*** Goanet News Bytes * April 15, 2006 * Keni-led Goa NRI Facilitation Centre wound up...
| Domnic Fernandes continues (Part III) his reminiscence of | | Mapusa of the 1950s| | | | http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=426 | [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] / d8 Founded in e88~88e e88~-_/~~~8e 888-~88e e88~~8e _d88__ 1994 by 888 888 d888 i 88b 888 888 d888 88b 888 Herman "88_88" | e88~-888 888 888 __888 888 Carneiro / Y888 ' C888 888 888 888 Y888, 888 Cb "88_-~ "88_-888 888 888 "88___/ "88_/ Y http://www.goanet.org * Building social capital. --- GOANET NEWS HEADLINES * APRIL 15, 2006 * DATELINE GOA PILAR SCHOLAR REJECTS NatGeo 'gospel' claims: Vatican-based Fr Teodore Mascarenhas, belonging to the Society of Pilar and currenly heading the Pontifical Council for Culture Asia Desk said via the internet that the hullabaloo lead by the National Geographic Society, is actually an old document discarded by the early Church, which is now being discarded. (Bosco de Souza Eremita in Herald) o Usgao road blockade awakens authorities to traffic congestion, sound and dust pollution at the Usgao bridge.H o Police in Mapusa positve that a 15-year-old boy's death, Orvil Pereira's, was due to a suicide. (H) o Pomburpa spring needs attention. (H) o Barrier-free facilitation counter for disabled and senior citizens opened at Santa Casa building of Social Welf Dept. o St Xavier's to hold course on nature farming, horticulture at Mapusa April 19 from 10 am to 1 pm. (H) SENIOR CITIZENS CHOIR formed in Panjim, to perform twice a year at the Kala Academy, in classical, Western music, Goan folk songs, Portuguese music, Italian Neopolitan song and Arias from various operas including Hindi and Sanskrit invocantations to god. Choir will sing for weddings, funerals, musical evenings etc free of cost with regular monthly visits to the home for the aged. Contact Agnel Crasto, Pinto Chambers, Block A, 2nd Floor or telephone 0091.832.2435838. THE NRI GOA FACILITATION CENTRE which was constituted by the (BJP Goa) government four years back has wound up its activities, following the appointment of the State Commissioner for NRIs. A notification has been issued to the NRI Facilitation Centre to wind up its activities. Set up in 2002, its purpose was formulating, processing and administering the services relating to Goa NRIs. It was based at the EDC House in Panjim and had nine executive members headed by Chandrakant Keni. There were five members in its monitoring committee. Keni, when contacted, said the activities of the Centre are at a standstill as he has not received any directive from the Government about the Centre. But he said he was expecting a directive any moment. o Garbage has Ponda in its stink. (H) o Exclude panchayats from T&CP Dept, says Narvekar. (H) o Utorda beach to play host to Goafest from April 29. (H) o St Bridget's Aldona expo-cum-sale on Apr 29/30.(H) o Lynx to perform at Qatar May Queen Ball, May 11, Diplo Club. o All Goa Priests Day Celebrated at Usgao, Ponda. Some 300 priests, 225 nuns and 1500 faithful participated. (H) o Easter sales of hot cross buns hit a high. (GT) o Villagers at Arlem stone police, after the caught a thief.GT o Old Ourem Creek PWD building in abysmal shape. (GT) o Sanguem taluka being totally neglected? (GT) o Cuncolim website launched www.cuncolim.net o Loliem church to be dedicated to the people.(GT) o No toilets, Vasco slumdwellers forced to use seashore.(GT) o Kurt Gidwani writes on St Anne's Church at Parra. (GT) o Goa to introduce NCERT syllabus in schools. (GT) GOVERNMENT MOVE to acquire land of 1325 square metres -- currently being used as a crematorium -- and use it for the proposed Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat, agitates villagers of Aivao, Odxel, Oitem and surrounding areas. (GT) MASK OF LEGALITY covers illegal Dona Paula construction. Minister-backed controversial building project passed off as 'house repair'. Land records do not indicate any construction. (Gomantak Times) -- DEATHS AND REMEMBRANCES -- BOGMALO: Francisco Xavier Rodrigues, Vasco. Rodricks House. CANAGUINIM/Durga, CHINCHINIM: Avelino Abilio Ozario F'des BAMBOLIM: Mariano JVS de Souza, 3rd anniversary. ORLIM: Minguel Rosario Pimenta, 1st anniversary SAO JOSE DE AREAL: Josefina Fernandes e D'Silva, b 1949. -- QUOTE OF THE DAY -- Goa needs a CEO. I had mentioned a few years back that Goa is a beautiful place, and
