########################################################################## # Goanetters-2004 meet in Goa. Dec 21, Tuesday. 12 noon to 2 pm. # # Clube Vasco, Near Municipal Garden, Panjim. Pass the word around! # ##########################################################################
GOA a Rediscovery Ben Antão Goan Observer Private Limited, Panjim-Goa Rs150, pp 99 Ben Antão, who resides in Toronto, is an active writer known to Canadians and to Goans in diaspora. His first book, Images of Goa, published in 1990, brings out the cultural vibrancy and harmony of Goan cultures. The book was well received, and a friend of mine who teaches at Chicago State University introduced it in his teaching program. Goa’s Rediscovery, Ben’s second book, a collection of essays, reads like reportage of his trip to Goa with his wife Marinella. But when I read it again for the second time, I had a different insight. Ben was born in the village of Velim, Goa, before the Liberation. He was raised on the pristine sprit of Goa of that time. He worked as a reporter for The Navhind Times (Goa). His having imbibed that Goan spirit, and when fate took him to US, and then to Canada, where he makes his home now, he never left Goa He had saudades (Portuguese term) of Goa, Goa that he was born and raised; he pined for his native land. Most Goans in diaspora, born in Goa, do. In these essays the writer talks a lot about foods and drinks. Relishing Goan dishes of his youth- Goan soul foods, like, ambot tik with rice or supping with sorpatel and sannam, and sipping maddel or caju in an authentic Goan home ambience - the author connects to that Goan spirit of his youth that he was pining for in the wintry Toronto. Another simple domestic core of yore that connects the author to the memories of gone by, reverberating the images of the past, is the scent of smoke that he inhales - seeing fire heating water in a copper urn in the backyard of Tony Barreto’s house, Galgibaga. The author was Tony’s guest. The cherished memories of his youth must have returned when the author was scooping the warm water from the urn with a pitcher to have a warm bath; and if, I am not deluded, this is a perfect gift that Tony gave to the author. Though Goa has changed, the author discovers the true spirit of Goa in the villages. And when Tony’s mother expresses her pleasure by saying with genuine sincerity, "Tum amgue ghora don dis raulo mhun amkam dadosborit zalen.", her words must have touched author’s heart, connecting him to the spirit of Goa, Goa that he was brought up with. These essays in this Collection are like quaffs of Goa’s spirit quenching that insatiable thirst in the writer’s being. The writer puts it in this way, "a journey of rediscovering my homeland and reconnecting with my roots." This is exactly what these essays are all about. Lest this rediscovery be erased from his mind or his readers, he gives us a plethora of pictures both in colour and in black and white. Goans in diaspora, mostly born in Goa, will enjoy reading these essays. The book is available from the publisher in Goa, and also from the author at 18 Geraldon Crescent, Toronto, Ont. M2J 2R6 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lino Leitão Dorval, Canada