmar, Macau. Now the “Blue Tigers” have risen to 105 in the FIFA world rankings. Better still, for the first time since 1984, India secured direct qualification to the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Asian Cup finals to be played in the UAE next year. With forgivable hyperbole (considering India regularly beat China, Japan and Korea in the 1950s and 60s), the jubilant coach told the press, “This has got to be one of the best teams in Indian Football if not the best. This is not just our success, this is a success of the whole country. Even as Constantine spoke, the Under-17 FIFA World Cup got underway in India for the first time, with the hosts automatically included for matches against the USA, Ghana and Colombia. Though it was a typically haphazardly selected team, for the first time in many decades you could compare India’s own against some of the best in the world. The locals fought impressively hard, and hung tough. Now it doesn’t seem so outlandish the senior squad could take another leap up the rankings, perhaps into the top 50. If that improbable feat does occur, it seems likely Stephen Constantine will be the one who makes it happen. As we learn from ‘From Delhi to The Den: The Story of Football’s Most Travelled Coach’ (deCoubertin Books), his autobiography written with Owen Amos, this extremely stubborn hard case will not back down in the face of even the most daunting challenge. In today’s era of celebrity coaches in Armani suits, Constantine is an old school throwback who trudged a difficult path to his current job. Described (somewhat dubiously) by his own book as “football’s most travelled manager”, he has previously served the national teams of Nepal, Malawi, Sudan and Rwanda, which means (more reliably) he’s coached more countries than any other Englishman. Via email from Washington DC, where he works as a feature writer for the BBC website, his 33-year-old co-author told me, “The biggest lesson from Stephen’s life is: always persevere. He has had many periods out of work, when he has struggled to pay the bills. Now he is enjoying the biggest success of his career and he is taking a country of one billion people to a major finals. He deserves this success and this recognition, and I think it’s only the beginning.” It is an unlikely story. Constantine was born in England, but moved to his father’s native Cyprus after his mother died. Already committed to the game he loves above all else, he received only parental discouragement, “You’ll never make a living playing football’ he told me, over and over again.” So he left home, and began living by his wits. A local team “got me a job in a hotel; first as a doorman, then by the pool. I was 16 years old, and football had saved me.” After trying and failing to make it as a player in the UK system, he headed to the USA, where “I turned from a boy to a man”, and after some hopeful moments was again thwarted in his attempts to become a professional. “When most football managers were twenty, they played the game for a living. Me? I pumped gas at a petrol station near La Guardia airport in New York.” >From that point on, it has been an extraordinary grind for Constantine, who quite proudly bears a chip on his shoulder for having taken a harder route to coaching success because he wasn’t blessed with a fancy playing pedigree. He earned the highest international qualifications available, and “spent hours by the fax machine, typing in numbers…and sending my CV everywhere from Aruba to Zimbabwe. I tried every full-time club in the UK and the US, every English-speaking national association, and most of the non-English ones, too.” Over the years, this ultimate survivor came to see it all in the world of football: corrupt referees, match-fixing, crooked officials, pitch invasions, and bullet casings on th
[Goanet] Book Review: Reliving Kafka in Hyderabad (Hindustan Times, 29/9/2017)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/books/review-comeuppance-by-james-tooley/story-xBRleeEFEi2XADRPR2Ah6N.html Soon after Franz Kafka’s death in 1924, the writer’s literary executor Max Brod ignored his friend’s instructions, and published a slim novel written a decade earlier. Der Process (The Trial), now acknowledged amongst the seminal modernist literary texts, is about the travails of Josef K, who finds himself inextricably trapped by legal bureaucratism. He doesn’t know why he’s been arrested, or how to defend himself, or even whether it’s possible to escape. A prison guard points out the irony, “[he] admits he doesn’t know the law and at the same time claims he’s innocent.” That kind of oppressive, surreal and nightmarish predicament has come to be known as “Kafkaesque”. In ‘Comeuppance: My Experiences of an Indian Prison’, James Tooley outlines a similarly labyrinthine experience down the rabbit hole of India’s legal system, after being unexpectedly accosted at his hotel in Hyderabad in 2014. Mrs T Mantra, Deputy Superintendent, Criminal Investigation Department, showed up in a sari “draped so low that it often fell off her shoulder” and after asking about her subject’s marital status says “Then you can marry me.” Very much like Josef K had been told “stop being intransigent… you just have to confess. Confess at the next opportunity”, Tooley is initially urged by his interrogator, “Don’t worry. Make a statement from memory. We just need something to close the case.” But then the next day she showed up with “six men in a triangle behind her” and took the aghast 54-year-old off to jail. At the time of Tooley’s arrest, he was already a well-known libertarian academic (at the University of Newcastle on Tyne) and entrepreneur (he is Chairman of chain-school companies in both Ghana and India), was being accompanied by an Indian girlfriend, and had “more or less” lived in Hyderabad for years, where he gleaned insights about what he calls “grassroots privatisation” of education, ie low-cost private schools. Given all that experience, it’s hard to compute the succession of tactical and practical blunders he made after falling into Mrs. Mantra’s clutches, purportedly for failing to realise it would be a problem that he’d previously set up (and then disbanded) a trust which received funds from abroad in contravention of Indian foreign currency regulations. Whether or not Tooley is actually as much a guileless naïf as portrayed in ‘Comeuppance’ there is no denying the utmost plausibility of his descriptions of naked, pervasive venality, inertia and extortion in India’s judicial apparatus. Mrs Mantra wants a sizable chunk of cash and is unwilling to back off without getting it. Everyone else in the system is fully aware, “she was quite open about demanding bribes from me, and did not mind doing so in front of her junior colleagues or my lawyers”. The hapless Brit finds abysmal representation in a series of inattentive, deficient advocates, who repeatedly prove themselves incapable of navigating due process. Then he gets physically threatened. “You have no fucking choice,” he’s told by his blackmailer’s goon, who “opened his jacket to reveal a handgun tucked in his belt.” ‘Comeuppance’ proceeds to underline many of the most shameful aspects of India’s overburdened and antiquated legal framework, where some 67% of all prisoners languish “undertrial” for up to three years without ever facing court. The overwhelming majority of these unfortunates is Muslim, Dalit and Adivasi, far out of proportion to their numbers in society. There is also a desperate deficiency in legal aid, which is needed most by precisely this segment of prisoners. Meanwhile, bribery and corruption run rampant. As Tooley is eventually told by a friend, “That’s the only way you get things done in India. Money or power. Those are your only choices.” That is when our protagonist realized, “I too had to go the power route.” Tooley has influential friends. Gurcharan Das told him “corruption is our scourge” and “promised that he would think of ways to help me.” Though none proved effective, his blurb on the cover of ‘Comeuppance’ is a strong endorsement of “a man who came to India to do good but fell afoul of police corruption, extortion and wrongful imprisonment. Multiply his misery by a million undertrials and you have the gravest indictment of India’s corrupt rule of law.” There was local influence exerted too, by Mr. Haridevan, “a businessman with a strong involvement in national and regional politics” who spoke with his friends in the police, but the case continued to lag in limbo. Finally – and here again it is hard to imagine why Tooley didn’t immediately make the necessary phone call at the beginning of his saga – the stalemate was broken by I. V. Subba Rao, the current secretary to Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, who was then “mooted to come back to India as chief secretary for one of the two new states that was being carved out of Andhra Pra
[Goanet] Book review - The Salt of the Earth
Dear Readers Against the backdrop of MayDay, I read and reviewed 'The Salt of the Earth' written by Konkani writer Jayanti Naik and translated by Augusto Pinto http://epaper.navhindtimes.in/NewsDetail.aspx?storyid=18723&; date=2017-05-07&pageid=1 *The Salt of the Earth * May Day, the day that inspires hope in workers and fear in capitalists, was marked last Monday. A demand for 8 hours of work, 8 hours of recreation and 8 hours of rest for labourers was the hallmark of labour movements beginning 1866 and became official on 01 May 1890. The flag bearers of the movement - Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Rosa Luxemburg and Liebknecht worked tirelessly to expose the skewed superstructure of capitalist economic models and demanded rights for workers. Better working and living conditions and the right to leisure and education were the rallying slogans of these revolutionaries. Against this backdrop, through the week, I kept myself engaged with the book ‘The Salt of the Earth’ by Konkani writer, Jayanti Naik. Rightly given the epithet of ‘writer who roars (Garjan)’ by Manohararaya Saradesaya, she takes up cudgels for the ‘Bahujan’ - the majority in Goa that represent Hindu/Christian lower castes such as toddy tappers, weavers, tribals, fishermen, midwives, rustic singers, medicine men and labourers. She found them to be storehouses of ancient tradition and culture. Closely associating with them, she learnt to tap their repositories of knowledge for her writings. Born in the village of Amona in Quepem, Jayanti is a Sahitya Akademi awardee and a doctorate in Konkani language. Besides being a folklore researcher, her active participation in the Konkani language agitation of the 80s makes her a ‘keeper of memories’ - of the language, its people and the traditional/cultural heritage of this land. She has written more than 32 books, building a ‘Smriti Mandir’ - the reservoir of ancient knowledge of Goa. ‘The Salt of the Earth’ has been translated from Konkani into English by Augusto Pinto, whose creative efforts through translation chronicle the attempt to break barriers and build bridges of understanding between alien cultures . The afterword ‘The Bahujan Writes Back’ is a reader’s delight, where Augusto morphs into a literary critic as he unravels the annotated text of the book. The birth of the Bahujan in post-liberation Goa is touched upon, along with other major themes of the author’s works. This context sheds light on the directions the stories take and illustrates the ancient cultural strands of the community. Augusto also familiarizes the reader with the personal and professional life of the author, delineating the influences which shaped her social work and writings. Through his critical appraisal, Augusto identifies himself with another class of artists, one which I have often highlighted through my works, that of the ‘critic as an artist’. The protagonist of the stories in the book is the eponymous salt of the earth - the worker who tills, sows and harvests the produce of the rivers and the land. The author celebrates the cultural practices and customs of these people, when urbanization and alternative economic models were shifting the contours of the Goan society. She delineates the upheavals in family and community structures from feudal systems to capitalist bases, not sparing the darker strains of caste, power structure, illiteracy and gender that perpetuated the social milieu at that time. Jayanti succeeds in her agenda of breaking through the stereotypical image of Goans as westernized Catholic people, living amidst ubiquitous whitewashed churches. The stories make an incisive cut into the veneer of supremacy of so-called ‘Portuguese Goa’. Her stories introduce readers to village communities rooted in an Indian ethos of temples, deities, rituals and traditions. The beliefs and customs of her characters can be traced back to age-old Hindu philosophy and cosmology. She retains the vernacular dialect in certain stories (as illustrated in notes by the translator) through works such as ‘Basvo’. She also paints the canvas of ritualistic practices of the ‘Thakar clan’ with an element of inclusiveness and understanding. There is no suggestion of *othering* or voyeuristic inclination of study of tribals under a lens. A classy act of subversive writing undertaken with keen sensitivity and empathy, Jayanti disrupts many myths about the Goan majority. In the end, the subaltern comes into his own and stands tall in the mind of the reader - naked, proud and resplendent in his history, heritage, language and culture. There is no denying that Jayanti is defensive in her stance to uphold the traditional heritage of worker clans (and this is evidenced from Augusto’s remarks too). Nevertheless, she leaves her stories open ended, suggestive of the fact that she is subtly imbuing her story paintings with colours that can bring change for the better. ‘The
Re: [Goanet] Book review of Yesterday in Paradise
Best wishes to you, Frankie and the children for the new year. Will meet one of these days. Do you come often to Etobicoke? Eugene On Mon, Jan 2, 2017 at 2:37 PM, Frederick FN Noronha फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या *فريدريك نورونيا wrote: > On 2 January 2017 at 20:40, Eugene Correia > wrote: > > > I think he did the right thing by fleeing to England and perhaps saving > > himself the fate that befell Pio Gama Pinto ... > > > > From the little I've read on Pio, and my attempts to understand his > political stance, that's a price he might have been willing to pay? > > After all, he challenged the land-grabbing by the neo-elite on principle, > not by accident... FN > -- > _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ > _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ > _/ > _/ Frederick Noronha http://about.me/noronhafrederick http://goa1556.in > _/ P +91-832-2409490 M 9822122436 Twitter @fn Fcbk:fredericknoronha > _/ Hear Goa,1556 shared audio content at > https://archive.org/details/goa1556 > _/ > _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ > _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ >
Re: [Goanet] Book review of Yesterday in Paradise
On 2 January 2017 at 20:40, Eugene Correia wrote: > I think he did the right thing by fleeing to England and perhaps saving > himself the fate that befell Pio Gama Pinto ... > >From the little I've read on Pio, and my attempts to understand his political stance, that's a price he might have been willing to pay? After all, he challenged the land-grabbing by the neo-elite on principle, not by accident... FN -- _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ Frederick Noronha http://about.me/noronhafrederick http://goa1556.in _/ P +91-832-2409490 M 9822122436 Twitter @fn Fcbk:fredericknoronha _/ Hear Goa,1556 shared audio content at https://archive.org/details/goa1556 _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
[Goanet] Book review of Yesterday in Paradise
Insider’s view of Kenya Goans before and after Uhuru Recently, there has been spurt in publishing books on Goans in Africa. Not very sure if there’s a renewed interest in the Goans who inhabitated those parts of Africa where they constituted a vibrant and astute group among the other communities. It’s but natural that their stories need to be told and these African Goans be understood in the context of their lives lived in foreign nations for economic reasons and for betterment of their own livelihood, far from their homeland, Goa, and also other places in India where the Goans lived to eek out a living. The Goan community in Kenya provides a symbolic lifestyle enjoyed by the Goan communities in other nations, such as Uganda, Zanzibar, etc. The former Goan diplomat and twice Indian high commissioner to Kenya, Placido P. D’Souza, wrote in his forward to the book, Goans in Kenya, by Dr. Tereza Albuquerque, “As elsewhere, Goans had made her way to Kenya in quest of material improvement — total lagoon — as employment and educational opportunities in Goa under Portuguese colonial rule dwindled progressively.” In the book, while exploring the Goan presence in Kenya, she also gave glimpses of Goan communities in other East African nation. Her all-round view of how Goans experienced life and how they contributed to the growth of the community and shared experiences with both the larger Indian diaspora and the locals gives gave me a fairly good understanding of the progress made by Goans and how they sustained Goan identity and culture in these places. In sharp contrast to Tereza’s historical perspective, comes an eye-witness account, plus a sort of memoirs and love-affair account of the place of his birth, growing-up and professional career as a newspaperman, from Cyprian Fernandes. From the tittle of his book, Yesterday in Paradise, one gets a sense of his deep-feelings and love for the country and his sad and life-saving journey to England to avoid the possibility of being killed in post-independent Kenya. As a journalist he was looked upon as a “man who knew too much.” By all accounts, the book, though it covers from 1950 to 1974,p is a straight-forward account of how the author fared in the Kenya before and after its independence from the British. He is candid about admitting that he lived “by my wits and by the seat of his pants.” He took the risks that comes with being an investigative reporter and, as Kenya woke up to its Uhuru in 1963, Cyprian faced the dilemma of either staying on in Kenya or listening to his crying wife to save himself and his family by running away to safer lands. His wife was worried and traumatized when informed that her husband had a “bullet with his pame on it.” I think he did the right thing by fleeing to England and perhaps saving himself the fate that befell Pio Gama Pinto and the agony that would accompany the family if a bullet had taken away Cyprian’s life. He’s now happy to be “bathing his mind” in sunny Sydney (Australia) and rightly dedicates the book to his wife, Rufina. Cyprian’s telling of his story, born of a tailor and having lived his young life in the shadow of poverty in the downtrodden areas of Eastleigh and dropping out of school age 13, is heart-rending and, at the same time, awesome. He captures Kenya’s natural landscape, its magnificent sights of mountains and gaming fields of wild animals, with great munificence, and its political landscape, especially the guerrilla movement, Mau Mau, with critical and analytical perspective. He doesn’t spare the African leaders who assumed power after the British left of engaging in nefarious land-grabbing activities and engaging themselves in power struggle with an incessant intercine tribal wars. In the African context, Goans also behaved like a tribe, and Cyprian has invariably touched upon the Goan class- and caste-wars that resulted in the formation of many Goan social clubs, and the St. Francis Xavier Goan Tailors’ Society in Nairobi. Goans considered themselves as second after the British in the social hierarchy of African society, and were proud to be called “black Portuguese” in the early days of the migration. The author also pin-points why the Goans didn’t want to associate themselves with the Africans in their freedom struggle, as that would mean going against the British and fearing deportation. They faithfully served their masters, as Goans were looked favourably by the British. With most working as Bwana Karani (Mr. Clerk), Goans were the backbone of the administration. Commenting on the politics of the day and on some of the key Goans who played important roles, he mentions the circumstances and occasions which he couldn’t do so when he was with The Nation newspaper. His later posts as parliamentary reporter and his numerous trips with the Kenyan delegation to various political summits and conferences gave him a ringside view of events as they unfolded in the new Kenya. He also comments on events in Uganda
[Goanet] Book Review on British Empire Site
It gives me great pleasure to include a link to an excellent Review of my friend Braz Menezes's book which is now on the British Empire site. Well done Braz - many congrats. Mzee Mervyn http://britishempire.co.uk/library/beyondthecape.htm
[Goanet] Book review: While India holidays on its beaches, Goa Eats Dust
http://www.catchnews.com/india-news/book-review-while-india-holidays-on-its-beaches-goa-eats-dust-1465631012.html -- DEV BOREM KORUM Gabe Menezes.
