Yeah....good overview, Rico. Certainly sounds like an interesting collection.
Patsy ________________________________ From: Greta n Seby <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sat, August 28, 2010 9:15:07 AM Subject: Re: [SALIGAONET] OFFTOPIC: Canadian Goans muse over the days they knew, reminisce about other times Fred, this was an awesome article, thank you for your efforts. Enjoyed reading. Seby Mascarenhas --- On Sat, 8/28/10, Frederick Noronha <[email protected]> wrote: >From: Frederick Noronha <[email protected]> >Subject: [SALIGAONET] OFFTOPIC: Canadian Goans muse over the days they knew, >reminisce about other times >To: [email protected] >Date: Saturday, August 28, 2010, 5:27 PM > > >Canadian Goans muse over the days they knew, reminisce about other times > > Goa Masala, a new anthology, contains essays and > stories by Goans based in Canada. The aim is to > keep alive memories of another time; a task > specially crucial amidst a community believed to > have one of the highest per capita out-migration > rates in the world > >PANJIM, Aug 26: Thousands of Goans have shifted to the cold >climes of Canada. But their hearts carry a place for the >lands they earlier called home -- whether that was Goa, >Africa or even Burma. > >This point gets underlined in a new anthology comprising >writing from this expat group, and which is to be released in >Goa this weekend, August 29, 2010. > >Called 'Goa Masala', the volume was first published by the >Toronto-based A Plus Publishing, headed by former Goa >journalist Ben Antao. > > Now to be released in a Goa edition on Sunday at 11 > am at Margao's Ravindra Bhavan -- along with Selma > Carvalho's 'Into The Diaspora Wilderness', another > well-received diaspora-related book -- this > anthology contains 41 essays including short > stories and reminiscences. > >It gives an insight into the Goa of the past, which has >changed in some ways and continues in others. > >Stories titled 'Baba puta' (by the Calangute-born Alick >Alphonso), 'The landlord's son' (by Ben Antao) and 'Evil eye' >(by Aldona-schooled Eddie D'Cruz) talk about the Goan life. > >Jenny D'Mello, British by birth, explains what it means to be >'Married to a Goan'. Her husband of many years, Tim D'Mello >of Anjuna and formerly East Africa, meanwhile narrates his >own encounter with learning Konkani virtually from scratch, >and why he believes it is important for Goans to keep in >touch with their language. > >Other essays echo the challenges and fun of growing up in Goa >and schooling here. Some narrate a neighbourly quarrel >conducted using comical literally-translated 'Konklish', or >debate the logic of arranged marriages, and also talk about >the travails faced by expat Goans at different points of >history due to changing fortunes and situations. > > Africa obviously still stakes claim to a > significant part of the expat Goan heart. Probably > more so here, as this book was put together by the > 55PGA (55 Plus Goan Association), some of whose > members lived through the very times when migration > to that continent was the hot favourite among the > Goan global diaspora. > >In a piece filled with detail and emotion, Xavier Sequeira, >whose father was a pioneer in the tiny Tanganyika town of >Iringa built during the 1890s as a German Army base, narrates >his experiences in an elephant hunt. "I felt no elation as I >saw the proud majestic matriarch crumple with my single >bullet," he writes. > >But this was no case of wanton killing going by the logic of >those times. Sequeira met with Sonny Vaz, of Moshi in the >foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. Vaz's brother's farm next to >Serengeti was the target of jumbos marauding its corn fields. > >Yet, the tragedy involved in the unfortunate man-animal >interaction comes across strongly in the hunter's own words, >many decades later. > >Manuel "Manny" Sequeira talks of his experiences of adjusting >to life in North America, while Lisette Saldanha tells a >fascinating story from Tanga, Tanzania in 1938. > >Saldanha's essay is about a seven-year-old coping with the >sudden death of a father. The imagery is realistic and >touching, as the young lad has difficulty to comprehend the >tragedy. Remember, these were times when life expectancy was >still low and parents dying while in their forties was not >all that unusual. > > Bombay-educated artist Rudi Rodrigues has a story > titled 'A candle for St. Anthony'. It