On 24/07/07, Cecil Pinto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
You are using the wrong, and very narrow, yardstick. In terms of giving back to your community you, Frederick, have done a lot. Walking the talk does not necessarily have to be measured in money terms.Bosco DeMello gives back by utilising his time and energies to moderating this often productive forum. Gaspar Almeida gives back by promoting Goan businesses abroad. Savio Figueiredo gives back by moderating Aldona Net that has been crucial in implementing many community projects. Carmo Santos gives back by organising visits for Goan cultural troupes, tiatrs, beat groups etc to Kuwait. George Pinto gives back by raising funds for Goan causes. Domnic Fernandes gives back by entertaining us and educating us about the Goa of old.
I missed seeing Selma's earlier post. And finding it in the archives was like searching in the tunnels of an Egyptian pyramid. Which only underlines the reason why we should all use the reply-to format when continuing on a particular thread (preferably without changing subjectlines to insult the-people-we-love-to-hate midway). Threaded posts are far easier to deal with in the archives. Science says so :-) Anyway, to get to the point... For the record, I don't see myself as having done "much" or even "little" for Goa. When I started out on all this (and even now), I just did (and do) things that I enjoyed doing. Sharing the information I have; getting reader-feedback for the articles I wrote; answering a query to an 'easy' question posed via the net; sharing photographs via http://flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/ rather than risking to have them all lost one fine day in a hard-disk crash ... and the like. We should not claim to be martyrs for the Goan cause (if there is one!) when, in fact, we just do things because, at best, it gives us a sense of purpose in life, or at worst, it acts as a dose of ego-boost. Do I sound as if I got infected reading Ann Rynd's virtues of selfishness in my college days? Anyway, who are we to judge who has contributed and who hasn't? And don't we all contribute in both positive *and* negative ways? I would be the first to concede that much of what the media writes, the heroes it makes out of people and so forth is based on hype. Take the case of Churchill Alemao, who gets transformed from a trawler owner to the hero of the Konkani movement, to a Valyakoli-turned-Valmiki (by the Gomantak, post PDF, when he teamed up with the MGP), to a NSA detenu, and then a goon. Subsequently, he also became the person who united Hindus and Catholics in Goa by winning the South Goa parliamentary seat with support from places like Ponda... and even a helpful advertiser for the media in the State! I don't know how others would see their own roles, but I think that everyone "contributes to Goa" in their own way. My baker, who just passed by, helped me create a sandwich of a poyee, keep my stomach full, and pen these few lines of nonsense. He too contributes! So does the barber from Hyderabad, keeping his saloon in the Saligao market open till 9.30 pm and offering out-of-this-world head massages for Rs 20. After we create so much garbage by our reading habits, the migrants who clear up and reuse the paper-packaging waste outside of the Varsha Book Stall in Panjim also deserve credit for what they do "for Goa". Surely, it's not only those with fat cheque books or high profiles that contribute! Let everyone do whatever they are comfortable with. We cannot cajole or coax anyone to do what *we* want them to do. All in all, thanks for the certificate Cecil... but I will return it, as I neither deserve it nor aimed for it. Rgds, FN