[Goanet] Book Review: From Coconut Trees to Oil Wells
http://www.bharatmukti.blogspot.in/2016/03/from-coconut-trees-to-oil-wells.html Anthony Veronica Fernandes, From Coconut Trees to Oil Wells: Journeys, Links, and Solidarity between Goa and Kuwait. Saligao, Goa, Goa 1556, 2016 144 pp. Rs. 200 paperback. “During these tense moments, while was running for dear life with gunshots heard from behind, I was constantly praying to God. My plea was to save me if only to see my ailing mother who was on her death bed at the time, and who had given me as much as was possible within her very limited means as no other mother in my locality did for their sons. I wanted to escape from this torturous moment to survive and to take care of my beautiful and loving wife Fatima, my beloved son Ashton and my darling daughter Aveshah.” This book covers exciting ground documenting formidable grounds covered by the author Anthony Veronica Fernandes from Candolim, Goa. The book is extraordinary in its scope covering theses which are mostly brushed asides in scholarly reflections. The book written with all the characteristics of humility has the core theme of work. People from Goa migrated to gulf over the past six decades. One of the destination countries was Kuwait. Over here is the spatial placement with immediate international characteristics. The international character of this book documents indomitable spirit of the author to stick out his neck and get into personal witnessing of justice – the value in his connects Global and Local at every juncture. There are shifting focuses on what is local though. Having spent 35 years in Gulf working for a private company under hostile labour condition the initiatives of Fernandes are extraordinary. In a days when mass of people are lethargic to take even minor initiatives in Goa when their jobs are secure Veronica’s case is really gutsy. It is but fitting that he has come out with this book that not only is rich documentation of what went on but also inspiring book of life in war and life in Peace that is nearly war. The book lets out springs of inspiration from the Author. Those sensitive will absorb and identify with the book very smoothly encountering harsh reality of Kuwait as well as Goa. The book is masterpiece initiative of charity in most genuine sense. The book is not only in defense of Goans and other Indians working abroad in Kuwait including maids that are subjected to cruel treatments and even rape by Kuwaitis powerful due to Petro dollar, but book is also in defense of Kuwatis held as Prisoners of war. Goans under the fantastic humane leadership of Anthony Veronica Fernandes made global difference in international relations far sidetracking official Kuwait – India diplomatic relations. Anthony Veronica Fernandes personally flew into New Delhi from Kuwait in order to lobby for international support of world leaders stationed in New Delhi to seek release Kuwaiti prisoners of war held in Sadam Hussein’s Iraq. He also communicated this message in this regard to the United Nations. Needless to say that this initiative is extraordinary in every sense from an ordinary man who has witnessed two political invasions so far in his life time ;Invasion of Goa - as he documents - by India on 17th December 1961 and 29 years later invasion of Kuwait in on 02nd August 1990. The life after Iraqi occupations ends after US led forces chased Iraq out after seven months on 26th February 1991. It was during this time after the Indian work force in Kuwait was airlifted from Jordan and brought to Goa via Bombay that took most unusual political twists of the times. The minority of those who returned from Kuwait organized themselves with the support and guidance from many in Goa like Roland Martins that book records and launched movement creating long term influence on the foreign policies of India, Kuwait and Iraq. Mobilization not only was tough owing to perception of hopelessness of any possibilities of Iraq withdrawing from Kuwait and putting end to the Occupation. Few Goans even flew back into Kuwait when Iraqi government asked them to resume work under their regime in them middle for the war against USA. Most workers including maids stayed back in Goa due to various reasons. Anthony Veronica Fernandes himself had a narrow escape on two occasions. First was on the streets of Kuwait when Iraqi Soldier pointed gun and asked him to run for his life with hands up and secondly, inside his flat when soldiers came to search. On the first occasion Veronica ran for his life and heard a dozen gun shots behind him. But none hit Veronica who describes his state at this moment as that of ‘cockroach’. The second life saving instance he credits his saving of his life to Bible. When the soldiers noticed Bible in his room when soldiers were found to be descended into mental confusion and walked out of his room. He credits his faith to have saved him on both the occa
[Goanet] Book Review: The Sting of Peppercorns (Antonio Gomes)
“The Sting of Peppercorns”: Essential Lessons for how to step Out of the past & into the present By Rebecca Lobo & Antonio Gomes Goans are not strangers to adapting and overcoming lifestyles and moral and political differences. We are a dynamic community, constantly shifting in perspective and culture. In 2011 Goa Sudharop held a youth convention in San Francisco that asked the youth what it meant to be Goan. As a participating youth member this was the beginning of my journey into what it means for me to be Goan. I believe our present only makes sense within the context of the past and that to live fully in the present and future we must understand our past. As part of my journey to understanding my past I read “The Sting of Peppercorns” a novel, by Antonio Gomes and was fortunate enough to interview him for this article. The book is an entertaining read that weaves historical fact and fiction together to produce a captivating story. It explores Goa’s most recent challenge to her identity in 1961 when she stopped being a Portuguese colony and was incorporated into India. Gomes explores how the emotional, societal and political crises our grandparents and parents faced have shaped our modern day community. The book is an excellent read on many levels but especially for the important lesson it teaches on what can happen if we do not communicate openly, honestly and lovingly with our family members. It is noteworthy that a second edition of the book written in the first person narrative, has been accepted for publication in Amazing Reads, an imprint of a major book distribution and publishing house (IBD) in Mumbai, India. The book tells the story of the fictional Albuquerque family, Catholic Goans from the Brahmin caste, proud Portuguese citizens linked apocryphally to the Portuguese conqueror Afonso de Albuquerque, and bhatcars of their village. The story straddles the years before and after Goa gained independence from the Portuguese in 1961, and explores how inflexibility, a lack of honest communication and respect for each other’s differences can destroy a family challenged by change. There is a lot of symbolism in the book. Gomes creatively uses peppercorns and the name of the Portuguese conqueror, Afonso de Albuquerque also known as “The King of Peppercorns” to tell a story that highlights the exploitation of Goa by the Portuguese and the identity crisis that arose with the complicated assimilation of Hindu and Portuguese cultures. Historically, the Portuguese came to Goa to wrestle the spice trade from the Arabs. In the book, the patriarch of the family is called Afonso Albuquerque─ a nod to the Portuguese conqueror. In true Goan fashion, legends linger in the book about the Albuquerque family being linked to the Portuguese conqueror underscoring the pride taken by the family in being affiliated with Portugal. Gomes uses peppercorns to represent the main ingredients of the spice trade because peppercorn vines grew wild around a gigantic mango tree in the garden in his childhood home in Loutolim. Gomes explains that “the sting” in the book title has two meanings: 1) the physical sting or the spicy bite of pepper, and 2) the emotional sting caused when the Portuguese captain tries to extort money from Dona Isabella (Albuquerque matriarch). Gomes builds complex and multi-faceted characters for the reader to identify with. For example, he highlights the important role Goan mothers have historically played in shaping the future of Goan families. Dona Isabella, proud mother to three children whose familial alliances she is carefully planning before the integration of Goa into India, stubbornly refuses to let go of the old ways after the integration, despite the longings of her children to embrace the new and exciting political and cultural environment they find themselves in. Oblivious to the suffering she is causing them, she backs them into corners using guilt as her main weapon, trying to force them to lead their lives the way she wants them to. She has made her children her project and sees any disobedience of her wishes as a personal failure. Gomes also symbolizes specific historic events within encounters between characters in the book. The horrendous violent encounter in Portugal between Paulo (Dona Isabella’s son) and Angelino de Tor (who claims descendancy to the Spanish Inquisitor, Tomas de Torquemada) that prompts Paulo’s abrupt return to Goa is a symbolic reflection of Goa’s rape by the Inquisition. We are constantly exposed to many cultural viewpoints that challenge our identity as Goans. The biggest challenge within any family is reconciling to the fact that although we share genetic material with our family, our similarities may go no further. Reconciling differences in lifestyle, morality and politics is essential to remaining cohesive as a family, and community as a whole. To be successful in this endeavor requires flexibility, patience and honest communication. Without these, emoti
[Goanet] Book Review: Teresa's Man (from Mint Lounge)
http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/vi6WVxfVHD25rcKaU2IINM/Book-Review-Teresas-Man-And-Other-Stories-From-Goa.html No Indian language has been as splintered as Konkani. This “oldest of modern Indo-Aryan tongues”, according to the polymathic scholar Jose Pereira, has undergone extraordinary tribulations—persistent pressure from more powerful regional languages like Marathi and Kannada, a long period of violent suppression during the Inquisition years in Goa (1560-1812), the consequent struggle for survival through waves of diaspora, and then a ferocious postcolonial agitation, which finally resulted in its acceptance in 1992 as an official language under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. That roller-coaster history has produced a unique situation—native speakers now write the language of the Konkan in five different scripts: Devanagari, Kannada, Malayalam, Perso-Arabic and Roman. And while just over two million speakers of Konkani are distributed along India’s western coastline, they have developed dozens of variant dialects and pronunciation styles, almost to the point of mutual incomprehension. It has taken considerable revivalist energy over a full century in Goa (where it is the official state language) and Mangaluru to restore Konkani’s literary trajectory. Given that bumpy ride back to literature, the 14 stories in translation that comprise Damodar Mauzo’s wonderfully varied compilation, Teresa’s Man And Other Stories From Goa, definitely indicate that contemporary Goan-Konkani writing merits far greater attention than usually comes its way. While Mauzo and his close contemporaries, Pundalik Naik and Mahabaleshwar Sail, have consistently won Sahitya Akademi awards and national recognition, it is only recently that a substantial corpus of their work has begun to appear in English translation. The lively, consistently surprising Teresa’s Man holds out the promise of many more unexpected pleasures in the Goan-Konkani literary storehouse. More than any other writer in contemporary Konkani literature, Mauzo epitomizes the multilayered, profoundly confluent identity of Goans. He grew up in a Hindu family surrounded by Catholic neighbours in the gorgeous seaside village of Majorda, where the sense of community blurred all boundaries. He often recounts that at a particular time in his infancy, he was nursed by his mother’s friend, whose own baby grew up to become “Maestro” Anthony Gonsalves, the legendary musician who helped create “the sound of Bollywood”. Most of Mauzo’s books and short stories are about Goans with Catholic names, but he writes about this world strictly as an insider. Which makes perfect sense in Majorda (and the rest of India’s smallest state) but almost certainly wouldn’t work anywhere else. Then, as though specifically to further confound stereotypical conventions, many of Mauzo’s most important stories have been written from a woman’s perspective. This includes the stellar novel Karmelin, a courageous and tender portrayal of a guest worker in Kuwait that is probably the single greatest achievement in Konkani literature. At the launch of Teresa’s Man in Panaji in October, the acclaimed novelist and writer (and part-time Goa resident) Amitav Ghosh spoke of his admiration for Karmelin, pointing out that Mauzo and he are among an unaccountably small group of Indian writers who write about West Asia and its web of connections to India. Even today, tens of thousands of Goans live and work in West Asia, and Mauzo often returns to that diaspora in his writing. The first story in the new compilation is set in Saudi Arabia. From The Mouths Of Babes is a finely drawn stream of thoughts flowing through the mind of Mithila, a young Goan woman chafing under the strictures of the religious police even as she tries to evoke a more open display of physical affection from her husband. >From that very urban setting—with its mention of emails and “netiquette”—Teresa’s Man makes for prismatic reading as Mauzo’s writerly eye perches on a dazzling variety of shoulders. We sit among Goan politicians on a hedonistic break in New Delhi, accompany a Dalit cattle herder across the Karnataka border into Goa—he has been told “you’ll live like a human there”—and drive around the back streets of Margao with enigmatic Baboy, who “knew only one thing: accept everything with a laugh”. Xavier Cota, the translator of Teresa’s Man, mentions in his “Translator’s Note” that these stories were written over four decades. But while it is true that a few stories are set in the kind of village culture that does not exist any more, that passing of time has not lessened the impact of Mauzo’s plots and characters; just a sentence or two and you can’t resist being drawn in. Until recently, Mauzo made his living running the family general store—one-stop shopping for generations of Majorda residents—and says his story ideas came to him in conversations with customers. A deep empathy is reflected throughout Teresa’s Man, a
[Goanet] Book Review -- Iqbal: The Life of a Poet, Philosopher and Politician
http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/Nzbmh7nEhywenTkdLWk6IJ/Book-Review--Iqbal-The-Life-of-a-Poet-Philosopher-and-Pol.html Even in a country distinguished by its serial forgetfulness, the once-looming figure of Muhammad Iqbal has been treated exceptionally shabbily by history. His is a paradoxical, unquestionably rich legacy of poetry and politics that has been uniquely blasted into smithereens, and then pieced together into disparate, often competing, historical and political narratives. The single best-known fact about Iqbal is that he composed the ghazal-anthem Saare Jahan Se Accha, declaring (in translation) “our homeland is Hindustan”. Contemporary textbooks, however, still prefer to portray him as the spiritual father of Pakistan, which only came into existence many years after his death. Iran has staked its claim too. In 1986, the paramount Shia cleric and “Supreme Leader” Ali Khamenei declared the Islamic Republic of Iran as “the embodiment of Iqbal’s dream”, saying “we are following the path shown to us by Iqbal”. Though the poet was a resolute, lifelong critic and opponent of colonialism—and openly sought to oppose Western aggression by fostering broad Muslim solidarity across borders —Iqbal nonetheless accepted a knighthood from the British government in 1923. He was powerfully affected by the urban modernity he experienced as a student in England and Germany, writing that “the Western people are distinguished in the world for their power of action...a study of their literature and philosophy is the best guide to an understanding of the significance of life”. Still, his prescription for Indian Muslims was not to read Friedrich Nietzsche but to study the Quran: “Focus your vision on Islam.” Iqbal even lectured a sceptical Muhammad Ali Jinnah about the manifold benefits that would accrue if the Shariah, or Islamic law, was “enforced”. Iqbal is best remembered in India for his marvellous Urdu poetry, full of love for his homeland. In this regard too, the contemporary record is accurate only about a small part of the story—more than half of Iqbal’s considerable oeuvre is written in Persian, while the form is often derived from classical Arabic poetry. As the poet himself wrote in the last lines of Shikwa, his wildly controversial “Complaint (to God)”: So what if the ewer is Persian? The wine is Hijazi. So what if the song is Hindustani? The cadence is Hijazi. (Translated by Mustansir Dalvi) This towering, multi-dimensional figure of tantalizing complexity has nonetheless been half-forgotten and enshrined in the wrong way by opportunists with crude agendas. Iqbal is obviously a prime candidate for 21st century reappraisal, and a really good, meaty new biography. Unfortunately, Zafar Anjum’s bizarrely stilted, paint-by-numbers Iqbal: The Life Of A Poet, Philosopher And Politician is not that book. Anjum makes a dutiful effort, but his approach is severely restricted in the first place by chronic hagiographic impulses. Thus we’re not only informed that the teenaged Iqbal was “well-built” and “fair skinned” (his grandfather was a Kashmiri Pandit who converted to Islam), but that “his face has an awe-inspiring quality to it”. Anjum also informs us that Iqbal’s second and third wives “both love each other more than sisters”. His book is clearly the result of admirably diligent scholarship and detailed research, but everything Anjum presents seems pre-packaged, and fits neatly and uncritically into the accepted Iqbal-as-hero narrative. Still, there are some entertaining, if possibly apocryphal, anecdotes. For instance, Anjum writes that Iqbal became interested in a conversation he overheard in the London Underground “about the essence of Buddhist faith. Seeing that Iqbal is probably Asian, they turn to him for a definition of the Oriental religion. ‘What is Buddhism,’ one of them asks him. ‘I’ll tell you,’ Iqbal says and falls silent…‘What is Buddhism?’ they enquire of him again after a few minutes. ‘Sure, I’ll tell you,’ Iqbal replies and goes back into his silence. A few more anxiety-filled minutes pass. The passengers consider Iqbal with curiosity. ‘Perhaps you are thinking about the answer,’ one of the passengers says. ‘Yes,’ Iqbal gives them a brief smile and maintains his silence. By now the station has arrived. The guard shouts, ‘All change!’ The passengers make their way to the carriage door. ‘This is what Buddhism is,’ finally Iqbal tells his fellow travellers, indicating the significance of silence.” While Anjum’s book is fact-filled, it is written in a strange narrative style that combines an awkward present tense with very short sentences that become tedious. “Iqbal enjoys a loving atmosphere at home. His mother Imam Bi plays an important role in his development. He loves her dearly. When Iqbal will grow up and study in Lahore, and later on in England and Germany, she will be the reason for his visits to Sialkot. She will eagerly wait for his letters from London.” This kind of odd staccato
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Afterlife - Ghost stories from Goa
Creepy tales SHEILA KUMAR A triad of mysteries, two of them with other-worldly beings, makes for a rewarding read. Faleiro's collection of stories feature Goan ghosts in Goan locales. The Fonseca clan gathers to celebrate Savio's 75th birthday and, for some reason not really explained, one by one, they begin to tell of their experiences and encounters with denizens of the other world. Faleiro starts off tamely with the story of a much-loved son who has something to tell his ailing mother and comes in the form of a kogul bird. The tales start to get on stronger ground, if you will pardon the contradictory term, from then on. There are watery-eyes ghosts (indeed, a felicitous description) ghosts from the Portuguese Inquisition period; guilt-ridden nanny apparitions, and the like. Willy-nilly, the stories become a colourful background detail; the reader is basically gleaning a lot of information about the tale-tellers themselves, their quirks, their eccentricities, their belief or cynicism. And yes, life in Goa forms the subtle leitmotif. Falerio employs no artful device in the telling of her story. The style and language are uncomplicated and the descriptive passages have an informed elegance. Only thing, the reader is likely to be in on the game (the main stratagem, if you will) long before the denouement; at least, this reader was. Also, this slim volume of carefully calibrated; almost gentle ghost stories with a lovely black and white cover picture, so full of atmosphere. Minakshi Chaudhry curates supernatural sagas from Shimla and presents them for the reader's delight in the most simplistic manner possible. Indeed, at times, the stories are forced to stand purely on their merit, because Chaudhry seems to be more collator than writer. It's all there, right from the mist-laden trees on the jacket, the hoary chestnuts that attend to ghosts in hill towns: forlorn wraiths; churails who wander at 'water sources' between 12.00 noon and 3.00 pm; the dread sound of unseen hooves; the atmosphere always, but always, turning eerily chilly when a visitation is on; baleful and cranky ghosts balancing helpful and amiable ones; mostly unsuspecting victims and a couple who know or sense what they cannot see. The book has a charming idea at its heart but falls heavily on the execution front. A room becomes a house in the same story; punctuation takes frequent leave of absence in a most substantial manner; tenses play fast and loose with the text. Repetition forms the backbone of these stories; apparently most of the ghosts conform to some code of behaviour. I would say the reader can safely give this lot of stories a skip but the book is in its fourth impression, so obviously one person's lame ghost is another's terror-inducing phantom. The pick of this lot is Liddle's set of short stories, which are not so much spectral or supernatural in nature as slice-of-life tales that come with a mandatory twist to each tale's tail, a kicker that the reader starts to anticipate and second-guess soon. The people are everypeople, ordinary, banal but capable of mining their intrinsic base nature if the situation so required... and, in Liddle's world, the situation frequently calls for such regression. So, overtly nice people turn just a wee bit evil; murder is contemplated and committed; the disadvantaged and the deprived choose to shrug rather than drown; and yes, everywhere, people give in limpidly to temptation. Liddle does a nice line in creeps. Which is why the reader is willing to overlook minor league nuisances like italics where they don't need to be, an awkwardly constructed sentence or two, incongruencies like Indian children making mud pies. Because, in the end, that one sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious quirk placed inside each story is a most appealing quirk. http://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/creepy-tales/article4679609.ece ~Avelino
[Goanet] Book review: The Mughals, the Portuguese and the Indian Ocean
http://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/religion-trade-and-the-sea/article4689813.ece Excerpt from the link above: "Goa occupied an important place in the maritime history of that time and in a chapter "City in metaphor", almost 200 years of Goan history is told. Goa, originally known as Gopakapattanam, became the stronghold of Portuguese after the city was taken over by the latter from Bijapuris in 1510, and by 1520 became a major trading centre. To beat the Muslims and the Banias in trade, the Portuguese launched many innovative schemes luring the trader community. This brought about a process of urbanisation and building of the city opened more opportunities for trade. More political and religious mechanisms were used to augment the ability of Portuguese to use the space as a social base for perpetual control. This point is well brought out in this chapter and looks at the history of Goa in a fresh light." ~Avelino
[Goanet] Book Review: Afterlife: ghost stories from goa
Bebinca is usually eaten after meals. BC Beyond the grave By Chethana Dinesh, March 31, 2013: It's Savio Fonseca's 75th birthday. His daughters Carol and Joanna, and son-in-law Sam, have come all the way from the US for the happy occasion. On the eve of the grand celebrations, it starts to rain heavily and Savio Fonseca's paternal cousin Eduardo drops in with his family. At that very moment, the power fails, and candles are lit. Even as they all settle down comfortably in their seats and treat themselves to generous amounts of yummy bibinca, the setting proves perfect to swap stories, stories of their encounter with the preternatural. The fact that Joanna is woking on her third book, a fictitious collection of ghost stories, gives the gathering a perfect excuse to dig into their memories and recount their experiences with the 'Other'.
[Goanet] Book Review: Afterlife: ghost stories from goa
Beyond the grave By Chethana Dinesh, March 31, 2013: It's Savio Fonseca's 75th birthday. His daughters Carol and Joanna, and son-in-law Sam, have come all the way from the US for the happy occasion. On the eve of the grand celebrations, it starts to rain heavily and Savio Fonseca's paternal cousin Eduardo drops in with his family. At that very moment, the power fails, and candles are lit. Even as they all settle down comfortably in their seats and treat themselves to generous amounts of yummy bibinca, the setting proves perfect to swap stories, stories of their encounter with the preternatural. The fact that Joanna is woking on her third book, a fictitious collection of ghost stories, gives the gathering a perfect excuse to dig into their memories and recount their experiences with the 'Other'. Thus begins Jessica Faleiro's debut novel, Afterlife: Ghost Stories from Goa. As we turn the pages, interesting stories start tumbling out, and skeletons from the cupboards too, piquing our interest. A relative visits the family matriarch in the form of a koel; a young priest participates in his first ever exorcism of a seven-year-old boy possessed by an old man's spirit; a girl who dares to sleep in a haunted library, as part of her ragging by her seniors, is found hanging the next morning; in his hurry to reach home, a man takes a shortcut through an abandoned burial place, only to be pulled up for it by a face he can't seem to forget; a 10-year-old sees her dead uncle's chair rocking in his house next door... Well, these are just teasers of the many spooky stories the book holds within itself. Stories that make us wonder if shadows have a face, or if the incessant cawing of the crow outside has a message for us, from 'you-know-who'. Well, that's how convincing Jessica Faleiro's narrative is. As the stories unfold, Afterlife... introduces us to some uncomfortable truths about the Fonseca family and more, truths that Savio had guarded his children against; that the Fonsecas are the result of an illegitimate affair between a Catholic priest and a Portuguese aristocratic lady at a time the Inquisition was about to end in Goa, adding spice to the narrative. The very fact that the author uses Goan history as the backdrop to her stories deserves to be commended, though the details of the Inquisition are, at times, highly disturbing. At once lyrical and gripping, Afterlife... is a page-turner right from the word 'go'. Though the stories in the collection are not scary in the real sense of the word, they are experiences which most of us have either heard, or read about, somewhere, sometime. But, there ends the comparison. Towards the end of the book is the real twist, something none of us are prepared for, that leaves us thoroughly shaken. The author has lent all her characters, especially Lillian (Savio's wife) and Joanna (the narrator), such great charm that their strength of character lingers in our minds long after we have closed the book. They could be anyone from our own families. And, the book has a distinct Goan flavour to it, in the mention of its cuisine and the happy-go-lucky attitude of the many characters who people the book. However, the title, Afterlife, Ghost Stories from Goa, is a bit misleading, for, the story narrated by Sam is set in Martha's Vineyard, in faraway Massachusetts! In short, a perfect read for a rainy evening, when the power snaps... Afterlife: ghost stories from goa Jessica Faleiro Rupa 2012, pp 157 Rs 150 http://www.deccanherald.com/content/322722/beyond-grave.html ~Avelino