features a > family on holiday in Goa, and deals with the theme > of how faith in the saint credited with helping to > find lost objects allows members of a particular > household find out more about their own, and each > other's, diverse attitudes. > >Former junior engineer Lourdino Rodrigues of Orlim, Salcete, >tells a spooky tale about a charming girl met at a dance, a >story with a typically Goan twist. Armand Rodrigues describes >how Goans struggle to cope with the arrival of the >tempestuous monsoon, and get ready for it. A separate essay >by him offers a pen-portrait of an old-time Goan funeral. > >Goan villages like Betul (and its "doomed tigers") and >Olaulim in Bardez (the smallest comunidade, called "O'lovely" >by the father of contributor Melba Rodrigues Remedios), are >remembered wistfully on the pages of this book too. > >Home-coming experiences are also described by others. > > Mombasa-educated Juliet Rebello recalls a voyage by > ship from the African east coast to Aquem in > Salcete. Betty Quinn of Colva talks of when Idi > Amin visited her dad's tailoring shop while he was > still just an army-man, how she had to flee Kampala > at a day's notice in August 1971, and the stress of > adjusting to life in a Bombay at a point when life > was definitely not easy there for the "repatriates". > >Leithbridge Herald book reviewer Alice Pinto, also educated >in Mombasa, describes a "chutney mutiny" aboard an >Africa-to-India ship. George Pereira talks of the Zanzibar of >the yesteryears, while Pliny X. Noronha, another expat who >studied in Aldona, pays tribute to St. Francis Xavier, a >revered figure of devotion among the Goan Catholic. > >Paul Nazareth focuses the August 1982 coup in Kenya, while >Kenya-born architect and urban planner Braz Menezes spells a >description of life in the Goa of past decades, at a time >when many among the middle classes migrated abroad and >visited "home" just on holiday. > >Finding a bride back home, Goan pioneers in Africa, the >rustic wisdom of the Goan matriarch of another era, and >"golden" memories of Kenya are other topics which come up in >this book. There are some tales with an unusual twist too. > > Goa-born Al Lobo was given charge to run the small > airport of Juringa at the age of 22. He narrates > the entertaining if dramatic story -- with a > smattering of Swahili words -- of what happened > when a Dakota flew in crippled, and had a 142 > kilogram "live male lion" amidst its cargo. > >Rudy Fernandes' story is of young boy's recollection of his >uncle. Dr Rudolf de Mello. The latter was a villager from >Saligao, once based in Zanzibar, and still remembered in the >village's locality of D'Mellovaddo and beyond. > >Ups and downs form a crucial part in the lives of many >expats. This is obvious from stories that come from Goa, from >colonial Japanese-invaded Burma, and from an Africa >undergoing Africanisation in the 1960s and 1970s. > >Joan DoRosario's current daydream is that of a homecoming to >her tiny village "sandwiched between Varca beach and >Cavelossim beach". In another contribution to the book, she >frankly wonders whether arranged marriages back home are any >different from "America's on-line dating services". > >Learning to swim in Goa, and fishing in the region, are among >the pleasurable memories recollected with nostalgia. The >one-time involvement of Goans with the Indian Railways gets >reflected too, as in Leslie Andrade's 'The Train Driver'. > >Coming Sunday, the book will be release alongside the >non-fiction yet adroitly-written book on the Goan diaspora, >by Goanetter Selma Carvalho, who will be present in Goa for >the release function. Further details of 'Goa Masala' may be >obtained from Ben Antao <ben.antao at rogers.com> >overseas or Goa,1556 <[email protected]> in Goa. > >Frederick Noronha >+91-9822122436 >+91-832-2409490 > >-- >This message comes via the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. >To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >[email protected] >For more options, visit this group at >http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net?hl=en >Please post regularly to keep the e-village active! -- This message comes via the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net?hl=en Please post regularly to keep the e-village active! -- This message comes via the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net?hl=en Please post regularly to keep the e-village active!
