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Dear Bhandare,
Thanks for your clarifications on the caste system in India and Goa. I agree
with much of what you wrote.
However, I have been reading your other posts with a bit of disappointment. For
an intelligent guy, you have been contradicting yourself. I think you started
the thread "No more religious postings" from you. Then you went on to do
precisely the opposite ... with some interesting research. You had some
excuses, most of which were irrelevant - and you know it.
I have not read any (to quote you), "self styled champions of secularism who
use the caste system, devdasi and other ills of the Hindu society to justify
things like colonialism and religious persecution by missionaries of bygone
colonial era." I will be more than happy to debate this lie on your RSS web
site. Just like the perpetrators of the "bygone colonial era", (the middle
ages), you are making-up your own excuses to justify your actions. FYI
champions of secularism on Goanet are generally not very religious.
Please ask yourself whether your posts are adding heat or light to the issues
being discussed or more likely those that you generate. Thanks for your
consideration. Also can you do something to the RSS-like web page about the
Inquisition in Goa by Teo De Souza; which the author claims he never wrote?
Por Favor, use your influence.
After your post, are abstracts from an Internet web page of an interview with
an author who wrote a novel / historical account about the Inquisition in Goa
- Richard Zimler's novel Guardian of the Dawn. Goan authors and wannabe
authors would find the following of great interest, especially after our last
discussion about writing.:=)) Likely in two years someone on Goanet or on the
RSS web site will quote this book as authoritative.
Kind Regards, GL
-------------- Bhandare
Dear Gilbert: My 'tirade' was not directed against any of Cornel's posts or
against Goan catholics in general. They were more against those self styled
champions of secularism who use the caste system, devdasi and other ills of the
hindu society to justify things like colonialism and religious persecution by
missionaries of bygone colonial era.
--------------------------
Abstract from the internet web page interview with Richard Zimler: Author of
Guardian of the Dawn.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/14inter1.htm
The research involved in Guardian of the Dawn is obviously immense. Could you
tell me a little about the kind of preparatory work you had to put in?
To write the book, I tried to read everything I could about daily life on the
west coast of India -- more specifically, in and around Goa -- at the end of
the sixteenth century. The Internet has made that sort of research much easier
than it used to be, and I was able to order books about everything from
traditional medical practices -- including recipes for specific ailments -- to
animals and plants indigenous to that region.
When I write a novel, I want to get all the details right, so this is very
important. Of course, it was also vital for me to know as much as I could about
Hinduism and Catholicism. As you mentioned, I studied Comparative Religion at
university, so this was pretty easy. One of the main characters in the novel is
a Jain, which is a religion I have always been curious about, so I read three
or four books about Jainism as well. It was wonderful to be able to learn a bit
about Jain belief and practice. Writing is always a great opportunity for me to
keep learning.
Did you visit Goa at any point? If not, what did you base your descriptions of
the state upon?
No, I decided not to go to Goa, because I didn't want any images from modern
Goa to infiltrate into the novel. I didn't want to risk inadvertently putting
something from today into it. So I based my descriptions on other areas of the
world I've visited that have similar flora and fauna -- Thailand, for instance.
Also, I read all I could about the city so that my descriptions of the
buildings, for instance, would be accurate. I then used my imagination, which
is the most important thing for a writer. I now have a landscape in my head
that is Goa -- and the surrounding region -- in 1600. I don't know how it
developed. It's almost magical.
