I don't know if the message given below appeared on goanet, but thanks to Bosco for forwarding it to me. Orlando and myself were good friends despite the difference in our ages. We shared love for many things, including soccer, women's field hockey, and tiatr. I was very reluctant to review tiatrs but Orlando prompted me to give the tiatrists some publicity. He would often give me two or three tickets for tiatrs. He was more of a PR person to some tiatrists and was particular close to some of them like Boyer and Jacinto Vaz. I can well remember endless hours spent together along with others friends, particularly Ciciliano Noronho, who was involved with Lusitanians, at the Kyani and Bastani restaurants in Dhobitaloa. Orlando was running the Lusitanian women's hockey team and was also quite influential in the women's hockey administration. He helped many young Goan tiatrists, particularly kell-tiatrists from Goa. His favourite was the late Chritopher and his wife Meena. If I remember correctly, Orlando later became godfather of their son. Once or twice we disagreed on things relating to tiatr. The incident that immediately comes to mind is when a trophy was instituted for the Male Tiatrist of the Year. It was donated by Murli Deora, the current MP and a big gun in Mumbai Congress Party. It was Nolasco Gama, who was a Congressman, who wanted to suck up to Deora and, therefore, influenced Orlando to have the trophy. It was to be decided by "critics", though there hardly any critics worth the name, bar me. I refused to have anything to do with it. I was shocked when at a Boyer tiatr, it was announced that I was among the critics who chose to give the award for Boyer. I raised this issue with him, and said it was a shame. I had not voted nor was I consulted. He took our friendship for granted. He wrote small pieces, not necessarily reviews, for the Evening News, but rarely in the Times of India. But he wrote a piece on the tiatr in the Illustrated Weekly of India issue on Goa. He worked in the advertising department of the ToI, and handled classifieds. He owned the building where he lived in the former Dukarwadi, where is located the Grand Club of Cuncolim. The late J.P. D'Mello, international referee who later helped soccer in Kuwait, lived in the same building, called Gomes House. JP and Orlando were friends, and shared close relationship with the late Aniceto Fernandes, who ran Goan Sports, and was secretary of both the Goa Men's and Women's Hockey Associations. We exchanged letters for long time when I moved to Canada. Only in recent years, we stopped corresponding. When Ceciliano died a few years ago, I called his wife and enquired if Orlando was present for the funeral. She said no, as he rarely moves out of the house. She said he was suffering from cancer. He had a good knowledge of Goan issues, important Goans, and Goan events in Bombay, and I often relied on him to get information. But his information was often sketchy and I had to do further research on whatever he told me. His wife, Leopoldina, was a teacher. They had no children. In a few days, I hope to scan and post on goanet his piece on Goan tiatr. He did whatever he could to help the cause of tiatr. With deep sorrow I mourn his death.
Eugene Correia --- Orlando Gomes Passes Away A prominent Goan and ex-The Times of India Orlando Gomes passed away on 5th August'03 after a brief illness. He was 87. Orlando has contributed towards the Konkani stage during his life time. He was the first person to feature the Konkani Teatro in the Times of India. Konkani Teatro became popular in Mumbai due to his contribution of reviews, features, interviews and publicity of the Konkani plays in the English and Konkani press. He wrote researched articles on Konkani teatro & tiatrist a subject he thoroughly mastered. Many a tiatrist owe their popularity to Gomes. He loved his mother-tongue Konkani, and conrtibuted to her welfare in his own little way. May his soul rest in peace. Fausto V. Da Costa __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
