Re: [Goanet] Cine Lata

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear FN,

Casa de Teatro, 1856, in the backyard of Barreto-Miranda house, Borda
(precursor of Clube Harmonia de Margao)
Damodar Vidya Bhuvan, 1918, the first screen and cine projector, at
Comba-Margao
Govind Chitra Mandir, around 1930, at Comba-Margao
New Imperial Theatre, 1932, at Comba-Margao (but like Casa de Teatro, more
for stage performances)
Mavany Theatre, 1933, Francisco Luis Gomes Road, near old Margao Railway
Station
Cine Olimpia, 1933, founded by Antonio Piedade da Costa of Tolecanto-Velim
at Sunshine Bldg, Jose Inacio Loyola Rd
Cine Rex, the roving cinema, 1935, also by AP da Costa (in Margao, operated
on the open grounds, now MMC garden)
Cine Mahalsa, 1945, Vassudev Laxman Kale (Kolhapur) at Vidya Bhuvan,
Comba-Margao
Cine Lata, 1950, a modern theatre in design, seating and accoustics ...
some notches above Cine Olimpia
Cine Metropole, 1954 (like Mavany Theatre, also by the Mavany family)
Cine Vishant, 1962, started by Shantilal Gosalia, named after elder son
Vinod (Vi) Shantilal (shant); also started Cine Prashant at Curchorem after
his younger son Pravin Shantilal (Pra-shant)

Best, v

On Thu, Oct 13, 2016 at 11:09 AM, Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या
* فريدريك نورونيا  wrote:

> When was Cine Lata set up in Margao? And what about the other theatres in
> the area? Thanks for any pointers you could offer FN
> --
> _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
> _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
> _/
> _/  Frederick Noronha | http://about.me/noronhafrederick |
> http://goa1556.in
> _/  P +91-832-2409490 M 9822122436 Twitter @fn Facebook: fredericknoronha
> _/  Goa,1556 CC shared audio content https://archive.org/details/goa1556
> _/
> _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
> _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
>

Re: [Goanet] Milestone

[Valmiki Faleiro]

From: Venantius J Pinto 
Date: Sun, Jul 3, 2016 at 10:29 AM

John Lobo (Siolim) carried out Kantilal Desai who was injured in the
impact. Kantilal, was not wearing a seatbelt! IMAGINE.



Dear vjp,

Not true. Kantilal was wearing the seatbelt, which in fact got jammed with the 
impact (and also fractured Kantilal’s leg). John Lobo first carried the Prime 
Minister in his arms, waded through the slush of the paddies, and deposited 
Morarji Desai a very safe distance away from a possible explosion of the 
aircraft. Returning, the six foot plus director of CBI and IB yanked out 
Kantilal and took him to safety in his arms. The rest of what you say is 
absolutely true. Also, the crash did not occur at Gauhati as Marshall Mendonza 
said in an earlier post, but at Jorhat-Rowriah. This story is told in a book 
published by ‘Goa,1556’ in 2010 called ‘Patriotism in Action’, Pages xl to xlii 
and Pages 190-191 (Wg Cdr Clarence Joseph D”Lima, VM). The book is out of print 
but if anyone here is interested and mails me, I will copy-paste the relevant 
text.

Best, v

Re: [Goanet] GOD - Do you know ? part 4 of 4

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Mervyn, I seldom comment on matters of faith. But reading your response
made my day!
Best, v

On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 5:03 AM, Mervyn Lobo  wrote:

> Devak Argham wrote:Genesis Ch. 1 : 26 – 27
>
>
> 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created
> him; male and female he created them.--
> Devak,Any non-religious person will tell you that women were created in
> the image of God. Men on the other hand, have descended from apes.Mervyn
>
>

Re: [Goanet] Joel, we'll all miss you!

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Shocking that Joel, the ever smiling gentleman journo, is no more in our
midst. He will surely be missed.

On Wed, Aug 5, 2015 at 9:03 AM, Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या *
فريدريك نورونيا fredericknoron...@gmail.com wrote:

 Sorry to be the harbinger of such bad news this early in the morning... our
 long-time friend and a very widely known figure in cyberspace, journalist
 Joel D'Souza (69) passed away after a very brief illness at the District
 Hospital, Mapusa. Joel was a journalist since the 1960s almost, worked for
 a range of mastheads, and had so many interesting stories to narrate...

 We were good friends and worked a lot together. He was extremely
 productive. While also very low-profile and always excessively modest about
 his work, he kept reporting, photographing, videographing,and editing on so
 many Goa-related issues. To get him to talk about his experiences,  you
 needed to bait him with names of others!

 Joel had a lot of unfinished work on hand... one is a (Romi
 Konkani-English) dictionary he co-authored with Isidore Dantas, awaiting
 publishing. Joel successfully made a shift-over to the online media, early
 on, soon after it reached Goa in the 1990s. He had a long stint with GoaCom
 and Goanet, send out news updates for perhaps a decade...

 Just a few months back, we were sitting in a very noisy restaurant in
 Porvorim, and I was coaxing him to write about his experiences in
 journalism for a forthcoming book. As usual, he was reticent, almost
 believing that he had nothing to talk about. But as he kept telling me one
 fascinating story after another, I just could not resist and used the video
 cam for note-taking. The resultant interviews are below...

 (What was most surprising was when he told me his name wasn't actually
 Joel... and brushed aside my curiosity. Just this morning, his good friend
 Alexyz told me it was... Joseph!)

 Joel D'Souza, a journo in Goa since the 1960s!
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54zwYM_a154
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfhtcrczvaM
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA-wvQIz78I

 Joel, you did a great job in taking the story far and will, and in
 documenting the Goa reality. Rather than mourning your death, we need to
 celebrate the wealth of your work. Your contribution to the Romi Konkani
 cause will also be long remembered. Needless to say, we will miss your
 regular presence ... but there are a lot of happy memories that will live
 on.

 FN
 --
 P +91-832-2409490 M 9822122436 Twitter: @fn Facebook: fredericknoronha
 Goa,1556 Shared Content at https://archive.org/details/goa1556

Re: [Goanet] Query: about bispo mangoes

[Valmiki Faleiro]

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) farm at
Old Goa (opp. Karmali rail station) has a gene bank of 80+
Goan mango varieties, including the bispo, thanks to 
Dr. KM Mathew, the ICAR horticulturist in the 1980s/90s.

One can order grafts of any of the varieties and the ICAR
makes them for a decent fee. Trust this helps, v


Frederick FN Noronha *  फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا
fredericknoronha1@... writes:


 Someone phoned today to ask where the bispo (large, green) mangoes
 could be available, or its seed/stock could be got for reproduction.
 Any tips? Tia. FN

[Goanet] Deceptive Book: Dr. FC Colaco - Valmiki Faleiro tiff

[Valmiki Faleiro]

I had promised friends that I would come clear on the captioned controversy
after the dust settles down. Here is what actually happened:

Dr. Francisco Colaco (Fanshicote to friends) and I are neighbours. We live
three houses apart. More than neighbours, we have been friends. I have
always been grateful for the medical help he has provided my family, always
free of cost. He has also always been lavish in thanking me for the little
that I could do for him. It is important to state this relationship, to
better understand the course of events.

Copies of my printed book arrived from Bangalore on 2/3 April, 2015. The
first copies went to the Parish Priest, his two assistants, and Fr. Jose
Antonio Almeida and Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas based at the Holy Spirit
Church. The sixth copy went to Fanshicote whose house is on the way between
the church and my house.

As usually happens at book launches of common interest, Fanshicote was due
to attend with Fr. Nascimento and me, the launch of Dr. Themistocles
D’Silva’s *Unravelling History* at Cansaulim on Sunday, 12 April 2015. A day
or two prior, Fanshicote informed me that he would not come as he had to
attend a picnic organised by his friend. Fr. Nascimento and I proceeded to
Cansaulim, where, per practice, I got a copy signed by Themistocles for
Fanshicote. (Where I cannot attend, Fanshicote similarly buys a copy for
me.)

The following morning (Monday, 13 April), I sent the copy of Themistocles’
book to Fanshicote. He immediately telephoned to thank and when I asked him
how the picnic went, he said he did not go and instead, spent the Sunday
reading my book cover to cover. He lavishly praised the book.

The following night (Tuesday, April 14, 22:39 pm), Fanshicote posted as
follows on his Facebook wall
(https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=15074639340):

(quote) VALMIKI FALEIRO WILL SOON RELEASE HIS SECOND BOOK: “SOARING SPIRIT”
His first landmark book was entitled, “Patriotism in Action”. On the
eighteenth of this month at the Black Box, Ravindra Bhavan, at 5 pm, he will
release his second book: “Soaring Spirit”
. 
I feel so elated and proud of Valmiki. To me he has not only been a good
friend and neighbour, he has been a guru, a philosopher and a guide. He was
the first one to recognize some writing talent in me (though it’s very
modest, I confess). From that time he has been fine-tuning my skills and
egging me on. He is a rare friend, a bosom friend whose help is ready at
hand, both in good times as well as bad times. He is a gentleman who will
extend a helping hand to all expecting nothing in return
.
The book’s launch is to commemorate 450 years of Margão’s Espirito Santo
Church. The book offers facts, solves puzzles and throws up colourful
details of an institution that shaped Margao’s life for centuries. It walks
us through the times of our ancestors, many generations removed. It is the
fruit of much labour, toil, patient study and research gleaned from the work
of historians and scholars. With facts he is all set to challenge legend and
assumption. The book also provides an insightful introduction to the Largo
da Igreja de Margão.

As a journalist Valmiki has built a reputation of his own and is an
inspiration to younger mediapersons with his eye for detail and
determination to get out the story. As a writer he has a unique flair and
writes with finesse and elegance, laced with humour. He is a master of the
pen with exceptional skill at writing.
Heartiest congratulations Valmiki for this labour of love. It will be
another gem and an invaluable gift to posterity. (Unquote) 

The post was liked by 31 people. It has since been removed, but I have its
print-screen shots, with its likes and comments.

Two weeks after he had the book with him and a week after he said he had
read it, Fanshicote attended the book launch at Ravindra Bhavan-Margao on 18
April 2015.

Three days later, he posted on his Facebook wall under the title, SOARING
SPIRIT MAKES THE SPIRIT SINK TO ABYSMAL LEVELS (April 21, 22:39 pm). The
post is still available at
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=15074639340, hence not
reproduced). The post was liked by 14 people. 

The unexplained diatribe came as a bolt from the blue. Finally, after some
prodding at his Facebook wall, emerged the reason, *(You) take glee in
highlighting that one of my uncles was mad and was taken to d mental
hospital n was brought back only in a coffin* (April 22 at 21:09 pm).

Fanshicote reposted the above under the title, A DECEPTIVE BOOK at Goanet
(https://www.mail-archive.com/goanet@lists.goanet.org/msg109929.html). The
Goanet post was reposted by Augusto Pinto at Goa Book Club
(goa-book-c...@googlegroups.com). There were several third party comments at
both places, such as:
https://www.mail-archive.com/goanet@lists.goanet.org/msg110055.html
https://www.mail-archive.com/goanet@lists.goanet.org/msg109963.html
https://www.mail-archive.com/goanet@lists.goanet.org/msg110067.html
https://www.mail

Re: [Goanet] Dear Dr. Jose

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Just for the record: my father died in the morning hours of 04 June 1972,
in his bed, and in the presence of late Dr. Bento Egipsy who was with my
father for almost an hour after my father complained of uneasiness. There
was no Bentu (Bento) and no well nearby to jump into -- and certainly not
even the shadow of the man who writes this, when my father passed away.

My humble aunts may have been town-gossipers and a joke to Dr. Colaco. What
he says about them is pure balderdash. I never had the faintest idea that
they hated his family. I was born in the same house and lived in it until
they died, and am hearing of this fantastic pepper powder story for the
first time!

Dr. Colaco says I soiled the good name of Fenelon Rebelo. Where? How?
Ditto for Mr.Damodar (Mohandas) Naik who I have not even named in the
book.

And Dr. Colaco reminded me on his Facebook page about a law called
defamation. He may need to take some lessons on that law himself, before
thinking up of some more canards like the ones above.
Best, v

On Sun, Apr 26, 2015 at 10:08 PM, Francisco Colaco dr_col...@yahoo.com
wrote:



 You have always been against kangaroo courts. So now I am utterly
 surprised that you yourself have decided to set up one against me,
 despite knowing me so well and despite knowing that you are my friend and
 i respect you so much

 It is ok for other people to say Margao civil war erupteth and this is
 a war between Margao bamons. But, of all the people, how do you have the
 gumption to set a kangaroo court?

 Do you know what is the word i hate the most? It is when people call me
 bamon. My life is full of examples where in my day-to-day life i have
 mixed and safeguarded the interests of all no matter what their class or
 creed is.And people respect me for that.


 I was not a graduated doctor when Valmiki's father died. But even as
 children we know about his manic episodes and a number of witnesses
 cancorroborate. In the end, it was unfortunate that Valmiki's father jumped
 into the house well and committed suicide. Bentu (Bento), the local
 carpenter, who was also an ace-swimmer, was called to jump into the well to
 extricate him. Sadly, it was too late when he brought out the dead body and
 we were all aghast witnessing the scene.

 Vinod Mehta recently wrote a book  Lucknow boy. He was honest to the
 core. Arnab Goswami asked him whether he had the honesty to write about his
 own escapades. His answer was in the affirmative. And I did this even
 taking the risk of upsetting my wife. Whereas Valmiki washes the dirty
 linen in other households covering his own under a veil of secrecy.

 He fails to highlight the role of my grandfather who was a role model and
 philantropist and co-founder of the Sanatorium. He may not have been very
 intelligent, but his doors were always open to the poor and the needy.But
 he attributes to him some lies. Valmiki takes glee in writing that one of
 my uncles died of TB, then a stigma (no ethics here?). He takes glee in
 writing that one of my uncles was a mental patient (no ethics here?) and
 was brought dead, after years, only in a coffin. He then meekly goes on to
 justify saying he did nothing wrong because mental illness is
 unfortunate.But his malicious comments are not. Dr. Loo Estibeiro, the then
 director of the mental Hospital, always vouched that she never saw an
 inmate being treated by his family in such an exemplary manner. Every week
 my aunt used to send him goodies and other food he enjoyed. He had almost
 found a home away from home and did not want to return. When he suffered
 from large goiter, I took him myself to the old GMC and Dr. Willy operated
 on him proficiently. When he died I washed his body myself, then dressed
 him up, hired a coffin and brought him home for a decent burial.(Valmiki's
 father was a prisoner in his own home!)


 Valmiki had two aunts that were town-gossipers and hated our family. One
 of them, tia Olinda, according to him, gave him the so-valuable inputs
 for his book. Could there be a greater joke?. The other aunt, Bertina
 always eaves-dropped at the adjacent house of Paixao Pereiras. The next
 day, the whole town came to know about the porcarias going on in the
 house of Paixao Pereiras. One day, as she was indulging in her favourite
 pastime,the neighbours seized of the mischief, flung pepper-powder in her
 eye after which she became forever blind.

 Valmiki uses the respected Dr. Eurico Silva to write his preface but no
 word about the dirty linen in his family. He uses Tamsin Cherier as his
 compère but no word about the dirty linen in Tamsin's family. Only showers
 of praise. He makes use of a few to revile others. He soils the good name
 of revered Fenelon Rebelo who lifted Italab to the greatest heights
 through sheer dint of hard work. He arms himself against Mr.Damodar
 (Mohandas) Naik (now 82-year-old) to talk about his sexual escapades more
 than 50 years ago. I am told that his nephew has already threatened him
 with 

Re: [Goanet] A deceptive book

[Valmiki Faleiro]

I have much respect for Dr. Francisco Colaco.
On the three points in his post below, I say:

1. I have no issues with opinions, including of 'historians'.
Nowhere have I claimed, or labour under the impression, that
I am a historian. Or that the book is a 'magnum opus'! I wish
Dr. Colaco had to spell out its multiple short-comings, 
which I would have accepted in all humility.

2. The allegation of my bringing into the open the private and
intimate lives of inhabitants of Largo da Igreja and their 
revered ancestors is not illustrated with a single instance.
How can I comment? If I have erred, I will no hesitation to
apologize and make amends.

3. I have dealt only with facts. If what I believed to be true
was indeed not, it could be pointed out. The comments on my
aunts and father are patently false, to the knowledge of 
the local community.

Best, v


From: Francisco Colaco dr_col...@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, Apr 21, 2015 at 10:43 PM
Subject: [Goanet] A deceptive book
To: Estb. 1994! Goa's Premiere Mailing List goanet@lists.goanet.org


by Dr. Francisco Colaco

I am a great admirer of Valmiki Faleiro and had lavished a lot of praise on 
Valmiki as a brilliant writer and master of the pen. I stand by what I said. 
But after perusing his book “Soaring Spirit” minutely this is what I have to 
say:-

1.  The historians whom I met on that day and thereafter admit it is no 
historical book at all. A magnus opus that makes sweeping statements about 
contentious subjects should contain well-known references and a 
readily-accessible bibliography. That the book was written in three months 
cannot be advanced as an excuse for its multiple short-comings

2.  Valmiki’s book, instead of being a historical book, reads like a book 
of khaniô. He has indeed stooped to abysmal depths by selectively bringing into 
the open the private and intimate lives of inhabitants of Largo da Igreja and 
their revered ancestors. He seems totally confused when he brings into play the 
new settlers like Massurkars and Barretos in good light, while directing his 
ire, a fruit of his fertile imagination, against those against whom his family 
had a grudge, notwithstanding the fact that the Colaços in particular, to cite 
one example,  contributed so much towards the welfare of Holy Spirit Church and 
the Comunidades unlike his family.

3.  Valmiki would have sounded more congruent if, while washing other 
people’s dirty linen, he had brought under scrutiny his own. It is abysmal to 
learn that he talks of his half-mad “gossip-monger” aunts as “encyclopedias” 
who gave him the inputs for his book. Further, he fails to mention about his 
own father who was a manic-schizophrenic and had to be tied when he ran amuck 
and went into a state of murderous frenzy. Yet, he seems bent on soiling other 
people’s good name which is tantamount to defamation.

As a member of the ancestral Colaço family, I have two advices for Valmiki. 
First, “let a book about “history” be a “historical book”. Second, “those who 
have glass houses should not throw stones”

Re: [Goanet] Subject: Goa Outgrowing Postcolonialism: a review

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Augusto,

The point I made is loud and clear in what I wrote.
That the author used personal anecdotes to good effect.
Have you read the book?

I am not aware that the author (Teotonio R. de Souza)
suffers from a “proclivity for toadying up to the Saraswats,
the Catholic ones at any rate. There is no hint of any such
proclivity in the book under review.

Are you, Augusto, by any chance, the butt of that anecdote?

Best, v


From: augusto pinto [mailto:pinto...@gmail.com] 
Sent: 05 October, 2014 7:58 PM
To: goanet; Valmiki Faleiro
Subject: Subject: [Goanet] Goa Outgrowing Postcolonialism: a review

Valmiki Faleiro writes: (Teotonio De Souza)  uses personal anecdotes to good 
effect, as at pgs.132-133:

*On a personal note, if [laureate Umberto] Eco had a motive for
creating his blind librarian and naming him Jorge from Burgos, I too
may have one for discovering a Goan avatar of [Edgar Allan] Poe’s
hero in my native village of Moira. In a bid to make a mark as
fiction
writer, he dabbles in the pre-historic glories of the mahars,
claiming
that they have fallen from grace due to victimization by Saraswats!
He may run for shelter if I choose to reveal that one of my first
cousins, a Saraswat, was married in Church to a woman from Moira
adopted by a mahar family. He may persist in his obsession, like
someone who insisted in convincing me that Jesus was a Brahmin,
because his cousin, John the Baptist lived on honey and low castes
(read locusts).*

I don't appreciate the point that Valmiki seems to be making. Does he agree 
with  TS that merely because his cousin marries the adopted daughter of a 
Mahar, TS gets absolved of his proclivity for toadying up to the Saraswats, the 
Catholic ones at any rate? If this is what he thinks is  the Teotonio 
trademark of trustworthiness I'm not impressed.

During his recent visit to Goa at a meet organized by Goa Book Club I 
questioned TS as to the reason for his bias and he came up with the lame excuse 
that there were no sources and that I should take up the job of writing the 
history of the Mahars. I retorted that I was a mere storyteller and not a 
historian, and that historians seem to choose methodologies which suit their 
biases.

Incidentally, TS is quite the typical Moidekar Bamon ganvkar: this breed is 
notorious for taking potshots at people without having the courage to name 
names.

Augusto

[Goanet] Goa Outgrowing Postcolonialism: a review

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Goa Outgrowing Postcolonialism: a review
by Valmiki Faleiro

The front cover strikes. The quizzing geometrical shape on it shows two
intersecting
stairways. The steps originate from opposite directions, and lead to
diametrically
contrary destinations. Is one ascending them, or descending? It depends on
the view.
George Bernard Shaw on his first visit to America declared, “Half the
Americans are
fools” and when that was greeted with loud boos, corrected himself by saying
“Half the
Americans are wise people” – to cheers, of course.

The significance of the cover begins to emerge as one reads the 22 essays in
Dr.Teotonio R. de Souza’s 194-page *Goa Outgrowing Postcolonialism:
Historical
Explorations (1961-2014)* published in Lisbon by Centre for Research and
Studies in
Social Sciences (CPES), Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias,
2014
(ISBN-13: 978-1-49534-697-2). The book was launched recently in Panjim.

Dubbing them explorations, and not conclusions, the author lays bare, so to
say, the two
sides of the coin, or multiple interpretations of a given event. He leaves
it to
the reader to decide whether the glass is half full or half empty, whether
post-colonial Goa has been
on the path of development, or decadence. As the author himself notes, “our
active
participation [in the process of social evolution of Goa] will determine if
we are climbing
or going down the stairs … depicted in the cover of this book.”

There is another aspect to the cover. The two stairways are depicted in red
and green,
the national colours of Portugal. At the heart of the crossing stairways is
the swastika
emblem of Goa’s pre-colonial south Asian past – seeped in the philosophy of
individual
welfare linked to that of community. From there, starts the outgrowing.

The book is a bouquet of sharp analysis of events, historical findings and
reflections on
Goa, as it evolved from colonial shackles in December 1961 to the present.
The analysis
is in terms of people’s development and their deeper cultural satisfactions
or anxieties –
and not as usually viewed against the backdrop of Portuguese (or British, as
elsewhere
in India) colonialism.

It opens with an analysis on the dynamics of a minuscule community’s
identity – its old,
transient and new forms, and the contemporary processes of change. The Goan
identity
was never static but always mutating. Peppered with proverbs in Konkani, the
book
liberally draws on interesting anecdotes. Sample one from the very second
essay:

*Compulsory primary schooling had been introduced [in Goa] in the
1950s, when Portuguese school attendance did not exceed 4
percent. The claim of 18 percent literacy in 1960 must be
interpreted
in the light of a statement by Dr. Mariano Saldanha, one-time
professor of Sanskrit at Lisbon University, who gave the Portuguese
credit for creating “a rare breed in the history of education, a
breed of
illiterates who could read and write”.*

Outgrowing Postcolonialism essentially deals with the historical changes
witnessed in
post-1961 Goa. “It is obvious that those affected negatively will see no
Liberation in this
process, while those who are making the best of the new dispensation will
see
themselves as freed from colonial oppression.” This includes those that
sailed in both
ships and the classes that were socially and economically marginalized in
the past.

The book provides many instances where the monolithic understanding of Goa’s
culture
by the dominant caste has been tested in different historical contexts, and
rejected. The
author uncovers aspects not discerned before and demolishes several myths
bandied
about as truth for ages – for instance, that Saraswats were harassed and
unfairly dealt
with by the Portuguese. But for the long and active collaboration by
artisans, traders and
diplomats who interceded with neighbouring powers, the Portuguese would have
been
evicted from Goa long before 1961. Portugal’s colonialism was sustained by a
section of
the Goan Hindu community that profited from it.

To explain the context of current issues, the author resorts to flashbacks
on a range of
subjects, some in a good degree of detail, as for instance on how Christian
religious
orders amassed land and wealth in the 15th/16th centuries and how football
developed in
Goa from the late 19th century. He uses personal anecdotes to good effect,
as at
pgs.132-133:

*On a personal note, if [laureate Umberto] Eco had a motive for
creating his blind librarian and naming him Jorge from Burgos, I too
may have one for discovering a Goan avatar of [Edgar Allan] Poe’s
hero in my native village of Moira. In a bid to make a mark as
fiction
writer, he dabbles in the pre-historic glories of the mahars,
claiming
that they have fallen from grace due to victimization by Saraswats!
He may run for shelter if I choose to reveal that one of my first
cousins, a Saraswat

[Goanet] Alfred Tavares RIP

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Let us not mourn Alfred's death, but celebrate his life.
Sincere condolences to all his loved ones. Hope the family
will in due course move to get published what he had been
working on. There would be many who would gladly assist.
Farewell, dear chacha, v

[Goanet] Goan going miles

[Valmiki Faleiro]

King  Spalding hires from Freshfields
Richard Woolley • Friday, 8 August 2014 (2 days ago)

King  Spalding has expanded its New York arbitration team by adding former 
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer senior associate Viren Mascarenhas as counsel.

Mascarenhas, who started work at King  Spalding on Monday, was a member of the 
Freshfields team that successfully defended the Turkish government against a 
US$10 billion ICSID claim by Libananco Holdings. An ad hoc annulment committee 
upheld the award last year.

He also worked alongside Alex Yanos and Noiana Marigo in an ICSID case against 
Ecuador on behalf of Burlington Resources Oriente, over the state’s 
introduction of a 99 per cent tax on windfall oil profits.

Mascarenhas has been involved in several further natural resources disputes 
relating to Latin America, including ICSID cases against the governments of 
Bolivia and Venezuela. He has also advised on IP, pharmaceutical, biotechnology 
and medical disputes.

(snip)

Of Indian origin (his family is from Goa and lives in Mumbai), Mascarenhas is 
an alumnus of Columbia Law School in New York and the University of London. He 
began his career as clerk to former International Court of Justice president 
Rosalyn Higgins in 2005. (snip)

Two months ago, he was named as a rising star aged under 40 by the New York Law 
Journal.

He has Indian overseas and Portuguese citizenship (the latter is extended to 
many from Goa, as a former Portuguese colony) and speaks English, Hindi, French 
and Spanish. (snip)

Re: [Goanet] Eduarde Shevardnadze passes away.

[Valmiki Faleiro]

It was thanks to this man that the long-neglected ruins of
Old Goa's Augustinian church of Our Lady of Grace
(tower of St. Augustine) began to get cleared and partly
restored ... in search, of course, of the relics of Georgian
queen-saint Ketavan. Shevardnadze had requested Indian
prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to find the relics.
Best, v

On Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 5:35 AM, Con Menezes cmene...@tpg.com.au wrote:


 http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2014/07/postscript-eduard-shevardnadze-1928-2014.html

 ---
 This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus
 protection is active.
 http://www.avast.com

[Goanet] Remembering a Goan Patriot

[Valmiki Faleiro]

100 years: Remembering a Goan Patriot
by Eng. A. X. Esmeraldo Gomes

He would be a hundred were he alive today. He donned the military uniform
and served his country, in war and in peace. He was a true patriot. He also
loved his native soil. But for him, and a few others like him, Goa would
today be a taluk of Maharashtra.

