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Happy New Year Twenty-Ten
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The Colva Street Show
By Augusto Pinto
Dears,
I love theatrical productions, so I’m hugely pleased by what the
people of Colva did recently. I’m referring to the show they put up
in response to a CD produced by their tiatrist panch.
I have not had the pleasure of watching the CD, as it is now banned. But I’d
love to; I’m ready to pay four times the cover price for it. From what I’m
told, the people were excited because the CD took the Mickey out of the Colva
parish priest.
But after that the whole show was a super hit Sex! Politics! Religion! Bigamy!
Adultery! Violence! It had everything. What fun!
The Colva-ites who turned this explosive plot into a street play did a
fantastic job. It was a come-one-come-all affair; everyone could play a part;
anyone could say anything. There was no need for elaborate dialogue; no need to
sing songs. If there was nothing else to do, one could gherao some cops; or
simply fling a stone or two… or three. And it was all free!
I appreciate the Colva-ites for not consulting a lawyer regarding the CD. He
would have told them to file a defamation case against the panch, instead of
putting up a show. Sensible people know that this sort of case would have taken
about a million years to resolve, if at all, by which time everyone would be
dead. Thank God they did not resort to the law courts.
Also, it is a good thing Colva-ites are very elite and do not watch Bollywood
movies like ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’. Nobody has heard of Gandhigiri in Colva.
Gandhigiri makes one sentimental when one is angry. And it makes one do good to
someone that is bad. It would have been a very poor show indeed if, like
Munnabhai, the Colva-ites protested by flooding this apparently erring panch
with bouquets of roses.
Apart from the fact that stones are much more economical than roses, the
Colva-ites would have lost the pleasure of messing up the panch tiatrist’s
house. One day, I also hope I get a chance to smash up the house of someone I
hate, just like the Colva-ites.
I’d suggest that the Colva-ites continue their campaign by reviving the
celebration of ‘Janeiro’ ‘Janeiro’, which involves parading in fancy dress in
front of people’s houses to usher in the new year. The Colva-ites can use this
ruse to disguise themselves, and safely stone more politicians’ houses with no
one recognising them. This is all pure, traditional, good-natured Goan fun, of
course.
I’d also like to congratulate the priest, the politicians and the police for
not being so stupid as to go and try to stop the violence, as well as the
disruption in the lives of those who were not in any way concerned with what
was going on.
After all, it is human on the part of any wounded individual – no matter that
he is a politician, or for that matter, a priest who is supposed to turn the
other cheek when the first is slapped – to occasionally enjoy a little
tit-for-tat; especially when a particularly pesky parishioner is taught a
lesson.
One must also congratulate the Church for not intervening in the show and
letting everyone enjoy themselves. Of course, some people may say that by
keeping silent while the trouble went on, they conveyed to the public that they
are not in control of the Colva street players. Others may even say that they
instigated it. Let these fools say what they want. As everyone knows, it is a
good thing that religious leaders do not interfere in worldly matters in
secular India.
Besides, it is intensely boring when they start giving sermons to people and
quote passages from the Bible like: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but
leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will
repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if
he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap
burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with
good.”
Finally the Magistrate who banned the CD must be praised. It’s common knowledge
that once a work of art is banned, everyone then wants to see it. Tiatrists can
now sing songs in praise of this Magistrate for making tiatr as an art form
even more popular.
Cheers!
http://www.oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=31954&cid=14
http://tiatracademy.blogspot.com/2010/01/footloose-ode-to-colva.html
http://tiatracademy.blogspot.com/2010/01/chaos-and-confusion-in-colva-over.html
As forwarded by gaspar almeida
