------------------------------------------------------- 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 with readers in Goa?' 'Am I making a meaningful contribution to Goa - however small?' The melding of time and space for the writer-traveller (and perhaps fugitive) reaches through in his cameos which record the passage of time like in 'Good Friday in Cuncolim': 'A window from a hospital room It is usually dull on Good Friday Specially between 12 and 3 Says my father.' and 'Tiresias you see all things Across the realms of the past, you endure Talent and money What are they without time?' 'The book is a stationary travelogue that moves more through time than space, looping and whorling in circles and parabolas of past and present. I am won over by his language-such brevity in a travelogue, music in the lyrics, jingling of whistles and horns, clever use of images, postcard memories of Rodin on a rock, remain long after the book is put down.I am sure this is one more land stone crossed in the ascent of Indian English Poetry. While classifying Brian as a travel poet would oversimplify his work which have social consciousness and concern, his humour and satire, His poetry is unique, breath-taking and ultimately refreshing, with the poet constantly talking to us, even if sometimes it is only meant for himself. Goanet A&E http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=216 ------------------------------------------------------- Goanet recommends, and is proud to be associated with, 'Domnic's Goa' - A nostalgic romp through a bygone era. This book is the perfect gift for any Goan, or anyone wanting to understand Goa. Distributed locally by Broadway, near Caculo Island, Panjim & internationally by OtherIndiaBookStore.Com. For trade enquiries contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------------