Dr. Alvaro de Loyola Furtado was no doubt born to privilege. He was third
of four children born to the distinguished Dr. Miguel de Loyola Furtado, on
23 May 1914.

Dr. Miguel was the first Loyola-Furtado of the Furtados of Chinchinim, who
married Maria Julieta de Loyola of Orlim, niece of Dr. Jose Inacio de Loyola,
a giant political figure of the times. Of Dr. Miguel's brood, the eldest was
Leonor who went on to become India's first woman editor while the youngest,
Raul, was a US-Canada based writer-author.

Dr. Alvaro graduated from the Madras Medical College in 1941. He joined
the Indian Army Medical Corps during World War II and, under the Southeast
Asia Command, served four years in Nira and Chittagong in Bengal.
He was awarded the Burma Campaign Medal, the Long Service Medal and
the War Medal.

After the war, he returned to Goa where he practiced medicine. In the run up
to the first Goa Assembly elections in 1963, with the looming threat of Goa
being merged into Maharashtra as propounded by the Maharashtrawadi 
Gomantak Party, he plunged into politics and became the first President of 
the United Goans Party.


He was the first elected MLA from Navelim Constituency. Well read, he
proved to be one of the most erudite and a formidable legislator in what is
widely regarded as Goa's best Legislative Assembly ever. He fought
bravely to safeguard the independent identity of Goa.

The official demand of the United Goans Party for the Opinion Poll had
been Merger v/s Statehood. When some UGP leaders toned down the
demand to Merger v/s status quo (Union Territory status) without party
consultations, Dr. Alvaro and some like-minded MLAs broke away from
the party.

But, they campaigned against the merger of Goa into Maharashtra long
and hard. Dr Alvaro even went a step further. He filed a writ petition in the
Supreme Court as a precautionary measure in case the Opinion Poll
verdict went in favour of merger. Such was his love for Goa.

His high fidelity to his patients in search of cure was known to all even at
times foregoing his food and daily needs for the patient was his priority. 
In his remembrance an award for a student qualifying for the medical 
profession from Chinchinim village has been justly instituted to remember

his human qualities of service and of human bondage. In acknowledgement
the people of Chinchinim have respectfully named the main road from 
St. Sebastian's Chapel, Chinchinim, to the Assolna bridge in his honour.


On his 100th birth anniversary, we remember with gratitude one of those
sons of the soil to whom Goa not only owes her separate political identity
today but also deeds signifying his qualities of heart and intellect. 
Dr. Alvaro died with his boots on.

Re: [Goanet] OBITUARY: Fred Rocque (ex-The Daily, Bombay / Gulf News, Dubai)

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Shocking. Two journos departing in as many days, Flaviano Dias and
Frederick Rocque. Requiescant in pace.
-v

On Mon, Jan 20, 2014 at 1:30 AM, Frederick FN Noronha फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या
*فريدريك نورونيا fredericknoro...@gmail.com wrote:

 Just learnt of the death of Frederick Rocque (ex-The Daily, Bombay and Gulf
 Daily News, Bahrain) in Canada. Anthony D'Costa of the ToI passed on the
 news.

 Funeral arrangements for Frederick Rocque as follows:
 Sunday, January 19: 4 to 6 pm -- The family will receive friends at the
 McEachnie Funeral Home, 28 Old Kingston Road, Ajax
 Monday, January 20: 11:30am -- Funeral Mass at St Francis de Sales Chruch,
 1001 Ravenscroft Rd, Ajax.

 Sincere condolences! FN
 --
 FN Phone +91-832-2409490 Mobile +91-9822122436
 Blog: http://goabooks.wordpress.com

Re: [Goanet] History of Goa. A quick reference guide.

[Valmiki Faleiro]

The efforts of Cyrus and Tony/Maria can only be lauded!
I am working on thumbnail sketches of villages of Salcete
(including those in present day Mormugao taluka). Here's
an appeal to all Goanetters:

If you have any tidbits of info, local legends, customs, etc.
specific to any Salcete/Mormugao village, kindly share it
either at Goanet (but please don't change the Subject line!)
or with me personally (valmikif at gmail dot com). I am
particularly interested on information on the following villages:

Adsulim (once a revenue village, now a ward of Benaulim);
Betalbatim;
Calata;
Camorlim (Ambora);
Cana (part of Benaulim village panchayat);
Cansaulim;
Cavorim (part of Chandor village panchayat);
Cuelim (other than Jan 6/Remet Saibinicho Dongor);
Dabolim;
Deussua;
Dicarpale;
Duncolim (part of Seraulim village panchayat);
Gandaulim (part of Colva village panchayat);
Gonsua (part of Betalbatim village panchayat);
Guirdolim;
Issorcim;
Macasana;
Mulem (near Paroda);
Pale (part of Velcao village panchayat);
Racaim (part of Loutulim panchayat);
Sarzora;
Seraulim;
Sernabatim (part of Colva panchayat);
Sirlim (part of Dramapur panchayat);
Talvorda (part of Cuncolim municipal area?);
Utorda (part of Majorda panchayat);
Vanelim (part of Colva panchayat);
Varca (other than Churchil!); and,
Veroda.

Any information will be gratefully acknowledged, and duly
credited when published. Any pointers towards likely info
(people/published material in any language) on the above
villages will also be appreciated.

Best, v
On Wed, Jan 15, 2014 at 6:41 AM, Cyrus A. Jose Sanches 
sanchescy...@hotmail.com wrote:

 Dear Maria and Antonio,
 Thank you for the information. No titbit of history is unimportant. It may
 not be relevant today but at some point in time someone will be very
 thankful for your input.i will add the relevant info shortly.
 A question to all
 Should i start a section on villages, churches, temples, traditions of
 Goa. (Joel from Assagao had done a great series on villages some years ago
 and posted on Goacom.) Have a sort of online repository? Will there be a
 response?
 God bless
 Cyrus


  On 14-Jan-2014, at 23:06, Maria Pereira Fernandes 
 tonyfernandes1...@gmail.com wrote:
 
  Dear Cyrus,
 
 
  May I resent to you history information about our Carmona, Salcete, Goa?
  My wife and myself, collated the information.
  Please feel free to include the information, if you feel it is any worth
 
  Antonio C. L. Fernandes
 
 
 
 
  On Thu, Jan 9, 2014 at 6:59 AM, Cyrus A. Jose Sanches 
  sanchescy...@hotmail.com wrote:
 
  Timeline of  The History of Goa  a quick reference guide
 

Re: [Goanet] The Canacona Tragedy and Joe Goa

[Valmiki Faleiro]

JoeGoaUK will emerge as the Dr. Johnson of visual modern Goa.
Dr. Johnson, as we know, is father of the English lexicon.

Thank heavens Frederick Noronha is not editor of a local paper. Else
both Joe and Frederick would have their spirit broken ... a good part
of what they film and write about would not be palatable to local
newspaper owners (though another part of Joe's work was regularly
pinched without even the courtesy of credits, while Frederick in the
past stood by newspapers ghost-writing edits, probably without
even payment)!

Best to both of you, Joe and FN, v

On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 12:36 AM, Frederick FN Noronha फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या
*فريدريك نورونيا fredericknoro...@gmail.com wrote:

 I'd like to second this very strongly. Just earlier today, I happened to
 wonder myself over how many of us could even imagine how much time,
 trouble, sweat and expenses JoeGoaUk expends, to record, process and
 disseminate all this work of his.

 (snip)

 If I was running a local paper, I would have surely employed JoeGoaUk by
 now :-)  But then, that might have also dampened JoeGoaUk's art and damaged
 his enthusiasm. So, fortunately, I'm not

 Best wishes, and a big thank you Joe again! FN


 On 12 January 2014 22:40, roland.francis roland.fran...@ymail.com wrote:

  It would be remiss not to thank Joe Goa UK for his excellent pictures,
  blog and the video posted on YouTube of the tragedy's aftermath.
 
 
 
  Roland.
  Toronto.

[Goanet] Anyone knows CX Furtado, botanist?

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Does anyone know where in Goa botanist CX Furtado hailed from?

CX FURTADO (1897-1980): CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STUDY OF PALMS
By Dennis V. Johnson, Cincinnati, OH, USA and Eng Pin Tay, Canning Vale, WA,
Australia, published in Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 51 (1999), pgs. 141-150
(extracts):

Caetano Xavier dos Remedios Furtado did pioneering taxonomic work on Malayan
palms and the African genus Hyphaene. He was born in Goa on 14 October 1897.
He attended the Poona Agricultural College and while an undergraduate began to
write technical articles, especially on the coconut palm. His first article was 
published
in 1919. After completing B.Sc. in 1921, he worked as agronomist in Burma where 
he
continued his interest in coconuts.

He joined the Singapore Botanic Gardens in 1923 and within a few years began a
lengthy study of Malayan palms. Primarily on the basis of his publications on 
palm
research in the 1930s, Furtado was awarded a D.Sc. degree from the University of
Bombay in 1939. Dr. Furtado retired in 1952 but was re-employed as Botanist 
until
1964. Even after his second retirement, he continued to conduct research and to
publish botanical articles for nearly another decade, his last publication 
appearing in
1970.

Because his professional achievements in life and at his death were overshadowed
by the works of more eminent scientists, Furtado has not been given the 
recognition
he deserves as a botanist and palm specialist. At the time of his death on 13 
June
1980, Furtado's research and writing on palms went almost unacknowledged
because so much attention was drawn to the death, four months earlier, of the
preeminent world palm expert H.E. Moore, Jr.
===
Furtado and his young family were in Singapore when the Japanese invasion was
imminent. As a precaution, he sent his family to Goa where they lived with 
relatives
until the WWII ended. The family just made it out on the last commercial ship. 
During
the war, he was confined with two other prominent British botanists in the 
Singapore
Botanic Garden. Furtado was in charge of the grounds and was put into the very
difficult position, under Japanese orders, of selecting a number of the Garden's
workers to be sent the build the Burma railroad, which was all but a death 
sentence.

Furtado died in Singapore on 13 June 1980.

His son Jose Remedios, studied zoology in Australia and at the University of 
Malaya,
where he stayed on to become a professor of zoology. In the early 1990s Jose
worked at the World Bank in Washington DC. Last heard, he was retired and 
living in
London.

[Goanet] Goan part of team...

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Goan part of team devising cosmetic surgical technique in UK

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Goan-part-of-team-devising-cosmetic-surgical-technique-in-UK/articleshow/27040330.cms

Dr Ana Sharlen Teles, a doctor of Goan origin, was part of a team that
devised a surgical technique that removes ugly collections of fat cells
while reducing post operative scarring. Teles, a UK based skin specialist
made a presentation on the technique (which was devised at 
Hillingdon hospital, UK) at a medical conference in Cavelossim.


We are talking about using a new technique to remove ugly collections
of fat cells where we decrease post operative scarring (marks or scars
that appear after surgery) and improve the cosmetic outcome, said Teles.

Lipomas are non-cancerous collections of fat cells that can occur almost
anywhere on the body. These appear like soft bumps of varying sizes on
the body and often look unappealing from a cosmetic view point. 
Addressing the conference, Teles added that this technique involves using
instruments commonly used in cosmetic and dermatosurgery. 
While following our technique we noted an improved post operative 
appearance and much less scarring as compared to that will occurs as 
a result of the traditional methods of removal, Teles added.


Teles, MBBS, MD, PGCert (aesthetics) is a certified dermatologist 
registered with the general medical council, UK, and with the Indian 
medical council.


She completed her master's degree in dermatology at the Rajiv Gandhi
Institute of Medical Sciences, Goa. Thereafter she moved to London 
where she is a practicing dermatologist. Her experience in the United
Kingdom has provided her with a global perspective on managing a 
range of skin conditions including dermatosurgical techniques.

[Goanet] Goan heads team to fight...

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Goan heads team to fight red palm weevil in Yemen

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Goan-heads-team-to-fight-red-palm-weevil-in-Yemen/articleshow/27040219.cms

Former Chief Scientist at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
Dr. Romeno Faleiro from Goa, who is currently with Food and Agriculture 
Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, has been appointed international

consultant to head an emergency technical cooperation programme (TCP)
to combat the outbreak of red palm weevil in Yemen.

Faleiro, who hails from Raia, is a renowned red palm weevil management 
specialist and has been on several FAO missions to Morocco, Libya, 
Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. The TCP has been initiated by the FAO 
regional near east office in Cairo, in collaboration with the ministry of 
agriculture of Yemen.


Red palm weevil, the world's most invasive insect pest of palm species, 
is the main pest on date palms in the Middle East and North Africa, which 
account for 60% of the global date production. In Yemen - which is facing

a major threat due to the invasive insect pest - Faleiro will develop a field
programme for the core technical team, including field training on detection,
survey and management of red palm weevil and provide the project team
with the best practices worldwide to control this lethal pest.

In Goa, Faleiro worked on pest management, including of the red palm weevil
in coconut and the sustainable management of fruit flies among the traditional
farmers (Mollekars) of hill cucurbits.

An alumni of Loyola high school, Margao, Faleiro graduated from the Konkan
Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli-Maharashtra in 1980 and did his Masters and Ph.D.
in entomology from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi in 
1982 and 1985, respectively.

[Goanet] Engr. Silvester de Souza, Aldona/Margao/Dona Paula

[Valmiki Faleiro]

To those who knew him, the sudden and unfortunate passing away of 
civil engr. Cyrilo Silvestre Nascimento de Souza (Silvester de Souza,

11 Jan 1941 - 31 Oct 2013) came with shock and much sadness.

Born to late Luis and Cacilda de Souza of Aldona, Engr. Silvester
partnered Engr. Keni and the two of them partnered with architects
Costa  Almeida in Margao in the 1960s. Among their early projects
was the 'Pelican' building opposite Lohia Maidan. What earned them
early recognition was the design and construction of the church edifice
attached to the Carmelite monastery at Malbhat, Margao. This featured
in a leading world magazine on architecture, published in the UK.

Engr. Silvester came off, clearly, as a decent and non-interfering person
who kept to his own work, a competent professional and, basically, as a
good man -- of unwavering values, unbending principles and unassailable
integrity.

He was married to Lilia Maria Colaco, better known as Bunota, my senior
and respected former neighbour from Margao. (A trained teacher, Bunota
later worked as librarian at Panjim's Institute Menezes Braganza and then 
at Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim, before taking over as a

much-needed archivist at the Bishop's Palace, Panjim.) Engr. Silvester also
leaves behind three daughters ... Melanie, married to Vincent Lisboa,
Marissa, married to the famed medico and former *Goa Bachao Abhiyan*
convenor Dr. Oscar Rebelo, and Valerie, married to Hemant Jaiswal.

Funeral at Taleigao church, Sunday 03 Nov 2013, 3.45pm.

v.

Re: [Goanet] Catholic Goans Don't Look Like Their Names. By Savio Carvalho

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Enjoyed Savio Carvalho's well-written article. But imagine the confusion
confounded with a difficult combination like my name -- 
*Valmiki* from India, *Faleiro* from Brazil..

Regards discrimination on physical appearance, I am reminded of the 
Goan adage, *Garso, tirso, burso* (colour-eyed, cockeyed, handicapped).
They were never trusted. Mercifully, things seem to have changed now.

Best, v


Subject: [Goanet] Catholic Goans Don't Look Like Their Names. By Savio Carvalho
Source: Goan Voice Daily Newsletter 20 Oct. 2013 at www.goanvoice.org.uk

A few years ago, when I had just taken over as the Country Director for
Oxfam GB in Uganda, I had gone to pay a courtesy call to a Minister in the
Ugandan government. On arrival, the ministers Personal Assistant (PA) asked
me. So, where is Mr Carvalho? When I introduced myself as Savio Carvalho,
(by which time we have walked to the Ministers chamber) the PA admitted that
he was expecting a middle aged, white man, a bit stouter (I think he wanted
to say pot-bellied) and in a three piece suit. He was
intrigued to see a young man with Indian features and in semi-formal attire.

Sounds familiar? Such episodes are experienced some time or the other by
most Catholic Goans. You are going to meet someone you have never met
before. They are expecting to see the person (say Savio Carvalho) with a
name that is anything but Indian and they have already had an image of you.
You arrive, they see you, they look confused and on some occasions ignore
your presence - as they are waiting for that person (Savio Carvalho) whose
image they have created based on the name. And they are sure that Mr
Carvalho could be an Italian, Brazilian, Portuguese and but surely not an
Indian.



Many a times, in India, people face
discrimination due to their caste, gender, and religion, sexual identity
regions and even in based on physical appearance. Discrimination in any form
is a human rights violation. 


Savio Carvalho, Director of the Demand Dignity Programme, Amnesty
International, International Secretariat is based in London. He was born in
Goa and spent his early years in Mumbai. For a brief bio of Savio, go to
http://bit.ly/19Z7xpT

[Goanet] Dog bites 16 in Margao

[Valmiki Faleiro]

A stray dog bit 16 people within about 90 minutes in
the Agalli/Gogol area in Margao this afternoon. Victims
included women and children. A recently-married female
victim had some flesh of her leg so torn off that it left the
bone exposed. Another victim was said to be a migrant 
from the North East who works locally as a *Chinese cook*.


Without meaning to trivialise the tragedy, it might have
crossed the cook's mind that while people eat dogs in
his parts and in China, dogs eat people in Goa.

When will the charade of Goa's animals rights NGOs
begin making a difference to the stray animal menace,
and increase security to innocent passers-by?

(Caveat: for journalistic facts, please await the newspapers
of tomorrow.)

Best, v

Re: [Goanet] Goanet Reader: Being Goan is a state of mind, more than a mere geographical accident (Tino de Sa) (Valmiki Faleiro)

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Prof. Augusto,

Please don't blame Frederick Noronha for this.
The blame actually credits to my stupid habit of
checking email just once a day, and taking each
email in the order it came in: first in, first out.

In fact, much after I posted my rejoinder to your
silly view on expatriate Goans, I did see that you
had corrected your stance, but only as regards
Anthony de Sa, the new Chief Secretary of MP.
Hope you consider Goan a person like Maria
Aurora de Couto -- to cite just one example --
who is now in Goa, but most of her life, with her
husband, also a highly respected IAS officer,
outside Goa. (If the Ma'am gets to reads this,
my advance apologies to her!)

It appears that your general view on how *Goan*
expatriate Goans are, and how much credit we
resident Goans can take for their achievements
outside Goa, remains unchanged.

Sir, please realise you are insulting the memory
of not dozens, or scores, but THOUSANDS of Goans
who on account of circumstances then prevailing in
their homeland, migrated out of Goa, made it big
outside Goa, and India -- and still continue to inspire
lesser mortals like me, a resident Goan. Yes, they
tweaked their surnames to grab economic (not immoral)
opportunity then existing in British India. Yes, they bent
to enter a smaller door, but with their backbones intact!
And see what, with much academic effort and hard work,
they went on to achieve! Professore, v. humbly, I ask you
to please re-read any book by late Dr. Olivinho Gomes
(also central civil services Offr, IRS), late Dr. Clement Vaz,
or my own humble *Patriotism in Action* which dwell on
Goans -- all who do not fit into your definition of a *Goan*.

(Incidentally, my book was on Goans -- both Hindu and Catholic --
in the armed forces of India. I am surprised you expected me
to discuss their upwardly social mobility. Tell you what. Take
a Kalashnikov and make yourself
UPWARDLY SOCIALLY MOBILE in Moira.)

And just BTW, to clear your ignorance, when Goans went
out of Goa -- say to Belgaum, Dharwar, Bangalore, Poona,
Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Rangoon, Delhi or Karachi --
there was NO CHANGE of citizenship status. Goans only
carried an identification (a much sought after doc today!)

I don't know how the idea of insult or insulting came into your
head after reading my email. Read it again and tell me what
insults your sensibilities. If you still feel insulted, I can't help, but
if you wish to settle imagined scores (I don't forget insults like
this easily.) with me, say it loud and clear. I am more than willing
to debate ... and preferably on a larger public forum, so that you
finally earn your just deserts -- including from Saudi Arabia, if you
prefer (and, hopefully, dispel your long-held skewed views on ...
your Goanity.)

What you say about the *400-odd Commissioned Offrs listed in
the book -- including my father*, may I just say you will never fail to
surprise, and quickly close by quoting what one of those 400-odd
told me in a private email (and may I forecaution you that the author
was a pioneer Indian Navy guy -- and a Goan ... lest you shoot off
without your facts and later apologise (as in the case of Mr. Anthony
de Sa). Anthony lives in distant Madhya Pradesh, this Navy Officer who
I quote below lives in Goa, in a position to hold you by you-know-what!
So digest with care:

QUOTE: Please inform this idiot that we had to study hard and prepare for
the open competitive Civil Services or NDA entrance exams before joining the
IAS or Armed Forces as officers. The selection process was by no means easy.
Nothing to do with Anglo-Indians whatsoever. The guy should at least do his
homework before spewing out nonsense on goanet UNQUOTE.

I think you should take the advice, Augusto dearest. Best, v

- Original Message - 
From: augusto pinto

To: goanet
Cc: Frederick FN Noronha ; Valmiki Faleiro
Sent: Friday, October 04, 2013 12:20 AM
Subject: Re: Goanet Reader: Being Goan is a state of mind, more than a mere 
geographical accident (Tino de Sa) (Valmiki Faleiro)


Dear Valmiki


I think if you look at Message 10 of Goanet Digest, Vol 8, Issue 700 you will realize that I had apologized for presuming that Tino 
was not a Goan but my apology was not put on the Digest mode thanks to possibly to a malicious Goanet moderator who I will take the 
liberty of naming: Frederick Noronha.



Because my post was delayed being posted to the Digest mode, it appears that mud is all over my face. Be that as it may. I will get 
my just deserts in due time. I don't forget insults like this easily.



As for your second point that None of the 400-odd Commissioned Offrs
listed in the book -- including my father -- would fit into Augusto's idea
of a Goan! I don't think you quite understand my point.

A very great number of Goan Catholics in pre-Independence times decided to change their status from Portuguese citizen of Goa to 
Anglo-Indian citizen of British India.



Thus Barretto became Barrett; De Sa became D'Sa; Fernandes

Re: [Goanet] Goanet Reader: Being Goan is a state of mind, more than a mere geographical accident (Tino de Sa) (Valmiki Faleiro)

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Augusto,

I sincerely regret you found my mail venomous, drivel, verbose, etc.
No point talking any further. Though I want you to know -- and I will say
this here publicly -- that I actually like you for thinking out of the box. 
I disagree when you foolishly shoot from the hip, without having your
facts right, which unfortunately you so often do. Please be at peace and at
liberty to think whatever you want ... like what you say about the *Campos*
part you yourself first added to the Madhya Pradesh CS's name -- and then
said it (the *Campos* part) apparently disappeared. And things like that,
like the Indian Naval officer I quoted. May I assure you, Professore August,
that they are gentlemen of a different genre who I personally know. They won't
waste a bullet through your head. Take your time in getting to know them, (I can
assure you guys like Tino and India's pioneer submariner are the kind of
people you are yet to know), BUT don't be an upstart. From my humble side,
count on my unreserved support. And shed your skewed mental baggage 
about Goa and Goans -- whether born or living in Goa or not, or those who 
tweaked their surnames without committing a sin that the Bible, Gita, Koran,
Zend Avesta, or whatever, ordained as sin, outside Goa.

Best to you, pyare, v
  - Original Message - 
  From: augusto pinto 
  To: Valmiki Faleiro 
  Cc: goanet ; Aurora Couto 
  Sent: Friday, October 04, 2013 4:04 PM
  Subject: Re: Goanet Reader: Being Goan is a state of mind, more than a mere 
geographical accident (Tino de Sa) (Valmiki Faleiro)


  Dear Valmiki


  I really enjoyed reading your venomous mail. But before I start answering it, 
I want you and all concerned to read my original mail a little more carefully:

  So when Frederick Noronha trumpeted the fact that 'a Goan' had become Chief 
Secretary of Madhya Pradesh, I wanted to know whether Anthony de Sa or more 
properly Anthony Campos de Sa himself claimed to be a Goan. 

  For all I knew he could be a Mangalorean or an East Indian. Remember similar 
claims were made about the Goanness of the actress Freida Pinto for instance 
when she became famous, although subsequently it was discovered that she was a 
Mangalorean who lived in Bombay with little connection to Goa. This was why I 
had asked my questions regarding whether he himself claimed to be a Goan.


  My second paragraph points to a habit we Goan Catholics have: if anyone has a 
surname which remotely resembles ours then we want to immediately grab credit 
for the Goan Catholic community. 

  Should not have Frederick Noronha substantiated his claim that Anthony de Sa 
(incidentally the Campos in the family surname has apparently disappeared) was 
a Goan, which would have not necessitated me asking questions.


  Now coming to your own mail, I find most of it drivel. 

  What is the connection between 'Maria Aurora de Couto' (sic) whose name to 
the best of my knowledge is Dr Maria Aurora Couto, and the subject of this 
letter? I don't understand why you dragged her name in and she will get to know 
about your letter as I'm going to cc it to her.


  As regards how much credit I give to Goans who have achieved something I 
would like to say - I'll praise all Goans who claim they are Goans. If they 
aren't then why should we gain credit for what is not ours?


  In your verbose reply you state: Yes, they bent to enter a smaller door, but 
with their backbones intact! 

  I presume you mean to say it was OK to claim Anglo status and enter into 
service with the British. I too have no problem with this. Many of them have 
taken up foreign citizenship (would you like to challenge this?) on this basis. 
No problem again. 

  But do we now have the right to claim them as our own?


  In your final paragraph you quote some mysterious Navy Officer who ...   
lives in Goa (and who is) in a position to hold you by you-know-what! Valmiki 
I wish your courageous Navy Officer at least has the gumption to say what he 
has to say publicly and then we shall see.


  Best

  Augusto

















  On Fri, Oct 4, 2013 at 1:52 PM, Valmiki Faleiro valmi...@gmail.com wrote:

Dear Prof. Augusto,

Please don't blame Frederick Noronha for this.
The blame actually credits to my stupid habit of
checking email just once a day, and taking each
email in the order it came in: first in, first out.

In fact, much after I posted my rejoinder to your
silly view on expatriate Goans, I did see that you
had corrected your stance, but only as regards
Anthony de Sa, the new Chief Secretary of MP.
Hope you consider Goan a person like Maria
Aurora de Couto -- to cite just one example --
who is now in Goa, but most of her life, with her
husband, also a highly respected IAS officer,
outside Goa. (If the Ma'am gets to reads this,
my advance apologies to her!)

