S. Sawaikar writes: "Today only I have heard that nobody form chess ariana were there to receive World champion Ivana Furtado at Dabolim Airport."
Francis Rodrigues writes: "Back to the pavillion -Why is there such a slant in favour of Bhakti Kulkarni in Mr. Salgaocar's reports on Goan chess?? Even if Ivana Furtado wins gold in her section, and Bhakti silver in hers, the first two paras are always devoted to Bhakti!!Now look at the travesty in Mr. Sawaikar's message below -Why is Ivana continually being slighted by this communal-ridden GSCA?" ------------------------------------------- There are times when people get carried away by propaganda that is based, not on facts and logic, but on misrepresentations and emotion. This is one of those times. A lot of falsehoods, masquerading as facts, have appeared here in this forum for some time now, but in the end, as Mahatma Gandhi would always say, "the truth will always win". I was honestly very disappointed when I read the above response from Francis Rodrigues, trying to unnecessarily turn this debate into a "communal-secular" one. I may not know Samir Salgaocar well enough but I know for sure that he does not differentiate between a Bhakti and an Ivana. Those who choose to see Bhakti as a Hindu and Ivana as a Catholic are actually the ones who are living in glass houses. They should not throw stones at others. I chose to defer my reply to this as I was trying to locate the press note that had appeared in a local daily sometime back. I took some time off this morning to go to the Municipal library, where I found the same in the 1st August issue of the Navhind Times. Nothing can hit harder than hard facts. I have uploaded a copy of the Press note, which should set the records straight. The relevant portion of that press note reads: "Ivana and her father Mr. Elly, who doubles as the manager, were welcomed by President of the Goa State Chess Association, Mr. Samir Salgaocar, Vice- President, Mr. M.R. Naik, Secretary, Mr. Suhas Asnodkar, Joint Secretary, Vasant Naik, and member Mr. Damodar Zambaulikar." Please click the link below for more on that: http://picasaweb.google.com/sandeepheble/Chess Use the zoom button to make it easier to read. I also spoke to Samir on this, who informed me that almost the entire 'GSCA' committee camped patiently at the Airport for nearly two hours to greet Ivana on her wonderful feat. Now, instead of lauding him and his committee, there are people who choose to call him "communal". It looks like they have their own "axes to grind". Incidentally, the one person who was conspicuous by his absence was Mr. Shrikant Barve, who always brags at every given opportunity that he was Ivana's first Coach. None of the other members from his "Taleigao Chess Academy" were there to welcome her too. Now I personally have no real problems with this, since each one is busy in his own personal life, but it is quite clear from the above that those who have problems with such trivial things are directing their ire in the wrong directions. More on other related issues - - -later! Cheers Sandeep