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Belinda Viegas' ‘The Cry of the Kingfisher’ reviewed by Jeanne Hromnik
A novel from Goa that offers the universality of experience By Jeanne Hromnik Writers are advised to write about what they know best. It took me a while to realise that this refers more to mental than material territory, which is why a middle-class writer can write about a slum child and an urban writer’s subject can be rural characters. In South Africa we carry this debate all the way to whether a black person can or cannot write about a white person and vice versa. ‘The Cry of the Kingfisher’ covers a large geographic area -- Kenya, England and Goa – where three lives unwind and eventually come together in a story in which the tension between these three strands is skilfully maintained. Donna, daughter of affluent Goan parents, grows up in England. Succorina is born in a Goan village, and Mayola spends her childhood in Nairobi before the family returns to Goa. The author, Belinda Viegas, is a Goan, who spent her childhood in Kenya. There are many very literate people who have never heard of Goa. For me, also of Goan parentage, it was a delight to have Goa and things Goan treated naturally and without the need for explanation. Reading the novel, I was unprepared for the thrill of recognition, the verification of Goan identity that it offered. However, it was apparent from the beginning that the real ground of the novel was somewhere else. As Maria Aurora Couto (author of ‘Goa: A Daughter’s Story’) points out on the back cover, it is in essence ‘an honest and courageous exploration of complexities of the human mind’. ‘The Cry of the Kingfisher’ – the bird’s cry is both harsh and lovely – takes one into areas of sadness and alienation, the cruelty of parental ambition and traditional beliefs, madness, rebellion and the substitution of material comfort for love. It juxtaposes the lives of three very different women, building up and providing release from emotional suspense in a beautiful act of story telling. The dream sequences that preface the later ‘chapters’ are poignant and revealing. Unfortunately – for me – ‘The Cry of the Kingfisher’ has a thesis: that parents impose enormous and unnecessary pressure on their children because of their ambitions and lack of understanding, and that escape from such pressure comes from realising one’s own potential and creativity, the only true source of happiness. This is best illustrated by Donna, whose socialite mother and ineffective, though less insensitive, doctor father create in her a constant sense of failure and alienation until she eventually rebels and finds refuge in a world of drug addicts and counter culture abhorrent to her parents. Before this, a family visit to Goa affords the kind of comfort that the child is desperately in need of. It also introduces one of the two grandmothers who feature significantly in the novel and whose presence falls credibly within the story as it unfolds. ‘The Cry of the Kingfisher’, that is to say the story, begins to fail for me when Donna, with help from Mayola (by now a practising psychiatrist), starts to analyse her own situation and the novel’s energies begin to flow increasingly into explanation and remedy. There is a remedy through psychotherapy even for Succorina, the unwanted village daughter, who escapes but then returns to her confining and ignorant village world. Mayola, the psychiatrist, inevitably becomes the voice of the author instead of a credible character. There are other interesting points that are raised by ‘The Cry of the Kingfisher’. Language, for instance. How do you represent in English the voices of people who, presumably, are speaking in Konkani? Is it important, difficult as this is, to differentiate between the English of an English Goan, a Nairobi Goan, a Goan Goan? The Goan diaspora lurks within the novel, with the consequent demands on the story-teller, and writers from outside the inner circle of the English-speaking world have a particularly difficult task. Such concerns do not really interfere, however, with the success of ‘The Cry of the Kingfisher’. What the novel offers instead is the universality of experience, wherever in the world. The nerve endings that it touches so bravely and honestly are the same everywhere. (Jeanne Hromnik is an editor based in South Africa. She traces her roots to the village of Moira in Bardez.) Source: http://www.navhindtimes.in/panorama/novel-goa-offers-universality-experience Goanet A-C-E! goa...@goanet.org
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Fashion of the Gods - A review of Moda Goa by Wendell Rodricks
Fashion of the Gods Devdutt Pattanaik I was browsing through famous fashion designer, Wendell Rodrigues wonderful book on Goan fashion — Moda Goa. In tracing earliest fashion that may have existed in the Goan region, we enter the realm of mythology and discover images of gods still worshipped who display what would have been the clothes of our ancestors. I say our ancestors, and not just ancient Goan clothing, because I realised the same clothing would have been seen across India. Goa, like much of the Western coast of India, is associated with Parashuram, the Ram who held an axe, and belonged to the clan of Bhrigu sages. It is postulated that he is perhaps a mythic embodiment of sages who brought the Vedic way of thinking to a land that was otherwise inhabited by hill tribes (there are cave drawings and markings in Goa that can be traced to the Stone Ages). What did Parashuram and the sages wear? It was probably ‘valkal’ — fabric made by beating the leaves and bark of the banyan or pipal fig trees. They may have also used animal hide. And bedecked themselves with flowers (Lakshmi’s lotus), and leaves (Hanuman’s Arka) and seeds (Shiva’s Rudraksha). What stands out in the later period is the use of unstitched cloth draped in various way around the body, and extensive use of jewellery. Both these fashions indicate rise of settled communities because spinning, weaving, dyeing, mining, smelting and smithy demands expertise. Some of the images — the most spectacular being that of Bhairava, known locally as Betaal — reveal guardian gods and fertility goddesses who wear nothing but huge chunky jewellery. Was this reality or artistic fantasy, we will never know. But many tribes around the world wear jewellery and expose parts of the body that modern society considers private. A common dress worn by the tribes even today, and could have worn in ancient times, is a simple woollen blanket thrown over the shoulders and a loin cloth around the genitals, or a sarong wrapped around the waist. Were these the clothes that the vanars or ‘monkeys’ of Kishkinda wore when they encountered Ram and Lakshman? With the rise of what is called the classical, or pre-Islamic period, comes the use of men and women draping cloth mostly cotton, sometimes Indian silk and occasionally shimmering expensive Chinese silk with gold threads interwoven — one cloth for the poor to cover the lower parts, two cloths for the slightly rich to cover upper and lower bodies, and three clothes for the very rich to cover even the head with a veil or turban. Gradually, women in Goa, as in many parts of the Deccan, wore the eight or nine-yard sari, the upper and lower garment fused into one, wrapped creatively, the lower part like a dhoti and the upper part like a shawl draped across the breasts. It is interesting to see how the dress of the gods changes with time. The fashion of the gods influenced the community and the community influenced the gods. Typical of Goa and Karnataka, the Shiva-linga is covered with huge brass and silver masks. And the face looks like a Maratha warrior complete with moustache and turban. And the goddesses have a classical half-moon-shaped nose-ring, which is common in Maharashtra too. Interesting too is the importance of cosmetics, especially pastes and unguents to wash the body and keep away body odour. Hence the practice of giving daily baths with oil and water and unguents to deities, a reminder of what the devotees are also supposed to do. One does not realise how much knowledge is locked in the temples of India. We just have to look and I am glad Wendell did. Source: http://www.mid-day.com/columnists/2012/jul/220712-Opinion-Devdutt-Pattanaik-Fashion-of-the-Gods.htm
[Goanet] Book Review: Arso
26 ONE-ACT SERMONS By DALE LUIS MENEZES Theater in Konknni is a form of art that is very popular in Goa. Of late, it is heartening to note that many manuscripts are being published and a decent corpus of tiatrs and plays are now available for the general reader. Of the many tiatrs and collections of short one-act plays, Arso: 26 Nattkuleancho Jhelo by Fr. Michael Fernandes is one such book. This collection under review, consist of twenty-six one-act plays and the novelty about this book is that the titles follow the sequence of the roman alphabets from A-Z. Fr. Michael Fernandes is a young priest hailing from Benaulim. He has published his writings in various Konknni newsmagazines like Jivit, Gulab, Goan Review, V. Ixtt and some periodicals published by the Church in Goa. An alumnus of the Saligão seminary, Fr. Michael had also contributed to the nagri Konknni daily Sunaparant in its Campus Reporter section. A versatile writer experimenting with such diverse forms of writing such as essays, stories, poems, lyrics and besides being a playwright Arso is Fr. Michael’s first book. If we take an overview of Fr. Michael’s collection, we would find that these plays are written to impart good moral values. The plots are simple and move in a direction that allows the author to end with a homily. Issues such as teenage love, respect for elders and parents, honesty, Christian values, concern for the environment etc are discussed in Arso. Fr. Michael also discusses issues like the Goan identity and heritage in the face of rampant changes due to external influences and the in-migration of people from other states. After reading the book, one gets this impression that the main purpose of the author is to impart a virtuous and moralistic message to the readers and the audience. A recurring feature of the book, that one notices, is the rapid change-of-heart to lead a good, moral life of the bad characters found in the book. The way these characters pledge to reform themselves sometimes appears to be too easily done and that the author has taken shelter in conven ience. Given the time and space constraints of a one-act play, such brevity is however understandable. In Bãym or Well, Fr. Michael stresses the importance of our traditional wells and also the need to conserve water. The use of a particular Saxtti dialect in this play makes interesting reading. In fact there are a few other instances where Fr. Michael has also experimented with other dialects, which is quite a commendable task. In some of the plays, the dialogues for lay characters are written in a way a priest would preach a sermon (for instance in Advogad), which makes the scene being enacted seem unreal. Is there a need to use lofty examples from the Bible at every turn of the phrase? That we should care for our old parents is one message that runs throughout the book. The position that Fr. Michael takes on such an issue is not a new one and we have all heard such arguments at various platforms. Fr. Michael’s position will be clear from the following quote from Inam’ where Marcus, a character in the play says thus: “Dor eka putak ani dhuvek mhozo ulo – tumchim avoy-bapuy kitlim-i zanttim pasun zalear, tankam pois korum nakat, nhoi mhonn azilant-ui ghalum nakat. Kiteak, je tyag ani koxtt tumchim avoy-bapuy tumche khatir kaddtat te sonvsarantle her khuinchech monis kaddchenant.” [This is my call to every son and daughter. No matter how old and infirm your parents may be, do not turn away from them, nor admit them in an old-age home. For they have toiled for you like nobody else in this world]. Though in agreement that we should care for the people who love us, is it always practical and feasible to walk the path that Fr. Michael is suggesting? I would also like to single out another play that could have benefitted from some fresh thinking by a very young priest like Fr. Michael. In Maim (Mother), in return for a lakh of rupees which would secure Alroy a job, the idols of Mother Mary need to be destroyed and he has to proclaim that there is no use in believing in Mother Mary. Alroy does as he is required by “the group” and immediately he meets with an accident. Or in Tallnni or Temptation, which is a story about two brothers. Since their mother has to go out shopping, she tells her two boys to sincerely sit down and study for their exams which are fast approaching. One brother succumbs to temptation and goes out with his friends to play – only to drown in a river in an act of Devan khast layli (God has punished). This idea of divine retribution should be abandoned by young priests like Fr. Michael. Rather than continuing with old and stale ideas, Fr. Michael could have infused his writings with a new spirit, one that celebrates life with all its faults and shortcomings. I shall stop here lest I begin to sound too preachy! Though many of the themes
[Goanet] Book review: Goa's Foremost Nationalist
‘ENFANT TERRIBLE’ OR GOA’S FOREMOST NATIONALIST By DALE LUIS MENEZES If there is one Goan, writing in Portuguese, who has enjoyed a decent literary corpus of translation into English and a steady stream of media and academic attention, it has to be José Inácio Candido de Loyola, more popularly known as Fanchu Loyola. In 2007, the journalist Alexandre Moniz Barbosa had translated and compiled a series of Fanchu Loyola’s essays titled Passionate and Unrestrained (See my review on GT: 21 July, 2010 ). Earlier, in 2000, another collection of his essays was also published. This collection, which is presently under review, is edited by the Jesuit Charles J. Borges and translated by Lino Leitão. This review will try to focus on the many introductory essays at the beginning of the book and also try to pose a few new questions vis-à-vis the writings of Fanchu Loyola. Besides the editor and the translator of the book, essays of Carmo D’Souza, Yona Loyola-Nazareth, Fanchu Loyola’s octogenarian daughter now based in Canada and Joseph Barros are also included. They familiarize us with the book as well as try to give an insight into the life and times of Fanchu Loyola. These introductory essays or notes are not critical of Loyola’s writings and his political ideologies; they do not go any deeper than providing a brief biographic sketch, thereby giving the impression that they are more like secular hagiographies. However, the short essay that the daughter of Fanchu Loyola wrote is remarkable. Returning after an unsuccessful meeting with Nehru where Loyola tried to convince the Prime Minister to have a plebiscite in Goa, Yona Loyola-Nazareth recalls, “I never comprehended the depth of his love for Goa till he returned to Bombay in 1958. He returned from a visit to Jawaharlal Nehru in Delhi quite defeated and disconsolate. I could not fathom his distress. He paced restlessly up and down the hallway, sighing until I could not bear it any longer. I questioned him. His answer puzzled me at that time, ‘My child, we have lost Goa. You and I have lost Goa.’ Lost Goa? In 1958? He then proceeded to tell me that although he had done his utmost to persuade Nehru to conduct a plebiscite in Goa, he was convinced that with Krishna Menon at the helm, a ‘military take-over’ of Goa was imminent.” Fanchu Loyola was a nationalist, but not like the ones who were fighting for the inclusion of Goa into the Indian Union. He was opposed more to the dictatorial reign of Salazar and, as this book makes it amply clear; he never challenged the sovereignty of the Portuguese over its colonies in India. The idea of Fanchu Loyola – the man – that this collection of writings provides is markedly different from the ones that the newer collection Passionate and Unrestrained provides. In the latter Loyola appears to be cautious and civil, though a fiercely outspoken man but in this collection under review, Loyola comes off as an enfant terrible (to borrow the words of Joseph Barros). He spoke critically and directly of the policies of the government and could be very caustic towards his intellectual rivals. Fanchu Loyola replying to one Pereira Batalha concluded his letter thus, “…I view my enemies as tiny frogs and you, Sir, among them is the tinniest, a very tiny ant and despicable. Giants like me crush them under their feet.” Loyola constantly uses terms like “public” or “people” in this collection to indicate popular support to his views and policies and that his views and policies are in conjunction with the larger public. At this point we cannot forget that most of Loyola’s writings were published in the journal of his own party (India Portuguesa) as well as other journals he established and edited. As of now all we can say is that Loyola’s views were at best claims that need to be rigorously interrogated or tested. The question as to which class of people Fanchu Loyola and his party men were trying to woo, can shed new light on the dynamics of politics of those times. Though a lawyer himself, it is interesting to note that Loyola never used the law or his legal acumen to discuss remedial measures for the social problems he was discussing. He would stress that the people had degraded morally and had become cowards and it stopped at that. Rather he waxed eloquent on the economic questions and ills of the state, like an economist using tabular data and statistics to argue his case. However, it must be said that he was an avid supporter of enacting and amending legislation to increase the economic productivity of the land. A case in point can be his advocacy of legislative measures to increase agricultural productivity rather than fertilizers and improved irrigation! Loyola was a believer in agriculture bringing economic prosperity to the land, with small-scale and cottage industries supplementing agriculture. This is one area where his idea of modernity is of much interest. Fanchu
[Goanet] Book review: Land of the Sal Tree
IDEALIZED PASTS: AN INTRODUCTION TO SALIGÃO By DALE LUIS MENEZES Fr. Nascimento J. Mascarenhas is a very well known priest in Goa. Apart from being a priest for many decades, he has also authored several books on the clergy of Goa and is also intimately associated with the Archdiocesan bulletin Renovação. Fr. Nascimento was and is actively involved in various online forums about the village of Saligão in particular and online Goan forums in general. And through contributing village-related articles and trivia on such forums, The Land of the Sal Tree was born, a book entirely devoted to the myths, history and people of Saligão. Fr. Nascimento’s project promises to be a very novel one as all those quaint traditions, superstitions and trivia of a uniquely Goan village are included in the book. This book – as the author is humble enough to claim – is not an individual effort. Fr. Nascimento had the earnest backing of many Saliganvkars, chief among them being the Canada-based illustrator of the book Mel D’Souza and Frederick Noronha. Mel D’Souza (who is also a journalist and author) is a genius in drawing and sketching and his lines enliven the text and take the reader to an altogether different experience. In Acknowledgements, we do find Fr. Nascimento honestly considering Mel to be the co-author of the book, and Mel in his “trademark modesty” asking his role to be “played down”. The book introduces us to the village of Saligão: its various wards or vaddes, the prominent houses and monuments of the villages, the well-known as well as the not-so-well-known village personalities and the various stories that Fr. Nascimento as a young boy had heard and which stayed with him for the rest of his life. Fr. Nascimento also reminisces about his boyhood that was spent in Saligão and the various people who shaped his personality. The book is a remarkable introduction to a small village of Goa and a project that has the potential for emulation by other villages as well. Dr. Olivinho Gomes’ Village Goa, a book on the village of Chandor can be mentioned in this context. Though academic, it can help in guiding such projects. Fr. Nascimento’s account of the construction of the Mae de Deus church is truly illuminating. He has dug out a lot of facts from the archives. But the lengthy list of the costs and materials incurred to build the church (pp. 104-112) could have been included as an annexure as it mars the flow of the book. The Land of the Sal Tree is not connected by a single large, unifying narrative. It is rather a collection of diverse stories written with and viewed from the eyes of passionate nostalgia (or should I say saudades?). It gives us an idealized picture of Sailigão; a picture the younger generation will be in awe of, but one that they may not be able to relate to. This book presents a rather fossilized picture of the past and it seems to yearn for a veritable museum where all that was cherished will be preserved as it is. Amongst the many interesting stories that Fr. Nascimento narrates, is one of a boy called Galdinho (related to Mel D’Souza apparently) who climbed the steeple of the Saligão church in a bid to impress a girl! But by far the most surprising and awesome story in the book is of Anthony de Mello, one of the luminaries of Saligão. Anthony de Mello was a great cricketer who put Indian cricket on the world map and was also instrumental in establishing the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The words of Vijay Merchant, another doyen of Indian cricket are produced here, as appearing in the book: “For sheer cricket administration capability, confidence and enthusiasm, there was never anyone to equal de Mello. He was the man who organized the Board of Control for Cricket in India, was its first Honorary Secretary, India’s cricket representative in international cricket conferences, and, finally, its President…His trump card was his bowling and tremendous enthusiasm� ��Anthony will always be remembered as the builder of stadiums without having anything in the bank to his credit…there will never be another Anthony de Mello in Indian cricket.” Surely now, Anthony de Mello rightfully deserves one of the stadiums of the Goa Cricket Association to be named after him. The book is neatly written with the quality of the language standing as a salient feature. But the various articles that have been collected in this book could have been edited further to avoid repetition and to maintain the focus on the theme that is the village of Saligão. Many of the traditions, superstitions and habits that are found in Saligão are also found in rest of Goa, such as the traditional games that were played and the way certain festivals are celebrated. Such commonly-occurring traditions and customs should not have been singled out for elaborate treatment. In tracing the history of the village and its p
[Goanet] Book Review: Jesuit Heritage in Goa
WHITEWASH, RED STONE AND THE JESUIT HERITAGE By DALE LUIS MENEZES The Society of Jesus has come a long way from the time the first Jesuit missionary had landed on the shores of Goa. Taking an initiative into scholarly work, the Jesuits, right from the start have actively compiled dictionaries/grammars for Konknni as well as other languages. Involving themselves actively in the spread of Christianity, among other things, required the construction of churches and chapels. A new book on the Jesuit-built churches in Goa (thank you, Francisco “Xik” Dias of Dramapur for gifting me your copy!) gives one the impression that throughout the five centuries that the order has been here, the Jesuits have been as busy as the bees. Most of the magnificent churches – the brilliant white façade against a lush green background – that we are so used to in any Goan landscape and which we believe to be our cultural heritage, were built by the Jesuits. One of the simplest ways to recognize a church built by the Jesuits is to spot the insignia, IHS, which is displayed in a very prominent place in the church. Listed in this book are nearly 80 churches (and some chapels too) that were built by the Jesuits. Jesuit Heritage in Goa by Savio Rodrigues SJ is a coffee-table book with photographs by Rinald D’Souza SJ and Shannon Pereira SJ. This book is dedicated to Fr. Moreno de Souza who had immersed himself in researching about Goan churches and whose four volumes in Konknni (Bardezcheo, Saxtticheo (2 Vols.) and Tiswaddecheo Igorzo) are a testament to his scholarly work. In his dedication Savio Rodrigues says, “Fr. Moreno could not wait to see the publication of this book, which has now seen the light of the day, thanks to the insights he shared with us. We gratefully acknowledge his willingness to accompany us on a tour of the churches of Ilhas, just three months before God called him to Himself. His long hours of research, revealing interviews, and finally his books on the churches in Goa have contributed immensely to the publication of this book.” This book briefly tries to acquaint the reader with each of the churches that the Jesuits built using history (not exactly the hardcore one), anecdotes and traditional lore. The pages of this book are full of photographs and anybody who needs quick and concise information about a particular church can profitably refer to this book. Though informative, the prose sometimes lacks the delightfulness of a coffee-table book. More revisions could have been certainly welcome. Interesting traditions associated with a particular church could have been woven in the text to make the overall prose more delightful. One just needs to browse through a Mario Cabral e Sa authored coffee-table book on Goa to understand what I am talking about. The layout and printing of this book is neatly and artistically done. I must give it to the two photographers who provided the images for this book. There are some stunning pictures in this book and credit should be given to Rinald and Shannon for their dedicated effort. But some of the photos did not capture the beauty and detail of the churches. Like the photos of the detail of the façade of the College of St. Paul bearing the Jesuit monogram (p. 17) and the sanctuary of the Church of Our Lady of Hope (p. 119). This book did raise a question in my mind: why did the Jesuits of today feel the need to publish a book about their own heritage? The answer is that, maybe, they want to reclaim their heritage and remind us of their legacy. Due to the Pombaline reforms the Jesuits, along with other religious orders, were driven out of Goa. The Jesuits were the most affected because they possessed enormous amount of property and, as this book has shown, some of the biggest churches were built by them. Though they have lost control over their material property, their intellectual heritage and legacy cannot be forgotten. Perhaps, the Jesuits are trying to assert this point. “Suppressed and expelled centuries ago, some Jesuit legacies refuse to remain repressed. They remain alive in the people. Probably prior to the rock-strong foundations of stone, the Jesuits first built faith-foundations among the people themselves,” Savio Rodrigues says in the opening few lines on the Colva Church. One of the most interesting vignettes in this book is the one on the Ponte de Linhares, the bridge that connects Panjim to Ribandar. This is a Jesuit contribution to a secular building. “The Ponte de Linhares was built by the Portuguese Viceroy, Count of Linhares, Dom Miguel de Noronha, between 1632-1633. It was meant to link Panjim with Ribandar and the City of Goa. The Portuguese sought the technical expertise of the Jesuits of the College of Saint Paul (Paulistas) in 1632 to build the massive bridge that was to be the longest in the whole East. The 3,026 metres long bridge was built on alluvial s
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Voices of Goans through my thoughts (Nisser Dias) reviewed by Julian D'Cruz