It appears that your general view on how *Goan*
expatriate Goans are, and how much credit we

Re: [Goanet] Goanet Reader: Being Goan is a state of mind, more than a mere geographical accident (Tino de Sa)

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Our friend, Prof. Augusto Pinto, received an eminently merited rap
for -- as he is apt to -- shooting his gun before getting his facts right.
A person of Goan origin is a *khaas Goemkar* if he cares for his
native soil. Augusto obviously forgets the reasons why Goans by the
drove chose to out-migrate, particularly from the 19th Century.

On a personal note, however, I am grateful to Augusto that he did not
raise this issue when reviewing my book, *Patriotism in Action: Goans
in India's Defence Services*. None of the 400-odd Commissioned Offrs
listed in the book -- including my father -- would fit into Augusto's idea
of a Goan! Goans in Goa could not join the British Indian armed forces
until 1947 and India's forces until 1961.

I particularly liked the part in Tino's reply retained below. Well said!

Best, v

 -- Original message --
 From: Goanet Reader goanetrea...@gmail.com
 Date: Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 4:25 AM
 Subject: [Goanet] Goanet Reader: Being Goan is a state of mind, more than
 a mere geographical accident (Tino de Sa)
 To: Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994! goanet@lists.goanet.org


 Being Goan is a state of mind, more than a mere geographical accident

 Tino de Sa

   When Goanet carried a report saying Goan becomes
   Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh, there was a
   counter-view questioning the use of the label
   Goan for an expat Goan.  The poster said: Why
   should we as Goans leap to grab credit for the
   achievements of people who may have some Goan
   ancestry but for all we know have little or no
   desire to be identified with Goa, which again for
   all we know may be a dampener to their career
   prospects. See http://bit.ly/GoanityDebate
   Here, Anthony (Tino) de Sa responds, to a debate
   that is relevant to Goa's large expat community.



 But I think it is as presumptuous to assume that just because
 a person is born and brought up outside of Goa, there would
 be a lack of pride in his or her roots, as it is erroneous to
 assume that every person born and brought up in Goa is
 passionate about it. Being Goan is a state of mind more than
 a mere geographical accident.

 ###

[Goanet] Goan bags 11 gold medals

[Valmiki Faleiro]

GOAN BAGS 11 GOLD MEDALS AT NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL

Goan-origin law graduate Jagdish Menezes bagged 11 gold medals at the
11th annual convocation of the B.A., LL.B (Hons) 5-year degree course at the
National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) University of
Law held at Hyderabad on Saturday, July 27.

Chief Justice of India, Justice P. Sathasivan presented the medals in the
presence of N. Kiran Kumar, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh at a function
presided over by the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court, Justice
Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta.

It may be recalled that Jagdish led a 3-member NALSAR team that won the
19th Willem C. Vis Moot Court Competition, the world's largest, over 289 teams
from leading law schools, in Vienna, Austria in 2012.

Securing admission at Cambridge and Oxford Universities, Jagdish is set for
masters in the UK. He has been awarded a full tuitions scholarship by the 
Goa Education Trust, funded by Goa's Dempo-Fomento groups and 
administered by the British Council. He has also secured the Hirani Foundation

scholarship, covering part of his living expenses during the course.

HOWEVER, Jagdish is not eligible to apply for the Goa government's 
*Goa Scholars Scheme* under existing rules, which stipulate birth and/or

15-year domicile in Goa, irrespective of the regional origin. (In other words,
he is Goan under the Dempo-Fomento scheme but he is not Goan under
the Goa government scheme!)

Born in Mumbai to Glenroy Menezes of Batora-Curtorim and Anjinha Faleiro of
Povoacao-Margao, 22-year old Jagdish schooled at Campion High School 
and St. Xavier's College, both in Mumbai, before ranking in the top percentile

at the all-India Common Law Admission Test in 2008.

Jagdish has interned with Justice SK Kathawalla of the Bombay High Court, 
Adv. Darius J. Khambata, then Addl. Solicitor General of India, Adv. Anand 
Grover, UN Special Rapportueur for Health, besides law firms like MK 
Ambalal  Co., Amarchand  Mangaldas  Shroff  Co., Bharucha  Partners,

Jyoti Sagar  Associates. He has also worked internationally with Herbert Smith
Freehills LLP (London) and with the Singapore International Arbitration Center.

He was on the NALSAR winning team at Surana  Surana Trial Advocacy moot
(Cochin, 2009), Herbert Smith-NUJS Corporate Law moot (Kolkata, 2010) and 
the runners-up team at Manfred Lachs Space Law moot (Jakarta, 2011) before 
winning the Vis Vienna India Pre-Moots followed by the big event in Austria. He 
has won several other awards in all-India debating and essay-writing competitions.

He has a dozen publications in leading law journals in India and abroad.

Re: [Goanet] Tivim fort in ruins - Video and pics

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Mervyn,

I think both JoeGoaUK and you are right! There were forts in Tivim AND in
Colvale.
Let me explain.

Tivim fort was built in 1635 by Viceroy Miguel de Noronha, Count of
Linhares.
It was the largest fort built in Goa. But the Viceroy became more famous for
building the (then) longest causeway/bridge in Asia ... later christened the
Ponte de Linhares (now Patto), linking Ribandar and Panjim. He also
built
the St. Lawrence church atop the Aguada Plateau in Sinquerim, completed the
Se Cathedral and built the Hospital of Piety, both in the capital city (Old
Goa).

Two fortresses to the west of -- and auxiliary to -- the Tivim Fort, were
built in
1681 by Viceroy Francisco de Tavora, Count of Alvor, as a near contiguous
bulwark against the Marathas under Sambhaji (who anyway attacked two years
later, from three directions, with near disastrous results for the
Portuguese -- it
was a Goan woman in the Moghul court who saved the day but everyone thought
it was the intercession of St. Francis Xavier that helped), but I digress.
Conde de
Alvor also built the fort at Anjediva, reinforced the one at Rachol, and
for long chased
his pet project to shift the capital city from Ella (Old Goa) to Mormugao.

Hope that helps. Colvale has an important place in Goa's Portuguese-era
history,
as does Cuncolim in the south -- both bore the brunt of initial attack by
Bijapuris and
later the Marathas.

Regards, v
On Sat, Oct 20, 2012 at 9:42 PM, Mervyn Lobo mervynal...@yahoo.ca wrote:

 JoeGoaUk wrote:

 Tivim fort
 Video 19.10.12
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW1qKzpTONo

 More pics here
 http://joegoauk.blogspot.in/2012/10/tivim-fort-goa.html
 -

 Joe,
 Thanks for these pictures.
 I am from Colvale.
 I was always told that this was the Colvale Fort.

 I have even been in a dug out canoe from the Tar in Colvale, up the
 creek, to the ruins of this fort which lies half way to Tivim. Is there
 anyone here who can shed some light on this?


 Mervyn

Re: [Goanet] 1960 ani Dr. Kui

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Doutor Jose,

You may be right on the source, but the fact that the Indian military
intelligence
was fed with grossly inflated accounts of defences pouring into Goa was
related to me by an Offr who was in the thick of things in 1961 -- a Goan
on the
Indian side.

Regards, v

On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 11:56 PM, Jose Colaco cola...@gmail.com wrote:

 On Oct 9, 2012, at 11:07 AM, Valmiki Faleiro valmikigoa...@gmail.com
 wrote:

  Chacha,
 
  The guys running gold, Swiss watches and similar imported contraband
 from Goa, across the Ghats to India, fed the fantastic stories of
 anti-aircraft guns, NATO armour, etc. pouring into Goa, to Indian military
 intelligence.

 jc:  Baba Valmiki,

 Allow me please to disagree.

 I submit that it was infinitely contrary to their interests to do that.
 After all, they were profiting from the situation and would have been most
 pleased if it had continued ad infinitum.

 I also submit that the stories were supplied by the AGD chaps.


  That, primarily accounts for the 10:1 Indian superiority in 1961.

 jc: I doubt it. I submit that the whole exercise was to protect Menon's
 Jeep and improve the other ChaCha's electoral fortunes. Surprised?


  It is a different story that these guys, who fattened themselves on
 Portuguese largesse arising from the economic blockade, cried *Jai Hind*
 the moment Indian troops marched in. Wonder what they would say if tomorrow
 the Chinese marched in for Goan iron ore?

 jc: Not totally unexpected  Is it? As Dr Kui rightly reportedly stated.

 jc



  I was told the story of the almost fabled Dr. Kui around this time 50
 years ago. It seems a
  Panjim businessman was seated at Gaspar Dias, enjoying the evening
 breeze with his friends.
  Dr. Kui saw him, walked up and said in Portuguese: O, Senhor Dempo. The
 Indians came and
  you became Dhempe. Now the Chinese are coming and you will become
 Dempoo.
 
  Regards, v
 
  On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 3:42 AM, Alfred de Tavares 
 alfredtava...@hotmail.com
  wrote:
 
 
 
  Whatever the negative state of the armed action Nehru had no time to
  listen to sound advice
  tendered by his generals. He was in a demoniacal hurry. His paragon,
  Krishna Menon, recovering
  from the ignomious jeep scandal...the Bofers debacle of the moment...had
  to be saved at all cost...
 
  There are stories about the FFs to be told.Valmiki, please pick up
 the
  mantle...
 
  Alfred de Tavares,
  Stockholm, Sweden.
  Tel: 00946 70 295 b4091

Re: [Goanet] Goanet Digest, Vol 7, Issue 860

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Chacha,

The guys running gold, Swiss watches and similar imported contraband from
Goa,
across the Ghats to India, fed the fantastic stories of anti-aircraft guns,
NATO armour, etc.
pouring into Goa, to Indian military intelligence. That, primarily,
accounts for the 10:1
Indian superiority in 1961. It is a different story that these guys, who
fattened themselves
on Portuguese largesse arising from the economic blockade, cried *Jai Hind*
the moment
Indian troops marched in. Wonder what they would say if tomorrow the
Chinese marched in
for Goan iron ore?

I was told the story of the almost fabled Dr. Kui around this time 50 years
ago. It seems a
Panjim businessman was seated at Gaspar Dias, enjoying the evening breeze
with his friends.
Dr. Kui saw him, walked up and said in Portuguese: O, Senhor Dempo. The
Indians came and
you became Dhempe. Now the Chinese are coming and you will become Dempoo.

Regards, v

On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 3:42 AM, Alfred de Tavares alfredtava...@hotmail.com
 wrote:



 Whatever the negative state of the armed action Nehru had no time to
 listen to sound advice
 tendered by his generals. He was in a demoniacal hurry. His paragon,
 Krishna Menon, recovering
 from the ignomious jeep scandal...the Bofers debacle of the moment...had
 to be saved at all cost...

 There are stories about the FFs to be told.Valmiki, please pick up the
 mantle...

 Alfred de Tavares,
 Stockholm, Sweden.
 Tel: 00946 70 295 b4091

Re: [Goanet] About Siddarth Bandodkar, Bausaheb bandodkar, Leena Chandavarkar etc

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Mumbai's *The Current Weekly* ran a centrespread on the Siddharth shooting
shortly after the incident. The edition sold record numbers and reprints
(of the
centrespread only) had to be repeatedly rushed to Goa -- partly because the
issue was purchased in bulk and made to vanish from Dabolim itself and
partly
because the few copies that escaped the unofficial censor were sold at a
huge
premium in the *black market* -- a la hit cinema tickets of the time.

As for facts of the case, and many unanswered questions that the CURRENT
story highlighted, I would leave it to Patrick Michael (with *The Navhind
Times*
in the 1970s) to comment. Patrick worked on the story more than anyone else.

Regards, v
On Sat, Aug 25, 2012 at 1:12 AM, JoeGoaUk joego...@yahoo.co.uk wrote:

 Red and Black dance traditionally held on last day of Carnival i.e. Tueday.

 When Sanjay Gandhi died in an air crash, I think we heard of similar
 controversies too.

 FN Said.,
 Isn't the Red-and-Black dance is held prior to Carnival. For a fact, I know
 that Siddharth was due to go as the chief guest to the Ciba Giegy staff
 dance, organised at the Clube Nacional itself (not the red-and-black
 dance). As for the shooting, if I recall right, there was a lot of
 speculation here in those times over what exactly caused it. Maybe some
 journalist who was in service then, like Valmiki Faleiro, would know. FN

 On 24 August 2012 14:54, JoeGoaUk joegoauk at yahoo.co.uk wrote:
 I always wanted to know about this young man who died very young.. The
 moment we talked about Leena Chandarwarkar, it always reminded me of
 Dayanand Bandodkar son to whom she married (later she married to Kishor
 Kumar) Thanks to Prajal /NT 
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/joegoaukextra4/7849811980/sizes/h/in/photostream/

[Goanet] Goa's missing poll carnival-INDIAN EXPRESS

[Valmiki Faleiro]

As Goa goes to the polls on March 3, EP UNNY (the veteran political cartoonist 
of the
INDIAN EXPRESS) takes a look at one of India's smallest states -- one that's had
16 chief ministers in 25 years but is showing little anxiety over the electoral 
outcome...

http://epaper.indianexpress.com/26548/Indian-Express/26-February-2012#page/13/2

-Indian Express, Sunday, 26 February 2012
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   Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

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Re: [Goanet] Madras City and Thomas The Apostle

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Roland,

Not seven, but *seven and half* churches ... perhaps thanks to Haban,
the Jewish merchant and early convert. All churches were in predominantly
Jewish settlements in Kerala. They are still called *Ezharappallikal* or
7 1/2 churches. The one at Thiruvithamkode (Travancore) holds the key
to the *half church*.

Best, v


- Original Message - 
From: Roland Francis roland.fran...@gmail.com

To: 'Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!' goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 10:05 PM
Subject: [Goanet] Madras City and Thomas The Apostle



It was on this hill that
Thomas Didimus, (The Doubting Thomas) one of the apostles of Jesus Christ,
was killed in the year 72 A.D. and this hill had been named after the
Apostle. 


After completing 7 churches in Kerala, St. Thomas crossed over to the
Coromandel coast and landed in Madras where he lived for some years.  




Roland.
Toronto.


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  Protect Goa's natural beauty

   Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

 Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

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[Goanet] Alfred Rose in 1979

[Valmiki Faleiro]

===
Konkani Pop Scene
===
(from the pages of the WEST COAST TIMES, Margao, 29 APR 1979)


ROSES AT THEIR BEST
by S. Valmiki Faleiro

An all-Konkani music show, dubbed by the same title, is currently running to 
packed
audiences in the Territory. The show is the first of its kind to be staged on 
Konkani
stage.

Produced and directed by the well-known Konkani pop singer Alfred Rose, the
musical show primarily features the singing and swinging Rose family, the 
popular
choice of local radio request programmes.

The show features two dozen songs by Alfred Rose, his wife Rita and their sons,
Schubert and Englebert, besides other singers. The accompanying music is 
rendered
by Alfred's own Rose Dance Band.

A highlight of the three-hour show is a pair of hilarious skits, Ojeapanchi 
Bhett and
Bhero written by Mr. AR Paes of Saligao. Participating in the skits are the
celebrated Konkani stage comedians Jacinto Vaz, M. Boyer besides Remy and
others. One would hope Alfred Rose would include more such skits.

It was a well-presented affair, worth its money. The light and sound effects 
were as
praiseworthy as the stage arrangements.

Stealing the limelight, surprisingly, were young Schubert and Englebert Rose, 
who
performed marvelously well. As a matter of fact, such was their mastery of stage
histrionics that it became difficult to believe that the child stars - both in 
their early
boyhood - were actually making their maiden appearance on stage. Englebert in
particular shone like an experienced actor.

One cannot help but note that if groomed fittingly, the child stars will grow 
to be the
future *roses* of the Konkani pop scene - chips of the old block, that is.

Many fans, however, were trifle disheartened to see that Alfred sort of 
monopolized
over the proceedings. A more delectable fare was expected from Rita and
Antonette, as a critic, Mrs. Lavy Rodrigues pointed out in a letter to this 
newspaper.
Mrs. Rodrigues said that the two lady singers instead appeared as if 
participating in
some fashion show.

Whatever the shortcomings, the show was a refreshing change from the usual grind
of the Konkani stage.

There were at least two heartening aspects worth a mention. One, the entire
proceedings were pleasantly devoid of promptings, which sometimes are more
audible than the actors voices. Two, the curtain rolled up sharp at the chime 
of 10
p.m. (unlike tiatros that begin at 11 p.m. or later though the scheduled time 
printed on
admission cards is 10.30 p.m.) - and this took many in the audience by surprise,
including this correspondent who missed the first part of the show. (ENDS)

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Re: [Goanet] Alfred Rose in 1978

[Valmiki Faleiro]

---
   http://www.GOANET.org 
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Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

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Dear Joel,

If I heard Dantas right, Alfred Rose's fans may await the most
comprehensive tome on the singing family, soon ...

Regards, v

On Wed, Nov 2, 2011 at 5:09 PM, joe...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hi Valmiki,

 Thanks for reminding of Konkani's most popular singer Alfred Rose and The
 West Coast Times too. Our friend Isidore Dantas has been collecting all
 the information on Alfred Rose.

 Regards.
 Joel.

Re: [Goanet] Alfred Rose in 1978

[Valmiki Faleiro]

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   http://www.GOANET.org 
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Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---
Dear Edwardbab,

The report referred to the 8th edition of the *Jhelo*

Regards, v

On Wed, Nov 2, 2011 at 5:33 PM, Edward Verdes eddiever...@hotmail.comwrote:

 ---
   http://www.GOANET.org http://www.goanet.org/
 ---

   Protect Goa's natural beauty

Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

  Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

 ---
 Thanks Valmiki Bab,

 Unfortunately I do not have a scan of this book cover, not sure which
 Booklet this is as
 Alfred Rose had produced 10 such booklets of songs, covers of which are
 uploaded on my blog
 Dedicated to Alfred Rose. These booklets are still with many Alfred Rose
 fans.

 This blog contains the song lyrics, compilation of songs titles (500+
 songs)
 Pics of audio cassettes albums, CDs and vinyl records.

 http://alfritz.blogspot.com/

 Edward Verdes





 -Original Message-
 From: goanet-boun...@lists.goanet.org   
 http://www.GOANET.org http://www.goanet.org/ 
 ===
 Konkani Pop Scene
 ===
 (from the pages of the WEST COAST TIMES, Margao, 26 NOV 1978)


 ALFRED ROSE'S *Jhelo*
 by S. Valmiki Faleiro

 The eighth edition of *Kantarancho Jhelo*, a booklet of popular Konkani
 songs by
 Alfred Rose, has hit the stands. The booklet contains the words and scores
 of songs
 from the Konkani pop singer's LP record cut in March last and a stereo
 cassette
 published more recently.

[Goanet] Alfred Rose in 1978

[Valmiki Faleiro]

---
  http://www.GOANET.org 
---

  Protect Goa's natural beauty

   Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve

 Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php

---
===
Konkani Pop Scene
===
(from the pages of the WEST COAST TIMES, Margao, 26 NOV 1978)


ALFRED ROSE'S *Jhelo*
by S. Valmiki Faleiro

The eighth edition of *Kantarancho Jhelo*, a booklet of popular Konkani songs by
Alfred Rose, has hit the stands. The booklet contains the words and scores of 
songs
from the Konkani pop singer's LP record cut in March last and a stereo cassette
published more recently.

The *Jhelo* is the only book of its type available for Konkani song lovers. The
previous editions of the book, without exception, sold well. With all the 
LP-recorded
and cassette-taped songs in it generally meeting a good response - some were
actually instant hits - this edition of the *Jhelo* was long awaited.

I asked Alfred Rose about the origin of the *Jhelo* when he visited the offices 
of
the West Coast Times the other day. Said the pop singer:

Many fans kept asking for the words of my songs. Then someone suggested that
I print the words in the form of a booklet. I did. It surpassed my expectations.
Goaded with the success, I brought out two more editions.

Then some friends started asking for the music score together with the words. 
So
I had the fourth edition with both the lyrics and notes, specially printed at 
Mangalore.
But here was the case of the father, son and the ass. (You can't satisfy 
everybody at
the same time). Some people now began complaining that they didn't understand 
the
music notes. Since then I have stuck to the easiest way out: I print the words 
of only
the published and well-known songs.

This ace recording star of HMV - he has some 500 songs cut in discs - has had no
problem with the *Jhelo* ever since.

Included in its latest edition are the words of 17 songs recorded in a novel 
stereo
cassette. Produced by himself on an imported consignment of TDK cassettes, 
Alfred
Rose says he got the idea as hundreds of Gulf-returning Goans brought cassette
players with them. With cassettes coming cheaper than vinyl records, the singer
hopes that the idea will click.

Alfred Rose took to singing, as also the stage, at an early age - while at 
school at St.
Xavier's, Bombay. The knowledge of music and his father have been the two assets
of his life, he says. Having studied music, he does not face the problem that 
many
contemporary singers do - of being at the mercy of music composers and setters.

The singer's father, Mr. AMB Rose, an established character-actor in his own 
right,
helped his son find a firm foothold on the Konkani stage. The senior Rose, now 
living
a retired life, was recently decorated with the Citizens Award by the Municipal
Corporation of Bombay.

Alfred Rose soon made his own music arrangements and had his own *Swing Band*.
There was no looking back, he says.

The major factor that shot Alfred Rose to popularity, perhaps, is the clarity 
of his
voice. And coupled with his wife, Rita, the result is part of the history of 
Konkani pop
music. Nobly carrying on the tradition of his father, Alfred's sons too have 
not lagged
behind, even if at an amazingly tender age. Schubert and Englebert are names oft
heard over Akashvani's Konkani request programmes.

The family is slated to stage the first Musical Show in January in Bombay. Asked
as to what made him think in terms of such a show, Alfred says, our dramas are
dominated by songs. So he thought of rendering a few songs, with skits spaced 
in
for good measure.

With the name and fame they command, there is little doubt that Alfred, Rita,
Schubert and Englebert will carry their family show to a rosy success. (ENDS)

Re: [Goanet] QUIZ: Four cardinals

[Valmiki Faleiro]

On the dot, Rev. Loiola Pereira!
Padma Vibhushan Cardinal Gracias' father, Jose, hailed from
Battiavaddo-Dramapur
and his mother from Sinquetim-Navelim. When it came to an act of implied
allegiance,
the Cardinal gifted a golden chalice to his 'native' church of St Jose,
Dramapur.
Best, v

On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 6:59 PM, Joaquim Loiola Pereira
loiol...@gmail.comwrote:

 It is mistakenly believed that Cardinal Valerian Gracias traces his roots
 to
 the village of Navelim. Navelim can claim only to ‘half’ of his roots, as
 it
 is the native village of his mother. His father, Jose Gracias, was born in
 the village of Dramapur, which was then part of the parish of Chinchinim.
 That Dramapur  does not figure  in his biography is perhaps due to the fact
 that Jose died when the future cardinal was barely two years old and the
 boy
 was brought up entirely by his mother in Karachi, where the Graciases had
 migrated soon after their marriage in Chinchinim. So Navelim, his mother’s
 village, became since his effective Goan connection and earthing.

Re: [Goanet] Medium of Education? Bhagvad Gita study compulsoryinKarnataka schools (SOTER)

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Soter,

The 2nd part of my original mail has your answers.
It's not as if I entirely endorse the Karnataka decision.

Regards, v


- Original Message - 
From: SOTER so...@bsnl.in

To: goa...@goanet.org
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2011 9:45 PM
Subject: [Goanet] Medium of Education? Bhagvad Gita study compulsoryinKarnataka 
schools (SOTER)



Valmiki wrote:
What is wrong with the Bhagvad Gita, may I ask? Does it preach hate?
The Jesuit school I studied in (during the 1960s) in Goa had a weekly
30-minute study of Religion for Christian students and Moral Science
for non-Christian pupils. Was that a crass practice?

Comment:
Who has said there is something wrong with the Bhagvad Gita is wrong? Will 
the Bible and Koran also also be introduced to impart moral values in 
Karnataka?
We all had a choice between religion and moral science classes in schools 
but nothing got imposed on anyone.


-Soter

Re: [Goanet] Medium of Education? Bhagvad Gita study compulsory inKarnataka schools (SOTER)

[Valmiki Faleiro]

What is wrong with the Bhagvad Gita, may I ask? Does it preach hate?
The Jesuit school I studied in (during the 1960s) in Goa had a weekly
30-minute study of Religion for Christian students and Moral Science
for non-Christian pupils. Was that a crass practice? Did it make better
practicing Christians or morally upright future citizens? At best (or if you
look at the Q from the other end, at worst), religion and moral science
were a harmless waste of time (for incorrigible idiots like me). But it may
have also done its bit in firming up the moral fibre in others. As Dr Eric P
seems to suggest in the post below, if the study of the Gita will contribute
to a better citizenry and thereby a better country, why not?

Isn't the Bhagvad Gita just as ennobling and inspiring as the sacred text
of any other faith, to those who believe?

Where the Karnataka Government erred, imho, was to make the subject
COMPULSORY. An otherwise noble subject such as the Gita could have
been introduced as a subject (with texts of other faiths as eqivalents), but
all left optional. Compulsion, like communism and prohibition, runs contra
the grain of the human spirit. -v


- Original Message - 
From: eric pinto ericpin...@yahoo.com

To: Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994! goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2011 12:21 AM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Medium of Education? Bhagvad Gita study compulsory 
inKarnataka schools (SOTER)



Would you or someone else treat us to a synopsis of the Gita treatise. Would 
the proposed exercise make our children better citizens, better human beings ? 
If the answer is in the affirmative, then this is the possible answer to the 
dilemma of moral bankruptcy that confronts our nation. 

Clearly the cancerous collection of Swiss cantons derive little healing of the 
soul from the Avram odyseas and the successor Pauline tradition. Nor do the arms 
dealers who hawk their wares to our noble savages in the orient.
I am open to a new experiment presented with honest caveats. 
eric.





From: anil desai anildes

Dear Goanetters,

Getting all schools to compulsorily spend one hour of study time on studying
Bhagvad Gita is a crass decision by an almost despotic and corrupt
government in Karnataka. This should be roundly condemned. I can see some
backtracking by the BJP but this order needs to be withdrawn without delay
and the one who should leave the country is the education minister who has
gone potty. I hope the high court will strike this order down.
If the mutt wants to sponsor the study of Bhagwad Gita, they can do so in
their own premises.

Anil Desai

Re: [Goanet] Query: Renovating a house...

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear FN,

Sorry, forgot to add the 'caveat emptor' before sending the message below.
If your friend would be inclined to consider the Bharat Floorings heritage
tiles,
please advise him to ask the company's local rep (Jawahar Naik - 98224
23211)
to show some instances in Goa where the company has executed jobs on a
turnkey basis (supply, fixing and polishing) before making a decision.
Just by way of abundant caution.

