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NGOs: Non Governable Organisations?
PLAYING IT BY THE EAR!
By Miguel Braganza
When I was a child there was no internet. In fact, the long distance telephone
calls were then called 'trunk calls' and were as cumbersome to deal with as
the huge metal trunks that repatriates from Africa used to bring home by ship.
Getting the lyrics and music score from the Net was not an option. There was
no way one could get the lyrics as soon as the song played on the
radio, "Radio Ceylon", the forerunner of SLBC [Sri Lanka Broadcasting
Corporation], being the hot favourite radio channel of that era. One played
the song by the year. Thus, the music 'bands' of yore 'played it by the ear'.
The USA Guantanamo Bay detention centre for Islamic militants in occupied Cuba
is now world famous. 'GUANTANAMERA', a song written in 1963, was a big hit in
the mid 1960s. Its original music was scored by Jose Fernandez Diaz and later
adapted by Pete Seeger & Julian Orbon. That is about the 'tune'. The lyric
adaptation is by Julian Orbon, based on a poem by Jose Marti. This song is now
rated as the song that describes the Cubans the best. It also describes Goa of
the 1960s the best. The song starts with the famous verse that will touch any
heart.
Yo soy un hombre sincero
De donde crecen las palmas[2]
Y antes de morir me quiero
Echar mis versos del alma
This Spanish verse simply means this:
I am a truthful man from this land of palm trees.
Before dying I want to share these verses of my soul.
Mi verso es de un verde claro
Y de un carmin encendido [2]
Mi verso es un ciervo herido
Que busca en el monte amparo
The second verse translates thus:
My verses are light green
But they are also flaming red.
The reference to Mount Amparo should warm up the heart of anyone from the
parish of Mandur-Neura in Tiswadi taluka which is dedicated to Our Lady of
Amparo.
The next verse says thus:
I cultivate a rose in June and in January
for the sincere friend who gives me his hand".
In Spanish it reads:
Cultivo la rosa blanca
En Junio como en Enero [2]
Para el amigo sincero
Que me da su mano franca.
Likewise, there is a rose for the cruel enemy. The verse means
And for the cruel one who would tear out this heart with which I live,
I do not cultivate thistles nor nettles. I cultivate a white rose.
Y para el cruel que me arranca
El corazon con que vivo [2]
Cardo ni ortiga cultivo
Cultivo la rosa blanca.
The lyrics of the song are, no doubt, 'moving' but it was the chorus that
shook Goa with laughter. The chorus was a simple one:
"Guantanamera, Guajira Guantanamera" repeated twice. Playing it 'by the ear',
one famous brass band of those years had the crooner going into ruptures
with "Gone through the mirror. Vanilla! Gone through the mirror." He sounded
quasi-authentic, but that was obviously not good enough. Those who knew
Portuguese, and understood a spattering of Spanish, went into peals of
laughter!
My experience with NGOs in Goa over the last 22 years shows that most of these
organizations play 'by the ear'. No rules really apply to them. Anyone who
feels he or she is a 'born leader' forms a rag-tag 'association' of
individuals with egos often bigger than their common agenda. Most of
these 'associations' are neither registered nor posses a basic constitution
nor rules of operation nor terms of reference. The myriad of Action Committees
or Kruti Samitis, Sarvajanik Sansthas, Pratishtans, Parishads, unregistered
societies and trusts in Goa 'play it by the ear'. Normally, they hope to get
the politician's ear and some flow of funds, normally from some government
agency where the politician has some clout. They work on the simple management
principle: Rule#1. The 'leader' is always right. Rule#2. When the 'leader' is
absolutely wrong: See Rule#1."
Over a period of time, some 'leaders' from such Non Governable Organisations
migrate to International organizations like the Jaycees, Rotary and Lions
International. The rule book of the International organization that they have
joined makes no sense to them. The mindset remains the same: "This is the way
to do it because I think it is the way to do it." These "I" specialists can
see no other way with their single "I". Team work is not their cup of tea
because two "I"s do not make one "We", and each "I" cannot see beyond his or
her nose! Like the proverbial monkey, the higher such 'leaders' rise, the more
they expose their butt. As one would say in Konkani, they presume it to
be "Aplench tambdem", and therein lies the rub! When they rub too many people
on the wrong side, these leaders face an identity [I-dent-it tee] crisis. They
have to play alone as in a squash practice session or 'solitaire'. Faced with
a challenge, these old bull elephants first run amuck and create a rackus.
They then slink into the sunset well before their time. (ENDS)
Miguel Braganza's column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=482
==============================================================================
The above article appeared in the July 28, 2006 edition of Gomantak Times, Goa
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