Voices of Goans through my thoughts Julian D'Cruz JULIAN D’CRUZ One more feather has been added to the laurels of literature with the release of ‘ Voices of Goans through My Thoughts’. The speciality of this book is that its self published by one of Goa’s daring sons of the soil whom all will agree, has through this publication, checkmated what Goa is getting famous for: its “ corruption overdrive”. The 230- paged book is a compilation of what the author and South Goa based journo, Nisser Dias, has penned vociferously in Goa’s local daily The Gomantak Times over the last two years. He has selected 44 of those articles to publish his first book for all who love Goa and hate to see it reeling under politicos who only pretend to love Goa. Whether social issues, environment, sports to more complex issues of legislation, law and order, education, the author has brought out how politicians can be petty or manipulative to serve their own interests when in reality they have been elected to serve you and me. It is even more infuriating, rather, amusing, to know from Dias’ book how many of our politicians have even tried to sabotage issues or steal the limelight when the spotlight is not even focused on them. There are several other chapters in this book which takes a dig at almost all the present day politicians and a must read is what Dias has entitled ‘ Birds of a feather, flock together’. ‘ Voices of Goans through My Thoughts’ does not spare the State’s police force and the book has a section on Goa’s policing. These will send chills down one’s spine on reading all about how the law enforcers in Goa are themselves unlawful in their behaviour. Any reader will feel anxious for the safety of his mother, wife, daughter and the womenfolk when they find out how women are treated by cops in and out of police stations subjecting them to acts of violence, sexual assaults and much more. What is even more shocking is to note how police personnel whether PSIs or PIs involved in horrendous offences have been promoted instead of being suspended or sacked. Worse still, Dias’ section on Goa policing will send your head spinning over the fact that the men in uniform are drug peddlers and also involved in money laundering and circulating counterfeit currency. Despite being caught on camera, they still continue to hold office. Dias has raised hardened queries to the political captains on all such issues even slamming the chief minister for only protecting his ‘ kodel’ and allowing mass scale destruction of Goa on all fronts. The author firmly states that the present cabinet has no right to celebrate Goa’s golden jubilee. ‘Voices of Goans through My Thoughts’ has however hailed social activists and many others who are the rays of hope to save Goa of dying from the malignancy of corruption. It has saluted brave heart Goans for attempting to march on the streets and to prove that we are no longer going to be ‘ susegado’ under any government which refuses to serve us in letter and spirit. Dias has expressed in his book and through his articles the frustrations, anxieties that we feel and queries that we generally raise but have no platform to give vent to or voice only because we are just ‘ aam aadmi’. Call it ‘ write in time’, ‘ Voices of Goans through My Thoughts’ is out on the eve of assembly polls in Goa and all candidates will have to be cautious while campaigning. The book carries the bitter truth about Goa’s political history and no politician dare to hoodwink the Goan electorate on any issue. Priced at Rs 299, the book is a prized copy any true hearted Goan must want to possess and add to his collection of good literature and reference material. The book will serve as a testimony for future generations who will look back one day and wonder what went wrong for Goa and Goans even after they drove the Portuguese away! Source: http://www.epaperoheraldo.in/Details.aspx?id=3163&boxid=25338765&uid=&dat=1%2f22%2f2012 Goanet A-C-E! Arts ~ Culture ~ Entertainment www.goanet.org --- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---
Re: [Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Moda Goa: History and Style by Wendell
-Original Message- From: Bernado Colaco > For once please write something that makes sense. RESPONSE: Accha!?! No doubt you have a monopoly on writing nonsense on a daily basis, innit?? - B --- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---
Re: [Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Moda Goa: History and Style by Wendell
In addition, a number of shops have changed their names / reverted to their Portuguese names, Ducló Bobó had become Dukle Bhobe and is now back to its original Ducló Bobó; Zubeida Bakery is now Padaría Zubeida, but it appears to have changed its vocation in the bargain, that of selling sun-glasses instead of bread :-) ... - Original Message - > From: Bernado Colaco > To: "goanet@lists.goanet.org" > Cc: > Sent: Wednesday, 25 January 2012 9:05 PM > Subject: [Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Moda Goa: History and Style by Wendell > > Why Moda Goa if the portuguese were invaders? The writer of the book is > lucky > that the 'portuguese invaders' took over or else the chappy would have > been a kapin. > > BC --- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Moda Goa: History and Style by Wendell
For once please write something that makes sense. BC RESPONSE: Ahem!! Somebody is turning green with envy at the success of Goans in Goa. Tch-tch-tch!!! --- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---
Re: [Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Moda Goa: History and Style by Wendell
-Original Message- From: Bernado Colaco Why Moda Goa if the portuguese were invaders? The writer of the book is lucky that the 'portuguese invaders' took over or else the chappy would have been a kapin. RESPONSE: Ahem!! Somebody is turning green with envy at the success of Goans in Goa. Tch-tch-tch!!! - B --- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Moda Goa: History and Style by Wendell
Why Moda Goa if the portuguese were invaders? The writer of the book is lucky that the 'portuguese invaders' took over or else the chappy would have been a kapin. BC SWATI DAFTUAR He has a number of achievements to his name: one of India's top 10 designers, an accomplished chef, a mentor, a revivalist. And now, Wendell Rodricks will also be an author. His book, Moda Goa: History and Style, is all set to release at the Jaipur Literature Festival on Monday. Rodricks weaves a rich tapestry of history, clothing and passionate prose, while documenting the rich history of Goan costumes. The collection is full of photographs and illustrations that bring the subject to life. He charts the earliest form of clothing, making note of the Buddhist drapes that carried forward the elaborate style of later Hindu costume, the fine brocade coats of the Muslim Tughlaq rulers and the Portuguese invaders who had to improvise and alter their traditional Renaissance style to suit the hot Konkan climate. Rodricks also studies the western style dresses of the newly converted Goan Catholics --- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Moda Goa: History and Style by Wendell Rodricks - reviewed by Swati Daftuar (The Hindu)
Showcase: Spotlight on Goa SWATI DAFTUAR He has a number of achievements to his name: one of India's top 10 designers, an accomplished chef, a mentor, a revivalist. And now, Wendell Rodricks will also be an author. His book, Moda Goa: History and Style, is all set to release at the Jaipur Literature Festival on Monday. Rodricks weaves a rich tapestry of history, clothing and passionate prose, while documenting the rich history of Goan costumes. The collection is full of photographs and illustrations that bring the subject to life. He charts the earliest form of clothing, making note of the Buddhist drapes that carried forward the elaborate style of later Hindu costume, the fine brocade coats of the Muslim Tughlaq rulers and the Portuguese invaders who had to improvise and alter their traditional Renaissance style to suit the hot Konkan climate. Rodricks also studies the western style dresses of the newly converted Goan Catholics. The book explores an archive that has never been researched before, and the history of Goan costume charts out not only its own history, but that of the state as well. Rodricks is the first person to place this history in the spotlight. Through illustrations by European travellers, a wealth of photographs by Mark Sequeira and India's finest fashion photographers, and access to the fine clothing and jewellery of Goans, Rodricks transports the readers to the beauty and backwaters of India's golden state. Eleven years of research on Goan costumes have resulted in Moda Goa, a book that brings to a head everything Rodricks has worked towards, his talent as a designer, his passion for clothes and style, and his love for Goa and its heritage. Bottomline: A rich tapestry of history, clothing and passionate prose. http://www.thehindu.com/arts/magazine/article2813805.ece Goanet A-C-E! Arts ~ Culture ~ Entertainment www.goanet.org --- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---
[Goanet] Book review: Let me tell you about Quinta
--- Annual Goanetters Meet --- Annual Goanetters Meet - January 3, 2012 - 12:30 - 2pm Tourist Hostel, near the Old Secretariat, Panaji (Panjim) Planning to attend? Send an email to eve...@goanet.org with contact details --- Read the review of Savia Viegas' latest novel LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT QUINTA @ the following link: http://daleluismenezes.blogspot.com/2011/12/from-attic-to-mansion.html Dale Luis Menezes Find my writings @ www.daleluismenezes.blogspot.com --- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Taj Mahal Foxtrot (Naresh Fernandes) - reviewed by Sanjay Iyer
Hot Music In a Bombay Hotel A book that delights in how jazz—both as music and worldview—once infiltrated the emerging, cosmopolitan metropolis of Bombay By SANJAY IYER Published: 1 December 2011 On the evening of 14 August 1947, in the last moments before the stroke of midnight, while Jawaharlal Nehru was probably clearing his throat before facing the Constituent Assembly, the following words were passionately delivered to a small group of distinguished people in Bombay: “Today, we join the community of the free people of the world. The flag which was once the symbol of rebellion has become the flag of the people. Let us hope that under it this country of ours will find peace, dignity and greatness again.” Presumably, the gathering then fell silent as Nehru delivered his monumental lines. “Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes …” And at some point, in the tumult of those historic few minutes, the time did come for that small crowd to roar in approval of the ecstatic version of ‘Jana Gana Mana’ blaring off the stage. The speaker of those less known words was DF Karaka, aesthete, libertine and, later, a pioneering journalist and the founder of the tabloid Current. The distinguished gathering included the then Mayor of Bombay, the preeminent industrialist JRD Tata and Jawaharlal Nehru’s sister, Vijayalakshmi Pandit. The venue was the ballroom at the Taj Mahal Hotel at the southern tip of Bombay. The orchestra that burst into ‘Jana Gana Mana’, the song that was yet to be confirmed as India’s national anthem, was a rare amalgam of the bands of Chic Chocolate and Micky Correa. The following evening, a banquet was held at the Karachi Club to toast the founder of the newly created nation of Pakistan. Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had made sure that one of his favourite musicians from Bombay was there to complete his experience of Independence. Ken Mac and his band had been flown in by a special Tata Airlines flight, and held the bandstand. As the evening unfolded, Ken Mac sang Jinnah’s favourite song, ironically called ‘The End’. The band played its heart out. Like most people, I knew none of these facts. They came to my attention as I breathlessly read the remarkable Taj Mahal Foxtrot. Subtitled ‘The Story of Bombay’s Jazz Age’, the book explores with gusto a strand of musical creativity and expression that deeply enriches our understanding of urban modernity in Bombay. The charm of the story lies in its meticulous attention to the details, each of which in itself might amount to very little but, when strung together, make for a fascinating alternative history. Jazz did not take over Bombay but its enticing cosmopolitan appeal was always there—like an offstage presence, a prompter in the wings. While much of Bombay’s history is well-documented through accounts of its towering, nation-building figures, especially rich Parsi industrialists and philanthropists, lesser characters such as Chic Chocolate, Micky Correa and Ken Mac captured the whimsy of more than the few people actually present at the Taj Mahal Hotel and the Karachi Club on those two evenings. Imagining freedom, in the century that preceded Independence, had an aspect that has not, till now, been probed and made meaningful. The idea of ‘freedom’ as a transgression is a central strand in Naresh Fernandes’s book. Jazz gave voice to this aspiration for the ‘modern’. The audiences for jazz in the early and mid-20th century were a restless bunch of hedonists, who may have seemed apolitical but did, in fact, embrace a culture that was born in resistance. The main Indian practitioners of this transgressive music were Roman Catholics, many of them from Goa, a Portuguese colony nestling within India, the jewel in the British Crown. Their upbringing provided them with basic training in Western musical forms, along with a primal distaste for their own colonised state, and rapture for jazz, that music that just “swung”. Who were these people with names like Chic Chocolate? And Ken Mac? Chic Chocolate was the stage name of a Goan Catholic trumpet player who, before he became a music director for 1950s Hindi movies, was a mainstay of Micky Correa’s band at the Taj Mahal Hotel. Ken Mac was an Anglo-Indian bandleader who played “dance music with a touch of swing”. Taj Mahal Foxtrot tells the story of a music that was nipping at the cosmopolitan edges of Bombay: a music called jazz. ‘Jazz’ is a mysterious word, wonderfully evocative, and tantalisingly elusive. It has no definitive etymology, even if some pedants insist that it was slang for copulation. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, formed in 1916 and credited with the first recordings to be considered ‘jazz’, started life as the The Original Dixieland Jass Band. The spelling of the key word was malleable; what was nonnegotiable was the band’s insistence on being labeled ‘the original’. Bombay got a tast
[Goanet] Book review - Medieval Goa
COLONIAL HISTORY, POST-COLONIAL INTERPRETATIONS By DALE LUIS MENEZES Teotonio R. de Souza is an authority on Indo-Portuguese history. The doctoral dissertation he had submitted to the University of Poona was published in 1979 as Medieval Goa: A Socio-Economic History. Thirty years later, a second edition of the book was published thereby displaying its usefulness and academic merit. This text was widely distributed and read. It sought to “…get closer to the common man’s reality [and]…replace the myth of a ‘Golden Goa’”. There was such a need because, “During colonial times, Portuguese studies were concentrated largely on the history of navigation and expansion of Christianity by the Portuguese in the East. They do merit attention and their long-term consequences can hardly be ignored. However, following the end of colonial era, it was necessary to maintain the historiographic balance and to question the exaggerated myths about the ‘Discoveries’ and ‘Civilizing Mission’ of Portugal, and the playing down of, or ignoring, the harmful consequences that accompanied and followed those feats and mentality.” I had read this book a few months ago and had always hesitated to write a review because I feared that I might not be able to evaluate the book properly. But as a student of history I have tried to read whatever Dr. de Souza has written. This review is written mustering much courage and much effort to marshal my thoughts in the right direction. Medieval Goa focuses mainly on the ordinary people of the urban areas and the country side, which included native as well as Portuguese commoners who had suffered and were victimized by the policies and excesses of colonialism. Dr. de Souza’s work marks the first formal and best known effort in Goa to write histories that are not dynastic in nature and by including the race and caste relations of the rulers and the natives Dr. de Souza has moved away from the Nationalist paradigm of giving us conflict-free and sanitized accounts of the past. Just as the noted historian of Ancient Indian history, Romila Thapar has credited the writings of the Marxist historian D. D. Kosambi as a watershed moment in Indian history writing, Dr. de Souza’s work can also be termed as a watershed moment in the history writing of Goa. The influence of Marxism on the work of Dr. de Souza can also be observed in the pages of this book. Shifting the focus from the (suspected) greatness of the rulers of the past to the socio-economic conditions is a major Marxist contribution to Indian historiography. Besides, Dr. de Souza also uses words like ‘Praxis’ which brings to mind the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci who reinterpreted Marx and his ideas and who was jailed during the fascist regime of Mussolini referring to Marxism in his prison notebooks as ‘philosophy of praxis’ to escape the prison censors. Praxis means a set of examples for practice. A major contribution of this book is the recognition that native elements had actively collaborated in the empire-building activity of the Portuguese. I shall reproduce a few excerpts below: …when the Portuguese captured Goa, the success of the Portuguese was made possible by the native Hindu population which fought side by side with the Portuguese to defeat their former Muslim overlords (p. 6). After 1656, when the Bijapuris had to grapple with both the Mughals and the Marathas, they had no energy to spare for further conflict with the Portuguese. However, the latter was not free from embroilment in the politics of these powers since many of these provincial officials, the desais, had revolted against their masters and sought frequent refuge in the Portuguese territory. The Portuguese secretly favoured the guerilla movements of these desais to keep the powers concerned distracted with campaigns to bring the rebels to book (p. 12). The Hindus in Goa were not just shopkeepers and tax-farmers. They were in every kind of trade and profession, and were much appreciated not only by their common clients but every religious and State official (p. 84).” Caste and racial prejudices seeping into the Christian realm in medieval Goa can be observed by the following excerpt, for many of us are generally of the naïve opinion that caste does not exist in Christianity: “Where social integration was concerned the Christian preaching of brotherhood and equality of all men did not prevent the missionaries from establishing religious confraternities (confrarias) based on castes: and, just as their doctrinal wealth failed to promote greater social cohesion, their vast income and unlimited political influence did not achieve proportionate results in raising the standard of living of their native converts. Even in admissions in their own ranks, religious orders, particularly the Jesuits, maintained strict racial qualifications during the period covered by this stu
[Goanet] Book Review !
Bosco - Mine may not meet proprietory standards ! eric. --- > Book No. 19 - Get out of Goa by B. Colaco - Ole Xac Publications. RESPONSE: Please post at least one review of the above book here on Goanet preferably not authored by Bernado Colaco, B. Colaco or BC - B
[Goanet] Book Review: Snapshots of Indo-Potuguese History: Pangim - I
HISTORY OF 'PANGIM' IN SNAPSHOTS By DALE LUIS MENEZES Panjim, the capital of Goa, has very few rivals as far as beauty and architecture in the whole of India. Its wide roads with huge shady trees lining them and the many Indo-Portuguese houses give one a feeling of great joy. I particularly like to take a walk from the Kala Academy area to the ‘ferry’ bus stop whenever I happen to be in Panjim. The cool and salty breeze of the Mandovi acts as a balm on frayed and irritated nerves. This is a city that we all love and cherish. This city has changed a lot during the last 10 years. So what do we do if we want to know how Panjim looked like when it was established and how it has grown and evolved ever since? Vasco Pinho’s Snapshots of Indo-Portuguese History – I: Panjim would be a great beginning. Vasco Pinho’s book is a collection of events and monuments associated with Panjim. Along with Panjim he also explores the areas that surround this city: Dona Paula, St. Inez and Taleigao. This book is not arranged in a chronological sequence because the aim of the author is only to present the main “vignettes” and important events in the life of Panjim. The topics dealt in the book are described briefly and they surely appeal the reader. Vasco Pinho was compelled to write this book because, “…the entire stretch of Indo-Portuguese history has been converted into an object of relentless attack whenever and wherever it suits some of us. As a result, the level of ignorance about this period is not just palpable, it is incredible.” Earlier I had made a reference to the cool and salty breeze of the Mandovi. The etymology of this word “Mandovi” had always bothered me as I came to know that many places outside of Goa were also called Manddvi. But not anymore. Pinho explains, “The name Mandovi or Manddvi is thus derived from the office where duties were collected or from the local practice of collecting mandd (duties) on goods during the pre-Portuguese Hindu and Muslim periods.” A custom-post in Persian or Farsi is known as Mandubi, and that explains, I guess, why many places in India have a name closely similar to Mandovi. A very tragic incident which occurred in the Mandovi is also narrated. “For the people of Goa, the Twentieth Century began on a tragic note. A major disaster occurred on December 3, 1901, at 7:00 a.m. The motorized launch ‘GOA’ capsized while crossing the Mandovi from Verém to Pangim. Of the estimated 165 passengers travelling by that launch, 81 met with their watery grave. The passengers were on their way to Velha Goa’s Feast.” Vasco Pinho further informs us that, “On December 3, 1902, a cross was erected on the southern bank of the Mandovi, near the Caes dos Gujires, in memory of the 81 persons who had perished in that disaster.” This book is not written in a style that can be termed academic. It was also not intended to be so in the first place. But the information contained in the pages of this book could come in handy to a scholar researching about Panjim. There is also another reason: all the inscriptions on various monuments in Panjim are translated in English. One need not run from pillar to post to read the Portuguese writings, especially because not many Goans can boast of proficiency in the Portuguese language. Most of the book is a collection of facts (or should I say glimpses?) strung one after the other, which while making the narrative rather stilted, could be used to study how the city grew in time and space. Vasco Pinho could have arranged the various events, monuments and buildings in his book in such a way that it would give a picture or a sense of the development and evolution of Panjim. Many photographs which this book contains are not large enough and one has to tax one’s eyes to search for the details. In this snapshot history of Panjim, the human angle or the people feature rather rarely. It is a history of this building, that street or some other monument or landmark. I recall Shakespeare once remarking, “What is a city without its people?” On the other hand, it is worthwhile to know what how a particular street or building was known in the past. This is because in the recent years, Panjim has been at the receiving end of cultural fundamentalism and chauvinism. Efforts are being made to erase names and things that “sound” or “look” Portuguese. Against this background of dark foreboding, Vasco Pinho’s writing would serve to preserve the memory – or rather the history – of this city we love so much. Vasco Pinho also tells us that after liberation Panjim became Panaji, which is a Marathicized version of the Konknni Ponnje. A list of all the Viceroys and Governors of Portuguese India is also given in the annexure. Lastly, a word of praise must be made to this ‘self-published enterprise’ of Vasco Pinho. The first edition came out in 2007 an
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: ... and you thought Goan women couldn't be good romance writers? (MdLP on Heaven in Her Arms)
BOOK REVIEW: ... and you thought Goan women couldn't be good romance writers? By Maria de Lima Pereira taurus20...@gmail.com Two sweethearts Darrell Correia and Michelle Albuquerque are ruthlessly separated on the eve of their wedding day by the ruthless hands of selfishness, greed and debauchery through an intricately spun web of lies and deceit. They are manipulated by Craig and his mistress Wendy -- who pretend to be well wishers of the couple -- to accomplish their own nefarious goals. Darrell and Michelle are very pained, even so many years later, about the tragedy of that horrible, fateful evening, that was caused by each other's 'misdeeds' and 'betrayal'. But through pain, distance and time one beautiful emotion remains constant -- Darrell and Michelle's love for each other. They meet again after five painful, tumultuous years; each one a changed person. Can Darrell and Michelle overcome the obstacles of all the misunderstandings, secrets and cynicism to find their way to each other once again, and understand that the same love and trust they shared five years ago can be had even today? Will Darrell realise that for him it's 'Heaven In Her Arms' only? Ria Gomes debut novel 'Heaven In Her Arms' spans seven years and deals with various emotions -- love, desire, fear, betrayal, mistrust, cynicism - the main players experience as face life's myriad occurrences. The pain Darrell, Michelle and Armand have needless suffered and their inability to do anything about their hapless circumstances at that point of time, is both heart wrenching and poignant. The author writes with an effortless flair that is very sensitive towards her characters' experiences and emotions and her readers' sensibilities at the same time. Making this romantic plot convincing are genuine characters which are well sketched enough to create a vivid pictorial thus making them very real and alive. The novel succeeds in tugging at the readers' emotions and the heart strings with every scene and page, sparking anger and indignation at the injustices done. So much so that a sensitive reader will feel for them; will laugh with them, cry with them, share their pain, joys, sorrows and beliefs; understand their circumstances, their mind and beliefs, rejoicing in their triumphs, as if they are not fictional characters anymore but are part of our lives. They have carved a niche for themselves in our hearts. "I had intended to write a story people would cherish a long time," explains Ria. Gomes was born and raised in Salcete, Goa, and has been residing in Oman, the Middle-East, for more than a decade. The pain Darrell, Michelle and Armand suffered needlessly brings tears to my eyes "For me, as I write my stories, e characters I create slowly begin to take a life of their own. My characters tell their own story, I write it for them and yes, that includes the love scenes. So yes, in a way, they are my friends. I still know Darrell and Michelle and her father as I would know real people who are my friends," she agrees. The tender intimate moments between Darrell and Michelle, which are absolutely essential to the story, are beautifully and intricately woven into the plot and well-scripted in such a way to show that a body is a means for the heart, soul and mind, to really become one in sacred act of love (not lust in this instance) between soul-mates. And it feels absolutely right, not wrong. Ria confirms this thought. "When I write romances with sizzling hot love scenes between a man and a woman who are on their way to creating an everlasting bond of love, for me, those are the most amazing moments of my characters' lives. That is where the heart and mind and soul of my characters are laid bare along with their bodies. It is that sacred act where the most life-altering changes occur, and that, for me, is simply beautiful." Goan readers will certainly be able to identify with the characters, settings, plots, emotions and lifestyle in the story. As they get acquainted with this young 'couple-next-door', readers will understand that Darrell Correia is a strong, earthy kind of man but also a passionate, deep-feeling one, on matters of the heart; while circumstances and upbringing force Michelle to take certain the decisions. The novel is an engaging and stimulating read from the beginning to end. A 'can't-put-down' book and then you need to read it again and again until every word; every nuance and emotion is absorbed. This is a must read book for those who believe in soul mates and their power of eternal love. Ria is a talented romance writer who has shown that we Goan women have it in us to be great romance writers. I love this novel and forward to reading all the novels that flow out from the pen of this talented and sensitive Goan writer in the future. -- The reviewer is the author of The Perfe
Re: [Goanet] Book Review