Regards, v

On Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 9:14 PM, Valmiki Faleiro valmikigoa...@gmail.comwrote:

 FN, Bharat Floorings (Mumbai Samachar Marg, next to Bombay Stock Exchange)
 has
 a *heritage* range, based on the old Minto floor. You've seen the
 product at a friend's house
 in Margao. Bharat now has an office in Goa, near Damien de Goa at Porvorim.
 Tel: 241 2789.
 Sales rep: Jawahar Naik (98224 23211).
 Regards, v

 2011/7/5 Frederick FN Noronha फ्रेडरिक नोरोन्या *فريدريك نورونيا 
 fredericknoro...@gmail.com

 Gosh, that was rather inexcusable of me. I meant to mention the *old,
 red* FLOOR tiles. Not the roof tiles. If anyone has any pointers, pls
 help. FN

Re: [Goanet] Query: Renovating a house...

[Valmiki Faleiro]

FN, Bharat Floorings (Mumbai Samachar Marg, next to Bombay Stock Exchange)
has
a *heritage* range, based on the old Minto floor. You've seen the product at
a friend's house
in Margao. Bharat now has an office in Goa, near Damien de Goa at Porvorim.
Tel: 241 2789.
Sales rep: Jawahar Naik (98224 23211).
Regards, v

2011/7/5 Frederick FN Noronha फ्रेडरिक नोरोन्या *فريدريك نورونيا 
fredericknoro...@gmail.com

 Gosh, that was rather inexcusable of me. I meant to mention the *old,
 red* FLOOR tiles. Not the roof tiles. If anyone has any pointers, pls
 help. FN

Re: [Goanet] Sai Baba: Question not a Hindu?....

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Gabe, my response to your *aside* (your last para below):

No Goan Hindu, prominent or otherwise, attained that stature, as
far as I know. Most everyday priests/Bhatjis and Swamijis in Goa
are, in any case, imports from elsewhere. (But do remember Goa's
history in the wake of 14th century Muslim invasions and the western
colonial rule from 1510.) There are, however, instances of Swamijis
being interred in Goa after they passed away. The last known instance
is of the Smartha denomination's immediate predecessor Swamiji at
Kavlem-Ponda. He was a widely respected holy man. His mortal
remains were interred.  


Bandodkar, Goa's first elected Chief Minister? No, it's post-cremation
ashes that are preserved at his Miramar-Panjim monument.

Trust that answers your Qs. Regards, v


- Original Message - 
From: Gabe Menezes gabe.mene...@gmail.com

To: Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994! goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 3:33 AM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Sai Baba: Question not a Hindu?



On 28 April 2011 15:59, Valmiki Faleiro valmikigoa...@gmail.com wrote:


Dear Gabe,

When a Sanyasi takes vows and dons saffron robes, it is symbolic of
fire, of cremation. When life does depart, the Sanyasi's mortal remains
are not cremated a second time. They are interred.
That's something I learnt in childhood -- and I hope I am not wrong!

Regards, v



Dear Valmiki,


RESPONSE: Never one to take a word by face value, I did Google, you are on
the dot and crossed the t's.

Thanks for the informative piece. Stick to Goanet one learns a lot on this
forum!

As an aside - are there any past prominent Goan Hindus that have reached
this Nirvana? i.e. Bandodkar?
--
DEV BOREM KORUM

Gabe Menezes.

Re: [Goanet] Sai Baba: Question not a Hindu?....

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Gabe,

When a Sanyasi takes vows and dons saffron robes, it is symbolic of
fire, of cremation. When life does depart, the Sanyasi's mortal remains
are not cremated a second time. They are interred. 


That's something I learnt in childhood -- and I hope I am not wrong!

Regards, v


- Original Message - 
From: Gabe Menezes gabe.mene...@gmail.com

To: Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994! goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 8:08 PM
Subject: [Goanet] Sai Baba: Question not a Hindu?



since, according to media reports he was interred. Is burial a higher
form? Over here in England many Catholics are opting for cremation.


--
DEV BOREM KORUM

Gabe Menezes.

Re: [Goanet] WHEN HISTORY GOT FORGOTTEN BY KONKNNI MERGERISTS

[Valmiki Faleiro]

A brilliant analysis.
Well done, Soter!
v


- Original Message - 
From: SOTER so...@bsnl.in

To: goa...@goanet.org
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 11:07 AM
Subject: [Goanet] WHEN HISTORY GOT FORGOTTEN BY KONKNNI MERGERISTS


Tuesday the 6th of April 2011 is a Black Day for the Konkani World when certain disguised communal konknni mergerists decided to 
marry the well known communal marathiwadis at the Azad Maidan to entertain themselves in an orgy of christian bashing. The then 
Convenor of Konkni Porjecho Avaz Shri Pundalik Naik and Uday Bhembre, the then little known before the KPA just like the GBA's 
Oscar, were carried overboard  by their communal passions and seemed to have conveniently forgotten history of the Konknni movement. 
And so were the N. Shivdas and Ramesh Verluskar elements who taught and retired from teaching in then diocesan English medium 
schools managed by the very nuns and priests that their counterparts chose to abuse. We did not miss the spectacular sight of the 
exchanges between President of the Konknni Basha Mandal and the leaders of name plaque smashers of Fontainhas and the intruders into 
the Bishop's House during the Parrikar regime.


They suffered a stroke of dementia and did not recall that the very mergerists before them were not there 25 years ago to fill the 
grounds of Azad Maidan and swell the numbers to gherao the Government Secretariat in Panjim. They failed to recollect in their bout 
of blindness from communal passion that the very nuns and priests with their Cristao followers they swear against now were the very 
ones that saved face for the ungrateful Pundalik Naik and his band of konknniwadis. It was not a Prashant or a Bhatikar that laid 
down their life for konkani, but a young Cristao called Floriano Vaz who probably never knew that 'Konkani' meant 'Konknni in the 
devanagiri script'.


These mergerists who today bark about 'Goan sanskruuti' at Azad Maidan  perhaps chose to forget that the very Cristaos they seek to 
persecute were far-sighted enough 43 years ago to oppose a merger with Maharashtra, when compared to their short-sighted communal 
mergerists who assembled at Azad Maidan today.  Interestingly they have no problem with government aid for Kannada, Gujarati and 
Urdu government primary education. But 25 years later the shameless Cristaos of Goa are being given lessons on patriotism and 
nationalism by a bunch of diguised communal mergerists who hide behind masks of konknni patriotism. If other Cristaos are so foolish 
as to not see the disguised communal colours in a secular gown, we are definitely not. And for those who claim that Goa is a 
paradise of communal harmony, sorry it is no more. It is only that the venomous cocktail has not exploded yet.


We thank God for the medium of instruction issue for it has helped publicly expose the weed from the corn. We are not at all 
surpised by these mercenaries because we had encountered them during the GBA experience. It was the gullible Goan who gets 
emotionally charged with no reason that needed to know the true colours. While we respect the right of every citizen to dissent, we 
have contempt for those who distort and communalise issues for their personal gains.


And hopefully the Goan Cristao will not forget this part of history so as to offer himself or herself in the future for the 
pleasures of the communal mergerists and be repeatedly used as a door mat to protect Goa when convenient only to be later dubbed as 
anti-national and denationalised. But we will surely be there in future to remind these konknni fundamentalists of Goa's history at 
the most unexpected moments. My kith and kin will be reminded of this story of this mega treachery by the disguised communal konknni 
mergerists so that they may be wise enough to make the same blunders that we committed.  And for us, this is going to spell the 
death of the konkani language.


May God save Goa from the communal Konknni mergerists!

-Soter 

Re: [Goanet] GO ON...I'M NOT GOAN

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Wg Cdr D'Rozario,

Sorry, had missed your post at Goanet (below), which was
brought to notice by a fellow Goanetter.

Sorry again, I do not think I included your name -- not at least
in the book's main listing. Which page are you referring to?

I did come across the name of Wg Cdr Alban Anthony D'Rozario
in the VSM listings at BharatRakshak [S.No. 5044, F(P), 20 SQN,
born 05 July 1934, commissioned 14 Jan 1956 -- incidentally,
the month and year I was born!] but was told by an IAF Goan peer
that this particular Wg Cdr D'Rozario was an Anglo-Indian
from Trichinopoly. No way I could have included him.

Maybe you are an equally distinguished, but different, Wg Cdr
D'Rozario?

Regards, v


-Original Message-
From: goanet-boun...@lists.goanet.org
[mailto:goanet-boun...@lists.goanet.org] On Behalf Of Alban D'Rozario
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2011 7:44 AM
To: goanet@lists.goanet.org
Subject: [Goanet] GO ON...I'M NOT GOAN


Dear Valmiki Faleiro,  
This is to inform you that I, Wg. Cdr. Alban

D'Rozario (Retd.), am not a Goan but a high pedigree unadulterated
Anglo-Indian since birth,  have been erroneously included in your list of
gallant Goan Indian Air Force officers, many of whom are my close buddies.
Best regards.   Alban   =

[Goanet] PATRIOTISM IN ACTION:

[Valmiki Faleiro]

---
    http://www.GOANET.org 
---

   Book Release: Goanetter Valmiki Faleiro's Patriotism in Action
 Dec 18, 2010 (Sat) at 5.30 pm at Goa Chitra, Benaulim, Goa

 Copies available at:  Hotel Mandovi or Broadway (Panjim), OIB (Mapusa),
 Sainik Co-Op (Porvorim), Literati (Calangute), David  Co, Confidante
  (Margao) David  Co Mumbai, Mumbai Catholic Gymkhana; Manney's and
  Popular (Pune), Narayan (Bangalore), Ritana Books (Delhi).

  Online: http://goa1556.notlong.com

---

Interested Goanetters may like to check this weblink:

http://www.navhindtimes.in/iwatch/unsung-heroes-goa

Re: [Goanet] PATRIOTISM IN ACTION:

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Doutor-bab,

Thank you for the kind words. As regards our good ole Ole Xac,
a.k.a. Bernado Colaco, I shall answer his posers only if he raises
them AFTER he has read the book.

I am not on the politics of 1961. I am on the exceptional acts of
gallantry, leadership and administrative skills, and the sheer
numbers our tiny community provided to the defence establishment
of India. How many, for instance, know that the very first air warrior
to be awarded the Maha Vir Chakra (great gallantry medal) was a
Goan IAF fighter pilot, Gp Capt Sidney Basil Noronha, awarded
for his exceptional bravery during India's very first war, the 1948
JK ops? (In fact, during '48 ops, four IAF officers were awarded
the MVrC, and of these, TWO were Goans -- the other Goan later
rose to become the IAF's chief, Air Chief Mshl Hrushikesh Shamrao
Moolgavkar.) Or that Wg Cdr Ulrich Anthony D'Cruz, another Goan,
was the very first Indian soldier (across the three wings of the def
services) to be awarded the Kirti Chakra (medal for valour)?
There are DOZENS of such shining Goan examples -- and I have
restricted myself only to commissioned officers!

Talking of 1961, how many are aware that there were AT LEAST
nine Goan defence officers (that I know of, there sure will be more)
who directly participated in Dec-1961? May I very briefly mention
them here, by service/rank/alphabetically (and sign off on that note):

1. Air V/Mshl Erlic Wilmot Pinto was AOC-in-C, Operational Command,
for overall conduct of IAF’s ops in 1961. Shifting his base from Pune to
the Sambra air base in Belgaum, he planned and directed air ops over
Goa, Daman and Diu with minimum use of force and nil casualties to
the civilian population. Hailed from the Pinto do Rosario family of
Porvorim-Soccoro.

2. Gp Capt Trevor Joseph Fernandes, then a young Flt Lt, was tasked
to fly a Hunter of 7 SQN from Sambra on the morning of Dec 18, to disable
the powerful transmitter of Radio Goa (Emissora de Goa) at Bambolim. He
did the job with a surgeon's precision at 0710 hours, just 10 minutes after the
programme “Alvorada Musicala” had begun and was still on. Same day, he
escorted the bombers targeting the Dabolim runway. During the mission,
he noticed the tail of a Super Constellation sticking out of a hangar at
Dabolim. He sought permission from Tactical Command to target the tail,
to immobilize the aircraft. Air V/Mshl Pinto declined permission because of
possible civilian casualties. Hails from Siolim.

3. Lt Col Louis Fonseca led a column of AMX light battle tanks of the 8 Armoured
Regiment into Goa during Op Vijay. Hails from Badem, Salvador do Mundo.

4. Lt Col Paul Baylon Fernandes headed a motorized column of the 17
Infantry Division (“Black Cats”). Amongst his tasks was to take charge of the
Portuguese Governor's fleet of limousines. Hails from Sarzora.

5. Cdr Joseph G Rodrigues accompanied the naval force to Goa on the
INS Rajput. Saw action with the Headland Battery at Sada, above the port.
Hailed from Piedade-Divar.

6. Maj Cezar PF Lobo entered Goa on Dec 18, 1961 and after Gen Vassalo e Silva
sued for truce the following day, Maj Lobo was immediately ordered by Gen 
Candeth
to take charge and look after the VIP POW and his 200 men at Alpalqueiros 
hill-Vasco,
as Maj Lobo was fluent in the Portuguese language (in fact, ALL the nine Goan 
officers
listed here were fluent in Portuguese.) Hailed from Aldona.

7. Wg Cdr Vishwanath Balakrishna Sawardekar also participated in Op Vijay, but 
his
specific role is not available. Hailed from the well-known family of Sanvordem, 
whose
huge ancestral mansion (still standing) was a rare one with two internal 
courtyards.

8. Lt Cdr John Eric Gomes was on the frigate INS Cauvery that engaged and 
disabled
the only Portuguese frigate then in Goa, the Afonso de Albuquerque. Hails from
Borda-Margao.

9. Lt Avelino Jose Luis de Figueiredo Melo was on the anti-submarine frigate
INS Kirpan, the first to enter Goan waters on 15 Dec 1961. Hailed from Saligao.

Regards, v


- Original Message - 
From: J. Colaco  jc cola...@gmail.com

To: Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994! goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 6:25 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] PATRIOTISM IN ACTION:



re: The Goan Officer, with fine attributes of courage, loyalty,
professionalism and an espirit de corps built himself into an
institution with a reputation for dependability and fair play.  Across
its 344 BW and full-colour pages, this book celebrates that Goan
Officer.

Bernado Colaco wrote: Patriotism or just doing a job? Patriots are
those who saved Goa from the ill fated merger in 67. If not we would
have been Patriots in Action from Sawantwadi! I dont't understand this
outside  people wanting to link Goa to their stories.

==

jc's response:

My dear Bernado,

I had scripted two responses to your (above quoted) post. Could not
decide which one was more appropriate. So, I thought that I'd probably
post both responses.

RESPONSE [1]  What has 

Re: [Goanet] Talking Photo: Hari Razaghe Ghandd ?

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Redemptor, or Christ the Redeemer.
Rgds, v

On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 6:52 PM, JoeGoaUk joego...@yahoo.co.uk wrote:


 We also went to Divar.  There was a chapel? With life size image
 of Jesus Christ popularly known as ‘lonvemchi imaj’? (skin hair?)
 But I don’t remember seeing it though, hair I mean
 The man there (may be a sacristao) used to wipe the body/Statue
 With a cloth and gave us water to drink or to take away
 Some one please name the church or the chapel?
 joego...@yahoo.co.uk

Re: [Goanet] The little-known Patriot: HERALD(Goa), Aug 25, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Patrao,

Thank you. Unfortunately, as you know, the Goanet maillist does
not support photographs, hence when I post an article on Goanet
I have to do it in text-only format. Thank you for posting the pic 
weblink to the full text on your flickr site.

Were you there at Ravindra Bhavan-Margao yesterday, for Selma's
book launch. A bunch of writers, journos and press photographers
joked you would be there. I offered a cash prize to any journo/lensman
who would correctly identify you ... but on condition that your privacy
would not be compromised if you were (privately) discovered!

Keep up the good work you have been doing for a long time now.

Warm regards, v


- Original Message - 
From: JoeGoaUk joego...@yahoo.co.uk

To: goa...@goanet.org
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 5:16 AM
Subject: [Goanet] The little-known Patriot: HERALD(Goa), Aug 25, 2010



[Goanet] The little-known Patriot: HERALD(Goa), Aug 25, 2010
Valmiki Faleiro valmi...@gmail.com


Thank you so much Sir Valmiki Faleiro
I read with deep interest about lesser known Freedom Fighter
Sir Carlos Luis Martinho Nazario da Cruz of Chandor
Â
a pic
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/joegoaukextra2/4927454657/
Â
I know this for the first time only because you told us so.
Â
We know or read about the most of the present lot of FFs' attitude
‘We fought (?) during the freedom struggle.. so now it’s payback time’
Â
Thank you once again and please do come back on more such
Known or little-known or unknown Goan personalities such as
FFs, Doctors, Priests, Politicians etc of yester years.
Â
Note: Wherever possible, an inclusion of a photograph would be nice.
(as done in the Print edition) - See scanned here
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/joegoaukextra2/4927454657/
Â
Quote/Excerpt:
Yet, there were some genuine FFs who were barely even known.
Some died before 1961.
Let's recall one, who died at Silvassa this day precisely 52 years ago,
 25 Aug 1958, 51 years of age.
Carlos Luis Martinho Nazario da Cruz, born 28 July 1907, was the eldest
of 13 children from a middle-class Chandor family.

in full
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2010-August/197967.html


joego...@yahoo.co.uk

for Goa  NRI related info...
http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/GOAN-NRI/

For Goan Video Clips
http://youtube.com/joeukgoa

In Goa, Dial 1 0 8
For Hospital, Police, Fire etc

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Goa-launch of the well-received *Into The Diaspora
Wilderness* by Selma Carvalho on Aug 29, 2010 (Sunday) at 11
am at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao. Meet the author, buy a signed
copy (only Rs 295 in Goa till stock lasts).
http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Goa-launch of the well-received *Into The Diaspora
Wilderness* by Selma Carvalho on Aug 29, 2010 (Sunday) at 11
am at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao. Meet the author, buy a signed
copy (only Rs 295 in Goa till stock lasts).
http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/

Re: [Goanet] (..Selma's book launch)

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear JoeGoaUK,

Thanks for disclosing your modus operandi. Next time I'll sure catch you!
(In fact, viewing your video of Selma's book release, from the angle the stage
event was shot, I already suspect your identity -- but, rest assured, even if
confirmed, I will never disclose it, save in the unlikely event that I survive 
you.)

The little girl by my side was Adv Radharao Gracias' daughter. He was seated
there before being called onstage, and I moved to the vacant seat when the man
who I had come with (a cardiologist, who received an emergency call when we
were almost at the venue, dropped me and another senior friend at the venue)
and returned later.

Oh, I can't believe a female could ever mistake Cecil Pinto for an old man :-)

Wilmix was in a deep red shirt. Your instructions must have misled your 
lenswoman.

Best, v


- Original Message - 
From: JoeGoaUk joego...@yahoo.co.uk

To: goa...@goanet.org
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2010 6:02 PM
Subject: [Goanet] The little-known Patriot: HERALD(Goa), Aug 25,2010 (..Selma's 
book launch)



[Goanet] The little-known Patriot: HERALD(Goa), Aug 25, 2010
Â
Thanks Valmiki,
Â
I was there at Selma’s book launch but camera work both
Still and Video was entrusted to my deputy and I was
giving instructions from behind via mobile phone.
At one stage, I told her to capture Valmiki the one who
was sitting next to a little girl and she captured another person
with another little girl.Â
Â
Also, told to capture the bearded young guy (that’s Cecil)
and she captured another bearded older man.
(My English was wrong I suppose, I should have said the guy with facial hair)
Â
Again, I told her to film the tiatrist couple (That’s Wimix)
and she after a search phone back to me only to ask
‘are they a Hindu couple?’  I said No, they are Christians.
She phone back again to say, she can’t see any couple
fitting my description. Later one I realized that I should
have said ‘yes, they are Hindu couple’  as I think I saw Sharon with a 
nose ring.
Â
joego...@yahoo.co.uk 


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Goa-launch of the well-received *Into The Diaspora
Wilderness* by Selma Carvalho on Aug 29, 2010 (Sunday) at 11
am at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao. Meet the author, buy a signed
copy (only Rs 295 in Goa till stock lasts).
http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/

[Goanet] The little-known Patriot: HERALD(Goa), Aug 25, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

THE LITTLE-KNOWN PATRIOT
By Valmiki Faleiro


Genuine freedom fighters never blew their own trumpets. They did not hanker 
after
tamrapatras and state largesse. The dubious variety that did brought a bad name 
to
all freedom fighters (FFs).

Fakes would probably outnumber the authentic ones in the state list of 
registered
FFs. Many of the former would barely be in their early teens in 1961. One 
recalls the
attempt to swell the already contaminated list with 'FFs' from North India 
earlier this
decade.

Yet, there were some genuine FFs who were barely even known. Some died before
1961. Let's recall one, who died at Silvassa this day precisely 52 years ago, 
25 Aug
1958, 51 years of age.

Carlos Luis Martinho Nazario da Cruz, born 28 July 1907, was the eldest of 13
children from a middle-class Chandor family. He rebelled early in life. At 11,
appearing for the Primary exam, together with his younger sister, he scored the
highest but was denied the first rank by 'chivalrous' examiners. They gifted it 
to his
sister, who scored second-highest in the class. Carlos is reported to have 
caused
considerable commotion.

In that early incident, perhaps, lay the seed of rebellion against fallacious 
Portuguese
principles and morality - and the colonialists themselves. Stymied midway in a
stormy secondary education at the Panjim Lyceum, he qualified as a schoolteacher
and legal consultant but with limited powers to practice law.

While yet a student, he bravely wielded his pen, contributing articles to local 
journals.
When blacked out in a leading publication, he co-founded the 'Oriente,' the 
first
illustrated periodical published in Goa.

His first posting was to a school in remote Arambol, where colonial masters 
thought
his voice would be muted in the rest of Goa. He started with a bang, opening 
the first
free night school for the labour class. Arambol instantly became a pilgrim 
point for
Goan educationists!

Governor Craveiro Lopes sent his son (later President of the Portuguese 
Republic) to
cajole Carlos, by now a member of TB da Cunha's Goa Congress Committee. Failed
diplomacy. Yet, with hope in heart, the Governor 'gifted' Carlos a transfer to 
Silvassa
in Dadra  Nagar Haveli - a plum posting where all kinds of civil service 
functionaries
minted fortunes, looting the native tribal 'Warlis' (Adivasis), their natural 
resources,
and their women.

The Portuguese had committed a blunder. Carlos took charge, started a periodical
'Sandalcalo' (published from Vapi in British India), exposed corruption at all 
levels,
and braced the tribals for a fight. He was soon dismissed from service. He 
stayed on,
a 'Bapuji' and 'Vakilsaheb' to the Warlis, hitherto a wild tribe. He provided 
largely free
services and often spent his own money on court fees for the poor.

Carlos was deprived of civic rights. He was repeatedly arrested and released, 
only to
be rearrested a while later, altogether about 12 times. He was kept in long 
periods of
isolation, but it did not break his spirit. He refused orders to remove 
portraits of
Tagore, Gandhi and Nehru from his house. When asked why he had named his
eldest daughter after the Rani of Jhansi, he named his next child after Nehru. 
When
questioned again, he named the next one after Lenin!

Aware that his life was in danger, he sought refuge in British India. His first 
act in
Bombay was to address the press and denounce the repressive 'Acto Colonial.'

In Bombay, he edited 'The Anglo-Lusitano.' Via a common friend, he ensured his
writing reached the eyes of Salazar. Carlos dared the lion in his own lair. He 
then
returned to Silvassa and continued the campaign against corruption. After Dadra 

Nagar Haveli was freed 02 Aug 1954, the Government of India appointed him 
Public Prosecutor of Nagar Haveli.


A debilitating disease struck Carlos. Though he spent 30 of his 51 years in a 
place
where most civil servants amassed much wealth, he died a pauper, this day, 52
years ago. Silvassa shut in mourning. The government accorded him a state 
funeral.
A handful of earth from his native Chandor he had carried decades before was, 
per
his last wish, put in his grave. His epitaph at Silvassa reads,

   Life for him, a mission
   His daily lot, a martyrdom
   Honours and wealth, he sought not
   But for the oppressed, freedom

As we recall the memory of one little-known patriot on his death anniversary 
today,
let us also remember other genuine freedom fighters, several of them mercifully 
still
alive, who sacrificed much to unshackle us from a repressive colonial regime.
==
The above article was published in the HERALD(Goa) of 25 Aug 2010
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Goa-launch of the well-received *Into The Diaspora
Wilderness* by Selma Carvalho on Aug 29, 2010

[Goanet] Ex-MLA KB Naik no more

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Krishnanath Baburao Naik, 80, former MLA from Shiroda (1967-70),
died in Margao this afternoon following a fall at his residence last Sat
leading to emergency brain surgery at a Margao hospital on Aug 22.
He passed away at the Apollo Victor Hospital's ICU around 2.30 pm
today.

KB Naik, as he was popularly known, was Vice-President of the 
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party when elected from Shiroda on the

party's ticket in the 21 Feb 1967 Assembly elections, closely following
the Opinion Poll verdict of January that year.

However, he and a group of ruling MLAs developed serious differences
with the then Party President and Chief Minister. He led the group of 
seven ruling MLAs, including two ministers from a four-member cabinet,

the Dy Speaker, and three other MLAs, including one nominated, who
walked away from the party and government on 23 June 1970. The 
seven were: KB Naik, Ministers Anthony D'Souza and Gopal Mayenkar,

Deputy Speaker Manju Gaonkar, MLAs Gajanan Patil, Dattaram Chopdekar
and Jiva Gaonkar, nominated MLA.

That was the 2nd political split in post-1961 Goa, following the one in the
United Goans Party immediately following the Opinion Poll. 


The breakaway group formed the Nava Maharashtrawadi Gomantak
Party and contested the 1972 Assembly elections, but came acropper.

KB Naik was born in Adpai, Ponda, on 05 Aug 1930 to Baburao Dharma
Naik and Saju B Naik. His mother was an elected Sarpanch of the village.

A widely respected leader of his social community, he had settled in
Margao and ran a business enterprise here. 


He leaves behind his widow, Vrinda and one daughter and three sons,
all married, Vivek/Veena, Sunil/Dr Shubangi, Eng Vaijayanti/Eng Sadanand
Kudchadkar and Rajesh/Devaki. The funeral is scheduled at 11 am tomorrow 
at the Margao Crematorium.


Having been my long-standing well wisher, and his family my personal
friends, I do mourn his sudden demise.
-v



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Goa-launch of the well-received *Into The Diaspora
Wilderness* by Selma Carvalho on Aug 29, 2010 (Sunday) at 11
am at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao. Meet the author, buy a signed
copy (only Rs 295 in Goa till stock lasts).
http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/

[Goanet] Info on Cincinnatus D'Abreo

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Any Goanetter knowing about the family of the mid-19th century
Saligao Goan, Cincinnatus D'Abreo, who was settled in Karachi,
may please get in touch with the Goa-based senior priest-historian
Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas (najoma8 at gmail dot com).

The late Lt Gen Eric Alexander Vaz also from Saligao, wrote in his
memoirs that Cincinnatus D'Abreo purchased 4,000 acres outside
the Karachi Cantonment and developed it into a planned township,
later known as Cincinnatus Town. Many Goans lived there.

