HEART 2 HEART (APRIL 23, 2006 - Herald)
By Ethel Da Costa
Three cheers to Ana Fonte!
It's a week long soul search in Margao that bears my re-acquaintance with
people who were part of my teenage years, and boy, is it a rewind of
nostalgia for my college mates who have suddenly discovered that yes, girls
are fun and so are our children. As babies smiled and teenagers shook hands
over their creative pursuits, mothers caught up with life's hits and
misses. The laugh lines evidence that we took the blows with the bows.
I'm at my jazz festival which commemorates World Earth Day that is making
my colleagues of the creative fraternity find a voice of giving environment
a platform through art, giving Margao an initiative for coming together to
contribute for the city, while Goan musicians of all age and background
tune violin and keyboard for an evening of expression at a garden blooming
in its avatar as Margao's cultural hot-spot.
I don't know if it's my imagination if I can hear the renewed bubbling of
the Ana Fonte garden (which also needs a clean-up by the way) set in
picturesque setting (which could do with more trees, and could we have a
wash room too?), but thanks to likeminded individuals who helped me see
this project through, I'm keeping my eyes clear and my heart open hoping
that the spirit of awakening that we've planted leads forth through a
creative force that will unite to create more green spaces, more cultural
bonding, more like-mindedness in working for the good of Margao, her
polity, her social and political issues through an active voice of change
in mindset.
Believe me, politics has nothing to do with music, art, opinion,
environment or blood pressure. Social change has everything to do with
wanting a better, improved quality of life. Respect for its citizens and
consciousness in being socially aware. Yeah, you can ignore the oddball
rotten apple(s) trying to put many spokes in your wheel, but maturity and
intelligence should help you see through the light at the dark tunnel.
That's the spirit that keep the artists going, (thank you Prasad Pankar),
which keeps the music flowing (Goan musicians take a bow), which makes big
hearted patrons and friends of art and culture and business put faith in
your idea (Power Minister Digambar Kamat, Director Arts & Culture M V Naik,
hotelier Xavier Furtado, businessmen Ivo Costa, Sameer Salgaocar, Vilda and
Rajesh Timblo, Ranjit Cotta Carvalho and Chief Officer MMC Melywn Vaz) who
look beyond the horizon with a spirit of casting new footprints and setting
benchmarks in the roles earmarked for them by destiny.
Thanks to a journo colleague who 'introduced' me to the garden, I'm
suddenly shaking hands with people I've never met, artists I've never known
doing their own thing quietly, young musicians experimenting new sound and
figuring out their careers, readers in dusty government offices confined to
files, papers, and routine, the smart alec who hates your guts, the cop who
till now believed I must be an old maid writing 'big, big things,' and the
wheels within wheels that you always end up smelling as paperwork meets
barriers, and ideas hit negative energy. I've realized that sincerity of
purpose is the only way to success, if vocation meets desire to do what you
want to do in your lifetime. Enough Goans bear testimony to their dream of
self-actualization. Of living to one's fullest potential, your own way
(there is no time for critics and detractors honestly) through the gifts
blessed by the Almighty. So Margao, what's the next idea are you gonna
speak to me we chase?
Beaten brown through the summer heat on the highway making from Panjim to
Margao frequently putting the event on its feet, let's get Goa to create a
voice for her people. Let's get our ministers to see beyond their political
agendas and put money and funds to good use. Let's get working for an
improved quality of life creating opportunities of change through clear
thought, a determined vision, a positive spirit and living a life for your
own good and what you can do with what you have learnt through experience,
to use position and people who can help to make a beginning. The world is
big enough for humankind to create their own niche and spaces in the
environment they live in. Until then, the garden spirits have began
speaking to each other across the highway. Now, that I think is one hell of
a positive fallout for my sunburn. Here's to a progressive Goa.
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