Indeed , this book review comes as an eye opener to many of us goans who have been resident overseas sometimes through a succesion of three generations. Many of us who are great, or greater grandchildren of the diaspora and have lost touch with the original India (which was in many cases was a collection of kingdoms united later by outside invaders like the Moghuls or even the forces of Alexander of Macedonia} now look on India, Pakistan and Nepal as single entities until recently viewed as " third world " states. We overlook the fact that systemic discrimination due to ancient tribal,caste and social class biases still exist today in and around the subcontin ent. The fact that a large Maoist type conflict between the poorer tribals and villagers and the existing government stems from struggle between capitalistic economies and the peasants who are being dispossesed of their traditional agricultural lands. I shall definitely make an effort to get hold of the book thru` my contacts in Goa. - Original Message - From: "dale luis menezes" To: Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 1:39 AM Subject: [Goanet] Book Review Sir, Kindly publish my book review which appeared on GT today. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF STIGMATIZAGTION AND DISCRIMINATION By DALE LUIS MENEZES India is a diverse country of varied heritage where Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians live in peace and harmony; this is an oft heard refrain. But did it ever occur to us that in this country there are other identities that are not Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians? Tribal groups, low castes and host of other subalterns do not fit the broad categorization mentioned above. They are so isolated from us socially and politically that one never has any idea about their existence and their miserable plight. Crushed by grinding poverty and the caste system, their voice barely reaches our cities – big and small – where all the power is concentrated. The Branded: Uchalya is the eye-opening autobiography of Laxman Gaikwad, translated from the original Marathi by P A Kolharkar. Gaikwad belongs to the community of Uchalya/Pathruts, a tribe notified by the British Raj as criminal under the Criminal Tribes’ Act, first passed in 1871 (but now denotified). They generally engage in odd jobs that are seasonally available. Due to crushing poverty and the stigma of belonging to a ‘criminal’ community, the tribesmen of Laxman Gaikwad has no choice but to resort to stealing or theft. Gaikwad tells the story of his early life along with the people and the significant others who surrounded and shaped him. Gaikwad prefers his book to be read from a sociological perspective rather than a literary one. Gaikwad’s community involved themselves in pick-pocketing because the caste-ridden hierarchy had rejected this group and consigned them to live as animals. Every novitiate ‘thief’ is initiated into the art of stealing. Since a gang member should not reveal his accomplices to the police, a novice is deliberately subjected to severe beatings that make them ‘immune’ to police torture. Gaikwad gives a terrifying picture of such an initiation. The Bharat blade used to cut the pockets is always worshipped like a deity before a thieving expedition because it provided them their livelihood. Gaikwad gives a crude and at times graphic description of the pitiable condition that he and his extended family had to endure, the difficulties his family faced to get proper meals and how they were beaten, harassed and hounded and their women molested (generally on false pretense) by the police. Such a description in coarse and crude language of the atrocities caused by the system in which these groups are forced to live would not go down well with people who are used to the luxury of shiny cars and air-conditioned buildings or who are just born in an upper caste family. The Pathruts never usually school their wards. So when Gaikwad finds himself in a school because his father believes strongly in education, they both have to face adverse reaction from the family and their community. One thing that struck me about Gaikwad’s schooling experience is that the ‘ideal’ is far removed from (his) ‘reality’. Consider this, “When I used to open the text-book for Marathi, on the first page, I used to see: ‘India is my country…proud of its rich and varied heritage.’ I used to wonder why if all this were true, we were beaten with false allegation of theft…I often wonder why if Bharat is our country, we are discriminated against, why our race is branded and treated as a thieves’ community.” While in school, Gaikwad is attracted to bhajans and kirtans and excels in performing them. Participating in these religious functions, the effects of Sanskritization start affecting his mind. “I began to say that eating crabs, fish, pigs every day was a sin. I began to observe Fr
[Goanet] Book Review by class 8 student of Fatima Convent, Margao
http://katorrebhaji.blogspot.com/2011/06/mystery-of-mindnet.html ~Avelino
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Guides for those teenage years (FN, Gomantak Times)
Guides for those teenage years First published in THE PRINTED WORD|Gomantak Times Frederick Noronha Teenage can be a period of confusion and challenges. To find their way around, young people need the right advice and guidance. For centuries, parents and teachers have been considered too 'old fashioned' to offer guidance at this stage. So, what is the way out? Salesian priest Banzelao Teixeira of Don Bosco Benaulim has co-edited (with Teresa Joseph, fma) a couple of books for teens. The first is called *Teens, Your Key to Success*. But possibly the second might be more intriguing, *Teen Q's on Love and Relationships*. Coming from the religious, both books are sober and realastic, while avoiding the trap of being dull or boring. The style is one likely to appeal to elder teens, or those who appreciate the importance of such advice, probably only after having burnt fingers. The book on teen success focuses on four broad areas -- careers and goal setting, teens and self-understanding, difficult emotions, and sexual maturity. To have to decide on a life-shaping career at the age of 16 or 17 does place an unfair burden on our youth. All of us fumbled our way through this maze in our times too. But, it could be argued that this information would at least be relevant and accessible to teachers, specially the first section on careers and goal setting. It does help to have the information in easy-to-access, point form with a few images thrown in. Time-management is something every young person could profitably use; but in this day and age of instant gratification, are such concepts going to be actually implemented from a book? Somehow, the choice of topics is interesting and useful. But what remains to be seen is how much of the message reaches home. In times of growing suicides -- not to talk about the wider plague of low self-esteem and never-having-enoughism -- among students, dealing with stress is a useful topic covered. Somewhere along the way, the book suggests that sex is meant for procreation "to generate life" rather than for pleasure or gratification. Today, it is widely accepted that sexual intercourse happens for a variety of reasons -- ranging from the reproductive (in a tiny section of the cases) to one of emotional bonding between mated pairs, or more realistically even for shared pleasure. While it does make sense to convince our youth that there is a life beyond mere sex, unrealistic assumptions and attitudes are unlikely to help. But that's perhaps where the companion volume comes in. *Teen Q's* is well argued, and points out that relationships can be complex and tough, definitely not the stuff that televisions and films make them out to be. In 18 brief chapters, the book talks about a range of issues. Right from the fading nature of beauty, and how to terminate a relationship that is "not working". In our times, relationships are definitely getting more complex and hurtful, even as expectations grow unrealistically. Facebook has a catchphrase to describe this trend -- "it's complicated". How do we handle this by going beyond merely a morality-based obsession with sex? *Teen Q's* discusses what love is, and tips on how to "impress guys" by not overdoing things, dressing well (not vulgarly), developing mental faculties, being humane, being confident and developing a positive attitude towards life. An entire chapter looks at how to handle a 'no' and another on repairing a broken relationship. Both are worth owning titles for parents and teachers, besides the teens it is targeted at. Not sure how these are obtainable in Goa, but might be available via the Don Bosco's network, at least in Benaulim. Teens: Your Key to Success Teresa Joseph, fma and Banzelao Teixeira, sdb (eds.) Asian Trading Corporation, Bangalore ISBN 81-7086-597-2 www.atcbooks.in Pp 75. 2010. np Teen Q's: On Love and Relationships Teresa Joseph, fma and Banzelao Teixeira, sdb (eds.) Media House, Delhi mediahousedelhi.com ISBN 81-7495-227-1 Rs 80 US$5 Pp 112 2009. Available from: Banzelao Julio Teixeira Don Bosco Animation Centre Pulvaddo, Bhirondi Benaulim Goa 403716 Contact the writer: 2409490 or f...@goa-india.org
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Patriotism In Action (Valmiki Faleiro) reviewed by Roland Francis
Patriotism In Action – A Reader’s View By Roland Francis, Toronto, CA roland.fran...@gmail.com The Book Documented by Valmiki Faleiro of Margao Goa, a former journalist, former President of the Margao Municipality, and the son of a proud Indian Army officer in the medical branch, the book is a compilation of Goans in India’s Armed Forces. A factual narrative like this was long overdue. The aesthetics are definitely above average in this 253 page hard jacket. The covers are well designed although the front showing India Gate, could have been more impacting. That deficiency is somewhat compensated by the rear cover with a minor collage and a short description. The pages are of fine quality, as is the printing. Inside, there are several photographs, many in color, without which the book’s value would be diminished. The cost to the reader of Rs.600 or equivalent, all things considered, is well worth it. The Subject --- There is nothing like rage and a sense of loss, to create a piece of valuable work. Valmiki had both. Deeply offended by the erstwhile Maharastrawadi Gomantak Party which screamed over rooftops about deporting “Portuguese-loving” Catholic Goans who “lacked patriotism” for India, he was determined to prove otherwise. He did that in spades. Added to it, an expectation of his father to see Valmiki follow in his footsteps in the Army which went unfulfilled, drove him to make up for that as best he could. Even for the avid, civilian Goan reader, the book fills a great void in the history of Goans in the 20th century. One came across many of these officers’ names from time to time, in the media and elsewhere, but there was no reference book like this where one could find out where such and such an officer came from, who he (or she) was related to and what happened after retirement. It is hugely rewarding to know that above and beyond the top ranks in the services, there were so many others in the middle and lower ranks of the commissions. Equally comforting is finding that your run of the mill Goan village was the birthplace of such bravery, heroism and sacrifice. As Valmiki mentions, it is amazing that a community of brains would find a grudging but respected niche in the rough and tumble world of Punjabi Sikh, Kumaon, Jat, Maratha and Gurkha. Sadly such a Goan phenomenon will never occur again. A generation of Goans has been isolated from the values that drove their parents and grandparents and seem strangely motivated by examples of greed by the environment in India, and more so in Goa. These young Goans who could keep the flag flying are being bred in a human farm where the only holy grail is money and the life that comes with it. Patriotism is reserved only for elections and that too in a perverted sense. A life in the Armed Forces to them, fails when compared to a job on a cruise liner. Imagine! Our Goan heroes will turn in their graves. Also to blame is the model on which the Indian Armed Forces was built, once appropriate, but being sustained undeservedly in the modern world. The idea of the Forces being your Maa and Baap (mother and father) worked in the day when the country was poor and the enlistment was largely illiterate. Now, the ranks are educated and if even if they still come from villages, they are used to cars and have travelled to meet relatives in the western world. Managing them should no longer be in colonial style but in modern soldiering, obedience not slavish but on smarts, dependence not on brawn but on technology. The Forces have not kept up. Add to that the seeping of poor ethics from their political bosses and you can see how that does not make for good example. Gen Sunith Rodrigues when told by a US Chief that his Army was envied, should have asked – why? The answer would probably have been – we can no longer expect from our soldier what you get from yours. The foreword and prologue were superb as were the guest articles at the end. George Menezes showed his thought-provoking side and Radharao Gracias outdid himself. I have read Radharao before but here he was like a jockey cracking a whip on a slow horse. Navy Captain Jimmy Martin’s piece made me smile. It was a fitting end to mostly serious stuff elsewhere. What I Would Have Looked Forward To --- The indexing, which should have been a key element of the book, is almost non-existent - a big shortfall for a reference of this nature. Cross-indexing in addition, would conveniently bring the characters one wants to quickly scan, within a thumb’s grip. It needs to be done. The articles previously published in Goa newspapers perhaps as a teaser to the forthcoming book should have found no place in the form of separate pages when all the facts in them appear in the body of the book. This is not the only duplication. The same information is re-cycled on several pages not deliberately, but in con
[Goanet] BOOK Review: Goa Remembered by Panteleão Fernandes - Reviewed by Janice Rodrigues
Capturing Goa in its True Glory BY Janice Rodrigues For Herald Features Goa is blessed with immeasurable treasures and the book 'Goa Remembered' has beautifully depicted a number of them. Selling 500 copies even before its release, this pictorial book brings to fore many priceless facets of Goa. Herald speaks to the man behind the pictures, Pantaleao Fernandes, as he shares his ideas about Goa. For many people, even a lifetime in Goa will not be enough to see what this beautiful state has to offer, but Pantaleao Fernandes through his book 'Goa Remembered' gives us a visual treat of everything truly Goan. He has succesfully captured Goa's scenic beauty, the colours of the carnival, the fervour of the 'zatras', the everyday chores of a true Goan village and much more over a span of three years. These events are something that many Goans are familiar with but very few have truly experienced. Bringing to the world the true nature of Goa is this civil engineer turned photographer, Pantaleao Fernandes. Having had a relatively successful career in building homes, Pantaleao followed his heart's calling and turned into a full time photographer, writer and explorer, and ever since, he has explored almost every nook and cranny in the state. His book 'Goa Remembered' is a documentation of his travels and experiences. "I see things changing so fast these days; I wanted to bring out this book as a way of saving what is left of the true Goan traditions for the later generations," he explains. The book which has four sections captures the different facets of Goa. "The first section 'A Place for You' captures the beautiful scenic landscapes of Goa. The second section titled 'Religious Fervour' exhibits the religious customs and traditions followed and the religious monuments all around the state. In the third section 'Sweat of the Brow' I have captured the traditional occupations of the state which are now dying out while the fourth section 'Goa Celebrates' has the vibrant colours of the various festivities all around Goa; some of these festivities are very rare and not many people know about them,' he explains. The book contains not only a collection of the various sides of Goa, but the foreword is a concise yet in-depth look at Goa's past and present. "The book also has a comprehensive narrative of Goa's past, provided by the Padma Shri Dr Maria Aurora Couto, which is really informative," says Pantaleao. Having had a base in civil engineering. Pantaleao says that it has helped him in his photography as far as the business is concerned. "My experience in construction has given me a base to be enterprising in the way I work. But I'm happy that I made this shift from engineering to photography; it is less stressful now. Also, I always had a knack for photography and I feel creativity gets recognised immediately." Apart form writing articles, Pantaleao has been providing his expertise in photography to various magazines and around seven books carry his photographs. "I love to dig out Goa's past and promote photography too, people should see the beauty in Goa and get hooked on to photography," says Pantaleao.(ENDS) https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/qEOrJQod2FshyzbqDx8QSg?feat=directlink __ First published in the Herald, Goa - February 19, 2011
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: “The Dreaming House” by Tanya Mendonsa reviewed by Martine Corina Meijer
A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT The poetry of Tanya Mendonsa, by Martine Meijer “I woke up after my first night in Moira, sat down and wrote a poem. It has not stopped since”, says Tanya Mendonsa. In Moira she found she could do what she was born to do - all the poems in her first volume entitled “Dreaming House were written in the two years after she came to live in Moira. In 1995, after spending 19 years in Paris, Tanya returned to India with a prayer in her heart - to paint and write again, surrounded by green. In Goa, the spirits of nature bestowed this boon upon her and because of this she has dedicated her first volume to the community of Moira. Together with them she is engaged in a valiant and ongoing campaign to preserve its river, its waters, is trees and all the life in them. Tanya’s poetry is born from consciously living the conflict of our times: that, as humans, we are both modern and natural. As in these lines from “Divorced from Green: One has no forewarning, in the days of the fish and the dragonfly, that this will not be forever. (….) The demands – of a world you never knew existed hang weights on limbs that yesterday had no idea they were any different from tree branches or the haunches of a deer. The feet meet cement, and are forever divorced from green. The author returned to green but on her morning walks along the river in Moira she found her views blocked by construction sites, and she stumbled over rubble and garbage. The relentless encroachment of a one-sided humanness stirred up pain, anger and bewilderment. The conflict forced her inside of herself, to that place of nature within us - that place where, if we only dwell long and deep enough, something new and earlier unknown will show itself between the opposites. What came to her from there is a new way of seeing and the words to make us see anew too. She quotes one of her favourite poets, Mary Oliver: “ Whoever made music of a mild day?” In Tanya Mendonsa’s poetry nature is not just a pretty backdrop to a life full of only human concerns, not just matter that humans can bend to their will, but spirit redeemed - nature once again as essential to us. When asked about the meaning of redemption for her she quotes Shelley: to preserve oneself from the “contagion of the world’s slow stain” , and thus to delight in something saved . “Dreaming House” is not the work of a beginner. It is informed and inspired by a long life of reading. Tanya says she has practically read a book a day since she was 10 years old. Growing up in an English speaking environment in Calcutta, the book fairs there were a delight, and her mother Gilda ( herself a writer of cookbooks ) bought her books constantly. After moving to Paris at the age of 21, she had to earn a living there, but the reading never really dried up; nor the writing of poetry. Which brings us to the poet’s precursors, some of whose lines, with a little guidance, we can find hidden in a few of her poems: W.B. Yeats, Wystawa Szymborska, Gerald Manley Hopkins, Mary Oliver and George Herbert ( a priest and poet from the 16th century). The last three are her favourites because of the way they marry complexity to a clarity of expression, and because they are always unexpected in their use of language. Indeed “Dreaming House” shows Tanya’s mastery in combining original ways of seeing with a clear language, alternating between earnestness and frivolity: “Staying Single” To sleep till noon and, summoned by the moon through an open window, go out to dig and plant in her company. Letting the dishes pile up in the sink; to stand, elbows on a wall, in the cool wind, eating a sandwich of hot boiled egg and salt at 3 am. The scope of “Dreaming House’ is wide. Once in Moira Tanya could look back in a different way at her varied experiences and from that wellspring came the first part of the book called “ The Voyage Out”: about maturing, about people real and imagined , about love and loss, about a life away from India. In the poem “Staying Home “: (…) The blood and the guts of life are better engaged with when your feet can feel the earth; (…) The second part of the book, entitled “The Country Beyond” speaks of the infinite love that has grown in her soul for Moira, its landscapes, its people. The two parts are united under the one roof of a “Dreaming House” by the sensuousness of their language. This poetic language reminds one of the language of dreams, saying exactly what it has to say in its own unique form, creating a direct connection with that fabled world within us - our psyche, which is Nature itself. Reading her poems, whether they speak of nature, people or inner events moves us to see differently for a moment, and brings about the aliveness that comes from feeling connected to something larger, when the ordinary becomes extra-ordinary. From “Staying Home” Every day, the same landscape shifts. Every day, the same face a
[Goanet] Book Review: Another Goa by Frederick Noronha; Reviewed by Simran "Judi" Silva
Review of Another Goa By Simran "Judi" Silva He shows us the positives but is not blind to the negative aspects, and shares those with us also. One comes to understand the effects of four hundred and fifty-one years of Portuguese colonial rule and what takes place afterward, as he journals with preciseness in describing Goa both in the past and the present. It covers very specific and serious issues that affect Goa and how those issues shape the thinking of her children - the struggles of everyday life for them. Goa is very diverse, and with this diversity comes complexity. The multifaceted situations that the residents of such a beautiful land encounter need addressing and solutions attained. However, to do so, the people of Goa must band together in a united front in order to take each issue head on and work to come to decisions that all can agree with, since these decisions will affect all of them. The questions are posed. Will the people of Goa be able to answer them resoundingly? Can they achieve a measure of success in not only preserving their homeland but also in moving forward and improving upon it? If so, it will certainly add to the betterment for not only its inhabitants but for the thousands of tourists who come to visit each year, bringing in revenue to use for further developments. Looking through the eyes of several expatriates of Goa and what leaving and coming back meant to them, is a very enjoyable part of Another Goa to experience. Reading about Goa opened my eyes to all that she has been through, continues to go through, but also what she has to offer, and I hope to come to experience this for myself one day soon. I will leave the summary of Another Goa to the author in his humble way. “These pages are a small effort to share with the reader—specially the reader in Goa — some perspectives which might lend to the debate about Goa. It is a small measure of ‘paying back’ to the region I’ve called home for over four decades, and to a place I have to be grateful to.” (ENDS) _ First published at India New England - March 19, 2010 http://goanetblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/book-review-another-goa.html
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: The Dreaming House by Tanya Mendonsa
The Dreaming House by Tanya Mendonsa Reviewed by V M There are many reasons to celebrate this week's release of Tanya Mendonsa's debut book of poems, 'The Dreaming House' at Literati Bookshop in Calangute (7pm on Thursday, December 17, 2277740). BOOK COVER: http://picasaweb.google.com/GoanetBlog/Books#5413264528826053554 It is a personal triumph for the poet, who calls herself a "late bloomer," and says that her life changed forever when she moved to the ancient riverside village of Moira three years ago, after a lifetime on the move from Calcutta to Paris and back to Bangalore. Mendonsa has ancestral roots in Moira, and writes movingly that "I felt for the first time in my life that I had come home." And there was an unexpected bonus "from the first night in my old-new house, like a water source being unblocked, the words flowed onto paper as effortlessly as the sweet air that I breathed." The poems produced in that "unlocked" torrent have lasted, and have earned Tanya Mendonsa a book deal with Harper Collins, one of the leading publishing houses in India. And they have already begun to earn a buzz of appreciation from the critical establishment. The award-winning writer, Amitav Ghosh, who now spends part of the year living quite close to Mendonsa in the picturesque village of Aldona, is quoted on this well-produced book's cover saying "Tanya Mendonsa's work is cosmopolitan in reference, yet deeply rooted in the red earth of Goa: her Moira poems are a fitting elegy to a magical corner of a storied land." In a note about her work that accompanied the announcement of the release, the poet is quick to add that she hopes her poems will be a "renascence and not an elegy as Mr. Ghosh fears." And this is another reason to celebrate. Because Mendonsa has not simply returned to her ancestral heartland to write poetry, she has joined others to become a ferocious and determined defender of Goa's natural and cultural heritage, and has helped to spearhead a splendid campaign that advocated carefully planned development in Moira which would ensure a sustainable future for the village's future generations. Mendonsa is clear that she wants "any publicity I might get for my book to make as many people as possible aware of our battle to preserve the village." To her mind, her poetry is inextricably linked to her activism on behalf of her village's natural and cultural heritage. She feels "a burning need to preserve the beauty around me" as it is the wellspring of her creativity, "the source of my wellbeing." And it is true that 'The Dreaming House' is run through with a theme Mendonsa describes as "the poignancy of intense pleasure on the edge of loss" as in the first lines of the elegiac 'Divorced From Green'. One has no forewarning. In the days of the fish and the dragonfly, That this will not be forever. In returning to her homeland to find serenity, meaning, and then this rush of marvellous artistry, Mendonsa confirms all of our most cherished beliefs about the singularly bewitching character of the Goan landscape. Many years ago, our great laureate Bakibab Borkar wrote a knowing essay on this very topic. "If I were to be born again, and am allowed to choose my future birth place, I shall undoubtedly opt for Goa," declared Bakibab, "I say this not because of any blind love, but because its scenic beauty has a supernatural quality of refining the human mind, and of turning it inward into the depths of creativity and spirituality." Like Mendonsa, the great Bakibab was certain about the significance and impact of the sinuous beauty of our terrain on the poet's imagination and creativity. Of "the eternal moulder of our spirit and builder of our dreams", he warned prophetically that we must "ensure that the scenic beauty of Goa the very foundation of our culture is duly respected and not allowed to be marred or maimed, whatever the cost." It is deeply moving to read and experience Tanya Mendonsa's revival and updating of this poetic sentiment. 'The Dreaming House' is a significant book, and its release is an important event in Goa's cultural history. ENDS) First published in Herald, Goa (Dec 13, 2009) Goanet A&E www.goanet.org
Re: [Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Incredibly Believable
Dear Rose Hoff, Your mailer was vague. Should elaborate if we have to grasp the essence of the book. Thanks , Ashley
Re: [Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Incredibly Believable
Not in Goa and not anywhere... But in Goa there are many things to make! Regards, De: Goanet News Service Para: Goanet Enviadas: Sex, Outubro 16, 2009 12:17:20 AM Assunto: [Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Incredibly Believable SHIFTING TO A BETTER AGE THE UNIVERSE IS CHANGING, SAYS A NEW BOOK This is a different kind of self-help book. It seeks to help you not only in current times, but also in the future. Ritana Books recently came out with "Incredibly Believable - Everything you wanted to know about The Shift but did not know whom to ask" by Sunny Satin. The late Sunny Satin, PhD, was a hypnotherapist and past life regressionist whose work had a large following in India and abroad. He passed away in November 2006, four days after finishing the manuscript of this book.