Rgds, v
* * *   

In every way, the Goans of Bombay were part of the great melee that was this 
metropolis, distinct perhaps in the way communities often are, holding on to 
their own traditions but merging slowly nonetheless and forming the thin thread 
of nationhood that would eventually become India. -- Selma Carvalho, in *Into 
the Goan Diaspora Wilderness*. Available at Broadways Book Centre, Panjim [Ph 
+91-9822488564]   Price (in Goa only) Rs 295.  
http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/

* * *

[Goanet] Loyola-Margao days

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Freddy,

The reason for my being summarily dismissed from both boarding and
school was not any fugoteos but the fact that, to help some day-scholar
friends not get detained in Std X (the penultimate high school year then)
on grounds of inadequate school attendance, I agreed to destroy the
class Attendance Register. Now that blessed Register was in a rickety old
wooden cupboard at one corner of the classroom. Underneath that
waist-level cupboard on legs was the dustbin. The cupboard stayed locked,
so the only way to the Attendance Register was via the near-full dustbin
underneath the cupboard. I hadn't reckoned when I set the scrap paper in
the dustbin on fire that the resulting flames from the old mother cupboard
would reach the timber of the tiled 3rd floor roof then under construction.
After about a week of painstaking detective work, the then Rector finally
zeroed in on the only witness to the act of my amateur arson -- a classmate
from Sirlim settled in Bangalore. I have no reason to bear rancour. I smile
when I remember all the things I did at Loyola -- putt shots and the seniors
dormitory wake-up bell (were you there, remember that most irritating
ding-dong in the seniors dormitory that some particularly sadist Prefects
took pleasure to sound long and hard at 5.30 am?) how they went into the
open septic tank behind the WC block, as did electric light bulbs (wrapped
in bedsheets of Kuwaiti-parented hostelites who didn't share their Mcintosh
chocolates), and how the poor in-house electrician (I forget his name, he be
blessed!) ran around to detect the short-circuit point when, everytime I felt
lazy, lights in the study halls would mysteriously fuse. Once every two/three
days, that is. (Remember the one Naya Paisa coins of the time?)

Which batch did you belong to? If you know anyone from the 1972 SSC batch,
please mail me privately. There's a small group of ex-Loyolites trying to trace
as many from that batch.

Regards, v


- Original Message - 
From: Freddy Fernandes ffernandes@emaar.ae

To: goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 12:30 PM
Subject: [Goanet] Nadia's divorce proceedings expose Mickky


Hi Valmiki,

I do remember the reason for you being kicked out as you said, if I am not
mistaken it was the fugoteos going off in the middle of a lecture, outside
your window, who was it Dessai of some other male teacher ?  


We surely enjoyed those days in the boarding.

Freddy Agnelo Fernandes

Re: [Goanet] Nadia's divorce proceedings expose Mickky

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Jim,


From all accounts, Sonia was/is a good teacher. Her deceased husband,

Francis, was a volleyball friend from Loutulim. Unfortunately, after she was
widowed, she encountered another Francisco, a.k.a. Mickky. The rest, as they
say, is history, yet unfolding in Goa.

Incidentally, the Times of India (Goa edition) carried a snippet in today's
Balcao Banter column of a very young boy watching TV news on this story.
His parents wondered aloud why the dead woman kept rat poison with her
toiletries. Junior explained, Nadia must have known Mickky was also known
as Mickey Mouse.

Incidentally again, Sonia was not the only hottie at Loyola-Margao. She had,
I believe, competition. A certain teacher, Miss Figueiredo, was the apple of the
eye of a certain Principal, Rev. Castellino, SJ. Loyolites from the era on this
mail list may like to throw more light on this. I cannot -- I had been kicked 
out
both from the Loyola boarding and day school in my penultimate year for a grave
act of indiscipline in April-1971.

Rgds, v

- Original Message - 
From: Jim Fernandes amigo...@att.net

To: goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Monday, June 07, 2010 7:30 AM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Nadia's divorce proceedings expose Mickky


I speak to my sister, who is married to a gentleman from Loutolim, almost every other day. But we never brought this topic, until 
this morning.


She started by asking, Did you know Nadia's mother? She ia a school teacher at Loyola's? I immediately knew, she was talking 
about the dead girl and her mother from her husband's village.


At first, I said, I don't think so. But I was curious to know what her mother's 
name was and she said Sonia.

Damn! How could I have not known her! She was my class teacher in grade 6 and 
taught me for at least three more years after that.

Suddenly, I felt very sad and admitted to my sister, that indeed a teacher by that name taught me at Loyola's. But back then I 
think she was single and probably went by the last name of D'Sa.


Because of the current situation, people tend to portray the family in bad light, but I am not sure who to believe. It is true 
that Sonia, was the hottest young teacher on the staff at the school back in late seventies/early eighties. She was a great 
teacher to our class, but some of us were more interested in her physique than the material she taught us. With the manufacture of 
testosterone kicking into our systems, we were quite nasty kids back then.


I still can't believe that we are talking about the shy attractive school 
teacher and her daughter. What a small world!

Jim F
New York. 

Re: [Goanet] Nadia's divorce proceedings expose Mickky

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Gabe,

The minister's friendship with the family did not begin with Nadia.
It had started with her mother. A very sad and unfortunate tale and
the less we talk, the better.

Regards, v

On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 2:13 PM, Gabe Menezes gabe.mene...@gmail.com wrote:


 http://www.targetgoa.com/newsd-Nadia-s-divorce-proceedings-expose-Mickky-388

 Nadia's divorce proceedings expose Mickky
 2010-06-04

 A bombshell was dropped giving yet another twist to the already twisted
 tale
 of *The Minister and His Poisoned Paramour. *Both Auda Viegas of Bailancho
 Ekvott and Adv Aires Rodrigues grabbed media attention by reading excerpts
 from the written statement of Nadia's widower Winston Barreto in divorce
 proceedings initiated by Nadia last year.

 In his reply to her application for a divorce Aires Rodrigues read out,
 Barreto mentioned that she was entering into divorce proceedings at the
 behest of Mickky Pacheco. He spoke of how Mickky travelled to Dubai with
 Nadia and how he often stayed at her house in Loutolim. The statment
 mentioned that Mickky's liaison with Nadia found favour with her mother.
 Barreto's statement blames the Tourism Minister for the destruction of
 their
 marriage.

 COMMENT: Just a couple of days ago, the Minister stated that he didn't know
 why he was being harassed - that he was friendly with the Family including
 the estranged husband. This is on a video clip - now he will say he was
 misquoted, ah, that is all in a day in the life of a Goa politician!

 Now the Police will turn the screws on the wretched Winston and he will
 start to squeal and reveal all?


 --
 DEV BOREM KORUM

 Gabe Menezes.

[Goanet] Courage Compassion-stories of Goan military valour: HERALD(Goa), May 30, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

COURAGE  COMPASSION: STORIES OF GOAN MILITARY VALOUR


VALMIKI FALEIRO, in this concluding part on the Goan contribution to officer 
ranks
of India's defence services, traces the virtues and valour displayed by Goans in
India's armed forces


If, going by the numbers that joined the armed forces, you thought Goans were a
trigger-happy bunch of battle mongers, think again. Many of them, on hanging 
their
uniform for the last time, did - and some are still doing - good works of 
compassion.
Let's check three noble instances.

Brig Terence Barreto retired and began charity at home. He came to Goa, helped 
his
three younger brothers - Wg Cdr Cecil, Brig Noel and Lt Gen Bobby Barreto - buy
plots at Porvorim's Defence Colony and build houses, to ensure they returned to 
their
roots. He then went to the city he was born, Nagpur. Elders were being forsaken.
Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity were already active in a large campus.

Brig Terence made the nuns an offer. He would build a house within their campus
that could be integrated into their complex with minimum changes. He would use 
the
house in his lifetime and the place would be theirs on his death. The nuns 
agreed.
His mission among Nagpur's poor and destitute, sick and homeless, forsaken and
forgotten, continues.

Gp Capt Emanuel Fernandes (Fighter Fernandes) was more than an exceptional
fighter pilot. At Kalaikunda (Eastern Air Command), he was injured in the legs 
after
ejecting from a Gnat at low height. After a year in hospital, he flew light 
aircraft. On
retiring, he settled on the outskirts of Pune, started a poultry farm that 
created some
40 jobs and founded a school for poor children of the area. Gp Capt Fernandes
passed away 23 Dec 2006 at age 84, just the way he always wanted - suddenly, in
apparent good health, mental faculties intact. The poor of Pune wept.

Wg Cdr VB Sawardekar died in a flying accident 1972. His widow, Asha, returned 
to
Panjim with two toddler daughters. Under the Central Government's Development of
Women  Children in Rural Areas programme, she pioneered women empowerment
groups, setting up over 500 such 15-member groups within a period of 5/6 years,
across Goa.

She then quietly began assisting fellow-humans, primarily slum women and 
children,
with medical care and supplementary nourishment. In 1979, she launched a Trust,
funded entirely on private donations. She conducted 6-month courses in 
tailoring,
cooking, home nursing, etc. and, brick by another patient brick, built a twin 
institution:
a medical recovery home and a home for the elderly, both for women. Sanjeevan
(better life) at Nageshi-Ponda is the soft-spoken widow's ensign to an IAF hero.

Compassion and courage went hand-in-hand with Goans. In the line of duty, the
word fear did not exist in their lexicon. Here's a sampling. I'll begin with my 
personally
most poignant story of cool courage and end with one that has elements of 
gallantry,
humour, and a tinge of sadness. What lies between are tales of sheer heroism of
men who, in the face of death, stood for their country's honour...

Maj Gen Ian AJ Cardozo, VrC, SM, AVSM was both a gold and silver medalist cadet
at Pune's NDA. Decorated early with a Sena Medal for gallantry in NEFA in 1960,
fate had more in store for him. He was a Major (with the 1st Battalion of the 
5th
Gorkha Rifles Regiment) when, in a heli-borne operation behind enemy lines at
Sylhet in the 1971 war, his left leg was severely injured on a mine. Without 
medical
aid, 34-year-old Maj Cardozo asked a subordinate to cut off his lifeless leg. 
When
the subordinate declined, the intrepid Major took a Gorkha 'Khukri' (sheated 
dagger)
and himself did the unthinkable. Later, a captured Pakistani army doctor 
performed
corrective surgery - under a tamarind tree. Maj Cardozo wrote a one-liner to 
his wife
Priscilla, I am alive and kicking, even if with one leg. (Priscilla still 
reminds him he
has property burried in Bangladesh.) Loss of a leg spelled end of an army 
career.

Not so in this case. Undaunted, Maj Cardozo got himself an artificial limb and
heroically - over seven years - rehabilitated his way back to normal life. He 
resumed
duties. He was nicknamed the one-legged General. Not the fairytale type that 
sits
on a mantelpiece, he surmounted physical drawbacks with the prosthetic leg, did 
his
job often better than able-bodied officers (he topped a seven-officer group in a 
Battle
Physical Efficiency Test), and earned his way up. His case made the Government 
of
India change the policy towards war-disabled officers. He was cleared for 
command
of a Battalion, then a Brigade and finally, an entire Division.

When serving at Thiruvanantapuram, he saved a 12-year boy drowning in the sea,
clumsily (his word) swimming with one leg. Maj Gen Cardozo retired in 1993 as
Chief of Staff of a Corps and founded the War Wounded Foundation, a NGO for the
interests of disabled soldiers, is associated

Re: [Goanet] What is this Goa English Media ?

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Lampiao, tubelight pettoi !
You ought to have sent this to Goajourno (goajou...@googlegroups.com)
after getting yourself admitted as a member.

More seriously, journalists and editors in Goa's English-language daily, at
least currently, are doing good work, highlighting local issues. I saw reports
of the ANC constable's roughing up -- Herald even front paged it.

Regards, v


- Original Message - 
From: Pandu Lampiao pan...@gmail.com

To: Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994! goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 3:39 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] What is this Goa English Media ?



Not really surprising. Pick up an Ingleas newspaper and one wonders if
its the Government gazette or a newspaper (part of the democratic
process).
They are run by first-grade rascals or complete idi^ts, who have never
understood what a newspaper does, its role in society etc. The
language press on the other hand does have the old school thinking, of
committed journalists. So thanks for bringing this up.

Now the Goa pulice is another story. I recently went to report a
break-in. Inspector She*kh (now transfered to Ponji) told me if I find
the thief, take his picture (I told the cop who I suspected). What? I
find the thief? Never mind.
Another cop at the station quietly told me the Goa pulice are in a
mess right now.he said things are sooo out of control.
So not surprising then to the story from the Marathi paper...Calangute
is a high stakes police station.

BTW, did you know Calangute-Candolim-Baga belt does more business then
the rest of Goa in terms of turn over...example the banks there do
such large transactions, only senior experienced employees get posted
there (I am told).


It is surprising to note that Head lines of all the Marathi Papers in
Goa today 'May 26/05/2010 was
regarding Shamrock Restaurant incident where in waiter from the
restaurant hitting Constable Sawant from
behind.

But no English paper has carried this story.

[Goanet] Goans in India's Defence Services: HERALD(Goa), May 23, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

GOANS IN INDIA'S DEFENCE SERVICES

==
VALMIKI FALEIRO delves deeper into Goa's contribution to the officer ranks of 
the
three wings of India's defence services.
==

Goans, and Goan Catholics in particular, always had this fascination for 
adventure.
Right from the General in a Deccani army in the 17th century, to Manuel Antonio 
de
Souza (1835-1904), of Mapusa, who created and reigned over his own country with
an army of 30,000 men, by the right bank of the Zambezi, in far away Mozambique!
Down to dozens of officers in the armed forces of Portugal, Britain and any 
nation of
domicile, even . hold your breath . now Australia-settled Wg Cdr Zuzarte of the
Pakistan Air Force!

The number of Goans in independent India's defence services is a matter of 
pride.
The tiny community produced one Chief and two Vice Chiefs of Army Staff, one 
Vice
Chief of Naval Staff and one Chief of Air Staff. And at least 42 Generals (from 
three-
to one-star), one VAdm, one RAdm and four Commodores, three Air Marshals, two
Vice Marshals and five Air Commodores - and a legion of other officer ranks in 
the
three services.

The Chief of Army Staff, as all know, is Gen Sunith F Rodrigues of Curtorim. The
Vice Chiefs are Lt Gen Kevin L D'Souza of Mapusa and Lt Gen Stanley L Menezes of
Sangolda. The Vice Chief of Naval Staff is Vice Adm John C DeSilva of Navelim. 
The
Chief of Air Staff is Air Chief Marshal Hrishikesh Shamrao Moolgavkar of Mulgao-
Bicholim. A bit on him:

One of the earliest IAF Goans (slightly junior to AVM Erlic Pinto), he was 
among the
first four Indian IAF officers to earn a MVrC for bravery in JK ops (and one 
of only
three IAF Goans to be so decorated, the others being Gp Capt Sidney Noronha and
Gr Capt Allan D'Costa.) A versatile fighter pilot, he flew 56 types of aircraft 
including
helicopters, from pre WW-II vintage to planes without propellers (jets) like 
Gnats
and MiGs. He was the first Indian to fly faster than sound (in a Mystere-II.) 
Awarded
the US Congress' Legion of Merit at the Pentagon in 1978.

Goa missed counting three more Chiefs of Staff, one each of the Army, Navy and 
Air
Force. Maj Gen Eustace W Fernandes stood, as AVM Erlic W Pinto did in the IAF, a
chance for the top job. He died in 1994, like AVM Pinto in 1963, together with 
several
senior army officers. He was inspecting weapons and explosives seized from JK
terrorists when the dump exploded. Both AVM Pinto and Maj Gen Fernandes died in
JK - and both, rather uncannily, shared the same initials, EW! (Maj Gen 
Fernandes'
younger brother, Air Cmde Kevin Fernandes was, creepily again, killed in a 
helicopter
crash in the 1950s - in JK!) The appointment of then RAdm John C DeSilva to
Chief of Naval Staff was a near miss.

Several times since 1947, Goans held operational commands in the three services.
Lt Gen Walter AG Pinto from Santa Cruz-Calapur was GOC-in-C, Central Command,
Lucknow. Vice Adm John DeSilva commanded the Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy.
Air Marshal Terence J de Sa from Sangolda was Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief,
Southern Air Command, like AVM Erlic Pinto, AOC-in-C, Western Air Command
before. Lt Gen Francis T Dias from Velcao was Chief of Staff, Southern Command.

Or get the import from another angle. In the Indo-Pak 1965 war, three vital High
Altitude Passes were under Lt Gen Stanley L Menezes in Ladakh, Maj Gen Sidney
Pinto at Jelep La and Maj Gen Eustace F D'Souza at Natu La. Lt Gen Eric A Vaz
commanded an operational Brigade in Punjab.

During the 1971 war, Goans commanded three operational Infantry Divisions: Lt 
Gen
Walter AG Pinto in Punjab, Maj Gen Benjamin F Gonsalves in Bangladesh and Maj
Gen Eustace D'Souza in the Kashmir valley. (Lt Gen Stanley Menezes was a leading
light in the 1971 ops., while Maj Gen Antonio C da Silva commanded the Artillery
Regiment that thrust on Dacca.) Yes, the Army part of the 1971 war - on all 
three
fronts - was led by Goans!

Goans held key positions in strategy, in all three services, at various points 
of time.
Among the latest instances was Gp Capt Sunil J Nanodkar, Director-Ops 
(Offensive/
Tactical) at Air HQ in 2003.

Brig Joseph V Pinto, a telecom expert, oversaw the transition to computer-based
telecom in all the three services in the 1970s. Lt Cdr John E Gomes was Asst
Director-Ops at Naval HQ. Sqn Ldr Raul Silva Rodrigues was Asst Director-Ops at
Air HQ.

Lt Gen Walter AG Pinto, known as The Legend after the 1971 war, commanded the
famous Battle of Basantar, the last in that war, inside (West) Pakistan. His 
tactics
were soon part of the curriculum for army commanders. He is writing a book on 
the
story of Basantar.

Cmde Gilbert Menezes from Raia and Lt Joseph DeSilva from Navelim (brother of
VAdm DeSilva, who left service early) were among the Navy's pioneer submariners.
They were trained in Russia in 1967. Cmde Menezes commanded the foxtrot class
submarine Kalvari, also the frigate Taragiri, and retired as Director of 
Submarine
Operations

Re: [Goanet] Of Portuguese Crosses, Indian Swords Goans.: HERALD(Goa), May 16, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Mr. Barve,

You are obviously discussing the issue from ill-informed premises.
None (repeat, NONE) of the Goan names mentioned in any of my
four articles on the subject are of any Goan-origin defence officers
in India's defence services who served the Portuguese administration
prior to 1961 -- and then were absorbed in Indian services, as you
seem to suggest. NONE of the names in the next two articles to follow
will similarly be of Goans who served the Portuguese (though it wasn't
a crime to serve in the colonial administration!) ALL names are of
those brave officer rank men who served India, or call her Bharat or
call her Hindustan. Whatever your personal choice.

Instead of merely trying to search for cracks in what I wrote (and I can
assure you I have taken maximum possible care to avoid errors), why
don't you contribute positively -- you may know of some Goan names
that I have missed so far. Tell me about them.

But do remember that in the defence services, every officer regards
himself/herself as Indian first, then Goan/Bengali/Punjabi/etc., then maybe
Hindu/Muslim/Christian/Sikh/Parsi/etc. -- and last perhaps as a veg. or
non-veg by diet and other predilections. Open your mindset with a
wide-angle lens and please talk further.

Thanks and regards, v


- Original Message - 
From: SHRIKANT BARVE shri8...@yahoo.com

To: goa...@goanet.org; goanet goanet@lists.goanet.org
Cc: Valmiki Faleiro valmi...@gmail.com
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2010 10:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Of Portuguese Crosses,Indian Swords  Goans.: 
HERALD(Goa), May 16, 2010


I may be totally wrong ...however there is every possibility when exceptional 
figure are presented.
I feel that All the Goan officers serving for Portuguese may have joined the Indian Defense service after liberation (just like 
civil servant).


Shrikant Vinayak Barve



--- On Sun, 16/5/10, Valmiki Faleiro valmi...@gmail.com wrote:


From: Valmiki Faleiro valmi...@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Of Portuguese Crosses, Indian Swords  Goans.: HERALD(Goa), May 
16, 2010
To: SHRIKANT BARVE shri8...@yahoo.com
Date: Sunday, 16 May, 2010, 8:35 PM
Dear Mr. Barve,

Will you kindly tell me who has given this interesting
news
-- and again and again -- before? I must be foolish to
think I was
attempting something like this for the first time...

Will you kindly also disclose the rank/name of all other
Goans
(who you obviously imply I left out -- deliberately or
otherwise) who
served India as commissioned/ranked defence officers??

Will you also come to terms with the fact that I was on
Indian
defence officers of Goan origin, who are NOT recruited by
way of
recruitment drive in Goa -- but by an all-India
competitive entrance
exam for the NDA/IMA/etc?

And finally, will you stop thinking that I am some walking
encyclopaedia on defence officers of Goan origin? If you
need to
know the date of commissioning of any officer, you can
jolly well
search the official defence website www.bharatrakshak.com

Or, if the shoe pinches, face facts, and keep your trap
shut.

Rgds, v


- Original Message - From: SHRIKANT BARVE shri8...@yahoo.com
To: goa...@goanet.org;
goanet goanet@lists.goanet.org
Cc: valmi...@gmail.com
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2010 3:07 PM
Subject: Of Portuguese Crosses, Indian Swords  Goans.:
HERALD(Goa), May 16, 2010


My far-from-complete lists of Goan commissioned officers
in India's armed forces feature 286 names - Army 144, Navy
36 and IAF 106. Of the 286 Goans who helped defend the
nation's borders and honour, 263 (or 92%) are the MGP's
unpatriotic, anti-national Goan Catholics, who comprise
30% of the population. 65% of Goa's Hindu population, in
all, accounts for 23 defence officers.

This is an interesting news to be told again and again.

In last few Defence recruitment drive in Goa passing
percentage is single digit.

I am also interested 'and if author could provide us'
the date of joining of these 286 Goan commissioned officers
in India's armed forces feature.

Shrikant Vinayak Barve

Re: [Goanet] Of Portuguese Crosses, Indian Swords Goans.: HERALD(Goa), May 16, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Will Mr. Barve kindly tell me who has given this interesting news
-- and again and again -- before? I must be foolish to think I was
attempting something like this for the first time...

Will Mr. Barve kindly also disclose the rank/name of all other Goans
(who he obviously implies I left out -- deliberately or otherwise) who
served India as commissioned/ranked defence officers??

Will Mr. Barve also come to terms with the fact that I was on Indian
defence officers of Goan origin, who are NOT recruited by way of
recruitment drive in Goa -- but by an all-India competitive entrance
exam for the NDA/IMA/etc?

And finally, will Mr. Barve stop thinking that I am some walking
encyclopaedia on defence officers of Goan origin? If he needs to
know the date of commissioning of any officer, he can jolly well
search the official defence website www.bharatrakshak.com

Or, if the shoe pinches, face facts, and keep his trap shut.

Rgds, v


- Original Message - 
From: SHRIKANT BARVE shri8...@yahoo.com

To: goa...@goanet.org; goanet goanet@lists.goanet.org
Cc: valmi...@gmail.com
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2010 3:07 PM
Subject: [Goanet] Of Portuguese Crosses, Indian Swords  Goans.: 
HERALD(Goa),May 16, 2010


My far-from-complete lists of Goan commissioned officers in India's armed forces feature 286 names - Army 144, Navy 36 and IAF 106. 
Of the 286 Goans who helped defend the nation's borders and honour, 263 (or 92%) are the MGP's unpatriotic, anti-national Goan 
Catholics, who comprise 30% of the population. 65% of Goa's Hindu population, in all, accounts for 23 defence officers.


This is an interesting news to be told again and again.

In last few Defence recruitment drive in Goa passing percentage is single digit.

I am also interested 'and if author could provide us'  the date of joining of these 286 Goan commissioned officers in India's armed 
forces feature.


Shrikant Vinayak Barve 

[Goanet] Of Portuguese Crosses, Indian Swords Goans.: HERALD(Goa), May 16, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

OF PORTUGUESE CROSSES, INDIAN SWORDS  GOANS.

===
VALMIKI FALEIRO examines some aspects of Goa's contribution to the officer ranks
of India's defence services, and unravels some offbeat patterns and snippets.
===

Many think the Portuguese came here with a sword in one hand and a cross in the
other. They came with neither. They came for oriental silks-n-spices, and a 
hatred of
Muslims who had occupied Portugal for five centuries, a bit barbarically at 
times, until
1238. Moors now controlled Asiatic trade with Europe.

Then came Afonso de Albuquerque. Based in Cochin, he dreamt of total control of
the sea-route between India and Europe. When Goan Hindus, repressed by Bijapur,
invoked Albuquerque via Thimayya for deliverance, he changed course from a
mission in West Asia and instead attacked the Bijapuri Muslims in Goa.

Save a ban on sati, he pledged full local religious freedom. Envious 
compatriots, by
intrigue at the royal court in Lisbon, had him deposed. The quest of control of 
Asian
trade soon yielded to imperial ambitions. Enter the sword. Decades later, an 
ardent
Guv won royal favour to the idea that faith of the king must be faith of his 
subjects.
Enter the cross.

Centuries later, that unlikely combination of Sword and Cross shows in a 
different
Goan context. Such snippets surfaced when researching Goans in India's defence
forces. But before that, a brief aside. No Goan Catholic my age would forget the
MGP's mid- to late-1970s taunting tirade: Catholics are unpatriotic, 
anti-national,
deport them to Portugal. Mental constipation, verbal diarrhea. Which of Goa's 
two
major communities helped defend India more?

My far-from-complete lists of Goan commissioned officers in India's armed forces
feature 286 names - Army 144, Navy 36 and IAF 106. Of the 286 Goans who helped
defend the nation's borders and honour, 263 (or 92%) are the MGP's unpatriotic,
anti-national Goan Catholics, who comprise 30% of the population. 65% of Goa's
Hindu population, in all, accounts for 23 defence officers.

Where then were those MGP's impliedly patriotic, not-to-be-deported-to-Portugal
Goan Hindu Generals? Radharao Gracias once publicly explained that in his earthy
style: Sitting under signboards like Naik General Stores!

May I borrow US-based Marcos and Jean Gomes Catao's little twist to Sir Winston
Churchill's famous words, rarely in history has such a small community 
contributed
such a large bevy of heroes to a nation. In this and the two parts to follow, 
we shall
see how.

Let's revert to the point.

The story of two siblings - one serving in the defence forces, the other the 
Catholic
Church, both often with rare distinction - is not rare. Every Goan would have 
heard of
Siolim-origin John Lobo, the former Director of India's Intelligence Bureau and 
of the
Central Bureau of Investigation. His much-revered brother was Bishop Ignatius 
Lobo,
who passed away this February.