*** Goanet News Bytes * April 14, 2006 * EDC makes its millions over a prime plot...
| Domnic Fernandes continues (Part III) his reminiscence of | | Mapusa of the 1950s| | | | http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sidB6 | [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] / d8 Founded in e88~88e e88~-_/~~~8e 888-~88e e88~~8e _d88__ 1994 by 888 888 d888 i 88b 888 888 d888 88b 888 Herman "88_88" | e88~-888 888 888 __888 888 Carneiro / Y888 ' C888 888 888 888 Y888, 888 Cb "88_-~ "88_-888 888 888 "88___/ "88_/ Y http://www.goanet.org * Building social capital. --- GOANET NEWS HEADLINES * APRIL 14, 2006 * DATELINE GOA o Maundy Thursday celebrated in Goa. (NT) o Willy seeks suspension of Arpora panchayat over illegalities.(NT) o Recovered statues yet to be claimed: police. (NT) o Keshav Seva Sadhana plans school for special children at Vanthadev-Sarvan, Bicholim. (NT) o Vividha Pariwar, Navelim-Bicholim to open a pre-primary and primary English school. (NT) o Rane promises to construct martyrs' memorial. (NT) o Congress leaders fail to visit party office. (GT) o Anti-Mopa ministers should be dropped, says Shripad Naik.GT NATIONAL NEWS: Indian envoy to New Zealand refuses to accept recall order. MAKING MONEY OUT OF LAND: A virtual jackpot for EDC indeed! Economic Development Corporation has virtually hit a jackpot. Its prime plot at Patto Plaza, Panjim reserved for commercial purposes like a shopping mall, entertainment centre, etc is quoted for Rs 50,000 per square metre. Its 18,120 sq mts plot is to fetch it a little more than Rs 90 crore (Rs 900 million), reports the Herald. RETURN OF BODY SOUGHT: Family members of deceased Carmo Dias -- who had died on the Cayman Islands in the Carribean over a month ago -- have appealed to British MP of Asian origin, Keith Vaz, to use his good offices and ensure that the Government of the Cayman Islands sends Carmo's mortal remains to Goa for last rites. (Herald) -- WEATHER FORECASTS FOR GOA -- Forecast for Goa/Panjim, India 10-Day Forecast High / Low (°C) Precip. % Apr 15 Partly Cloudy 26deg20% Apr 16 Partly Cloudy 31/2520% Apr 17 Isolated Storms 32/2530% Apr 18 Mostly Sunny32/2420% Apr 19 Mostly Sunny32/2420% Apr 20 Mostly Sunny32/2510% Apr 21 Partly Cloudy 32/2620% Apr 22 Partly Cloudy 32/2610% Apr 23 Partly Cloudy 32/2620% Apr 24 Partly Cloudy 33/2610% http://www.weather.com/weather/print/INXX0169 -- RECENT ITEMS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST ON GOANET. BY CORNEL DACOSTA -- The Goan traveller-poet Brian Mendonca will soon launch his debut volume of poems titled "Last Bus to Vasco: Poems from Goa." This volume is a collection of 50 poems written on Goa in Goa. The poems represent a poetic history of Goa spanning 20 years from 1986 to 2005. Attached to the book will be a CD in the poet's own voice with rustic sounds of Goa in the background. Searching questions have been posed on Goanet on the ownership and management of the mining industry in Goa. In turn, there have been some in-depth answers to the question which shed much light on this little known lucrative industry. For an unusual account of the walk on water by Jesus Christ, Goan Voice (UK) readers will find a fascinating explanation provided by a Florida University professor. His claim is that Christ could have walked on a floating piece of ice. This "less than miraculous" explanation from his study found an unusual combination of water and atmospheric conditions which could have led to ice formation on the Sea of Galilee. The ice would have been largely invisible to onlookers. Discover the unusual story of how Jaffna, in Sri Lanka, became Catholic en masse overnight and why it reverted to Hinduism with equal alacrity when the Dutch replaced the Portuguese in 1658. This is a historical account by Prof T Abeyasinghe in his book "Jaffna under the Portuguese" first published in 1986. "The only way to save Goa is to fight the politics of fear and speak out against all those who are responsible for trying to turn Goa into another Gujarat." These are the alarming words following a report "Broken Peace: A Fact Finding Report on the Communal Violence in Goa in March 2006." The excellent report is by Nandita Haksar, a Supreme Court lawyer. Find out