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Incredibly Believable
* G * O * A * N * E * T C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * Planning to get married in Goa? www.weddingsetcgoa.com Making your 'dream wedding' possible SHIFTING TO A BETTER AGE THE UNIVERSE IS CHANGING, SAYS A NEW BOOK This is a different kind of self-help book. It seeks to help you not only in current times, but also in the future. Ritana Books recently came out with "Incredibly Believable - Everything you wanted to know about The Shift but did not know whom to ask" by Sunny Satin. The late Sunny Satin, PhD, was a hypnotherapist and past life regressionist whose work had a large following in India and abroad. He passed away in November 2006, four days after finishing the manuscript of this book. On opening the book you realize the author is talking about concepts discussed in every culture of the world, though shrouded in mysticism. Apocalyse, the End of Time, the change of yugas - all these are phrases we have heard about in scriptures or as part of cultural images with which we grew up. What they mean, and whether we can do anything to negotiate our lives through them, are not questions that occupy most of us in the humdrum of daily life. Unlike doomsday theorists, this work does not seek to create panic or imply that the world will come to an explosive end. It instead speaks of the positive changes that will occur, stating that the forces of light will overcome the forces of darkness eventually. Given the times we live in, the book paints an almost utopian view of the world once the 'New Age' kicks in - which, according to calculations, will be approximately in 2029. Even earlier, major changes will begin by 2012. For the diehard rationalist, the work could as well have been titled 'incredibly unbelievable'. But the reference to quantifiable or empirical scientific phenomena are also plain enough. Who's happy? Also, the author was neither a panic monger nor a commercially driven trouble shooter. He entices one to leaf through by specifically asking one not to read the book if the answer to "Are you totally happy with your life the way it is?" and a number of related questions, is an unequivocal yes. For the serious reader its frequent use of italics, exclamation marks and font changes to attract attention give it a simplistic veneer, but the aim is apparently to make it readable to as large number of people as possible. "The Shift" refers to the increase in the Schumann Resonance, or the basic resonance frequency of the earth. The author phrases it as 'the basic heartbeat of the Earth" and explains that since 1983 this value, measured in Hz, has continuously increased. "That means in the year 2013 the world will be vibrating at least 50 per cent faster than it was in the year 1983," he writes. The increased frequency will bring the earth on par with other planets vibrating at frequencies much higher than the earth is presently vibrating at. The con-current natural and scientific changes on the planet and on humans will result in heightened abilities and a civilization that operates on a more spiritual and egalitarian level than now. Since hardly anyone can deny that world of more light and love would be preferable to the current one, and across the world individuals and groups are rejecting the old order based on hierarchy, fear and force, this book is likely to be widely read and discussed. DR SUNNY SATIN had a Bachelors degree from IIT, Powai, Mumbai, a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering, an MBA in Quantitative Management and a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology. Specifications: Price Rs.495. US $25. ISBN 81-85250-40-5. Self Help. Size: 9" x 5.3/4". Binding: Hardback. Publication Date: Feb 2007. Pagination: 300. World Rights The Book is available at : www.ritanabooks.com www.hypnotherapyschoolindia.com The above review was published in the THE HINDU on January 3, 2009
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Eve's Revenge by Ethel Da Costa reviewed by Tara Patel
* G * O * A * N * E * T C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * ANKA SERVICES For all your Goa-based media needs - Newspapers and Electronic Media Newspaper Adverts, Press Releases, Press Conferences www.ankaservices.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] What is Eve's Revenge? By Tara Patel, Goan Observer (November 8, 2008) IT WAS an unusual book release in the sense that in this case it was a book of poems written over the years by a woman extraordinary, Ethel Da Costa, and her book of poetry is titled Eve's Revenge, Stories of Nemesis (designed by Printer's Devil, published and distributed by Broadway Book Centre, price is not listed). The collection of poems written by Ethel over the years of experiencing a turbulent life - married, unmarried, single mother, lifestyle journalist, crusading spirit, seeking always to be a part of the solution instead of the problem - was released over some jazz, wine and fanfare at the lovely heritage home of Gonsalves Mansion at Campal on October 18, 2008. And doing the honours were seven "Adams" or so quipped the poet, all friends whose help she cherished at different times of her life, namely Ashwin Tombat, Satish Sonak, Daniel Ferrao, Ralph De Souza, Jamshed Mistry, Brian Mendonca, Surendra Furtado, Dr. Francisco Colaco, Rajan Narayan and present for the occasion were others making up the literati and glitterati of Goa. Eve's Revenge is a painstakingly produced poetry collection with some tantalizing black and white photographic studies of bodily parts! Courtesy photographer Prasad Pankar. Ethel Da Costa's poetry betrays as much anguish in style and substance as the illustrations.the collection sums up her heroic struggle with being a woman trying to make her life count for something. Ethel is not the first woman who's taken to putting it all down in verse to experience the relief of trauma and catharsis .and rise above the human experience of being used and abused and to constantly begin anew to play the game of life. It's clear that it's not been an easy life and Ethel Da Costa's anguish is transparent in her poems of mixed metaphors and ambiguity.in "Living in Glass Houses", she says, "Everybody washed hands in clean bowls/men sacrificing my body to their false promises". What is Eve's revenge? I asked her casually during the course of the celebratory evening and Ethel replied, "Women are superior to men!" Read in between her poetry and one gets the idea that this plucky woman tries, fails and tries again to meet life's grim challenges through being romantic teenager, tormented wife, a good mother.she comes through with quite a few flying colours. One cannot but reproduce one of her poems here to capture the essence of the poet. THE MAD MAN (He said I would be dead without him) They say he was born a maverick or, so he thought sitting under the banyan tree watching the distant thundering clouds lightning streaking across the sky untamed. violent. As the rain poured down the angel's horn her tears coursed down broken knees crying at the loss of her childhood and childishness womanhood in a hurry the death of happy memories for time does not heal what the rain seeks to unveil green grass and new life wanton soil red and heaving against the onslaught of machismo. writings dumped into the waste basket that swell with torn sheets. it maketh the beast arise. No, he never died though they all said he would. Bud into girl step by step blood that flows from within.outside cleansing I have only the failing rain to soften the soles of my feet to quench the thirst of my victory. Goanet A&E http://ww.goanet.org
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Tony D'Souza reviews 'Living on the Market' by Ben Antao
Living on the Market Ben Antao Doug Thomas of Toronto is a 41-year-old supply teacher who tries to support his wife and two children by playing the stock market. Although his wife doesn't approve of his activity, Doug has succeeded in making money and saved the family's bacon in the previous two summers. Now, it's March break in 1987 and he wonders if he can pull it off again. http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1095 Antao's Anatomy of Our Economic Times Reviewed by Tony D'Souza Ben Antao has written another page turner, a prescient and timely novel of desire and money in the 80's that serves as a perfect prism for the economic difficulties of our times. Doug Thomas is a 'supply' teacher in Toronto's school system, better known in the States as a substitute teacher. As everyone knows, the teaching profession, while immensely valuable to society, is among the least remunerated white collar jobs in existence. And substitute teaching is the least remunerated and thankless niche of that already thankless profession. No one is more aware of this than Doug, Antao's all-too-human protagonist. We meet Doug in Antao's novel, Living on the Market, in his middle years, long after the idealism of changing the world through teaching has left him, in the very moment when he takes his bearings in his life and looks at his wife and two children as though from a distance, asking himself that timeless question, "How did I get here?" Though he enjoys the freedom that supply teaching's irregular schedule allows him, Doug has bigger dreams for himself and his family than his meager supply teaching salary can provide. So he does what any A-type personality unhappy with his station in life would do-and what many of us have tried to do as well-he attempts to change his station in life by trying to get rich quick in the stock market. Unfortunately, he does this with his family's hard earned nest egg. Antao's measured and considered prose is best expressed in his portraits of Doug's inner-most thinking. Take this passage, when Doug is on the precipice of 'risking it all': "Doug stood at the window in his small bedroom and envisioned his future-living on supply teaching and stock market investments. Now between the concept and its execution lay an interim fraught with a myriad set of emotions ranging from elation to trepidation. He took another day to ruminate over this idea, bobbing and pitching on the waves of intense emotion that urged him on until he could no longer postpone the inevitable decision. Spring was in the air and it had rained the day before. Looking down at the small strip of his backyard, he saw the lilac bush in flower and the tiny raindrops dripping from the petals of red tulips. Renewal of nature must lead to one's own renewal, he thought, and called the Merrill Lynch Royal Securities." Clearly Antao never abandons the eye for beauty that he has developed over the course of his accomplished oeuvre. What could have been a dull story of dollars and statistics in the course of an everyman's downfall becomes instead a lush and nuanced case study of the desire for wealth that infects all of us. But what sets Living on the Market apart and above is Antao's ability to weave the beautiful moment with the nuts and bolts of reality: not only is he a novelist to whom great and crystalline clarity comes with the ease of the rain in spring, but he knows the decimal points and ratios of his subject matter as well. Antao, lest we forget, is himself a successful financial planner who knows this material as though he himself has lived its ups and downs. And what ups and downs Antao takes us through in the guise of Doug Thomas! Doug becomes so lost in playing the market through the course of the novel that he constantly calculates how much credit he has access to on both his, and his wife Gladys's, credit cards. Gladys herself is one of Antao's richer characters: though she is reluctant to support Doug in his market plays because of losses her father had suffered during her own upbringing, she is not beyond going on shopping sprees when Doug does well. But Doug does not always do well. In fact what makes this novel so readable is Antao's crafting of Doug into a character that we at once identify and sympathize with, while understanding that he is also an out-of control train about to spin off its tracks. Antao accomplishes this in two ways. The first is through Doug's relationship with a fellow teacher, Clem Perry, who also has an interest in the market, but is older and more wary of it than Doug is. Some of the quietest passages in the book are when Doug reveals his market plans to Clem, and Clem carefully reflects on the enormity of the chances Doug is taking. The second involves Doug's relationship with his stock broker, Bill Mackenzie. Bill is Doug's greatest cheerleader when Doug is doing well; however, when the market
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Eve's Revenge: Stories of Nemesis - Reviewed by Dr Brian Mendonça
Eve's Revenge: Stories of Nemesis
Reviewed by Dr Brian Mendonça
Author: Last Bus to Vasco: Poems from Goa
www.lastbustovasco.blogspot.com
Eve's Revenge: Stories of Nemesis
Ethel Da Costa
Foreword: Shrinivas Dempo, Remo Fernandes; Introduction: Victor
Rangel-Ribeiro, Margaret Mascarenhas; Last Word: Rex Weiner; Photography:
Prasad Pankar
Published and Distributed by: Broadway Book Centre; Designed & Printed by:
Printer's Devil, Porvorim, Goa
ISBN 978-81-906259-2-0, 100 pgs, Double PB with flaps, Matt Art Paper, Rs.
495/-
'Revenge' and 'nemesis' are strong words for a first book of poems. The
cover of Eve's Revenge: Stories of Nemesis silhouettes a woman
metamorphosing into a tree against the dawn. This is just one instance of
many manifestations of the raw power of woman as transmuted into Nature -
benevolent or destructive. But always mediated by language.
There are times when inspiration flutters like wayward
children
disappearing with swift quickness
before I capture them into cages of words.
-From 'Madness'
This book is the journey of a lifetime. It is divided into four sections
based on the joyful and sorrowful mysteries of the rosary. These are
entitled - 'The Visitation,' 'The Finding in the Temple,' 'Agony in the
Garden' and 'Descent of the Spirit.' Sections begin with epigraphs from the
Bible pertaining to the particular event, and a black and white photo
montage by photographer Prasad Pankar. The models are Ethel herself and
Rahul Alvares.
Unabashedly autobiographical, Ethel Da Costa's Eve's Revenge is 'the story
of my life in verse.' Beautifully designed pages come across as the leaves
of the tree of life, with ample white space for reflection. The volume
covers a stunning panoply of woman-man relationships, i.e. love, ecstasy,
hate, sexuality, loneliness, only to be redeemed by an agonized questing for
union with the divine. In the medieval mystical overtones of a Meera she
cries out:
I am a devotee
supple
bent
round and round the pipal tree
saffron robes
clenched bloody fingers
praying the prayer of the dead
and a song of the forgotton cult
In the name of Krishna.
You have forsaken me.
From 'Spirit's Isolation - II'
and later
'Too much wanting makes you vulnerable, bitch!
My soul struggles.'
From 'Kali's Song'
Through the molten lava of life Eve rushes forth, is singed in the fires and
is renewed. After all, her muse is always there beside her - 'A poet thinks
within the folds of a pained mind / beyond human comprehension ('The Lonely
Poet'). The act of writing out oneself brings quietude even in self-healing,
perhaps in onanism, even if the only reality is the irony of love and
existence itself:
Loneliness is a cloak on the body
amidst crowded markets
foolproof masks
selling spices
souls dragging their chains on cobbled streets
searching
for freedom and bondage.
-'The Lonely Poet'
The rain beats on the roof
vacantly
he stares at the ceiling
thumbing Playboy under his pillow
short-lived forays into reality
pornography. hmmm.wet escape
so what, if it's only silicon boobs he can get it on?
- 'Bondage'
This is a book that needs to be sipped one line at a time. In some ways it
encapsulates an epoch of everywoman. Telling it like it is, Ethel shoots
from the hip. The range of experience is bewildering, the articulation of
these, even more. Eve's Revenge billed as a story, yet written about the
uni-verse, is ultimately a parable. Of life, living and loving. Its canvas
is the grammar of life and its unforeseen nuances, often missed - or
deliberately ignored -as we go about our humdrum lives. No one is spared:
Evil oozes from hidden corners and closed doors
woe and curses
while the faithful walk in mute prayers
folded hands and cassocks of white.
- 'Phases of the Moon'
Yes, this is the world we have bequeathed Eve. Finally a voice appears to
record this moment in time. A bio note on the inner flap of the cover by
Margaret Mascarenhas seems to offer an gentle salve to the anguish in the
lilting preface by Ethel dedicated to her dad entitled 'Through My Father's
Eyes: 1938-2002.' Papa would be happy this day for life is often more than
revenge. Beyond a point it is the repose within. And this book has scoured
both these moments.
Goanet A&E
http://www.goanet.org
Re: [Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: The Tailor's Daughter by Ben Antao - Reviewed by Cornel DaCosta
2008/10/5 CORNEL DACOSTA <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Hi Gabe > As I did not send the review of the Tailor's Daughter to Goanet > intentionally, I wonder, with tongue and cheek, if it was "inappropriate" for > Goanet moderators to 'appropriate' it for Goanet? > > Secondly, I have been unable to obtain your explanation as to how Eliza ought > to have confronted Jorge. I can't enter into the site you indicated. So, > please can you indicate in your own words what Eliza ought to have done? > Just intrigued! > Regards > Cornel RESPONSE: Please do try once more to enter the site; I think the site was being updated at the time:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXhkOpzoVrM and another one:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygfmo4x-_l0 Here are the words:- http://www.theromantic.com/lovesongs/perhapsperhapsperhaps.htm Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps Cake You won't admit you love me And so, how am I ever to know You only tell me Perhaps perhaps perhaps A million times I ask you, and then I ask you over again You only answer Perhaps perhaps perhaps If you can't make your mind up We'll never get started And I don't want to wind up Being parted, broken hearted So if you really love me, say yes But if you don't dear, confess And please don't tell me Perhaps perhaps perhaps If you can't make your mind up We'll never get started And I don't want to wind up Being parted, broken hearted So if you really love me, say yes But if you don't dear, confess And please don't tell me Perhaps perhaps perhaps -- I feel it would have been better had she confronted Jorge as above rather than giving herself with gay abandon:- http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gay%20abandon Those days a stigma was attached, nowadays everything goes. DEV BOREM KORUM. Gabe Menezes. London.
Re: [Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: The Tailor's Daughter by Ben Antao - Reviewed by Cornel DaCosta
Hi Gabe As I did not send the review of the Tailor's Daughter to Goanet intentionally, I wonder, with tongue and cheek, if it was "inappropriate" for Goanet moderators to 'appropriate' it for Goanet? Secondly, I have been unable to obtain your explanation as to how Eliza ought to have confronted Jorge. I can't enter into the site you indicated. So, please can you indicate in your own words what Eliza ought to have done? Just intrigued! Regards Cornel --- On Thu, 2/10/08, Gabe Menezes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Comment: Instead of giving herself to Jorge, she should > have > confronted him thus:- > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXhkOpzoVrM
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Domnic's Goa by Domnic P.F.Fernandes - reviewed by Peter Nazareth
MAPPING OUR WORLD Peter Nazareth I received a copy of Domnic's Goa while I was reading A Third Map: New and Selected Poems by Edwin Thumboo (Uni Press, Centre for the Arts, National University of Singapore, 1993), preparing to teach a class on Singapore Literature and write a book on Thumboo. I have been involved with Thumboo's writing since I did an interview with him in 1977, when he came to the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa at the same time as I began to work for it as Advisor. The transcribed interview of 81 pages has been published in extracts in five countries, most recently in Singapore in ARIELS: Departures and Returns (Oxford University Press, 2001). Thumboo was an official in the government and then, at the National University of Singapore, was Chair of the Department of English, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Director of the Centre for the Arts, but he is best known as the unofficial poet laureate of Singapore. Although I was born in Uganda, I was interested in Malaysia because my mother was born in Kuala Lumpur, where my maternal grandfather, Mathias Gomes, was a professional classical musician. Thumboo had studied African poetry and had directed the Master's dissertation of Theo Luzuka, the Ugandan who designed the cover of my novel, In a Brown Mantle. To my surprise, there was a connection between Domnic's and Thumboo's books. Both are "national" writers concerned with nature and a past that seems to have disappeared. For most Goans, missing the past means longing for the good old days under Portuguese colonialism-I found criticism of Domnic's book on this score in a review by Claude Alvares posted on the internet. But Domnic begins Chapter 3 as follows: "Contrary to what some make it sound like now, life in the Goa of the Forties and Fifties was not a piece of cake. It was tough. Those of us who were born during this period have witnessed tremendous changes. It was almost like a transition from the Stone Age to the modern world; with determination we forged our lives and came out victorious." (pages 9-10) Domnic loves nature and the relationship of people of his generation to that nature and he regrets its disappearance not only in real life-I think here of John Mayall's song "Nature's Disappearing"-but also in the awareness of the present generation. He is not opposed to progress but points out that the past runs through the present. There was technological progress in the past too, but being slower it did not sever the relationship with nature. Yet cyber-space need not erase the past, as shown by the opening paragraph of chapter 27, "Cine theatres over the years": "Coming up in cyberspace, a recent listing played a flashback of sorts in my memory. It reminded me of cine-theatres of the yesteryears that drew crowds in and around Mapusa. There were quite a few across Bardez." In fact, Domnic says that his essays began on the internet and he subsequently received requests from Goans around the globe to bring out a book. The chapters are triggered by Domnic's memory of growing up in Goa but he explores and extends his experience. For example, he says: Today, people wake up to the musical sounds of an alarm clock, a mobile-phone or even set a television wake-up. In the past, they woke up to the rooster's call or at the chirping of birds at dawn. Sounds produced by various animals brought joy to the ears and were considered entertainment of sorts. Whenever the wind blew and tree branches and palm leaves swayed, people admired and considered it to be nature's wonder. People watched the rivers flow and thanked the Creator. They went to the seashores and spent hours watching the vast ocean before their eyes. They quietly appreciated the waves which formed in the sea and broke upon the shores splashing tons of water which traveled as far as possible up the shore. This too was a form of entertainment.. We are told that the origin of music possibly stems from natural sounds and rhythms: the human heartbeat, the songs of birds the rustling of wind through the trees, the thunder and sound of rain, the dripping of water in a cave, the crackle of a burning fire and the sounds of waves breaking on a beach or bubbles in a brook. It is most likely that the first musical instrument was the human voice itself. One's voice can make a vast array of sounds, from singing, humming and whistling (some of these being the more musical forms) through to clicking, coughing and yawning (less musical). It is also likely the first instruments were percussion instruments, the clapping of hands, stones hit against one another, or things that are whatever else was useful to create rhythm." (5-6) Domnic describes food; fruit (see the brilliant chapter, "Goa's guest from Brazil: the cashew"); travel; religion (inevitably including St. Francis Xavier); music; liquor (and its role in the community); the making and use of wells
Re: [Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: The Tailor's Daughter by Ben Antao - Reviewed by Cornel DaCosta
2008/10/2 Goanet A&E <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Power and intrigue in personal relations in Goa > > A review of Ben Antao's "The Tailor's Daughter" by Cornel DaCosta > Eliza is quickly besotted with Jorge and sees him as a potential husband to > be taken by her and her family to Nairobi, Kenya, to a new life there. In > turn, Jorge appears to be fascinated by Eliza and there is a hint, even if > given fleetingly, that a marriage on his part to Eliza is a consideration. Comment: Instead of giving herself to Jorge, she should have confronted him thus:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXhkOpzoVrM -- DEV BOREM KORUM. Gabe Menezes. London.
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: The Tailor's Daughter b y Ben Antao - Reviewed by Cornel DaCosta
Power and intrigue in personal relations in Goa A review of Ben Antao's "The Tailor's Daughter" by Cornel DaCosta Because of a substantial academic background in sociology and education, I have inevitably been drawn to issues relating to macro and micro power relations in societies. One aspect of this interest has focused on the Hindu caste system and how it has penetrated, to varied degrees, other religions like Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam, and Roman Catholicism that essentially reject the concept and practice of caste. Consequently, I have written extensively, in cyberspace and elsewhere, about the significance of caste to caste adherents among Roman Catholics in Goa. Their caste hegemony has been effective for almost half a millennium, despite conversion to Catholicism in the period of Portuguese colonialism and beyond in Goa. The key emphasis in my writings has been that Roman Catholic and Hindu caste beliefs are entirely incompatible as ideologies and religious belief systems and cannot be sustained simultaneously by individuals. Furthermore, at root there is no caste in Roman Catholicism. Notwithstanding this unassailable argument, the Catholic Church in Goa has been hand in glove with caste for generations. The existence of such hypocrisy is well known in the literature and everyday life in Goa. The novel, The Tailor's Daughter by Ben Antao, is largely about the enigma of caste among those proclaiming to be Catholic practitioners in Goa. The story is primarily one of entangled human emotions but at a deeper end there is a profound exploration into the complexity of relationships between people separated by proclaimed caste differences. In this scenario, the dominant characters in the novel are the tailor's daughter, Eliza, who in Goan circles would be deemed to be of low caste, and Jorge, the son of a landowner, deemed to be of the upper caste. Nevertheless, accidental contact has led them to become romantically involved and there is much in the novel about intrigue and strategy within such a romantic association. Eliza is quickly besotted with Jorge and sees him as a potential husband to be taken by her and her family to Nairobi, Kenya, to a new life there. In turn, Jorge appears to be fascinated by Eliza and there is a hint, even if given fleetingly, that a marriage on his part to Eliza is a consideration. Fairly soon, however, the greater force of caste triumphs and Eliza is discarded, as are many of Jorge's previous romantic and sexual conquests of young lower caste Catholic women. In the novel, Eliza travels to Goa from Nairobi where her parents run a flourishing tailoring business. That she should learn tailoring professionally does not seem surprising; she enrolls at a tailoring school in Margao, the commercial capital of Goa-a place known well to me. The tailoring school is run by Senhora Lopes, a kindly older lady who takes Eliza under her wing professionally but also as her mentor and landlady. At this stage, Eliza is already romantically associated with Diogo in Nairobi who has been enamoured by her and writes to her in Goa for her hand in marriage on her return to Kenya within the year. Diogo's letter reaches Eliza at almost the same time that Jorge pays much attention to Eliza in Goa and takes her to a number of socials and introduces her to his many friends and acquaintances. Soon, Eliza feels convinced that Jorge loves her and they engage in pleasurable sex as often as possible. Indeed, she informs her parents in Nairobi that Jorge is now very much part of her life and likely to join her in Nairobi on her return to the city. To be sure, she has no hesitation in proclaiming her love for Jorge and, understandably, expects Jorge to reciprocate the sentiment. But she has to drag out his statement of love for her with much effort! In time, Eliza senses that Jorge is more interested in her sexually than emotionally and notes a certain cooling off in his ardour towards her. In turn, Jorge attributes minor and temporary setbacks in their relationship to the illness of his widowed father for whom he owes a duty of care. At first, Eliza accepts Jorge's story but after a while decides to meet Jorge's father and explore to what extent Jorge has been truthful. She makes her way, unannounced, to Jorge's father's home. Neither Jorge nor his father is at home but she befriends and is befriended by the maid servant at the house. It soon becomes clear that the maid servant is keen to help Eliza with a view to eventually being taken by her to Nairobi to work in Eliza's and Jorge's household following a marriage. When Jorge's ardour for Eliza clearly cools significantly and he finds many reasons not to meet her as often as he had done in the past, Eliza decides to propose marriage to him and indicates that her parents would help him financially to establish himself in Nairobi. However, it becomes clear that such a proposition is
[Goanet] Book review of Mario's book