The adage springs to mind, Ek put devak, dusro povak, tisro devcharak (one son
for God, the 2nd for society/nation as a doctor, engineer, defence or police 
officer, the
third, like my friend Radharao, possibly as a lawyer!)

Lt Gen Francis T Dias of Velcao, between holding several key Indian Army posts,
was the very first General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command. His
brother, Ivan Cardinal Dias, rose to the No.3 position in the Vatican hierarchy 
- after
the Pope and the Secretary of State, as Prefect of the Congregation for the
Evangelization of Peoples, a position he still serves.

Brig George Francis DeSouza of Saligao similarly held important posts in the 
Army.
His brother was Archbishop Eugene D'Souza of Nagpur, later of Bhopal.

Brig F. Reginald Campos' brother from Saligao was a Redemptorist priest, once a
Parish Priest in Ambala.

Maj Albert Francis Winington da Costa-Joshi, FRCS, from Saligao, was both in
military and civil medical services. Of his sons, one is Brig Ian da Costa, 
another is
Cmde Emile da Costa-Joshi. The third is Fr. Albert da Costa-Joshi, SJ.

Col G Oscar Rebelo of Margao (ex-Curtorim) is brother of diocesan Vicar, Fr. 
Avinash
Rebelo.

Wg Cdr Raul do Menino de Jesus Oliveira Silva Rodrigues of Cavelossim, who
retired much after flying Canberras in 5 SQN when in Agra in the late '60s, was
youngest of ten siblings (five pairs). Eldest was late Fr. Bernardo Silva 
Rodrigues.

Wg Cdr Aquinas (Aqui) Menezes from Pirna-Bardez is a serving officer. His 
eldest
brother is the Redemptorist priest, Fr. Frederick Menezes.

Jr. WO Noel Sequeira of Carmona served in the Army and later in the Goa Rajya
Sainik Board. His brother is the diocesan priest, Fr. Nelson Sequeira.

Lt John Fernandes of Candolim joined the Navy around 1939/40, served in WW-II,
and left in the early 50s to join the Ministry of Defence in a civilian 
capacity. He was
among 7/8 officers sent from Bombay to set up the Naval HQ in New Delhi (four in
that group - including one Vasco Ferrao

Re: [Goanet] EROL PERRY - Musician passes away 12/05/2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Godfrey,

A minor correction: the Pereiras (Perrys) are originally
from Margao. Chris Perry's wife Lilia was from Cuncolim.

Regards, v


- Original Message - 
From: godfrey gonsalves gonsalvesgodfre...@yahoo.co.in

To: goa...@goanet.org
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 1:47 PM
Subject: [Goanet] EROL PERRY - Musician passes away 12/05/2010


This morning a pall of gloom spread at Modsai, Behind the Holy Spirit Church Margao, Goa when Erol Perry 47, a talented young 
musician and a veteran drummer son of the legendary trumpet maestro of Goa late Chris Perry, passed away this morning at around 730 
hrs at the Grace Cardiac Centre Pajifond Margao following an ailment .


He leaves behind his brothers Mr.Giles, Mr. Glen and Mr.Miles Perry all based abroad in Dubai and US and all are expected to arrive 
in Goa as per reports from his close acquaintance who was at his bed side when the sad end came about.


A year ago in February, 2009 his beloved mother Ms.Lilia Perry expired while late Mr. Chris Pery expired on 25th January 2002. The 
Perry's are based in Margao but hail originally from Cuncolim.


The funeral details have yet to be finalised pending which the body has been placed in the morgue at Hospicio Margao 

Re: [Goanet] In defence of JOEGOAUK

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Selma,

Why do you forget the Indian crab was invented in Goa?
And, in any event, Frederick Noronha and GoaJoeUK don't
need character certificates -- least of all from crawly creatures
like Rajan Narayan! -- because their work speaks enough
for their credentials.

Regards, v



- Original Message - 
From: Carvalho elisabeth_...@yahoo.com

To: goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 5:00 PM
Subject: [Goanet] In defence of JOEGOAUK





Fredrick Noronha used the editorial page of the Herald to defend himself and other 
inter-nutters for violating copyright laws


Shame on us Goans. We are so good at writing obituaries when someone dies but while someone is alive, all we can think of is, 
defaming them, criticising them and stabbing them in the back. If I read one more glowing obituary written about some great Goan, 
I will know only one thing. That while he lived, no doubt he endured nothing but ridicule.


best,
selma 

[Goanet] Gallant Goans in the sky-3: HERALD(Goa), April 25, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

GALLANT GOANS IN THE SKY-3

=
VALMIKI FALEIRO continues with the concluding part of the sequel to his story
published in the HERALD Sunday Mirror on 28 Feb 2010.
=

Last Sunday, we reviewed some Goan IAF officers who died in service. Let's now
look at those who retired or are serving, some decorated for gallantry or 
service.
Names are arranged first by rank, then by seniority. Where seniority is not 
known,
they are listed alphabetically under the sub-heading, Others.

We checked Gallantry awards (in war and in peace) last time. Service awards are:
Vishist Sena Medal, Ati Vishist Seva Medal and Param Vishist Seva Medal. These
are used in abbreviated form. Citations, if available, are in quote marks and 
within
brackets, but condensed from the original.


Air Marshal

*Terence Joseph de Sa, PVSM. Com. Oct-1947, he was a versatile fighter pilot who
flew 31 types of aircraft including helicopters. He was the first AOC-in-C of 
Southern
Air Command. A talented and multi-skilled officer, he was invited for diverse 
IAF
honorary work in India and abroad after retirement. Died Jan-1998. From 
Sangolda.

*Dinanath Ramchandra Nadkarni, VSM when Sqn Ldr, AVSM when Gp Capt and
PVSM when AVM in 1996.

*Gordon Peter D'Souza, AVSM when AVM in 2004.
===


Air Vice Marshal

*Loreto Pestana Pereira, PVSM in 1982. He was Systems expert at Air HQ. His
brother, late Reinerio Pereira, was a neighbour in Margao. From Ganapoga-Raia.
===


Air Commodore

*Angelo Reginald Lobo. President's Gold Medal in the wake of Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
He was with a transport SQN flying Packet-C119. An off-duty road accident almost
cost him a leg (read about that incredible story another day), but he resumed 
flying
and was CO of Paratroopers Training School. He opted for Civil Defence as its Dy
Director General. Was in action after the Union Carbide factory gas leak in 
Bhopal on
03 Dec 1984. Exposure to radiation during sorties to Bhopal felled him with 
cancer.

From Bodiem-Tivim.


*Kevin Fernandes, VSM in 2007.
===


Group Captain

*Sidney Basil Noronha, MVrC in 1950 in JK ops. (Completing more than 37 
sorties
with maximum success in the face of adverse conditions, Wg Cdr Noronha showed
outstanding gallantry and set an inspiring example to all under his command.) 
One
of only two known IAF Goans to earn a Maha Vir Chakra.

*Emanuel Raymond Fernandes, AVSM. He was amongst the best-regarded and
loved Goan fighter pilots, with high qualities of competence, helpfulness and 
charity.
Fighter Fernandes was adept at Spitfires, Vampires, Hunters, and the rather
difficult-to-navigate Gnats at 2 SQN. He wrote the virtual IAF bible on 
maneuvering
Gnats in dogfights. Read more about him another day. The youngest of his three
sons is a serving Brigadier in the Army. From Badem, Salvador do Mundo.

*Trevor Joseph Fernandes, Bar-to-VM in 1971 when with 26 SQN (Sukhoi-7,
Adampur) and VSM. Ref: Gazette of India : No.53-Pres/71 dt. 26 Jan 1971. During
the 1971 war on the western front, his aircraft was damaged in ack-ack fire. 
For the
singular courage flying it back safely, he was again decorated with the 
Bar-to-VM.
Brother of Cdr Stanley Fernandes and Col Herman Fernandes. From Siolim/Pilerne.

*Norbert Joseph Misquitta, VM for gallantry. On 12 Aug 1968, Sqn Ldr Misquitta 
was
in a malfunctioning Vampire that any pilot would have ejected from. A fighter 
pilot that
he was, he held his wits and landed it safely at base. Not the end of the 
story. In
1969, as a Vampires flying Instructor, he was on a flight with a co-pilot 
trainee when
the aircraft developed trouble. He told the co-pilot to eject and went on to 
land the
aircraft safely. He also few MiG-21s. Son is Wg Cdr Neville F Misquitta. 
Settled in
Pune. From Candolim.

*Ashley Malcolm Rodrigues. A MiG-23 fighter pilot, he was injured in the 1971 
ops,
and to date carries the anti-aircraft bullet in his left leg. Let's save that 
story of
courage and other interesting elements for another day. Originally from 
Carambolim,
his family settled in Velcao after the then capital city (Old Goa) was hit by 
the plague.

*Leyland Fernandes. From Aldona.

*Peter D'Souza. A transport SQN pilot (and, like most defence officers, a 
helpful
human being!) From Mapusa.

*Christopher Fernandes. Retired and settled in Pune. Presently flies aircraft 
for the
Aditya Birla group. From Curca, Tiswadi.

*Conrad Anthony Dalton, VSM. (Many Goans in British India tweaked their Luso
surnames to blend better in the Anglo-India ethos.) Was a Bomber Navigator on
Canberras. Also commanded the Sambra-Belgaum airbase. Gr Capt Dalton is adept
at the violin, saxophone, clarinet and synthesizer. Married to daughter of the 
famous
St. Estevam artist, Angelo da Fonseca, pioneer of Indian Christian Art. Lives 
in Pune.

From Siolim.


*Sunil Jayant Nanodkar, VSM. (As Director of Ops-Tactical from 2003, Gp Capt
Nanodkar trained operational status of all offensive fleets in IAF. He led a 
IAF team
with six Jaguars, two

Re: [Goanet] UP, UP AND HIGH... GALLANT GOANS IN THE SKY

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Marshall,

Thank you for the correction about Wg Cdr Clarence D'Lima Marg.
The info was given to me by his first-cousin who I guess is also on
this list. I referred to John Lobo in my Feb 28 piece (should be
available in Goanet archives) -- and how he carried Morarji Desai
and son Kantibhai in his arms to safety.

Last Sunday, if you noticed, I was exclusively on Goans who died
in service in the Indian Airforce. Next Sunday's piece will also be on
the IAF exclusively. I will then come to Goans in the army and navy.
No Goan studying the subject could ever miss Maj Gen Eustace W
Fernandes. What you say is true, he was days away from assuming
charge of the Northern Command as a Lt Gen, but since he had
nothing else to do in Delhi, decided to inspect the arms, explosives
and IEDs seized from Pak-trained terrorists in JK.

But that apart, one cannot say with any certainty that he was tipped
to take over as Chief of the Army Staff -- maybe he stood a chance --
but then other considerations (and don't forget the political !) play a part
in the appointment to the top job.

Regards, v
On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 9:44 PM, Marshall Mendonza mmendonz...@gmail.comwrote:


  A small correction. The name of Irwin Road was changed to Pundita Ramabai
 Road a very long time ago. A small by-lane leading to Irwin Road(old name)
 was named after Wg Cdr Clarence D’Lima. Incidentally, John Lobo, CBI
 Director was also on this flight but survived the crash.

 You may have missed another name that of Maj Gen Eustace Fernandes who died
 in J  K when an ammunition dump exploded. He was rated very high and was
 to
 be promoted as Lt Gen to head the Northern Command and tipped to take over
 subsequently as Chief of the Army Staff.

 Regards,



 Marshall

[Goanet] Gallant Goans in the sky: HERALD(Goa), Apr 18, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

---
Sign the Petition requesting The Honble Minister of State for Environment
and Forests (I/C) to maintain the moratorium on issuing further
environmental clearances for mining activities in Goa

 http://goanvoice.org.uk/miningpetition.php
---



UP, UP AND HIGH...
GALLANT GOANS IN THE SKY - 2

=
VALMIKI FALEIRO follows up his story carried in the HERALD Sunday Mirror on 28 
Feb
2010, on the gallantry of Goans in the Indian Air Force, in this two-part 
sequel.
=

Reader response to the cover story in the Sunday Mirror (HERALD, 28 Feb 2010)
warranted this sequel. Grouse was there were many more gallant Goan airmen who 
laid
down their lives. Besides, the article did not convey the extent of Goa's 
contribution to
the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Goa, as I said before, provided officers to India's armed forces far beyond the 
ratio of
her population. Most joined the army and navy, fewest went to the air force. 
IAF men
occupy only 8-10 houses out of some 150 at Porvorim's Defence Colony. Yet, a 
listing
only of IAF Goans provides fair judgment of Goa's singular contribution to the 
ranks of
the three wings of India's defence services.

But, before that, two corrections to Part-I of this serial.

Sqn Ldr ML was actually Emil (Emiliano) Fernandes, from Dramapur proper, not
Sirlim. He was, in fact, a maternal nephew of Valerian Cardinal Gracias, from
Battiavaddo-Dramapur, now claimed as a son of Navelim. (Cardinal Gracias' mother
hailed from Navelim.) Two, I wrongly ranked Sqn Ldr FX da Silva as Wg Cdr. More 
on
them below.

This list is largely sourced from the IAF website. Today, let us look at those 
who died in
harness, in action or of other causes. Names are listed by the date of death, 
and where
not known, by seniority or alphabetically. Ranks are in abbreviated form.

IAF gallantry awards in war are, in ascending order: Mention in Despatches 
(M-in-D), Vir
Chakra (VrC), Maha Vir Chakra (MVrC) and Param Vir Chakra. Ditto for peacetime: 
M-
in-D, Shaurya Chakra, Kirti Chakra and Ashoka Chakra. Citations, if available, 
are in
quote marks within brackets - but in abridged form.

This list is not comprehensive, much less exhaustive. There would be many more 
IAF
Goans who died in service, unsung.

*Flt Lt Aloysius William Barrette, VrC in 1950. Commissioned (hereafter, com.) 
1943,
he died in a Tempest-II of 8 SQN on 08 Aug 1948 during the JK Ops. He battled
bravely (but let's keep that story for another day.)

*Flt Lt Agostinho Gracias Monteiro joined the IAF after a brilliant academic 
record at
St Xavier's-Mumbai and was based in Jalahalli. On a visit to Mumbai, he died of 
a heart
attack in 1950.

*Pilot Officer Hugo Pacheco Gracias was with 2 SQN (Unit 3) when he died in a
Tempest-II crash on 24 Nov 1951 during a dive-bombing practice with the army, at
Halwara, at age 21.

*Fg Offr Gerald B. Cabral, VrC, was with 8 SQN during the 1948 JK Ops. Let's 
leave
his rarest of rare stories for another day. The third time he crashed, during 
peacetime,
he was unlucky. He died on 01 Dec 1951 when his Tigermoth-DH82 crashed into a 
glass
factory at Begumpet.

*Fl Lt Salvador (Sally) Rodrigues died in Jamnagar in 1951 in a flying 
accident.

*AVM Erlic Wilmot Pinto, M-in-D in 1951, PVSM posthumous. His death is the most
known among IAF Goans. Com. 1940, he commanded Goa Ops in Dec-1961. He was
AOC-in-C, Western Air Command and tipped to be Chief of Air Staff when he died 
in a
Chetak of 107 HU flown by Flt Lt SS Sodhi. The chopper crashed over the Poonch 
River
(in JK) 22 Nov 1963. Also killed: Lt Gen Daulat Singh (GOC-in-C, Western 
Command),
Lt Gen Bikram Singh (GOC, XV Corps), Lt Gen Rustom K Nanavati and others. Death 
of
so many senior officers in an accident raised suspicions, but the Court of 
Inquiry ruled
out sabotage. Goa's airport road was fittingly named after AVM Pinto. But when 
the road
was widened sometime ago, roadside signage of hotels, etc. was shifted - but, 
the road
name signboard of one of the best-known Goans in the IAF was, scandalously, 
not. It
vanished, despite appeals to the current Goa PWD minister. A monumental shame!

*Sqn Ldr AV D'Lemos was flying a Packet C-119 transport aircraft that blew up 
after
takeoff from Barrackpore on 06 Mar 1964.

*Flt Lt Raymond Vaz, a Gnat pilot with either 9 SQN or 15 SQN, died in a crash 
over
the home airfield in 1965.

*Fg Offr RHC Vaz, again flying a Gnat, was killed in a crash at takeoff from 
Ambala on
20 Apr 1968.

*Flt Lt Andre Rudolph da Costa, VrC, was among IAF's earliest losses in the 
1971 war
(Op. Cactus Lily), when his severely damaged Hunter SD-F56 of 7 SQN crashed on 
04
Dec 1971.

*Flt Lt Lawrence Fredric Pereira, VrC, a Su-7 pilot, was killed in FAC strafing 
in 1971.
(Flt Lt Pereira of 26 SQN was on FAC duty with a Brigade in Shakargarh. He 
directed

[Goanet] Reminiscing Goa's Planning Development during the '50s-early '60s: HERALD(Goa), Apr 11, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

---
Sign the Petition requesting The Honble Minister of State for Environment
and Forests (I/C) to maintain the moratorium on issuing further
environmental clearances for mining activities in Goa

 http://goanvoice.org.uk/miningpetition.php
---

Reminiscing Goa's Planning  Development during the '50s-early '60s


===
Eng. VITORINO PINTO, head of the Goa PWD around the time of liberation, and
later Consultant in Environmental Sciences with the Geneva-based World Health
Organization (WHO), reminisces on the process of planning and execution of
development works in Goa, then and later.
===

Reading about renovation work of the Panjim Municipal Garden, the good old 
Garcia
de Horta of my times, I could not help but reminisce about how works were 
planned
and executed in Goa in an earlier era... the '50s and early '60s. I was then 
with the
Panjim Municipality and later with the PWD. That aspect has not been narrated by
any post-liberation Goan writer. As I happen to be the last surviving 
participant in that
process, I decided to pen down some words before they are totally obliterated.

Goa was then a colony of Portugal, itself under a highly centralized and 
totalitarian
regime. Most Goans were oblivious of the sorry political situation. But a quiet 
and
unruffled existence of four centuries was giving way to a new entrepreneurial 
spirit.
Goa was moving into a take-off stage of growth. This momentum came mainly from
the nascent mining industry. Revenues accrued to the State coffers. Stores were 
full
of imported merchandise. Health and socio-economic standards of a population 
(with
no migrants flooding in!) below the half-million mark were improving quickly. 
Above
all, Goans were able to assert their unique personality, honesty and traditional
courtesy. It was in this climate that I started my professional career as a 
civil
engineer.

I joined the PWD in 1950. My first task was construction of the Customs House
(Gare Maritima). I was next in charge of renovating heritage structures in 
Old Goa.
It was at that time that the exterior plaster of Bom Jesus Basilica was removed.
There was a local furore, and I became an unwitting scapegoat.

Fact was the external walls of the Basilica, due to excessive salinity and 
humidity
soaking into the plaster, had alarmingly reached the interior layers and was 
corroding
the laterite stone. A solution had to be found. The ministry in Lisbon deputed 
Arch.
Baltazar de Castro, a restoration expert. He advised removal of the plaster, to 
allow
the stone to breathe and then to chemically treat the exposed surface. The
controversy took long to die down. But the Basilica still stands. Perhaps, with 
a better
look.

Early in 1952, I was appointed the Panjim Municipal Engineer. The Mayor was an
influential Navy Commander, who gave this young engineer full liberty of 
action. The
job was demanding, having to maintain the city clean, garbage removed and
disposed, roads and pavements swept daily, municipal buildings well maintained, 
the
city's ancient storm drains cleaned before monsoons to prevent flooding etc.

A major responsibility was approval of construction plans, where I often had to 
use
discretion since there were no Town Plans or related laws. (Today we have laws,
ODPs, the RP, and look at the mess we are in!) Unlike the present, the 
Municipality
was a strong institution. Working with dedicated staff like Mr. F. Rodrigues, 
in-charge
of the labour force, I started a program to give the city a fresh and green 
look, with
parks and gardens laid out wherever possible.

I recall beginning with the small triangular space opposite the Post Office, 
dedicated
to Gen. (Dr.) Miguel C. Dias; then the one opposite the Panjim courts, with a 
fountain
that spouted water out of a topless mermaid (which again shocked many 
locals...);
then the Municipal Garden with a bandstand having a balustrade with a lyre as 
the
motif; then the park opposite Menezes Braganza Institute; then a small park near
Dempo House, and finally the garden at Campal with a central bandstand built in 
a
pseudo Greco-Roman style. The music at these bandstands, played usually by a
military band, delighted Panjimites on weekends.

Panjim was being spruced up for the visit of the Portuguese Overseas Minister,
Sarmento Rodrigues. Municipal workers worked like bees. A major job was to open
and resurface the road from the Jetty to Campal, passing in front of the 
Secretariat,
to be completed within a short time. The Municipal Garden was also completed for
the occasion and so was the imposing Camara Municipal, Primeiro Senado de
Goa, the Town Hall, a structure in line with the best in Europe. It had a 
central clock
tower with two large side wings. My office at the Technical Services was in the 
right
wing. 

[Goanet] Book release on Salcete Christianity: HERALD(Goa), April 9, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

---
Sign the Petition requesting The Honble Minister of State for Environment
and Forests (I/C) to maintain the moratorium on issuing further
environmental clearances for mining activities in Goa

 http://goanvoice.org.uk/miningpetition.php
---



BOOK RELEASE ON SALCETE CHRISTIANITY
By Valmiki Faleiro

Saligao-born Fr. Nascimento Jose Mascarenhas is an intrepid priest. One finds 
men like him in religious orders, but rarely among diocesan priests. He has no 
training whatsoever in historical research, has generally kept indifferent health
for the last one decade . and yet, has written five historical research-based 
books during the period. The sixth is to be released at Margao's Holy Spirit 
Church April 11.


As a devoted pastor, he has tended to the flock in Panjim, Guirim, Chinchinim, 
Porvorim Baixo, Veroda, Mormugao, Penha da Franca, Rachol, Loutulim, Moira,

Mapusa, Vasco da Gama, St. Estevam and currently in Margao. And yet found
the time to dig records, both published and source, in Goa and, during his few
overseas visits, across Portugal and in Rome.

His first book, Proclaimers of God's Kingdom - From Goa to Lisboa (2001), 
dealt with Goan priests who served in distant missions across Asia, Africa, and
even in Portugal! The second, A Paean to an Ophthalmologist, Prof. Dr. Gama 
Pinto (2002), was a work of love devoted to a distinguished fellow-villager. 
That was followed by Mormugao's Rich Heritage (2006.)


Then came the Follow Me series. These books meticulously detail the history
of spread of Christianity, the parishes and Parish Priests from Day One to the 
present. The first in the series was on Bardez (2008), followed by that on 
Tiswadi (2009) and now (2010) on Salcete/Mormugao, a single taluka until the

late 19th century.

What sets apart this momentous work on Goan church history are the footnotes
of reference. On the basis of these alone, one can chart out the pastoral 
life-sketch of any priest who served in Goa, from the 16th century down to the 
present! The author has created a formidable database on priests and parishes

for future historians.

I have had the good fortune to be associated with his latest book. And I can say
without fear of contradiction that this book (and the earlier two in the 
series) is a
must-have for every church, chapel and anyone interested in Goa's past. I am 
yet to see the final product - the printed book, and may do a more detailed 
review after I have a physical copy. But one thing quizzed me. Though the text 
was finalized in January, why did Fr. Mascarenhas wait this long to launch his 
latest offering?


The Lenten Season in the run-up to Easter, Christianity's greatest feast, and 
the days that follow (blessing all kinds of things from existing houses to newly 
acquired things, even jewellery!) is the busiest time of the year for diocesan 
priests. Why did he choose to release the book amidst all this hustle-bustle, 
I asked Fr. Mascarenhas.


I have three sound reasons for releasing the book during this particular year,
in this particular church, and on this particular day, was his enigmatic reply. 
If you want to know them, he added with a smile, fully knowing that I am not
a regular church attendee, come for the nine o'clock English Mass 
on April 11. Yes, I will be there.

===
The above appeared in the HERALD, Goa, on April 9, 2010

Re: [Goanet] Banish Romi Konknni?

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Peter has a Point. -v


- Original Message - 
From: Peter Fernandes peter.brit...@gmail.com

To: goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Saturday, March 27, 2010 1:31 AM
Subject: [Goanet] Banish Romi Konknni?



Dear Venantius,

I mean to say to all Konkani writers song composers and singers.
Dont comment on Romi or Devnagri but send a sondex to every family
to teach their child to talk in Konk'nni.

In Goa in few years there will me no nizache Goyemkar left.
Porvorim dongor, Bambolim dongor, Margao dongor is filled with Karnataka/non
Goans
(i dont want to call them ghantis). They come they learn and where are we
Goans
fighting for Romi and Devnagri. In some years the same Karnatak/non
Goan people will say
konknni in Kan'nad and we will still be fighting for Roman and it will be
too late
Konknni will be gone if we dont teach our children to talk in Konknni.


Best Regards
Peter Fernandes

[Goanet] All izz 'Sit' in Goa's State Archives: HERALD(Goa), March 21, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

ALL IZZ 'SIT' IN GOA'S STATE ARCHIVES
By Bernardo de Sousa


Any visit to Goa needs to start with a wallet refueling stop at a bank. Having 
connections
speeds up that process. In the Mapusa bank we went to, a lady was seated at a 
desk,
dozing peacefully; she suddenly woke up, picked up a ball, rolled it on the 
desk, then
returned to dozing. We later learnt that banks are required to hire personnel 
belonging to
scheduled castes/tribes. Being a local bank, this occurs through the 
intercession of an
MLA: the candidate controlling the largest number of votes gets the job.  A 
win-win
situation:  our aspiring athlete gets a salary, the MLA gets the votes. Thus, vote 
bank
politics ensure the upliftment of the downtrodden.

My contact at the bank being away, I was instructed to head upstairs. The scene 
was
chaotic: no boards indicating which counter handled which transaction, people 
rushing to
any counter that was manned. An acquaintance said he would call Mr. X and 
guided us to
a pair of chairs with a parting instruction: Sit -- an instruction I would 
repeatedly
encounter in Goa with devastating consequences.

After about an hour, I managed to obtain from Mr. X the prized ATM card that, 
sadly,
failed to function until our departure. For expediency, we cashed traveler's 
cheques at
Vivanta hotel in Panaji, where the transaction absorbed all of three minutes 
flat -- the
most efficient and friendliest service I have ever encountered anywhere on the 
planet.

Our wallet thus replenished, we headed to the State Archives, Panaji, where I 
wished to
consult a list of historical documents.

We were greeted at the ground floor by an overpowering smell of naphthalene,
attempting unsuccessfully to mask the odours from the nearby toilet. The strong 
influence
of carnival in Goa is not to be underestimated - a vote bank mask at the bank, a
naphthalene mask at the State Archives.

The clerk at a counter instructed me to go upstairs to see the manager. I did 
not quite
comprehend why but arguments would only waste time. We were invited into the
manager's cramped office. Sit! he instructed. Not again! After reading my 
list, he
confirmed that the documents were public; we were thus in violent agreement but 
the
documents still eluded me.