*** Goanet Reader: Seeing Goa through a camera... V B Anand
| Domnic Fernandes continues (Part III) his reminiscence of | | Mapusa of the 1950s| | | | http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=426 | SEEING GOA THROUGH A CAMERA: V B ANAND By Frederick Noronha fred at bytesforall.org If you came across Verapaneni Brahmanandrao Anand, the name wouldn't strike you as familiar. But when a slim South Indian was introduced to me at V.B.Anand -- outside that age-old resource of reading material, Varsha Book Stall in Panjim -- the name immediately struck a bell. My mind immediately went back to all those scenic picture post-cards I had come across years ago. This was a photographer one was just waiting to meet. V B Anand's claim to fame is that he showcased Goa (he subsequently moved on to other areas) in a way few did. Not only was his photography markedly superior, but he also moved away from the low-quality, low-cost viewcards that earlier dominated the market here. How and why did he enter this field? "My father was a photography. From childhood, photography has been a passion. I was interested in it since my schooldays. Then, I joined a fine arts college in Madras (subsequently renamed to Chennai), and learnt painting and drawing. But I've stopped using the brush and shifted to 'painting' with the camera," he explains. Being an artist by training does help, he feels, specially since 'writing with light' involves creating the right effect, the right mood, and the apt composition in the world of photography. V B Anand has an interesting story of how he got involved with the world of the viewcard. "I once went on a trekking trip to Himachal Pradesh, that was around 1988. It was in my college days, and I wanted to send some viewcards home to my dad. But I simply couldn't find any good ones. On returning home, I mentioned this to my father, and he shot back to say, 'Why don't *you* make some viewcards of your own)?'" As fate would have it, V B Anand already had made some very good photographs of his trip to Kulu Manali (in Himachal). "So I made some post-cards and took them back there there (to market them). Then the craze started. There was a very good response (to that set of cards)," he elaborates. Back home, his sights next settled on Goa, which was suddenly booming as a tourist-destination-in-the-making in the 'eighties. "It was my second place (for entering the viewcards market), starting from 1988. First I started with six postcards. Now I have about 120 designs (on Goa). Goa Tourism map also carries my photographs. Likewise, a lot of Indian tourism offices also use my photographs," he adds. What are his most-liked settings in Goa? Without hesitation, V B Anand replies: "Palolem and, in the north, Vagator. I like nature and beauty more. People and markets also fascinates me." Like many other visitors here, he finds the people here "frank, loving and affectionate". Is this for real? Or is this just a case of running into what we expect to see? But V B Anand also says he got an encouragement in Goa which cannot be compared to the feedback in other destinations. His cards were among the very first set of quality, if higher-priced viewcards put out in India. At a time when poorly printed cards were sold at fifty paise to a rupee, his sold for many times that price. Says he: "Earlier, the potentiality on this front (quality viewcards) was not explored, and nobody seemed to know the need of the customers." Initially, his stockists were worried about the price. "But when they put it out for sale, these viewcards started moving fast. Many then stopped stocking the cheap cards and started selling my cards," he says. After Goa, his next destination was the diverse south Indian state of Karnataka. "I started there in 1989. And, after that, almost every year I added one state. Tamil Nadu, Kerala, later North India. Rajasthan, Delhi and Maharashtra followed. Presently, I've started working in the east and north east (of India). And Kolkata, Darjeeling, Orissa, Bodh Gaya (Bihar), Varanasi (UP) too. Along with these, my main interest is to collect pictures for coffeetable books," he said in an interview. Is working in a new place, specially in a country as diverse as India, really a challenge? Is it tough? Says V B Anand: "I never felt anything, probably because I'm so involved in the art. Taking photographs, so much so that nothing ever disturbs me. Language is never a barrier while taking photographs." "They say love is blind. I say the same of photography," he says, suggesting the love of the art blinds you to many a problem. "I've been so much into it that I've never bothered where I've been and what I'm doing." What are the main subjects he prefers to work on? Lifestyle, beauty of the plac