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20080915&fname=Booksa&sid=1 Miss Nimboopani, Sweet And Sour Mario Miranda extracted humour from every nook of life. A sun-warmed compendium. Gautam Bhatia A literary production on a working life as prodigious and varied as Goan artist Mario Miranda’s can barely do justice to the artist’s life. Countless books on great artists like Da Vinci or Picasso only skim the surface. The process of creation is far more difficult to display than just the final work of art. Miranda has been luckier. In a new compilation of his work that is more diary and scrapbook than formal artistic odyssey, publisher Gerard da Cunha, himself a Goan, realised the vastness of his task, and chose a different course. He gathered a handful of the artist’s long-time friends—Manohar Malgaonkar, Nissim Ezekiel, Ranjit Hoskote and others whose words matter—and in a literary goulash, set out a spread of writing, reflection and presentation. An artistic feast under a blue Goan sky. Ever since there has been popular drawing in India, there has been Mario Miranda. In barber shop Illustrated Weeklies, in the Times of India, a Mario drawing leapt out at you with all its excesses: Miss Nimboopani, big-breasted and full-lipped; obese politicians, shifty-eyed and small-brained—Mario’s tableau underscore his conviction that nothing is sacred: people, religion, politics, history, taste, aspiration. Everything under the sun is potential target for lampoon. The book charts the extraordinary facility of the man. From diary sketches and cartoons that take playful potshots at small-town life and small-minded communities, to elaborate renderings of Goa that are complete stories in themselves, the pages are filled with energetic and teeming statements of Indian situations. The artist in Miranda is driven by two impulses. To make a cartoon, spare and focused by humour, or to construct an elaborate drawing, painterly in intent, and defining space. Between the two, there are limitless explorations of human conditions—politics, religion, and the happy hypocrisy and humbug that define urban life. Known for the etching-like drawing style, the sketchbooks exhibit a variety that is as much M.C. Escher as Le Corbusier or Canaletto. As much Punch as they are The New Yorker. And of course, as much Mario. At the outset Mario admits,"I just love to draw." Few people today would echo such a sentiment. In an age when Photoshop and Corel Draw have replaced the skill of drawing, few give it the attention it deserves. Yet with Mario there is the perennial artistic impulse to experiment with expression for its own sake. The travel series that includes New York, Japan, London, Paris is perhaps his most varied. Each scene is viewed from an outsider’s vantage, and deliberately constructed in outlines that resemble engravings. In some, lines are layered to create the effects of a painting; others evolve as vivid prints, filled with an animated light, graphic and precise. His Goan record, drawn with loving care, is his most prolific and detailed. The darkness of church interiors, the white light on pastel houses, pudgy and self-absorbed holiday crowds—each fleeting moment consolidates into multiple and cumulative impressions. Mario records Goa like a doting father, faithfully recording every change into the family album. Growing up under its tropical lushness and pastel colonialism, the Goa drawings are a longing—a benign and pastoral hankering for the slow life, the Goa of childhood, where "there was music, love and laughter". The care with which each scene is constructed invariably resounds with celebration—weddings, feasts, funerals—and links you to a time before murder and drugs also became synonymous associations. The excesses of Indian life at times overwhelm Mario’s art. In some of the more elaborate and overworked drawings it is hard to distil a single idea.And the distinction between ugly, beautiful, grotesque, delicate, brutal, or fanciful, all becomes clouded in superfluous detail. Is the artist deliberately confusing the viewer, or is he merely making a truthful representation of life’s messiness? Mario’s skill lies in the masterful austerity of line in his less finished drawings and the incisive wit of his cartoons. I’ve always admired the artist’s deformations of Indian life, the perennial exaggeration of scenes from naughty to obscene, the delicate flourishes that mark out stereotypes. Drawing has been for Mario the first reaction—an intimate and spontaneous reflection of daily life made visible. In a career spanning five decades, few urban Indian homes have not resounded with the laughter of a Mario view of their local world. Even today many of the cartoons—devoid of politics and regional character—are fresh. The book is a pungent record of India, laced with infinite compassion. A bellyful of laughs and stinging truths, without cyn
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: No Escape From Love: Ben Antao's The Tailor's Daughter
No Escape From Love: Ben Antao's The Tailor's Daughter By Tony D'Souza Ben Antao's third novel, The Tailor's Daughter, is an engaging and moving saga of one Kenyan-born Goan girl's attempt to cross caste lines through marriage during her brief stay in the land of her ancestors. In 1953, less than a decade before the Portuguese abandonment of their long time Indian colony, eighteen-year-old Eliza Rodricks arrives in Margao and takes up residence in the home of Senhora Lopes, a demanding, and often bitter, task master engaged by Eliza's parents to teach their child the family art of tailoring. Through a timely immigration to Kenya, pluck, and wherewithal, Eliza's parents managed to weather the political and racial upheavals in East Africa to establish for themselves through tailoring a fortune they could not have hoped to achieve had they stayed in Goa. But in sending their daughter back to India for training just at the cusp of her womanhood, they unwittingly unleash her and her hormones upon a coast and land primed to seduce one so naïve and fecund as she is. What ensues is a tumultuous romance with all the heat and passion of any of the Victorian classics. Antao skillfully, and with an easy and unencumbered prose that lends itself to the turning of pages, crafts a novel that balances the history of the Goan Diaspora with the specific hopes and desires of its main players. Make no mistake, Eliza Rodricks is as beautiful and hot blooded as she is bound by the low status of her parents' tailoring caste. Despite this, her arrival in Goa offers as much of a new beginning for her as the scarcity of her years. The rigidities of caste and rank notwithstanding, Eliza believes that through her womanly charms anything at all is possible in this life. And as alluring as Antao paints Eliza's charms for the reader through his lusty and occasionally lurid description, she is also not long overlooked by the young Goan bachelors who conduct a competition of sorts between themselves as to who can out 'conquest' the others among the available local women, married and not. Despite the pointed warnings of her roommate and fellow student Sylvia--who has a secret past--Eliza is quickly the center of attention of this sexually tense time and place, and soon enough a romance of sorts begins between her and Jorge Pacheco, the son of an apparently wealthy bhatkar who once seduced the women of Goa himself, including the now jaded Senhora Lopes. Eliza and Jorge's romance is never as innocent and simple as the romance Eliza left behind in Nairobi with Diogo, a young man much above Eliza's caste but who loved her nonetheless. But the distant Diogo, despite his passionate letters to her, cannot compete with the dashing Jorge of the here and now. And though Eliza herself knows that caste in Goa and in the Goan community determines the fate of all, still on moonlit nights on the sandy beaches of that land of lore and in Jorge's arms, she cannot help but believe that true love will win out, that though she is below him in caste, Jorge will bend on his knee and offer up his hand to her. As Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reach the summit of Mount Everest and make headlines across the globe, Eliza is consumed with her passion for the bhatkar's son. As Antao writes, "Eliza ached to make love to him. The thought of lying under him, his body pressing against hers, sent shudders through her, rendering her limp and exhausted, craving his touch. She was still at the mercy of her predator, desperate for the climb to Everest with him at her side. She refused to believe that he'd abandoned her without as much as a goodbye. 'Oh Jorge, I want you so,' she moaned, surveying her nude reflection in the mirror, remembering how it felt to have him inside her. She closed her eyes and ran her fingers over her breasts, imagining that her fingers were his, and shivered with anticipation." Antao's novel is an anatomy of Goa, of caste, of love, of sex, and above and beyond all else, of one star-struck girl's impossible dream of bettering herself through marriage. Full of the flavors of the cuisine and customs of a Goa that is long since lost, The Tailor's Daughter is also a studied history of the Goans who left India for East Africa and the culture they established among themselves there. Can Eliza come home again from Africa to a place where she wasn't even born? Can she make Jorge love more than the body that she gives to him beneath the moon? And what of Diogo who waits for her in Nairobi? And what of the dark story of Senhora Lopes lost love for Jorge's stern father? Is the failure and tragedy of that history waiting to repeat itself? Or will Jorge overcome the past to claim the child growing in Eliza's belly that no one but he could have planted there? The Tailor's Daughter is as fierce a social commentary as it is a book of passion. And what is ultimately most discomfo
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Snapshots of Indo-Portuguese History
Author takes a look at Goa's political jigsaw By Pamela D'mello Four-and-a-half decades after Portuguese rule ended in Goa, efforts to fit together pieces of a complex jigsaw are still underway, even as it becomes a little more feasible to raise "politically-incorrect" issues. Time has allowed lines to blur between earlier entrenched positions slotting the "good" and "bad" guys, permitting new initiatives to understand how Portugal's rule in this part of Asia was different from the projects of British or French colonisers. Goa-based lecturer Vasco Pinho's series Snapshots of Indo-Portuguese History is currently out with its second book. This one focuses on the "rise and demise of Estado da India" - as Portugal's colonial state was then known - being, once an important centre in control of major sea trading routes to the east. It's in the little nuggets of information, that the book's value lies. It cites the last message Portuguese dictator Salazar sent to Lisbon's governor in Goa, after the takeover of Goa by Delhi was imminent and "even personal efforts of President Kennedy were unfruitful". Salazar, the dictator who ruled Portugal for half of the 20th century with an iron hand, is quoted saying: "Nothing is left now but to honour the mission entrusted to the troops under the command of your excellency (the governor's)." Other researchers are quoted as saying that Salazar also ordered the Portuguese governor to repatriate the remains of 16th-century missionary-saint Francis Xavier, to transfer Portuguese airplanes back home, and adopt a 'scorched earth' policy in Goa, an order the governor fortunately didn't implement. An "hour-by-hour" story of the last hours of the once-proud Portuguese colonies in South Asia is particularly interesting. Details from the Portuguese side of the operation emerge too, something that earlier barely discussed here, either considered too controversial, or lost due to sudden shift-over to English post-1961. Pinho, though Goan, belongs to a dwindling generation still fluent with the Portuguese language. Bizarre stories emerge: two boxes that reached in from Karachi, thought to carry ammunition, actually contained sausages for soldiers. In their hurry to blow up bridges, and lack of coordination, the Portuguese made their own evacuation more difficult. In the local capital, then called Pangim, the local archbishop and the police chief pleaded with the governor to announce a surrender - Pinho reminds a newer generation of readers not as knowledgeable about these details. Portugal was the first European power to set up base in India, in 1510, and continue ruling - not willing to go like the British or French - till 1961. It has played an important, if under-recognised, role in India's encounter with Europe. Pinho says towards the end of Portuguese rule, Lisbon had handed over several "important government posts" to Goans. Many were heads of departments here - chief secretary Abel Colaco, director of telegraphs Janardana Counto, director of administration Sripada Narcornim, director Vishnum Nagarcencar, archives director Panduronga Pissurlencar and director of the press Rodualdo Costa. Nonetheless, the book argues, "a very delicate political relationship between the Portuguese and the Goans (existed) in the last years of 'India Portuguesa'". http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/asian-age-plus/news-plus/author-takes-a-look-at-goa's-political-jigsaw.aspx Goanet A&E http://www.goanet.org
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: 'Songs of the Survivors'
The Goan Diaspora in Burma By Vidyadhar Gadgil The Goan diaspora, which has over the years spread out to every part of India and the world, has contributed much to Goan writing in English. Various diasporic writers have written about Goa, both in fictional and non-fictional genres - Victor Rangel Ribeiro's 'Tivolem' is probably the best-known in the former category, while the recently published 'Dominic's Goa' by Dominic Fernandes has proven to be a runaway success in the non-fiction category. Unfortunately, there is a rich mine of experience in the Goan diaspora that has been inadequately explored - the experiences of Goans in the various lands to which they migrated. 'Songs of the Survivors' edited by Yvonne Vaz Ezdani thus fills an important gap, and, documenting the experiences of Goans in Burma, also brings to light a hitherto little-known aspect of the Goan diaspora. Consisting of 25 pieces by various authors (including the editor), the book focuses on the experiences of Goans in Burma during the invasion of Burma by the Japanese in 1942. It documents the Great Trek, in which 400,000 refugees, mostly of Indian origin, struggled to safety through the dense forests of Upper Burma, Manipur and Assam. In the absence of any proper evacuation plan, and proceeding through largely unmapped terrain, the entire trek was a saga of hardship. Thousands perished along the way, which makes the title 'Songs of the Survivors' particularly appropriate. While the Japanese invasion and the Great Trek were definitely the most dramatic events in the experience of the Goan diaspora in Burma, one wishes that this had not become the almost exclusive focus of the book, converting it into a war memoir of sorts. What was day-to-day life like in Burma for Goans, in the midst of a different culture, far away from their native land? The book would have benefited tremendously if we could have had an account of the social interactions of the Goan community in Burma, as well as some information about their lives at work; this would have enabled us to know better what they gained from and what they contributed to the encounter. The few snippets that we get in the introduction and in scattered glimpses in the various articles only whet our appetite for more. Another gap is the complete absence of any experiences of subaltern Goans in Burma. All the articles are by elite and middle-class Goans, as is evident from the various accounts, which talk of large houses and 4-5 servants. But this is something that plagues much of diaspora writing. Also, some of the articles are very short and could easily have been dropped; the quality is patchy, with some excellent pieces by Eric Menezes and Gerald Lobo sharing space with jerky personal accounts. But these are relatively unimportant flaws in what is a fascinating and heart-warming account of an unknown aspect of the Goan diaspora experience. The book benefits from excellent production values. The first book by a new Goan publisher, Goa 1556, it promises much in terms of what is to come. The increasing popularity of self-publishing, as well as the arrival of new publishers in Goa - for example, Abbe Faria Productions, which published 'Dominic's Goa' - bodes well for the growth of Goan writing in English. http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=021039 Goanet A&E http://www.goanet.org
[Goanet] Book Review: Rise and demise of Estado da India by Vasco Pinho
--- http://www.GOANET.org --- Convenor of Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) Dr Oscar Rebello has been nominated for CNN-IBN's Indian of the Year Award 2007 in public service category Vote for him at: http://www.cnnibnindianoftheyear.com/publicservice_voting_new.php --- Rise and demise . an enlightening read Cyril D'Cunha "Rise and demise of Estado da India", the second in the series of six volumes of 'Snapshots of Indo-Portuguese History', by Vasco Pinho, takes a closer look at this former Portuguese colony, answering many questions during this period. While there is no dearth of material written on the historical aspect of Goa, this work of Pinho introduces the reader to the Portuguese discoveries, the Treaty of Tordesilhas that divided the world between Portugal and Spain and the early Portuguese armadas coming to India. As the author mentions in the preface of this book, he makes available to the readers in general and the studious in particular, facts that have remained inaccessible to the present non-Portuguese speaking generation. The foundation of the Estado da India, the final fall of Goa to Afonso de Albuquerque in 1510, when it was captured from Yusuf Adil Shah, and the emergence of Goa's final borders in the 1780s, are explained in a concise manner. The 14 years of British presence in Goa, brings out an interesting interlude in the Portuguese rule and its impact on the lives of Goans. The author also discusses the last stages of Portuguese presence in India and offers his views on the political compulsions both for India and Portugal. He also writes of the events that surrounded the Indian Army's swift manner of the final demise of colonial rule, covering Goa, Daman, Diu, Angediva and the naval battle in the Dona Paula Bay. The 260-page book is priced at Rs. 395 and contains rare photographs. Goa Plus - January 11, 2008
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Nostalgia and Beyond - Savia Viegas
Nostalgia and Beyond By Savia Viegas BOOK REVIEW: Dominic's Goa: A nostalgic romp through a bygone era: Abbe Faria Productions: Panjim: 2007: Rs 350 A yearning for what was or went before does different things to different people. It made Shah Jahan build the Taj Mahal to commemorate the death of his beloved queen Mumtaz Mahal. The dethroned monarch yearned for a glimpse of his dearly loved edifice when held prisoner at the Khas Mahal, but had to be content with a distant reflection of the Taj Mahal across the Yamuna river in a little mirror embedded in the wall. Nostalgia has made Dominic Fernandes an Anjunian, now working as advisor-cum-chief registrar of Saudi Aramco in Dharan, to burrow into his archive of memories to regurgitate Dominic's Goa: a nostalgic romp through a bygone era. This book affords a delightful read. The author admits that this is just a fraction of the narrations he has penned and more is yet to come. These candid outpourings take us to Anjuna, his village and to Goa, the land of his birth, and the unspoilt childhood it gave him. It is also the land that fills him now with longing as he lives in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, secure no doubt but its topography, its desert light, its modernity and the minimalist vegetation only make him dig into his past to retrieve a cache of dense memories layered with a lush spread of a way of life which he can call 'goenkarponn'. The village of his childhood and the land of his dreams are morphing, changing, its pristine dells which look like garbage pits, its hillsides sore with shanties that defy planning but get converted hastily into a 'votebank' opportunity. Coastal land and sand dunes have turned to tawdry colonias and sand dunes to glass. Dominic retrieves the archive of his past with honesty to the last detail engraving like a meticulous sculptor subaltern detail upon detail 'of a Goa he knew' to be able 'to inform his readers of what life was in Goa.' and encase in their mind and hearts the most beautiful and pristine memories of a long ago, which can perhaps be visited only through memoirs such as the book under review. Dominic's book does just that while flaneur- like he inhabits the world of his childhood, almost becomes child again and painstakingly creates typologies, retrieves vignettes of memory to bring alive not only his own childhood but an era of Goa that is now past and can be relived only in nostalgia. Those bylanes have exited and been silenced by time. http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=852 A very vital contribution through this book is that it relives subaltern native memories. A malady endemic in Goan writing in English is the valorization of its elitism, what one can describe best as the deep but vacuous sigh of the Bhatkars. 'O for a time when tomatoes were a paise a kilogram' such nostalgic lines are legion in the writings: we become more Portuguese than we were, more European than we ever could have been. This in turn feeds a contemporary media fallacy. Friends, artists and photographers often talk of Goan architectural heritage as 'Portuguese houses'. The tourism industry touts the same logic. Dominic work is more important than it seems for it opens up Goa's hitherto unexplored West Asia vein and by a plethora of seemingly simple details bares open the cultural nuances of how 'bassurkars' were received. The Goan worker braving the alien environments of equatorial forests of Africa or the bellies of the oceans, or the hot deserts of Arabia has been an 'othered' entity not withstanding the fact that his/her toil in alien environments has brought home the economic remittances that have partially allowed Goa to don its mantle of prosperity. Dominic's book weaves together these tendrils of memory to give the Bassurkar or Bomboikar his place in history. The pain of absence held together by the slender link of occasional letters, the network of departing and arriving workers who helped enchain and keep alive family ties. The return of the Bassurkar weighed with the privations of life in 'tents in scorching heat' yet glossed over with gabardine pants, terelyne shirts roamer, brand wristwatch, gold bracelet, rayban glasses and 555 cigarettes drew the critical eye of the Goan elite till these early forays paved the way for greater job opportunities in the Gulf. Dominic's work provides rich Braudelian details for writing working class histories. Those of us who have grown up on home turf like me will identify with the cultural imagery of a Goa now past of memories sweet but excised to a large extent from reality. The abundant splattering of konkoni phrases comes as a rich offering for one realizes that to awake this 'kundalini' of memory it is best done by being true to one's language and cultural expression. Who does not remember the first bye- bye to Goa on Panjim jetty, the many knots of sea travel and the " Vonk vonk and z
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: The Tailor's Daughter by Ben Antao - reviewed by Lino Leitao
http://www.GOANET.org International Cuisine Conference on Traditional Asian Diet Panaji, Goa, September 2-5, 2007 - http://www.indologygoa.in Online Media Partner: http://www.goanet.org BOOK REVIEW: The Tailor's Daughter by Ben Antao - reviewed by Lino Leitao Ben Antao's third novel, The Tailor's Daughter, is set in Margão, Goa, at the height of Salazar's dictatorship during the 1950s. In this novel, Antao, through his characters, engages in exploring the mindsets of Goans who lived in the confines of a stratified society of that time. Besides Antao, there are also some other Goan writers who have looked into this oppressive relationship that existed in Goa between landlords and serfs. Landlords, known as bhatkars, came mostly from upper caste and class; and serfs came from lower caste with no standing in the society; they were non-persons called mundkars. A Goan writer, Orlando da Costa, in his novel O Signo da Ira, set in Goa of 1940-41, gives us an authentic picture of the exploitative relationship between bhatkar and mundkar in that colonial period. Another well known Goan writer, Prof. Lucio Rodrigues, exposes the sordid bond that existed between bhatkar-mundkar in his short story, It Happens. But Antao, in Tailor's Daughter, probes into the Goan psyche sickened by caste and class of those colonial times. Although the narrative in the novel spins around two leading characters, Eliza Rodricks and Jorge Pacheco, there are other minor characters in the novel that provide us with a view of a society that was kept in check through the supremacy of caste and class. In that society the lower castes who excelled in various trades and crafts supplied the essential services to run the feudal economy of Goa; and yet, because of the caste biases instilled in the Goan psyche their skills were looked down upon. Eliza's parents who both earned their living working as tailors in Goa found it harder to make ends meet. In the end they migrate to Kenya, settling in Nairobi. By working hard and economizing, they ventured in opening their own tailoring outfit for men and women. Their enterprise succeeds. Now they have an urge to elevate their social status without purging their inherent servility. Eliza brought up in Nairobi became aware of caste discrimination that was practiced among Goans. The Goan makarani-clerks who came from higher caste-had their own clubs, Gymkhana and Goan Institute, where tailors weren't welcomed. Goan tailors had their own club: Goan Tailors Society. Eliza who attended Dr. Ribeiro Goan School noticed the subtle differences the way she was treated by other Goan students; because of this stigma of caste, she perhaps changed her last name from Rodrigues to Rodricks and became obsessed to marry into higher caste. She is a screwed-up personality with an acquired inferiority complex in her psyche. When Eliza came to Senhora Lopes in Margão to hone her tailoring craft, we see her ditching her first boyfriend Diogo Baltazar from Nairobi, even though he came from the Brahmin family. She falls for a randy male from Goa, Jorge Pacheco, a gigolo, a kind of a Brahmin who is a caste supremacist; and besides, he is the only son of Nazarinho Pacheco, a bhatkar. Though she is warned by her friend Silvia and Senhora Lopes about Jorge, she dismisses their counsel as she wants to hook him as her husband to elevate her status. And being who he is, Jorge only wants to use her to gratify his lust. Their torrid sex that the author depicts so vividly is a contest of two people giving bodily pleasures to each other without tenderness and caress. No deep commitment here; and both of them have their own hidden agenda. Eliza, the tailor's daughter, is a girl who hasn't emerged from subjection. If you sample her thoughts, you will understand why. Here are some of her thoughts: (a) Perhaps, this is God's way of telling me that I'll marry into a Brahmin family.(p.11) (b) I truly believe that God saved you for me, Jorge. (p 117) (c) In a letter to her parents, she writes, "I have wonderful news. I am in love! His name is Jorge and he's the only son of a bhatkar. (p.172) Since Eliza was not personally emancipated, she had no self-respect. When Jorge Pacheco physically abused her and humiliated her, she lacked the courage to speak up her mind. The Tailor's Daughter gives the readers the view of the Goan psyche shaped by the 3Cs-caste, class and colonial mindset. (ENDS) The Tailor's Daughter - details at: http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=780 Lino Leitão, was born in Goa, a former Portuguese Colony in India. He studied in Portuguese and English schools and attended
[Goanet] Book Review: Sahitya Akademi reviews 'Last Bus to Vasco'