I was now instructed to cross the corridor to the public documents section; as 
we did so,
we saw a lady sitting on a bench, resting one of her feet on it, blissfully 
cutting her toe-
nails. I did not need an explanation: another vote bank mask with an aspiring 
beautician
replacing an aspiring athlete.

In the public domain, five persons were seated at five desks, engaged in deep
conversation, otherwise doing nothing. I showed one of them the titles of the 
documents.
She looked at it and shouted to her colleague a few meters away. Having been
disdainfully ignored twice, she approached the recalcitrant colleague, 
exchanged a few
furious words, returned, turned to me and ordered: Sit.

Decidedly, sit was becoming the bane of my short holiday. In my mind, I 
silently
slipped an h in between the sit but refrained from vocalising my thought.

Explaining to us children the intricacies of traditional Goan hospitality, our 
father once
recounted that guests were routinely greeted with the Konkani phrase: Ailoi, 
io, bosloi,
bos, kashti sodd, lepti kha - loosely translated you have arrived, please 
come in, sit
down, loosen your loin-cloth, share our food. I did not expect these five 
uncooperative
chair-warmers to share their food but there was no escaping the instruction to 
sit. I
politely but resolutely declined. The lady repeated her instruction except that 
this time it
was an order: Sit.

The situation was turning hopeless. Asked how long this was going to take, she 
muttered:
5 minutes. My heart sank: in Goa, 5 minutes encompass any span between 5 
minutes
and eternity. I heard my wife say that she had been handed a form that I was 
required to
complete hence, sitting down may not be a bad idea. Her pragmatic logic 
carrying the day,
I sat down, opened the small rucksack containing my pen and other items. You 
have to
keep your bag downstairs, said the recalcitrant librarian, who had just 
concluded his
yogic meditation and was back in command barking out his orders.

I explained to him that I had carried my rucksack all this time from the counter
downstairs, transiting through his manager's office into the public documents 
section,
without anyone's objection until then. He repeated his order, this time raising 
his voice.
Another mask, what was his bark really masking? Resentment because I was an 
NRI, PIO
or OCI? Or because I had not presented him with a motivating incentive in an 
envelope?

Do they still insist on envelopes, or would plain cash do? Or was he another 
vote bank
beneficiary who resented having been disturbed from his reverie or 
conversation? I had
had enough of this rude, uncooperative, unhelpful, obstructionist and 
bureaucratic
attitude of the Goa 

Re: [Goanet] Brave Goan Airmen: HERALD(Goa), Feb 28, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

---
***   Follow Goanet on Twitter   ***

  http://twitter.com/goanet
---

Dear George,

As a lowly non-Service pen-pusher, I take a deep bow at your kind words.
Honestly, coming as they do from a former IAF Serviceman (and one as loved
for his own writing and authorship), your words almost floored me!

Have received quite a few responses from friends, and I plan to run a
sequel,
but will need help from ex-IAF servicemen. (It's about reviewing a list of
decorated IAF servicemen of Goan origin that I'm trying to put together.)
Would you deign to help?

Thanks much for the compliments (even as I wonder if I've hidden my middle
enough as I key this in -- Pardon me Madam, your Middle is Showing.)
-v

On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 8:44 PM, George Menezes writer.geo...@gmail.comwrote:


 Valmiki Faleiro's atricle warmed the cockles of my heart

 It has come  not a day too late.

 That the brave pilots have been forgotten and no awards have come their way
 is not surprising

 Awards are a matter of lobbying and Goan Organisations and the Goa
 Goverment must take Valmiki Faleiro's views to their logical conclusion

 As a lowly Squadron Leader who quit  many years before the statutory 20
 years giving up all benefits I am proud of fellow

 Goans,  however few, who served the Indian Air Force. with valour, dignity
  and integrity.

 George Menezes

[Goanet] Brave Goan Airmen: HERALD(Goa), Feb 28, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

---
   ***   Follow Goanet on Twitter   ***

 http://twitter.com/goanet
---




Up, Up and high …
GOA’S BRAVE SONS IN THE SKY

===
VALMIKI FALEIRO recalls three more instances of the
brave sons of the soil, who laid down their lives for the nation,
at times beyond the call of duty. All they left behind were
edifying stories of gallantry and cherished memories…
===

The recent demise of 39-year-old Oswald Manuel Francis de Abreu would have
touched any Goan heart. Native of Chorao, the Goa born-and-bred Ossie, as he
was fondly known, was Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force (IAF.) More
specifically, he was Flight Commander of the 222 (Tigersharks) Squadron based
at Hasimara in West Bengal.

As he left home this Feb. 16, little would his wife Janice and kids Nadia and 
Nathan
realise that they would never see him alive again. Barely had Ossie taken off 
in the
Russian-made MiG 27 when the aircraft's engines were on fire. It crashed within
moments, with the pilot, within the precincts of the air station.

Yet another life of those brave - but largely unsung - men, from foot soldier, 
sailor, to
fighter pilot who defend the nation, was snuffed out within seconds. Heaven 
would
doubtlessly be kind to Ossie. And, hopefully, to his surviving family here on 
earth.

Ossie was not the first Goan IAF pilot to die in a crash. But not a single 
Goa-based
newspaper deigned to cover this angle. Reason I decided to write. Let's look at 
just
three instances - one high profile, the others lesser known - of IAF pilots of 
Goan
origin who laid down their lives for the nation.

But, before that, a brief background on the flying branch of the IAF. It is the 
most
glamorous in the service. Only a small percentage of the IAF's personnel are in 
its
physically, mentally and emotionally demanding environs. Yet, the number of 
pilots
and other officer ranks Goa - particularly Catholic Goa - gave the nation is 
far above
its proportionate population.

The hierarchal officer ranks of the IAF, from juniormost to the top: Flying 
Officer,
Flight Lieutenant, Squadron Leader, Wing Commander, Group Captain, Air
Commodore, Air Vice Marshall, Air Marshall and Air Chief Marshall (the chief of
staff.) Though Goa has given an army chief of staff, Gen. Sunith F. Rodrigues, 
but
none in the air force, it has its fair share in the top ranks: like Air 
Marshall CS Naik,
Air Vice Marshall Erlich Pinto (who died in a helicopter crash with about a 
dozen
high-ranking officers in JK), Air Vice Marshall Pereira and Air Commodore PK 
Pinto.

Over to the valiant stories of another Wing Commander, one Squadron Leader and
one Flight Lieutenant. The last first.

The patchy but tempestuous electoral politics of Jinnah's Pakistan threw up an
incredible verdict in Dec-1970. The Awami League, a political party based in 
the then
second-fiddle wing of the nation, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), won a 
majority in
the national elections. The thought of Awami leader, Sheik Mujibur Rehman, being
leader of the nation was absurd to West Pakistan, where the seat of government
was. Pakistan was then, as often down her history, under a military 
dictatorship.

Sheik Mujibur was invited for talks in the West. The impasse continued. Thinking
future Bangladeshis, particularly at Dacca University, were restive. Students 
began
learning to make Molotov cocktails (petrol bombs.) The Pakistan ruler, Gen. 
Yahya
Khan, visited Dacca, confabulated with his men there, and, sozzled and barely 
able
to climb the steps to his airplane at dusk, ordered Gen. Tikka Khan (Butcher of
Bangladesh) to crackdown on East Pakistan. The date: March 25, 1971.

That night, dozens of Pakistani tanks surrounded the Dacca University and opened
fire. The Molotov cocktails of the students were no match. The repression in 
East
Pakistan led to thousands - the initial trickle - pour into India (West 
Bengal.) India's
resolute Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, set up camps for the refugees.

Over the months, the refugee ranks swelled into the millions. Indira saw 
opportunity.
She went on a whirlwind tour, influencing world leaders (some of who visited the
refugee camps in W.Bengal) and prepared for action.

Yahya and his men copied Israel's blueprint of the Yom Kippur war - which began
with a pre-emptive aerial strike at the enemies surrounding Israel. Indian 
intelligence
learnt of Pakistani plans to bomb several airfields across north India. The IAF 
quietly
moved its aircraft to safer locations, and even placed dummy ones on the tarmac.

December 3, 1971. Pakistan strafed several Indian airfields (and the dummy 
planes!)
Indian ground, sea and air forces went into immediate offensive - both at East 
and
West Pakistan. Within the first hours

Re: [Goanet] S.K. Banerji

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Rajan,

I may be wrong, but I think you're mixing up SK Banerji with
Col. Pratap Singh Gill. The latter fits your description below.
I agree about Gopal Singh. But you forget Bhanu Prakash
Singh, who I regard the worst. The only Lt. Guv/Governor of
Goa to be dismissed from office -- you will know the reason.

Rgds, v


- Original Message - 
From: Rajan P. Parrikar parri...@yahoo.com

To: goa...@goanet.org
Sent: Monday, February 08, 2010 8:14 AM
Subject: [Goanet] S.K. Banerji



To Goanet -


Former Goa Lt Governor Banerji passes away

New Delhi, Feb 6 (PTI) Former Lieutenant Governor of Goa S K Banerji
passed away this morning. He was 97.




Banerji is credited for having contributed significantly to the
development of Goa as a major tourist destination.


I saw this item posted here when I came in a few
moments ago to give Admin Noronha his semi-annual 
physical.


Even by the abysmal standards of governors deputed
to Goa, Banerji was the lowliest of the low (with strong
competition from Gopal Singh).  I don't know where
to begin.  The fellow even carted coconuts from the Cabo
property along with him to wherever it is he went
after his Goa junket.  And then there is the thing
about priceless furniture.  And so on.  Dirty fellow.


r

Re: [Goanet] Blessed Jose Vaz and Padr Agnelo

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Xannea,

I withdraw my petulant dedd xanno remark in the response
to Alfred Tavares. If that upset you, I sincerely apologise.

Regards, v


- Original Message - 
From: Xanno Moidecar xanno_moide...@yahoo.co.uk

To: goanet goa...@goanet.org
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 6:58 PM
Subject: [Goanet] Blessed Jose Vaz and Padr Agnelo


My apologies to Alfred de Tavares,  Socrates Valmiki Faleiro and all Goemcar 
Catholics offended by my silly and flippant rant.

And Socrates the prefix should be the more appropriate Homer – esque  D’OH!

A bout of juvenile petulance is the only excuse I can offer.

I join the rest of Goemcar-dom in praying that our Church be blessed with the two prime candidates going through the process, 
reaching the goal soon.  And yes even if it is unfair to fair Kerala, I’m hoping both will be bestowed the ultimate honour before 
long and before any other.


Sincerely
Xanno Moidecar

Re: [Goanet] Blessed Jose Vaz and Padr Agnelo

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Christianity in Kerala (also in parts around Mumbai, via 
the Apostle St. Bartholomeu) is 1,500 years older than that
in Goa -- even if is known that Malabar's St. Thomas
Christians, as they call themselves, were in Goa around
the 8th/10th century. Moreover, how many Goan Roman Catholics
are there, worldwide, as compared to Catholics (and those of
other rites who owe allegience to the Vatican) in Kerala?

Proportionate to population, if Goa would have two saints,
Kerala would deserve 100.

Xanno Moidecar perhaps forgets the 'Dedd' prefix of his
pseudonym :-)

Rgds, v

On Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:50:02 +0530 Alfred de Tavares wrote

But, perhaps, you are overlooking, or ignorant, that Kerala has been Christian, 
quite an exemplary one despite most caste-astrigent, for the past two millenia 
plus. Ever hear of Thomas, the Apostle? He, himself, has been credited to have 
baptized the first Christians, in Karala, with the same hand that he had, at 
the invitation of his Master, plunged into the speared wound, in Jesus' side.
 Sincerely
 Xanno Moidecar

[Goanet] Asia's greatest missionary: Bl. Joseph Vaz - HERALD(Goa), Jan 16, 2010

[Valmiki Faleiro]

ASIA'S GREATEST MISSIONARY: BL. JOSEPH VAZ
By Valmiki Faleiro

The greatest Catholic missionary produced by Asia was a Goan. Blessed Joseph
Vaz (April 21, 1651-January 16, 1711, both days, incidentally, Friday), is now 
Patron
of the Goa Archdiocese. He was born in the house of his mother, Maria de 
Miranda,
at Pulvaddo-Benaulim. His father, Cristovam Vaz, was from Sancoale, where Joseph
grew up. He was the third child of his parents.

Joseph initially studied in Benaulim, then in Sancoale and later in the then 
capital
city, Old Goa. He was ordained in 1674/6. Of deep intellect, he was already a 
young
renowned preacher while still in Goa, with rare honours of being confessor and
spiritual guide to Portuguese noblemen and two Governors.

He first practiced and then preached. That conviction enabled ready acceptance. 
He
went to Mudippu-Mangalore in 1681 as Vicar Forane, an arduous four-year mission
that would earn him the title of 'Apostle of Canara.'

Dutch Calvinists, who conquered Ceylon from the Portuguese in 1658, persecuted
Catholics and suppressed Catholicism there. With zeal to resuscitate and spread 
the
faith in Ceylon, Joseph joined India's first native religious order, the 
Oratory of St.
Philip Neri founded three years before, in 1685, and became its second 
Superior. He
begged of the founder to resume the post and relieve him for the mission in 
Ceylon.

Two years later, disguised as a porter, to avoid arrest, he landed in the 
island nation
on January 3, 1687 together with Joao, his trusted tribal co-villager from 
Sancoale,
cook and attendant (my brother.) Two other confreres who had set forth with 
him
from Goa turned their backs in Kerala. Clad in a plain loincloth (the Mass kit 
hidden
within), his entry must have been smooth, for he was of local skin colour, not 
that of a
European missionary. The law prohibited locals from sheltering a Catholic 
priest,
under the pain of death for both the provider and the priest. But Joseph was a 
man
who, by his very pious presence, made people feel secure.

Braving vicious adversity, initially from the Dutch and later from native 
Buddhists, he
rekindled the faith ... at times (as in Tuticorin and Jaffna) publicly wearing 
the beads
of Rosary around his neck! In 1689, Bishop of Cochin Pedro Pacheco appointed him
Vicar-General of Ceylon.

He worked heroically - alone - for nine years, in 11 or 12 missions in Ceylon
(starting two new missions in Puttalam and Kandy) before being joined by his
confreres from Goa. During that lonely decade in an alien land, he must have
followed Apostle Paul's advice to Timothy: be careful always to choose the 
right
course, be brave under trials, make preaching your life's work.

Choosing the right course, given his intellect, is what Joseph evidently did. He
indigenized the Sri Lanka church, about three centuries before Vatican-II 
thought of
the idea, unlike the Portuguese who tried to impose a European modeled church in
Goa, the Malabar and in other Asian missions. His Kunnbi (my brother) 
companion,
Joao, was by now sufficiently instructed to be ordained priest. But no bishop 
of those
days would dare ordain a tribal in a caste-driven society.

Joseph lived 300 years before his time.

He had mastered the Sinhalese and Tamil languages of the island, by himself,
working late into the night by an oil lamp during his 3-year imprisonment in Kandy. 
It is said that both Buddhists and Muslims felt drawn to him. (He compiled a lexicon

for future use by his confreres and encouraged its study by his mate from 1705,
Fr. Jacome Gonsalves, later doyen of Catholic literature in Ceylon.)

In 1707, he organised an unimaginably bold resistance against Dutch domination 
in
western Ceylon. He issued a pastoral letter to Catholics there to assert 
publicly their
right to freedom of conscience and protest Dutch laws that forced their 
children to
attend Calvanist schools and kirk (church.) The Dutch did not yield to the 
demand,
but native Catholics consolidated their identity.

When the 'Apostle of Sri Lanka' died there after 24 years of ceaseless work,
generally in hiding and often in bad health, the faith was once again firmly 
rooted and
spread in the emerald island-nation. Eminent Jesuit missiologist Pierre Charles 
called
him a perfect model of an Apostle.

Bishop Vianney Fernando of Kandy-Ceylon described his apostolate as an
unparalleled missionary endeavour in the history of Sri Lanka. The Archbishop-
Patriarch of Goa called him an intercessor on our behalf, a son of our race, a
product of our culture and ethos, and a model of our way of being Church. The
Vatican Postulator James M. Fritzpatrick said Bl. Vaz remains a Goan; he is 
flesh of
your flesh, bone of your bone. Pope John Paul-II described him as a son of 
Asia
who became a missionary in Asia.

His name inspired fellow-Goans in their missions. Notable Goan missionaries like
Mons. (Dr.) Hipolito da Costa (1866-1912) from Chinchinim followed his example 
in
politely

Re: [Goanet] All baout Ponnos (Jackfruits)

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Joe,

I commend your painstaking work. But if you wish to
know more about 'Ponnos' (both the juicy and dry types)
try and meet a Goan who has done the greatest amount
of work in collecting a gene pool of the best varieties
of jackfruit from all over South India. Nobody to my
knowledge has done anything even faintly resembling the
work of this man on 'Ponnos' and cashew. (The Balli-1,
Balli-2 and Balli-3 varieties of cashew were developed
on his farm, the first by himself, the next two by the
ICAR - Indian Council of Agricultural Research -- and
he should, hopefully, once the official process of yield
certification is complete, maybe two/three from now,
provide India's highest-ever yielding cashew variety.)

He is popularly known as Bab Keni (Prabhakar M. Keni,
a decorated Progressive Farmer), who has a mother bank of
about 84 different varieties of Jackfruit in his farm at
Balli-Cuncolim, from where he annually makes grafts and
propagates on a no-profit basis. Bab Keni lives in
Sanvorcotto-Cuncolim, but spends a better part of the 
day at his farm in Balli. I have not asked his permission
to share his telephone contacts on a public forum, but if
you desire them, e-mail me privately. If you photograph
only the variety of trees (not the number!) on his farm,
you will produce a book!

Best, v


On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:11:00 +0530 wrote
Two variety of Goan Jackfruits
� 
'Rosall' and 'Kapo'

Re: [Goanet] Margao's suffocated roads-2: HERALD(Goa), Nov 15, 2009

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Naguesh,

Let's be honest, we can't blame just politicians and business folks for
all the wrongs in Goa. Having lived long in Canada, you may be just a
wee bit out of synch with the ground realities here. Businessmen are
in business for profits, not charity. Politicians are an altogether different
story. But who elects them?

It is us, the people who live in Goa. Unless they change, nothing else in
Goa will.

Regards, v


- Original Message - 
From: Naguesh Bhatcar sgbhat...@hotmail.com

To: goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 8:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Margao's suffocated roads-2: HERALD(Goa), Nov 15, 2009



Valmiki,

Goan politicians and business folks are more keen on such grandiose projects as
the Vasco-Dona Paula sealink, instead of trying to solve traffic issues you
mentioned in Margao or an uninterrupted supply of water and electricity to
the Goan population. Isn't the current CM elected by the people from Margao, itself? 


I read an article in the Navhind Times that indicated as to how all the
business community was endorsing the sealink, instead of trying to fix issues
that affect the day to day quality of life.

Instead of that sealink, they can build highways and bypasses, to not
bring in all the traffic into the city of Margao. I have seen that in the
western world, all cities and towns are bypassed by ring roads. This
not only ensure smooth flow of traffic on the highways but also reduces the
congestion on city streets.

Margao is a city/town that forms the heart of South Goa and has traffic
flowing in from every conceivable direction. A ring road to divert traffic
around the city could definitely ease Margao's traffic woes.

Naguesh Bhatcar



From: valmi...@gmail.com
To: goanet@lists.goanet.org
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:48:30 +0530
Subject: [Goanet] Margao's suffocated roads-2: HERALD(Goa), Nov 15, 2009


MARGAO'S SUFFOCATED ROADS - 2
By Valmiki Faleiro

Intra-state private passenger buses are the other 50% cause of traffic 
congestion on
Margao's thoroughfares. Don't take my word on this. The next time buses go on
strike, see how traffic glides, ever so smoothly!

Out of the KTC terminus, buses crawl along arterial but two-laned roads into 
town.
They hamper traffic flow, if not holding it up altogether with sudden stops, 
often in the
middle of the road, to take in passengers. One can't argue with bus drivers. 
They are
privileged citizens. They routinely pay the police and RTO. You and I don't.

Re: [Goanet] World War II German presence in Goa

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Professor Bernado Colaco, always erudite with economy with words,
seems to forget there were many more ... German navymen from the
bombed out frigates or whatever, at Mormugao in 1942/3, who were
allowed to marry locals and live in Goa. The list is long. Both the Goanetter
who correctly wrote about the watch-repairer and our Prof. Bernado seem
to forget the dog-shooter, hired by the municipalities of Panjim (and at
times of Margao -- though we had several of our own here in Salcete
most of the time), when it was legal to shoot stray dogs in Goa.

Unfortunately, stray dogs and politicians have proliferated today.

Safe in Macau, Prof. Bernado!
Rgds, v


- Original Message - 
From: Bernado Colaco ole_...@yahoo.co.uk

To: goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 8:29 PM
Subject: [Goanet] World War II German presence in Goa



It was the German U Boats which were sinking the Brit Merchant Navy. Prof. Val as placed a good account of the events but forgets to 
mention that Robert Hepp of the famous VW car sales and repair in Mira Mar was also a spy and clearly was helping the 
Deutuchlanders.


BC

Re: [Goanet] Goan veterans

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear FN and Selma,

Surprised no Goanetter threw more light on Selma's initial comments
on this thread.

The German frigates that sought shelter at Mormugao -- then part of
neutral Portugal -- for espionage purposes on the British sea-lane to
India, had powerful radio transmitters. Their messages back to Berlin
were intercepted and decoded by British intelligence in Bombay. The
story of how retired British army personnel -- some with dentures and
even with an artificial eye -- were sent in a rusting barge all the way 
from Calcutta, to handle the German frigates docked at Mormugao,

is the subject of the book titled The Boarding Party.

The book was converted into a film called the Sea Wolves -- partly
filmed in Goa -- less than 30 years ago.

In those cloak-and-dagger days on the hillslopes of Altinho-Panjim,
the German Consul's wife kept local Portuguese intelligence men
happy -- tossing Crocodile condoms from the veranda of her 
residence at Altinho ... until a Bombay-based intelligence party
kidnapped key people from Panjim to British India ... and the 
Boarding Party that had sailed all the way from Calcutta mined the

German frigates at Mormugao, while the German sailors were
merrily partying in Panjim on that Carnaval night.

All this is rather well documented. For finer details, Selma must get
in touch with Mario Cabral e Sa ... he was around when this happened
(I was not yet born then) and was the local organizer for the filming
party of Sea Wolves.

Frederick, remember Dr. Juliao Menezes from Assolna also studied
medicine in Germany. He was in the company of Dr. Ram Manohar
Lohia and both were friends there. When the two returned to India,
Juliao practiced med. from a building opp. St. Xavier's College at
Dhobitalao-Mumbai, while Lohia plunged headlong into the freedom
movement. In fact, in 1946, when Lohia, weak in health, was released
from jail by British authorities in India, Juliao invited him to recuperate
at his mansion in Assolna. That resulted in June 18, 1946 at Margao --
at the place now known as Lohia Maidan in downtown Margao.

Regards, v


- Original Message - 
From: Frederick Noronha fredericknoro...@gmail.com

To: Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994! goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2009 7:13 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Goan veterans





Interestingly, there were Goans studying ophthalmology and other
sciences (mainly) in the Berlin of the 1920s! I think Dr Gama Pinto is
one such example.

[Goanet] Margao's suffocated roads-2: HERALD(Goa), Nov 15, 2009

[Valmiki Faleiro]

MARGAO'S SUFFOCATED ROADS - 2
By Valmiki Faleiro

Intra-state private passenger buses are the other 50% cause of traffic 
congestion on
Margao's thoroughfares. Don't take my word on this. The next time buses go on
strike, see how traffic glides, ever so smoothly!

Out of the KTC terminus, buses crawl along arterial but two-laned roads into 
town.
They hamper traffic flow, if not holding it up altogether with sudden stops, 
often in the
middle of the road, to take in passengers. One can't argue with bus drivers. 
They are
privileged citizens. They routinely pay the police and RTO. You and I don't.

Private bus crews are a law unto themselves. Not long ago a bus driver, 
questioned
by the Salcete Deputy Collector outside the district collectorate, physically 
abused
the latter. Old discipline is dead, together with the likes of Dy. Director of 
Transport,
Venkatesh Kamat and Traffic Police ASI, Mario Valaradares. Both didn't hesitate 
to
pull out an uncouth driver and give him a little physical treatment in full 
public view.

Crawling into the heart of town, buses can halt for a minute to pick/disembark
passengers by the Salcete Comunidades building (and near the two Jain temples at
Pajifond for Quepem-bound buses.) But they linger at will. Out of town, they 
turn into
speeding monsters, racing with competition, often killing or maiming people.

Traffic policemen are invariably present at both points, but they are not there 
to
regulate buses. They are there to collect a hafta from every bus exiting 
Margao.
How can one expect the poor constable to shoo away the hand that feeds him?

One solution to this menace is to preclude private buses from entering town. All
south and southeast-bound buses can be diverted via a road, long proposed in the
Margao ODP, linking the Ravindra Bhavan junction to the Eastern Bypass, by the
southern banks of the two Borda lakes. Instead of constructing this vital link 
on
priority basis, people's heritage walls and houses are currently being 
destroyed to
widen the existing (and parallel) St. Joaquim road!

This diversion would entail an alternate arrangement for passengers from the KTC
bus terminal to all halts previously covered by private intra-state buses in 
the town.
This can be done with a round-robin KTC minibus shuttle service. The State must
provide this service either free or at a heavily subsidized rate. Commuters 
must not
be made to pay for the sins of private bus operators and law enforcement 
agencies.

No thought has been spared, in our brand of democracy where numbers count, to 
the
largest segment of road users: pedestrians. Crossing a busy street has now 
become
a daytime nightmare to able-bodied pedestrians, forget the unaided aged and 
infirm.
This even at notified pedestrian crossings, where zebra lines are clearly 
visible to
oncoming motorists.

Motorists, before being issued a driving licence, are supposed to learn that
pedestrians at a zebra crossing have a first right of road use. The opposite 
prevails in
Goa!

Pedestrians are not privileged to instruction on prudent road usage practices 
nor
need a walking licence to use a road. Most roads are also bereft of pavements.
People are forced to walk along treacherous roads and unfortunate ones who do 
that
with their backs to oncoming traffic often get mowed down.

Re-paint existing zebra crossings and provide more in Margao's central 
commercial
area. Most of all, stiffly penalize motorists to create awareness about a 
pedestrian's
right at a zebra crossing.

In Margao's central area, the roads around New Market have also long cried to 
be a
pedestrian-only zone during daytime.

As a well-meaning friend (and one-time municipal colleague), I would urge Goa's
current Aam Aadmi Chief Minister to remember the wise words of Goa's second
Lieutenant Governor, M R Sachdev. In his first address to Goa's first 
Legislative
Assembly, at its very first sitting, he had said, No amount of development is 
worth
anything unless the man in the street feels that the administration is being 
run in the
interest and for the benefit of the people at large.

