Beyond the Beaches: SKIN and ANOTHER GOA by Judy Luis-Watson
Life can sometimes feel like a series of random events, but I prefer to think of them as meaningfully related coincidences that are well-timed. Recently I’ve been thinking about getting back to a review of two books from Goa that I began a while ago: SKIN's fantastic family saga and the real-life stories in ANOTHER GOA. Then, while waiting for a flight that was delayed due to the huge ice storm in Toronto, my husband commented on a newspaper article. Who would expect to read about drug wars in Goa in THE WASHINGTON POST and see a quote by Frederick Noronha, the author of ANOTHER GOA? So for a few minutes, I put down my book—THE GENERAL IS UP by Peter Nazareth—to read the article. The recent drug-related violence in Goa has forced out of the shadows the ugliness of racism, corruption, over development, and a tourist industry that is veering out of control. SKIN by Margaret Mascarenhas (2010) and ANOTHER GOA (2009) by Frederick Noronha take readers beyond the beaches, the tourists, the surface culture. Through their stories, Goa becomes a real place with a complex history, a culture with deep traditions and challenging contemporary issues, and families with often complicated relationships whose members are scattered across the globe. While both Frederick and Margaret were born in the Americas and have traveled widely, they have chosen to make Goa their home base. For them, Goa is a source of inspiration. They also share concerns about Goa’s development and, amazingly, they maintain a spirit of optimism. When Frederick interviewed Margaret for PLANET-GOA, he asked her what the best aspects were about being a writer working in Goa. Margaret responded: BEST: Living in a Goan village in an old house I am restoring and having a wild garden to stare into while I make up stories in my head. WORST: Over-development of Goa, and having to watch the disastrous effect on the environment. Not feeling as safe as I used to in places where I used to wander freely. Non-implementation of the ban on cherry-bomb fire-crackers and time limits for loud-speakers in residential areas. SKIN and ANOTHER GOA are part of a series published by Goa 1556 and Broadway Publishing House that supports collaboration between writers and visual artists from Goa. So even before one opens these books, evocative cover art stimulates the imagination. The painting of the head and shoulders of a beautiful woman with African features superimposed on the ocean blue cover of SKIN is a surprise. What does she have to do with Goa? Margaret weaves the Portuguese enslavement of Africans from Angola into the fabric of Goan culture. And in doing this, she unearths a darkly held secret in a family’s history. Like her Latin American literary sister Isabel Allende, Margaret writes in the genre of magical realism. SKIN is a modern story in which the deep roots of skin color and racialism are revealed. While the novel is centered in Goa, the themes are global. Readers: travel to Angola and encounter its second largest political party UNITA; visit San Francisco where Pagan the central figure has lived; learn about the Andaman Islands; hear about familial intrigues, love and hate in the west and east; and see terrible truths exposed. The story is enriched with letters written between family and friends: My mother, thinks Livia, is still a liar: Pagan says Gina does not recognize her. This is a lie–not Pagan's, but Mama's....Beware, mama, lest all the hair that has fallen from your head bare a skull of such translucence that they will see into your mind, into your thoughts, and find the archive of the deeds you want to forget. In ANOTHER GOA, Frederick Noronha's selection of twenty of his writings from approximately 1997 to 2009 represent not only his journalistic skills but also the breadth and depth of his life’s work about Goa and its people. He says, “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.” The cover has an iconic village scene—sun-filled, green, rice paddy fields with coconut palm trees and hills in the background—and a smiling boy standing with a muddy rubber tire hanging playfully around his neck in the foreground. The opening essay "Digging for Roots" is a guide to help Diasporan Goans in search of their roots. It includes stories of how several people conducted their research and offers advice from two renowned historians on how to use local archives and parish registers to trace one's family tree and conduct genealogy research. This advice could make a huge difference in successfully navigating Goa’s historical records. “Land Loot” is based on advocate Andre Pereira’s presentation at the occasional forum ‘Friday Balcao’ in Mapuca. It brings together the traditional system of village organization with several issues that are given more focus later in the book—including corruption, loss of land, population growth, Goa’s lower fertility rates, and women’s rights. “Remembering Souza” features Frederick’s exclusive interview in Goa with the late New York based artist. Born in the village of Saligao, F.N. Souza is considered to be the “father of Indian modernism in the art world….[He] was one of the co-founders of the Progressive Artists’ Group in the mid-1940s.” It was in the Hira Building in Bombay that he, and several colleagues who were some of the great modern Indian artists, made their start. In "The Green Pen" written in 2008, Frederick talks about the shocking incident that led to Goa's first environmental protests in response to the "highly-subsidized, fertilizer-producing Zuari Agro Chemical company": My school day memories go back to reaching the beach with a gang of friends one Sunday morning, ready for a picnic, and being shocked by what we saw. On the sands lay tens of thousands of dead fish, ending up, quite mysteriously, in a manner we have never witnessed before. In our youthful exuberance, our first impulse was to hurriedly fill sackfuls of fish and take them home. We thought we would have a feast, but how wrong we were.... The well-placed final chapter “When Journos Err” is an email interview with anonymous journalists who are frustrated with the corruption of the media and the lack of venues in Goa for serious reporting [penpricks.blogspot.com ]. Evident in his writing is Frederick’s commitment to the people of Goa who he feels are often shoved aside in the rush for economic development. He remains hopeful: While it's easy to get despondent as [an environmental] writer, isn't it easy to ask, "have we changed things?" The fact though is that each one of us should not overlook our contribution. Like a drop of water falling on the same spot of a stone, our repeated writing can also make a difference....We can also influence others, and shape attitudes.... If reading is food for the heart and mind, ANOTHER GOA and SKIN serve up a veritable feast. ______________________ SKIN and ANOTHER GOA are available on-line and at bookstores in Goa. Email: [email protected] For a current catalog visit [http://bit.ly/Goa1556Books2[ [http://goa1556.goa-india.org] Please visit the website of Goa Chitra, the Ultimate Museum of Goan Ethnography that is dedicated to “preserving the past to enrich the future” [http://www.goachitra.com] and California-based Goa Sudharop that is dedicated to Goa’s development [http://GoaSudharop.org]. ______________________ Judy Luis-Watson is an educator, musician, and writer who lives in the Washington, DC area. Her review of PIVOTING ON THE POINT OF RETURN: Modern Goan Literature was published in CONFLUENCE: SOUTH ASIAN PERSPECTIVES. Her review of MORE MATATA: Love After the Mau Mau is available on Goanet Reader [ http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2013-December/236535.html]. “The Blue Arrowhead” is available on the US National Archives website [ http://blogs.archives.gov/TextMessage/2012/05/17/the-blue-arrow-head/]. [email protected]