--- CONVENTION OF THE GOAN DIASPORA FROM GOA INTO THE WORLD Lisbon, Portugal June 15-17, 2007 Details at: http://www.goacom.org/casa-de-goa/noticias.html --- BOOK REVIEW LAST BUS TO VASCO: POEMS FROM GOA (2006) Reprint 2007 by Brian Mendonça Published by Brian Mendonça Hardbound with audio CD Price Rs.150; Pages 80 Reviewed in 'Indian Literature,' the bi-monthly journal of the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, volume 238, March-April 2007 by Sivakami Velliangiri on pages 200-203. --- For copies contact: Brian Mendonca (Delhi)9818432507 Mr AG Mendonca (Vasco)0832-2513763; XCHR(Porvorim)0832-2417772 Strand bookstore, Colaba (Mumbai) 020-22661719 /22661994 Manney's bookstore (Pune Camp)020-26131683 --- At first glance 'Last Bus to Vasco' is the journey by bus, train with ships and air travel as backdrop, and also a journey to places and the past, coming to a halt with a bon voyage kind of feeling .. Under the veneer of a tugging bond between his hometown, its people, and its landscape peeps the perennial question: 'Where is my destiny?' He is told or he tells himself: 'Goa, Brian Goa, I have no doubt on that issue.' In a deep awareness, the last lines of the collection give to Goa its place: 'Place of origin, final destination White meets blue in the liquid sky' Brian Mendonça is well-versed in the heritage of Goa, having firsthand knowledge about the place he writes about, marked by a zest for life, which comes across right from his first rum days with madcap Zeno to the gourmet's delight of Goan dishes that can put a food magazine to shame. 'Last Bus to Vasco:Poems from Goa' - by Brian Mendonça is a gathering of 50 poems written in Goa, on Goa and while travelling to and from Goa. It is his first book of poems, a hardbound book with quality production. The front jacket suggestive cover flaunts a flap illustration of a bus, the back jacket holds a CD from which the poet reads out the poems in own rich voice. The glossary has all the details, dates and cites the occasion for writing the poems. And the interview reveals how he has done something for Goa, Indian Poetry and also proved himself worthy of the chance to live. Buses and trains also appear to be characters with roles to play, and owing to their proximity with Mendonca, assume a familiarity so that besides the whistle we also hear of a 7316 in the same breath as a Haripriya, and at Londa station we see humans doing the usual thing with animals-thus raising issues of public cleanliness and when he says in 'Slippers in the sand,''All it asks for is one more chance' this is Brian's plea for the women of the night. We see the humanity seeping in. Not only does he romanticize the quaintness of his hometown, he paints its inner geography so that a non-visitor feels pulled. I have yet to come across a book of poems that uses so many languages with such felicity. He hops from native to foreign language, (someone has made a count of seven) as if he is hopping from one platform to another. He also culls from different religions, from Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, so that we see the spires rising, arches curving as the Matrimandir of the faithful. His primary concern is for the landscape, and hence this frenzy against the hackers of trees. We can feel the pain emanating from the gashes, by madmen 'Until What was, cease to be.' 'The world is too much with us.' He quotes the bard, saying 'You exact too high a price, To fashion yourself shelters through a ruthless device.' In a keen comment on the changing Goan landscape he notes in 'Homecoming' that the old Goan houses are under siege by 'developers.' Houses that squatted earlier, now rise higher to reach the sky. The women in his poems come like the lanterned night: 'Where are you now? She asks softly And I, the past seiging my senses Stagger into the darkness to be with her. alone.' Sonya is a: 'dawn girl, gazer of sunsets, sand in your shoes, moonlight in your face. Aqui o mar acaba e a terra principia.' Maria is equated with Ophelia, Lucia and Grace and her madness is a sad sweet song. But underneath all this we have the mellow sound of a woman singing to him: ' --if you read my mind it is just a chord on a lonely guitar a sheaf of memories home.' In 'May Queen': 'mum tells her beads for the rosary As the koel cries on the heels of the rain.' In 'Room no 9' he writes: 'I hear you breathing, mum your nearness embraces me,' I quote Mendonca ' Ravished with the beauty of Goa, its culture and its ways, I yet need to stay in Delhi professionally.' 'As a sometimes writer living the greater part of life in Delhi what preoccupied me most during my trip to Goa was - 'Am I relevant to Goa ?' 'Do my writings strike a chord wi
[Goanet] Book Review: Domnic's Goa reviewed by Helene Menezes
WWW.GOANET.ORG ** C O M M U N I T Y ** A N N O U N C E M E N T Goa Sudharop to Release Goan Seniors E-book May 8, 2007 at 5:30pm at Hotel Mandovi, Panaji, Goa www.goasudharop.org Goa - through Domnic's eyes By Helene Menezes ABBE FARIA Productions released Domnic's Goa on April 27 at the Black Box, Kala Academy, in Panjim. Abbe Faria Productions is the 'brainchild' of humour columnist and florist Cecil Pinto. The mass of Goans work looking for exposure and direction is going to waste as many writers, artists and actors are unsure where to turn for platforms which will showcase their work to an audience that appreciates all things that are Goan. Abbe Faria Productions hopes to answer that issue and more in the future. Domnic's Goa by Domnic Fernandes is a wonderful insight into the Goa of yesteryear. Its thirty one chapters take you deep into the heart of life growing up in Anjuna in the 50s and 60s from the young Domnic's view point. Fernandes was born in 1947 and, though he spent much of his adult life outside Goa, it is the memories of his youth that the book focuses on. The first chapter reminisces over the steam boat journey from Bombay down to Goa via Ratnagiri. Taking you through what food was served to the pitfalls of sea-sickness and finally casting anchor in his beloved Goa. From the moment you read the first page you are transported on board so make yourself comfortable for the journey around Domnic's Goa for it is one you will want to savour. Fernandes has an easy style of writing which was honed on the internet where he started writing in 2003. It was in cyberspace where Cecil Pinto, proprietor of Abbe Faria Productions first noticed Fernandes' postings and his talent for incredible attention to detail. They made contact and corresponded over the years. Soon Fernandes had a large following on the Net that hungered for more of his postings highlighting growing up in Anjuna. The idea of a book, though obvious with the volume of writings that Domnic produced, was not the original idea but thankfully due to pressure from his 'fans' and the hard work of Frederick Noronha as editor, today Domnic's Goa in its printed form is the result. Domnic's Goa is far from a romanticised account of the Goa of yesterday. It is quite simply a documentation of how it was and in some cases, in the more rural areas of Goa, still is. Though the book is set primarily in Bardez, the life it describes must be true of most places in the state and thus appeals to everyone who lives or visits the state. Fernandes has a purely masterful skill of recollection and contextual portrayal. He makes you realise life's many paths, though hard, are a gift to be cherished and observed in any direction they take you. Through Domnic's pen, the way of life in the latter half of last century comes to life in your mind's eye and you are there with him as he makes the journey of growing up in this diverse and beautiful state. The book is peppered with Konkani which is then tranlated into English. It is illustrated by wonderful line drawings by Calangute's Domnic Cordo, which are plentiful and a joy to look at. This book is the perfect gift when travelling out of Goa and an even better home holiday read. Broadway Bookstore, Panjim is the main distributor of the book. http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=852 The above review appeared in the May 5-11, 2007 edition of the Goan Observer, Goa Goanet A&E http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=216 --- CONVENTION OF THE GOAN DIASPORA FROM GOA INTO THE WORLD Lisbon, Portugal June 15-17, 2007 Details at: http://www.goacom.org/casa-de-goa/noticias.html ---
[Goanet] Book Review: Getting Married in Goa
* G * O * A * N * E * T C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * Enjoy your holiday in Goa. Stay at THE GARCA BRANCA from November to May There is no better, value for money, guest house. Confirm your bookings early or miss-out Visit http://www.garcabranca.com for details/booking/confirmation. Book Review: Getting Married in Goa Surabhi Khosla New Delhi: Marriage is not a word, it's a sentence -- a life sentence. And if you are getting married in Goa, this sentence could prove to be a tough one. Marriages in Goa, regardless of the community, are an elaborate affair. Right from the time the astrologer gives the green signal to the time when the couple returns from honeymoon, the marriage dream can turn into one long arduous nightmare if not planned well. Then there are those attendant dilemmas. Should one go in for an arranged marriage? How much should one spend on a wedding? Which auspicious day should you choose from the 365 days in a year? The moon is out, so where should you spend your honeymoon? How do you make sure that you don't miss out anything? What should you do to look your best on the big day -- the list of doubts and questions is nothing short of endless. Suddenly the queries seem to increase and your ignorance even more so. And as D-Day approaches, you find yourself bogged down by more and more details and find yourself thinking 'Why oh why didn't I make a list of things to do?' Don't fret if you have no idea how to address these questions. Getting Married in Goa has all the answers and some more. >From the customs and traditions involved in all weddings of different communities to family planning, from how to choose the wedding venue to marriage registration and helplines - Getting Married in Goa is a collection of articles that explain everything. The book comes complete with a checklist, which helps you plan out the most important day of your life. Also mentioned are places to shop, wedding venues which can be booked, florists, photographers, wedding music, food, beauty salons and much more, which are good bargains and can help you plan a grand wedding in an economical style. Replete with Goan anecdotes, the book talks how to set up a home together, how to keep the magic in a relationship alive and how to lead a wealthy wedded life. There is a complete index of Yellow Pages that lists all the places in Goa, which are a must visit for organising a wedding including places that help one plan a wedding on a shoe-string budget. So grab your copy today and plan that perfect wedding in Goa! THE MATCHMAKER SAINT In Goa, especially among the Catholics, Saint Anthony is supposed to come to the rescue of young girls who cannot find a suitable match. According to folklore, a Goan lass had been praying to Saint Anthony for a suitable groom. With no good man in sight, the girl, frustrated with the Saint's lack of response, threw Saint Anthony's statue out of the window. The statue landed on the head of a dashing man, who cried in pain. Hearing his cries, thr girl rushed out to see what the matter was. The meeting resulted in love at first sight and the two got married soon after. Since then, spinsters invoke Saint Anthony's help in finding them the perfect match. http://www.ibnlive.com/news/book-review-getting-married-in-goa/21416-8.html ___ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
[Goanet] Book Review: Penance - a Novel By Ben Antao
* G * O * A * N * E * T C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * Enjoy your holiday in Goa. Stay at THE GARCA BRANCA from November to May There is no better, value for money, guest house. Confirm your bookings early or miss-out Visit http://www.garcabranca.com for details/booking/confirmation. Penance - a Novel By Ben Antao Published by Goan Observer Private Limited, 2006 Panjim-Goa, India, pp 333 Rs 200, $25 PENANCE is Ben Antao's second novel. In this novel the author excels in the art of story telling. The story moves gracefully in a precise well-written prose until it ends up in a tragedy. As the plot unfolds gently, the readers have a chance to have a bird's-eye view, as it were, of various nature scenes that he depicts with minute details--Toronto landscape, like that of Niagara Falls and others. At the same time, the readers can reflect upon the nuances of the doctrines of the Catholic Church, which have the capacity to control the lives of her adherents. Wisely, the author stays away from passing any judgment of his own on the teachings of the Church. The individual reader is left to make up his/her mind on such theological issues, if they want to. The plot of this novel as it evolves explores the relationships of the two couples that are brought up in conventional Catholic traditions. Both the couples draw their spiritual sustenance from the teachings of the Mother Catholic Church. James Kennedy and Alice marry after falling hopelessly in love; and they firmly believe that their Catholic faith is their towering strength that cements their love and marriage. Out of this wedlock, they have a son, Sean, the pride of their joy and faith. They both are very devout Catholics--a very dedicated family. The other couple in this novel is Karen McNulty and Donna Thistle. They too are deeply in love and consider themselves very much married. They explore each other sexually and their relationship is very much akin to the married kind; but they hide it from the public eye and the Church, knowing very well the societal taboos on the same-sex relationships. Karen and Donna, who were raised up spiritually as Catholics by their respective parents, also draw their spiritual sustenance from the teachings of the Church. Both these couples attend church services at a newly built church in Willowdale in the North York district of Toronto. After Mass, that Sunday in November - the feast of All Saints --these two couples happened to meet by chance in the Church hall over a cup of coffee. As James was surveying the scene when his wife had left to bring him a cup of coffee, his eyes fall on Karen - a brunette with a charming, oval face. He is drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Karen too had felt the strong pull of attraction towards James who was dressed in his tailored brown woolen suit and silk tie. At that very instant when they were drawn to each other, the seed of tragedy was sown into their destiny. James is a teacher in a secondary school, and Karen teaches in the elementary panel. Fate brings them together; but this time, without the presence of their respective partners or spouses. This chance encounter happens when they attend the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the teachers' union. As Karen was glancing through this gathering, 'a bolt of electricity' passes through her body, seeing James entering the room. Later, twice the same weekend, they consummate their illicit passion that was itching their libido in Karen's room at the Regal Constellation Hotel on Dixon Road, where Karen had checked in to attend the AGM. Karen, who had never had sexual intercourse with a man before, 'felt fulfilled in a way she had never been fulfilled with Donna'. But their love also being beyond physical, Karen felt that she had betrayed Donna; a feeling of guilt traumatizes her being. James, who had never slept with any other woman besides his wife, Alice, is conscience-stricken; he has committed adultery. How is he going to face Alice? Strong emotional tsunamis assault their moral virtues nurtured by their faith. They are torn between their physical passion of their lust and their binding commitment to their spouses. Finally, when Alice discovers that James had cheated on her with Karen, she is so hurt that she escapes with her son, Sean, to her parents. Alice, who prayed rosary with her parents as a child - the family that prays together stays together - and who had knowledge of the meditations of Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, reflects upon her marriage. As she reflects, it comes to her mind the passage that the priest had read at her nuptials. It was a passage from Corinthians by Paul the Apostle. It read
[Goanet] Book Review "Penance": A novel by Ben Antao
Book Review by By Silviano C. Barbosa, author of the novel, The Sixth Night August 19, 2006 Novel, Penance by Ben Antao Publisher Goan Observer, Goa, India Soft cover, 329 Pages I have just finished reading the Canadian novel, Penance by Canadian Goan author Ben Antao and published by Goan Observer, Panjim, Goa, India. Its too bad the North American publishers still shy away from Goan novels and novelists. I am sure if Rohinton Mistry had submitted this novel to Alfred Knopf or any other big name publishers, it would have been published. But Rohinton has not yet published any Canadian based novel so far, a fact not ignored by his Canadian critics. Author Ben Antao has succeeded in his first foray into a mainstream Canadian novel. The fact that Ben has based this novel on a more than familiar Catholic way of life and the fact that he is married to his Canadian born wife and also the fact that he worked as a professional high school teacher in Toronto, has all worked very well for him in his portrayal of the Canadian Catholic teachers intricate way of life in this Canadian novel. As a result the ethnic novelist leaves no stone unturned in making it a full fledged Canadian novel, and not an ethnic one. This novel is well written with some lively scenes, flashbacks, monologues, a keen human observation and a precise narrative. The book has been well edited. The novel is just about 60,000 words, a little too short for a full fledged novel, and the reader ends up wanting for more. But the author makes up for this by using double line spacing, which makes the book much easier and faster to read and also makes it 329 pages long. The first part of the novel follows the pattern indicated on the books blurb, as the author uncovers the background of his characters with his typical show-and-tell craft, which most modern novelists adhere to. The second part is lot more interesting and as the novel comes almost to an unexpected end, it holds the readers undivided attention so much so that you cant possibly put the book down as the tragic end just bowls you over. The author employs so much of his Catholic religious belief and doctrine in his writing as the novel progresses and regresses with flash-backs and transitions and taking us back to the sixties, that it almost looks like you are reading Bible at times, replete with visuals of existence of God and some explicit sex thrown in, all at the same time and on the same page. The imagery used in this novel, especially the conservative way of life of all the characters, who happen to be staunchly Catholic, and who eventually become teachers, shapes up a real world full of living colours. The author skillfully puts all pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together in the story and switches between characters seamlessly and makes transitions very easy on the reader. I must point out I had a little hard time figuring out the timeline of the story though. The book is heavy on emotions, except in one case where I was certainly looking forward to a really emotive meeting between the father and his young son, who longed to see his father after a long separation from his mother, but unfortunately the author missed a great opportunity to quench the readers thirst for this sensational reunion. But the end is completely captivating and suspenseful, and makes up for all the logical sequences in the first part. I found all four characters to be too perceptive of each other, a fact not too common in real life. All the scenes are eloquently accomplished, complete with minute details such as the facial and body features and even the clothes, the deportment and demeanor of each character. Seans (the son) character, which was more conspicuous by its absence in the first half, figures prominently at the very end. The morality of the story may not have much bearing or relevance in todays modern times, but it did occupy a pride of place in the Catholic society right up to the sixties, and brings lots of nostalgia to those who lived through those innocent times. After reading this novel, if you are a true believer in the Roman Catholic Church, you will never look at the opposite sex in a luscivious way, especially if you are married or committed, else you would have to pay for your dear life with grave consequences as depicted in this novel. Ultimately, no matter what you believe in, you will have to pay for your sins. There is no free lunch. Like they say in Goa Korit to Bogit. And pay you must, either now or later, as the title aptly says it all, through Penance! I loved this novel! Silviano C. Barbosa, Author of the novel, The Sixth Night http://ca.geocities.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ . ___ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
[Goanet] BOOK REVIEW: Young Female, Travelling Alone
Travelling the Asian trail August 8th, 2006 at 12:55 am (Goa books) · Edit Young Female, Travelling Alone Anne-Marie M Pop Young, Female Travelling Alone2005 iUniverse, Inc (New York, Lincoln, Shanghai) www.iuniverse.com Pp 149 US$12.95 REVIEWED BY Frederick Noronha Minutes after the postman rang the cycle-bell and dropped this book at the door, I was devouring it. As anticipated, it dealt with India. And, my next guess was right too: a significant section focussed on Goa, the former Portuguese colony on the Indian west coast that this reviewer call home Let’s shift focus to where it should go: the book and its author. Writer Anne-Marie M Pop is a Montreal-based computer engineer. In 2001, she took on a two-year job in Sweden, and then quit for a seven-month “backpacking journey through Asia”. This is a reflection — let’s not say ‘record’ — of her times in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and India. It takes her through Cambodian border scams and brothels, Buddhist meditation centres in Thailand, scenic islands, the Mekong and the rain forests. She also lands up in the sex-drugs-and-full-moon-party trail still surviving a generation after the hippies first sought solace and escapism in Asia. Anne-Marie’s book is an easy and entertaining read. It’s armchair-tourism from the safety of your own home, with the tantalising promise of bringing in close, but not too close, the perils that Asia. Anne-Marie M Pop faces many dangers. More so, as the “young female, travelling alone”. She’s critical of how Asian men treat women. And as an Asian male, this reviewer would acknowledge that she has a point. But is it Asian males alone? Oftentimes, oppression has a more subtle face on it. In Asia, it doesn’t. Not following culturally-apt behaviour could also be risky; and this holds true for any part of the globe, even if the risks play themselves out in differing ways. Her chapters are usually just two pages long. One comprises just four paras! While this may seem unusual, it makes for easy, relaxed reading. ‘Young Female Travelling Alone’ gives the reader both insights and an interesting travelogue into a number of diverse parts of Asia. But does it go deep enough? Does it repeat stereotypes that we are already brainwashed about? We’d leave that to the reader to judge. What this writer has to say about Goa and the rest of India struck a chord. She was writing about a place that’s barely eight kilometres from home. The last book of the kind is Dr Cleo Odzer’s “Goa Freaks”. [It’s a sad story of how a young Jewish lady got caught up with drugs, and almost died of it. [She cleant up, did her PhD on sex tourism in Patpong, and worked for a rehabilitation group in the US. But, earlier this decade, she returned to Goa, only to die her in an incident which still brings in many curious questions from people who knew her.] Anne-Marie M.Pop’s description was realistic and down to earth. No wonder, as a reviewer, one was both surprised and disappointed to read the ‘fiction/general’ tag on the back cover of the book. It’s so life-like, I thought it was true! Or, is it? [ See cover at http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com ] ___ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
Re: [Goanet] Book Review: Penance
I don't remember reading the reviewer's name. I wouldn't trust Goan Observer's review of a book which was published by them. As Bosco said, I wish someone else does a review for goanet or any other publication. eugene __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ___ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
Re: [Goanet] Book Review: Penance
<> They should be encouraged to write facts rather than fiction -- too much fiction is injurious to mental health, as Goanetters would testify :-)) And I'm no spokesperson of Goanetters, Mario pl note. Cheers, RKN ___ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
Re: [Goanet] Book Review: Penance
I agree with Bosco's wider point that Goa *really needs* to celebrate its writers. But this isn't likely to be credible if the same outlet publishes the book and then gives it an "unputdownable" review. Overall, as a society, we are giving neither sufficient credit -- nor attention -- to our writers. Goanet and its readers could take on a very attainable target of changing *this* situation. Can each of us review at least two or three Goa-related books in a year (preferably ones in which we have no stake)? Can we mentor youngsters on the art of reviewing books? With World Goa Day around the corner, whatever happened to Rene's footballs-for-Goa and an-email-address-for-every-Goan idea? This is not to criticise Rene, but just to egg-on a man-of-a-thousand-ideas to deliver on the same ;-) FN On 19/07/06, Bosco D'Mello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I hope you and Floriano can provide us an "un-biased" review of the book. For > the moment, we should celebrate Ben Antao's work of fiction that will > hopefully encourage more Goan authors to take up writing fiction. > > Best wishes - Bosco > T-dot! -- -- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | Yahoomessenger: fredericknoronha http://fn.goa-india.org| +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436 -- 2248 copylefted photos from Goa: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/ ___ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
Re: [Goanet] Book Review: Penance
On Tuesday, July 18, 2006 10:52 AM "Frederick "FN" Noronha" wrote: > And, this novel is also published by the same Goan Observer group > which has published the review (below)! It could be a conflict of > interest to publish a novel, and then call it " un-put-down-able until > the very end". Response: Point taken. Would you like to discuss "conflict of interest" in Goan societythere are many places we can start ?? I don't believe Ben Antao (Author) or Rajan Narayan (Publisher) are looking to alter the Goan political landscape by publishing the book. I hope you and Floriano can provide us an "un-biased" review of the book. For the moment, we should celebrate Ben Antao's work of fiction that will hopefully encourage more Goan authors to take up writing fiction. Best wishes - Bosco T-dot! ___ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
Re: [Goanet] Book Review: Penance
Fred, The fault with Rajan Narayan is that he never consults his co-directors on issues like these. I know this because I was there. It happens when one thinks that one sports a mind which is superior to any around. Your observation is absolutely right. Cheers. floriano - Original Message - From: "Frederick "FN" Noronha" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 10:52 AM Subject: Re: [Goanet] Book Review: Penance > And, this novel is also published by the same Goan Observer group > which has published the review (below)! It could be a conflict of > interest to publish a novel, and then call it " un-put-down-able until > the very end". --FN > > On 18/07/06, Goanet A&E wrote: > > Title : Penance > > Author: Ben Antao > > Published: 2006 > > Rs. 200 > > > > > > Canadian in theme, Goan in values > > > Ben, from a prize-winning world-acclaimed serious writer, is turning out to be > > a leading romantic novel-writer. He crafts his stories with great mastery > > blending successfully the perfect amount of description with emotional detail. > > And his novels ever more absorb us in this part of the world because, a Goan > > by birth - and at heart -, he addresses problems in a unique way, against the > > backdrop of beliefs and conflicts of our Goan society, as it struggles in > > search of some meaning of life. > > > > Penance is an amazing read and un-put-down-able until the very end. Here's a > > novel for our times! ENDS) ___ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
Re: [Goanet] Book Review: Penance
And, this novel is also published by the same Goan Observer group which has published the review (below)! It could be a conflict of interest to publish a novel, and then call it " un-put-down-able until the very end". --FN On 18/07/06, Goanet A&E wrote: > Title : Penance > Author: Ben Antao > Published: 2006 > Rs. 200 > > > Canadian in theme, Goan in values > Ben, from a prize-winning world-acclaimed serious writer, is turning out to be > a leading romantic novel-writer. He crafts his stories with great mastery > blending successfully the perfect amount of description with emotional detail. > And his novels ever more absorb us in this part of the world because, a Goan > by birth - and at heart -, he addresses problems in a unique way, against the > backdrop of beliefs and conflicts of our Goan society, as it struggles in > search of some meaning of life. > > Penance is an amazing read and un-put-down-able until the very end. Here's a > novel for our times! ENDS) == > The above review appeared in the Goan Observer weekly of July 15-21, 2006, > Panjim, Goa, India. ___ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
[Goanet] Book Review: Penance
Title : Penance Author: Ben Antao Published: 2006 Rs. 200 Canadian in theme, Goan in values BEN Antao was born and bred in Goa, but now lives in Canada. Currently he is the President of the Canadian Authors Association, Toronto branch. He has written five novels and several short stories. Penance is his second novel to be published. This book talks about two couples - James and Alice Kennedy, a conventional couple, and Karen McNulty and Donna Thistle in a radical relationship. The respective couples believe themselves to be madly and hopelessly in love; until, one fine day, when Karen and James find themselves attracted to one another overcome by a strange force. Each tries to fight it but to no avail. Things seem under control until they meet at the AGM - meant to be a rare celebration in honour of the teaching community. Donna forces Karen to go to the gathering. James, a teacher himself, is also present. Any second thoughts Karen might have had about going to the meet vanish when she spots James, at the venue without his wife. The book continues to talk about how a magnetic force allures them to each other as they end up having an affair. Ultimately, both of them, realizing they have no future together, work towards restoring their former relationships with their respective spouses - James with Alice and Donna with Karen. The book focuses more on James and how he asks God to forgive him; it is not difficult to believe he is truly filled with sincere remorse about what he did, as he ardently prays, "You're the only one who can help", he reminds God. "Please help me. I'll give up anything if you bring Alice home. Anything". As we read about his struggle, we can easily empathize with him, now that with a cri de Coeur he confesses how much he wants his life back the way it once was. He almost seems to succeed, but the book concludes with an unpredictable climax. Ben, from a prize-winning world-acclaimed serious writer, is turning out to be a leading romantic novel-writer. He crafts his stories with great mastery blending successfully the perfect amount of description with emotional detail. And his novels ever more absorb us in this part of the world because, a Goan by birth - and at heart -, he addresses problems in a unique way, against the backdrop of beliefs and conflicts of our Goan society, as it struggles in search of some meaning of life. Penance is an amazing read and un-put-down-able until the very end. Here's a novel for our times! (ENDS) == The above review appeared in the Goan Observer weekly of July 15-21, 2006, Panjim, Goa, India. Goanet A&E http://www.goanet.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=216 ___ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
