Dear Nettekars, Forwarding a message from Miguel Braganza...
But first, profuse apologies for flooding your mailboxes with the "flurry of messages" on this disgraceful tomato mess. We had to act fast, not only to create enough awareness of this bit of mindless debauchery, but also to generate enough pressure across the state to have it pitched into its rightful place - the garbage bin. Thanks for your patience, your understanding and your cyber networking that converted this perverted 'tomato smash' to a 'musical bash' ;-) Second, besides those mentioned below...Tulio D'Souza, an aspiring occupant of the Saligao seat, in the upcoming Assembly elections, played his part, after we phoned him to join Saligao in stopping the insanity. Like every sane Goenkar, he too had very strong reasons why such proposed depravity should be aborted at once. But beyond the words, he was also instrumental in getting Michael Mascarenhas and Sajjid Hussain, the organisers of the 'saucy' event in Saligao and Nilkant Anant Naik, the owner of the village's most controversial venue, Club Westend, to come to a meeting and dialogue with concerned villagers. Other protesters present, both at the meeting with the organisers in the Panchayat Hall and the MLA, Dilip Parulekar in his office, were Arun Sawant and Sitaram Mahale of the Salmona Pariyavaran Manch, Ashley Delaney of the Saligao Forum, Joaquim Vaz, Mario 'Venas' Cordeiro, and Nicholas Sequeira of the Saligao Civic & Consumer Cell, Sarpanch Lucas Remedios, panchas Bholanath Gaadi, Jack Coelho and Deepak Rane of V P Saligao. Miguel Braganza represented the various other protesting NGOs and the rest of Goa. Villagers also protested the ear-splitting sound pollution that keeps Saligao awake through the year, on specific days of the week and often for days at a stretch...literally, because Club Westend lives up to its promise to drunken, drugged and tranced-out revelers: time and space "where the party never ends!" The organisers were quick to deny any sound violations above the legally permitted decibel levels and were quicker to give us their cell phone numbers. With the TV channel Goa365 and a Herald reporter in attendance, Michael-9890707107 and Sajjid-9767501320 told us to call them up *anytime* if Saligao is inconvenienced in any way. Sajjid also promised to bring to our home, a copy of a legal affidavit that committed not to use any tomatoes at the venue. The affidavit is still to come, but our investigations revealed that in fact, no tomatoes were used. Oh...we forgot to mention: the meeting took place under the uninvited but peeled eyes and cocked ears of the mufti-disguised, Calangute Police and Special Branch, Mapusa... "Thanks for gate-crashing guys! If you had told us, we would have given you chairs to sit on, instead of you trying to blend in with the street light fittings and other junk of the Electricity Dept., stored at the back of the hall. Sorry to blow your cover, but your snooping habits die hard and never let you down! Thanks also to informers that Saligao has always had, we do know you are reading us!" Congratulations to everyone who helped to prevent the madness and keep the tomatoes where they truly belong: the gardens, kitchens, dining tables and mouths of our people. Over to Miguel... Warm regards and solidarity. M&M. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Miguel Braganza <braganza.mig...@gmail.com> Date: 7 November 2011 20:53 Subject: Re: Tomatina? To: Albertina Almeida <albertina.alme...@gmail.com> Cc: muriel&mario <another...@gmail.com>, Sabina Martins <martinssab...@gmail.com>, goacan goa <goa...@gmail.com>, Yogita Mehra <yog...@greenessentials.in> Dear Albertina, The "Sundown Tomatia Festival Goa 2011" mutated or transformed itself into a "Music festival" without tomatoes thanks to the T.E.A.M. effort of Mario & Muriel Mascarenhas and Nicholas Sequeira on the ground in Saligao, the Botanical Society of Goa, GOACAN, and Bailancho Sad as organizations that wrote letters to the Director of Tourism, GTDC, District Collector and other authorities ....and the tremendous support by Maybushan Nagvemkar [IANS], Bevinda Collaco [Target Goa], Glenn da Costa and Savio Rodrigues [Goan Chronicle] with a little in the other newspapers, including the Goa Doot that chipped in after the MLA of Saligao supported the opposition to the proposed wasteful use of tomatoes. Dilip Parulekar is from the BJP...and so is Goa Doot. There were also a number of Letters to the Editor, which helped, too. Now that the Consulate of Spain has attempted to assist the proliferation of the TOMATINA in India, we have every right to oppose its conduct in Bunol, Valencia. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Waste is waste. Spin must stop it while Somalia or Ethiopia starves. It can export the tomatoes for free as Food Aid. I am raising the issue with IFOAM at BioFach India 2011 on 10 November, 2011 at Bangalore. Mog asundi Miguel On Mon, Nov 7, 2011 at 9:30 AM, Albertina Almeida <albertina.alme...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi Miguel, > > What happened FINALLY about the Tomatina? > > albertina -- > (M) 09326137682 > “I will not apologize; I have no intention of apologizing. One should not > have to apologize for telling the truth,” Anita Hill -- ................................................................ there *is* anOTHERgoa at <http://www.anothergoa.blogspot.com> & <http://www.youtube.com/anothergoa> ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' muriel & mario, c/o FULKAR, 6/22, sonarbhatt, saligao. bardez. goa. 403511. tel: 0832-2278276 / 2409999 <anothergoa AT gmail.com> '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------