P.S.: With this, dear reader, *All-'n'-Sundry* takes your leave. This is the 
last piece
for now. Thank you for reading and, as the French say, 'Au revoir.' Inshallah! 
(ENDS)

The above article appeared in the Herald, Goa, edition of November 15, 2009

*Comments welcome at valmi...@gmail.com

Re: [Goanet] Shame on Saligao's parish priest

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Rajan,

Years ago, in my quest to get to understand pre-Portuguese Goa better,
I had embarked on a round of Hindu temples relocated to Ponda from
Salcete, post 1543. I was at Mangueshi, where the idol of Salcete's most
powerful had been relocated from Verna, Salcete's most important village
after Margao. Even from outside the temple steps, I was told photography
was not allowed. All I was trying to photograph was a public display board
about the temple's history.

I met a situation close to yours at Saligao.

I turned around, putting my humble Yashica 35 SLR in my bag while at the 
same time invoking the deity's blessings on my little effort. Some years before,
at Zambaulim (remember I am a descendant of a corrupted ganvkar of Margao) 
I had a similar experience.


That a Catholic parish priest should do this, as you say, is indeed shameful.
Only brings to mind Madhav Gadkari, when editor of Gomantak. When he
stirred the debate on temple Mahajans and privileged rights to rituals, I was
young ... and tended to believe him.

Regards, v


- Original Message - 
From: Rajan P. Parrikar parri...@yahoo.com

To: goa...@goanet.org
Sent: Saturday, November 07, 2009 7:42 PM
Subject: [Goanet] Shame on Saligao's parish priest



To Goanet -

I had a nasty verbal altercation this evening with, as it turned out, the 
parish priest of the Mae de Deus church in Saligao. 

Background: I was at the Mae de Deus church at daybreak a couple of 
days back and again during the twilight hours yesterday, for what 
turned out to be fulfilling sessions of photography.  I have several 
captures of the church taken in the years past (see, for example, 
http://www.parrikar.com/#/Goa/Religion/2). 

Armed with the newly released Canon Tilt-Shift 17mm lens, ideal for 
architectural photography due to its Shift capability, I was eager to re-do 
some of Goa's special sights.  During my shoot yesterday, I inadvertently 
set the camera ISO to 800 (which is not that big an issue with my dSLR 
body given its superb high-ISO performance).  But I wanted to reprise the 
scene with ISO 100, which is why I was again in Saligao this evening.  
Earlier at daybreak this morning, I had scored an atmospheric shot 
of the Panjim church. 

Since I got there early enough, I sauntered to the front door and 
watched the evening mass for a while.  While fiddling with my tripod 
there, I discovered to my dismay that it had jammed, and so knew 
right away that my photo session was shot (pardon the pun).  As 
I made my way back, this small fellow intercepted me and said 
rather brusquely, You can't take photographs here.  I asked him
the reason.  He said the committee has decided not to allow photos 
within the compound.  I immediately switched to Konkani and 
pointed out that tens of tourists stop by inside the compound 
every evening with their cameras.  He was unmoved.   I said I 
had been documenting the major churches and temples in Goa and
that this new lens was especially suited to photography of this church, 
that if he could let all these tourists wield their cameras, I see no 
reason why he cannot let me, a Goan, do it as well.  As I pressed 
him on this, he whipped out a new one - he said I will have to 
make an application.  He had a companion with him and I had 
my driver Babu around.  I said I will do all the necessary 
paperwork but that I had to take my shots since the light was 
fast fading and I wanted to capture the cobalt blue of the sky 
which lasts perhaps 3-4 mins just before the onset of darkness.  

I knew I could not do any photography since I was saddled with 
an impaired tripod but the xapoter in me had been aroused in 
accordance with Parrikar's Rule #2, which is: If someone tells 
you that you cannot do something, it is your bounden 
duty to do exactly that something and then wave it in the guy's 
face. (Parrikar's Rule #1 had already been satisfied - Open your 
mouth and let the xapotam flow, but only AFTER you have taken 
the shot you want.) 

Mind you, at this stage in my xapotam innings, I still had no 
idea who this  tiny oaf was.  I asked again why he was not consistent 
in enforcing the rules.  To that he pulled out yet another rabbit - he 
said small cameras are allowed but that a professional photographer 
with my kind of equipment is not allowed until I had prior 
permission and had paid the stipulated fees.  He claimed that 
I would make money by photographing the church.   The tiresome 
clown was impervious to all reason and good sense, and he 
was making up rules as he went along.  

After this, I kicked it up a notch and said I was going to shoot 
anyway, and dared him to stop me if he could.  He shot back 
with, I will file a suit.  Take it to to the Supreme Court right 
away, said moi, and that I will pay for the court fee paper. 
Our decibel level was now high enough that it had drawn a small
audience.  At this point one fellow softly asked me to calm down and 
that the dude I was speaking to was the 

[Goanet] Margao's suffocated roads: HERALD(Goa), Nov.8, 2009

[Valmiki Faleiro]

MARGAO'S SUFFOCATED ROADS
By Valmiki Faleiro

When this column began on Nov 13 four years ago, it did with a piece on Margao.
May I wind it up with two more on my hometown: on the twin and acute problems of
traffic congestion and parking. Both are inter-linked, not exclusive to Margao, 
but are
endemic to all of Goa's major towns.

Margao, though, is advantageously placed to address them. Its MLA is the State's
Chief Minister. Digambar Kamat, despite what his critics may say, has done much 
for
Margao, perhaps more than all her MLAs since 1963. If he can successfully tackle
this major headache dogging Goa's commercial capital, the strategy can be
replicated elsewhere in the State.

In today's chaotic vehicular traffic scene, walking, riding and driving are 
becoming
increasingly difficult in Goa's towns. It is no longer possible to cross a 
road, drive or
park with any semblance of ease. We don't need consultants and no amount of
Traffic Plans will help. Unless the elementary causes that warrant simple 
solutions
are identified and implemented.

(Kamat will recall that when he, 13 others and I constituted the Margao 
Municipal
Council in June-1985, in a few months we managed to bring some semblance of
order on Margao's roads. With free help from lecturers of Goa Engineering 
College
and their enthusiastic students, who conducted traffic surveys at some crucial 
city
traffic intersections, and the experience of then Goa Police Inspector-Traffic,
Gurudas Zuwarkar.)

Any observant road user knows that private buses and off-street parking are the 
root
causes of traffic congestion in downtown Margao. Let us consider the latter 
first.

Parking on narrow lanes and double parking on slightly broader streets is the 
prime
cause of daily traffic snarls. Off-street parking reduces the effective 
carriageway to a
single lane for two-way traffic. And everybody's in a mighty hurry!

The problem cannot be wished away overnight. Motorists also cannot be blamed for
haphazard parking. They have no choice. With the public transport system in a 
mess
(it takes an hour to get across a short distance, as say from Betul, Cavelossim,
Cuncolim or Curchorem to Margao), people are forced to use their own vehicles.

Once here, they find no place to park their two- or four-wheelers. Most places 
they
need to visit, including schools and government offices, are concentrated in a 
small
central area, with narrow lanes and streets. One could not expect people to 
park at
the Konkan Railway parking lot and walk to central Margao. People have no option
but to be part of the parking mess.

Margao fortunately has three State-owned sites in the downtown area: the old 
Tempo
stand, old fish market and old bus terminus. Develop multi-level parking lots 
at these
three places and provide FREE parking in them. Then make off-street parking in 
the
entire central commercial area steep-tariff PAID parking. Half the traffic 
congestion in
downtown Margao will disappear overnight. Margao's parking needs for the next 
half
century will also have been taken care of.

The move to decongest downtown Margao in the mid-1980s was a good decision.
The bus terminus and fish market were shifted away from the town centre, to the
comunidade paddies near Old Market. In this market complex, a substantial area 
was
acquired for parking, but is yet to be developed. A former Town Planning 
minister
sought to commercialize it. With many public offices shifted to the SGPDA 
complex,
there is an urgent need to develop the parking lot between Osia and NH-17.

Several public complexes have come up in this area. District  Sessions Courts,
Nehru Stadium, Swimming Pool  Indoor Stadium, Ravindra Bhavan. All have limited
parking provision. Acquire the patches of paddies, uncultivated since the 1960s,
between the Colva traffic isle and Ravindra Bhavan, esp. those on the south 
side,
before they are converted and commercialized. These patches will serve as a 
buffer
and provide future parking needs in the area.

And when the Collectorate and Hospicio are shifted, ensure that no public 
offices that
attract substantial volumes of visitors are brought in their place. For the 
heritage
Hospicio edifice, an apt reuse would be a South Goa archives office, with 
facilities for
preservation and digitization. (To conclude.)
(ENDS)

The above article appeared in the Herald, Goa, edition of November 08, 2009

Re: [Goanet] Times into vulgar language --- Youths thrash cops

[Valmiki Faleiro]

I'm not a linguist, but know of no other Indian language that has so
celebrated and glorified a human being's humble pubic hair in its
idiom as our own, Konknni. I agree, the Konknni adages that do that
appear 'colourful' superficially, but on second reading, bring out the
full flavour of infinite local wit.
I resume work on that front next month.
Rgds, v


- Original Message - 
From: Frederick Noronha fredericknoro...@gmail.com

To: Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994! goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2009 8:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Times into vulgar language --- Youths thrash cops


Samir, when you translate this into English (specially in its full
form), it would sound rather crude. But, I think, this is the style in
which Konkani is used much of the time.

Levels of vulgarity probably vary from language to langauge. So does
the acceptability of it.

For that matter, Valmiki Faleiro's forthcoming book on Konkani sayings
does have interesting, if 'colourful' sections of Goan axioms which
would be definitely unprintable  in most English texts. These are
sayings that have been actually used in Goa, all the time (okay,
slight exaggeration here)! FN

2009/10/29 Samir Kelekar samir_kele...@yahoo.com:

After striking a conversation
with the cops, they requested the men in khaki to move a truck parked on the
side of the road. When ignored, they taunted the men on duty: “Kitem korta
re tumi? Toddta?” (What are you doing here? Whiling away your
time?)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Youths-thrash-cops-on-duty/articleshow/5170789.cms

Though the language used may be vulgar, it is indeed true that Goan
cops just do what these youths are talking about. 

[Goanet] G'bye Goa - Greed Nemesis: HERALD(Goa), Oct. 25, 2009

[Valmiki Faleiro]

G'BYE GOA: GREED  NEMESIS
By Valmiki Faleiro

Societies evolve, people change. Some for the better, with better standards of 
living,
their morals and culture intact. We've seen how Goa changed from emigration and
consequent in-migration.

Those with a strong and dynamic culture absorb migrants and get enriched by 
them;
weak ones get drowned under a changing demography, runs an epistle from Lisbon-
based Portuguese friend, Antonio Palinha Machado.

Goa's positive cultural attributes were more or less intact until Dec-1961. 
After that,
gradually, they got snowed under. Not under migrants, but with a change from 
within.
The age of materialism dawned upon us. We changed. Goa changed, is still 
changing.
Unremittingly. Our values and our Goemkarponn of barely half a century ago 
changed.
We have all but lost them.

Goans, I wrote earlier, were a devout and docile people, honest and 
hardworking. Is
that description valid today? Greed is now a downplayed hallmark of the Goan 
Identity.
Old values were forsaken for a new one: money. In the race to make as much, as 
fast,
with the least possible effort, cash replaced character. Laxmi (goddess of 
wealth) ousted
Saraswati (goddess of learning.)

Greed replaced virtue. We are no more a simple, pious and contended people. 
Greed
now leads both the leaders and the led. It ushered an array of change, from 
politics to
demographics, which will soon reduce the pre-1961 Goan to a glorified 
anthropological
museum specimen. For that metamorphosis, we have only ourselves to blame.

We first cooked our goose, and now bray for the blood of migrants. If not for 
us, our land
wouldn't go into the hands of outsiders. If not for us, our space would not 
be swamped
with squatters. If not for us - first, chiefly and last - we wouldn't have 
elected politicians
of the calibre that catalyzed most of Goa's ills of today.

Goan greed is reflected in election results. It is greed that makes us sell our 
souls at
elections, and repeatedly elect politicos hell-bent on destroying Goa. Don't 
blame the
Dilliwallahs and the land sharks. Or even politicians. We elected them. We 
brought the
ills on ourselves, by the power of our own vote.

In the course of this column close to four years now, I've repeatedly implied 
that blame
primarily rests with the Goan voter . now, alas, substantially diluted by 
migrants, soon
to be irretrievably lost. Like the rich Goan who generally does not vote. Like 
the middle-
class that largely votes but gets carried away not by merit of candidates in 
the fray but
by their religion, caste and party label. Like the less privileged, both Goan 
and migrant,
that largely sells its vote.

In a newspaper interview a couple of years ago, industrialist Avdhoot Timblo 
suggested
the term Goan Identity was relative. Saying that Goans could only be relatively 
pure
(40, 50, 80 percent .), he held a book whose cover showed a Kunnbi woman and 
said,
This was 100 percent Goan. Evolution of the Goan Identity was inevitable. 
The need,
he said, was to steer which way we want to go.

Perfectly true, but who will do that steering, Avdhootbab? If you read 
'Gomantak Times'
(25 Sept. 2009, Page 2), a political party openly wailed of financial 
inadequacy in the
portfolios allotted to that party's ministers in the current cabinet. Are such 
men capable
of steering anything other than public money into their own pockets?

Gabe Menezes, a friend who lives in Wimbledon-London (he's native of Navelim-
Salcete) recently wrote, As for Goans in Goa, within 50 years, surnames will 
survive but
all will be totally integrated into the vastness of India ... now eat your hearts 
out, mates!

Our post-1961 road to nemesis was paved with greed. For under 30 pieces of 
silver, we
sold our souls. What's the point in now crying hoarse about loss of the Goan 
Identity,
blaming migrants and politicians, when we must blame ourselves first? It is we, 
Goans,
onshore or offshore, who are responsible for our own doom.

Let's reflect a bit more on that reality in the last paragraph of the 
concluding piece of this
rather long series next Sunday.

NARAKASURA BLUES: An accidental blast in Margao and explosives found at
Sancoale, both during Narakasura processions, may yield clues to the mindless 
spate of
Hindu idol desecrations across Goa in the recent past.

This one's unbeatable. A 15-feet Narakasura effigy was reported stolen at 
Sada-Vasco,
in broad daylight. Forget the gods, even demons are not safe in today's Goa! 
(ENDS)

The above article appeared in the Herald, Goa, edition of October 25, 2009

[Goanet] G'bye Goa - Are migrants to blame? : HERALD(Goa), Oct.18, 2009

[Valmiki Faleiro]

* G * O * A * N * E * T  C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S *


Planning to get married in Goa?

www.weddingsetcgoa.com

Making your 'dream wedding' possible






G'BYE GOA: ARE MIGRANTS TO BLAME?
By Valmiki Faleiro

We wail about migrants. And bray for their blood. But, are migrants really to 
blame?
Let us briefly examine that question today.

Migrants come in roughly two basic categories: the prosperous and the poor. The
former are the Dilliwallahs and such from metro India, who have invested in 
land and
built houses or purchased built-up property here. It's this segment that Goa's 
dubious
mega projects cater to. However, they form an almost invisible fraction of 
the mass
of migrants. Rich migrants would hardly alter the demographic profile of Goa.

Bulk is the poor migrants from across India. They are here in the hope of 
better work
and a better life. The same reason that Goans are spread all over the world.

Migrants connotes these poor. (The well-heeled are society people.)

I don't blame migrants. There are among them thieves, dacoits and murderers. 
Every
society has its own. For our Felixes and Mahanands, could all Goans be dubbed
thieves and murderers? Before demonizing migrants for the exponential rise in 
crime
in Goa, let us remember that had our politicians shaped the Goa Police 
competently
(they have done the opposite, selling jobs, postings, even hampering 
investigation
and demoralizing the force), criminals from Charles Sobhraj to the petty 
migrant thief
wouldn't regard Goa a safe haven.

It's this bulk segment of poor migrants that's mutating the Goan Identity 
into a
miniature replica of India's diversity. But blame them?

Migrants don't own land/houses to move into, so where do they shelter upon 
arrival?
The answer will lead us to some of the areas where the blame actually rests.

There are four main avenues where migrants accommodate themselves: rented
rooms, shanties at construction sites, Housing Board/20-Point Programme
tenements, and slums.

Across the coastal countryside, there would be few houses that don't shelter 
one or
more migrant families. It's the lure of rental money that makes us welcome 
migrants
first, and curse them next.

Who actually run many of the beach shacks allotted to locals? It's the same 
lure of
lucre of some annual lakh Rupees that makes Goans illegally sub-lease the 
seasonal
shacks to ostensible Managers from Delhi, Mumbai, or wherever. Do the hundreds
of Kashmiris in coastal villages own their business and residential premises?

A Goan friend in Portugal, reading an earlier part, told me two Kashmiris 
purchased
houses/land and settled in his native Maina-Curtorim. Who sold the land to them?

Older colonies promoted by the Housing Board, such as at Gogol and Porvorim were
meant for locals and to this day are largely occupied by Goans. But the 
post-1980
ones? Looks like Housing Board colonies such as at Davorlim and the puny plots
doled under the 20-Point Programme were designed exclusively for migrants.

These State-sponsored shelters suit migrants and seasonal migrants admirably.
Seasonal migrants work in Goa most of the year and return home to till land 
during
monsoons. Try driving on the Davorlim colony roads at night in fair weather. 
Roads
become open dormitories. Because migrant-owners lease out their premises to
seasonal migrants, and themselves sprawl on the streets.

Who creates this ready accommodation for more and more migrants? Engineers and
civil servants? Or their political bosses?

A substantial segment of migrants live in slum colonies that routinely sprout 
on public
and community land. Who starts these slums? Migrants arriving in an alien land?
Who protects slums from demolition? Who provides squatters with free civic
amenities much faster than a Goan could hope to get paid versions?

Who facilitates Ration Cards, residency certificates, and enrollment of names in
electoral rolls within a fraction of the time it would take a Goan to do the 
same? Who
nurtures these slums into vote-banks, either to bolster one's own electoral 
chances
or screw those of the opponent? Do I need to answer?

And most pertinently, pray, who elects these worthies to power time and time 
again?
We will come to that little story in the penultimate part of this series, next 
Sunday.

P.S: Charges raised by Rachol Sarpanch Joseph Vaz about the official attitude
towards Goa's Catholic Gawda/Kunnbi community are in place. One only hopes that
the Digambar Kamat regime will take proactive steps for the educational and
economic uplift of all sections of Goa's earliest residents. (ENDS)

The above article appeared in the Herald, Goa, edition of October 18, 2009

Re: [Goanet] G'bye Goa - Migrants, necessary evil: HERALD(Goa), Oct. 11, 2009

[Valmiki Faleiro]

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Dear R. Cabral,

I was on facts (on the current migrant situation in Goa), not on viewpoints 
you say.

Nor on hypothesis like you propound (on why, in face of a rapidly depleting Goan
workforce in Goa resulting from emigration, was mechanzation not resorted to as 
was done in Europe.) 

Do you disagree with the facts listed by me (summarized towards the end with: 
Now revert to the scenario of what would happen to Goa if some bright day all
migrants could be chased out Goa. Goa would grind to an agonizing halt the 
next morning!) ??


In theory, you do have a valid hypothesis asking why mechanization resorted to
in Europe was not replicated in Goa. But in practice? Are economic factors like
economies-of-scale in Europe then, and Goa now, anywhere near comparison?
Let's be realistic.

Let nothing of what I say above (or have said in my piece you refer to) give you
the idea that I am anywhere near being happy about where Goa is headed for
at this point of time in history. (Thought the title of the series, Goodbye 
Goa,
would be a loud enough hint on that!) Migrants sure are part of the problem, but
I don't wear horse blinkers to see them as entirely to blame. It's easy to find
scapegoats, especially when they come from India's poorest and least educated.

If they were not poor and were educated, either they wouldn't be here, or if 
they
chose to settle in Goa like some Dilliwallahs, they would have had flush 
latrines and
houses proper, instead of sitting in the open, messing Goa, and raising an 
unholy,
unhygienic stink.

But then, blame them? How come they continue in an alien land, getting Ration
Cards, Election Cards, free civic amenities in illegal shanty colonies? The 
blame,
as I perceive, lies elsewhere.

Let me come to that over the next three Sundays ending November 1.
-v


- Original Message - 
From: R. Cabral rcab...@bsnl.in

To: Goanet goa...@goanet.org
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 7:15 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] G'bye Goa - Migrants, necessary evil: HERALD(Goa),Oct. 
11, 2009


I beg to differ from Valmiki and all those who subscribe to this viewpoint. There is 
a saying in Konkani/Konknni mel'lea fattlean konn morona. Man by nature always 
seeks the easy way out. Because manpower was easily available this is waht happened. 
How and why did mechanization take place in Europe? If we had put certain controls 
in place things would not have come to such a pass. Once when Bal Thackeray had 
visited Goa he had suggested that Goa start issuing I-cards.


Goans do not like blue collar jobs. Why? Is it because the others like them they 
take up those jobs? and what about all those white collar jobs that have been 
cornered by the non-Goans? And now even the essential qualification of 
Konkani/Konknni has been waived. Is anybody protesting?


Goans dont know to protest. If at all there have been protests and morchas and 
demonstrations they have been mostly led by outsiders. Just look at the different 
organizations and associations. Most of them are headed by outsiders.


We are not cut out for the job. One reason is the size of Goa. Somebody in canacona 
is invariably related to somebody in Pernem. We dont want to hurt anybody.


This is Portuguese legacy.

Well, this is all crap that I'm talking about because the clock cannot be turned 
back. What cannot be cured has to be endured but it sure hurts.


R. Cabral

Re: [Goanet] A tale of ulhas-os

[Valmiki Faleiro]

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Dear Antonio Menezes,

Please stop spreading such unadulterated rubbish. If you don't know enough,
or in doubt, you must leave out -- or find out.

1. Where was the epicentre of the plague? In Carambolim, now Karmali?

2. What caused the plague ... the same grandmother story of dead elephants in
the Carambolim lake? Or was it sanitation in the city proper?

3. Did the plague descend upon Old Goa in the mid-18th Century? Check your
dates from recorded history.

4. Did your Korbomle-kars migrate only to Vel-he (Velim)? Have you heard of
the Lobos and others in Bardez (chiefly in Calangute)? Where did they migrate 
from?
What about those settled in St. Estevam (Jua)?

5. Families like Colaco, Barros and Vaz Falcao settled in Ambelim and Velim,
on the eastern banks of Salcete's River Sal. But what about those in Orlim, by 
the
Salcete river's western banks? Were they your ''Speedy Gonzalez '' who dropped
from heaven?

6. Are you a CHONNEKAR from Velim, as against a ZONNKAR from Carambolim?
If not, why the factually incorrect assertion in the last sentence of your Para 
1? (Or were
you jilted by a 'zonnkar' girl that now evokes your misplaced ire/tepid fire?)

7. More rubbish in your Paragraph 2. What about the Valladares settled in 
Verna, and
the Mussolini Pachecos in Majorda? Did they also speedily fall like manna 
from the
skies? As against your articulated facade, your ignorance stand out.

8. If something itches your one hand, scratch just that one. The absurd 
diatribe below,
denigrating an entire community, is entirely sick and uncalled for.

9. If you didn't know, other than Fidalgos and some so-called native Brahmin 
aristocracy,
the community from Carambolim, was for long the richest village community of 
Goa,
both pre- and post-plague.

Check your facts, pal, before you look at your foot and decide to open your 
mouth.
v



- Original Message - 
From: Antonio Menezes ac.mene...@gmail.com

To: goanet goa...@goanet.org
Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2009 7:16 PM
Subject: [Goanet] A tale of ulhas-os



It all started when a plague virus descended upon the inhabitants of Old
Goa  in mid 18th century.
Its people ran away as far as they could from the epicentre of the plague.
Most of them migrated to
Bardez via canoes plying in the rivers between Divar and Chorao islands. The
well to do proceeded
towards Panjim  the new capital of Goa. But there were others from villages
surrounding Old Goa
like Korbomle who apparently did not fit in well with those who migrated to
Bardez and Panjim and
so they chose to flee down to South.They ran like ''Speedy Gonzalez '' till
they reached Vel-he and
did not wish to proceed any farther south.  So like an American general,
made their Custer's Last
Stand  and dug in Vel=he. Settled down in this village as moradores but
succeeded in landowning
business so much that they as moradores bhatkars  gave a sort of complex to
local gaunkar
bhatkars.

I wonder why bhatkars say from, Cansaulim, Majorda . Varca. Navelim and
Chinchinim did not welcome \
them in their midst, could it be  they suspected them to be potential
carriers, well, answers may
never be found.

Being so close and now so far away in Vel-he  for over two centuries from
the centro of power  in Old Goa
/Panjim may have made their hearts grow fonder  and it would be appear they
are still very much in
love with the Portuguese.

Re: [Goanet] Indira, and India.

[Valmiki Faleiro]

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Dear Dr. Eric,

1. Only heard of the BC Roy-Birlas episode, but know not
much. But one thing we must remember: that save Parsis
like Tatas and modern-age GDP producers like Wipro and
Infosys (discount Satyam!), MOST successful leaders of
industry in free India thrived on favour and graft. And never
more than during the Congress regime -- whatever you say
about Kantibhai.

2. Sa.Ka Patil. Wasn't that the reason Mumbaites rejected
him, in favour of a taximen union leader, George Fernandes,
the giant slayer (not even a Marathi Manoos, but a former
seminarian migrant from far away Mangalore?)

3. The Tamil thought process (and politics) has always gripped
me. The more I got gripped, the less I seemed to have understood!
Annadurai, Kamaraj, Karunanidhi, MGR, Jayalalitha ...
-v

- Original Message - 
From: eric pinto ericpin...@yahoo.com

To: Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994! goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2009 12:12 PM
Subject: [Goanet] Indira, and India.


The reason why Priyadarshani succeeded in
throwing off the entire old guard is that she held the purse strings
to the party's funds. I was the powercentre, O just a shunniya.
And the Mundhra scandal was surely not the first since Aug. 15.
-
Thank you, Val, and that had her telling us India is Indira !
The other money links were B C Roy - Birla-Calcutta, and our S K Patil - Dalal Street/Share Bazaar. To their credit, they did not 
enrich themselves, unlike Morarjee, whose son Kantibai was the family bagman and license peddler.
Kamraj, the ascetic patriot, had stood up to the secessionist DMK with great dignity, even as he oversaw a Madras Congress 
transition from the Charis, Swamis and Subramaniams to his own restless Dravid kin. His sudden resignation as CM, coupled with a 
call for the entire party High Command to give up cabinet posts, produced a public turmoil not seen since the Quit India days of 
1942: Morarjee, Patil, Roy and CB Gupta resigned, in short order, decapitating the Cabinet and the 'Government of the Republic of 
India.'
Fearing a move by the President and army, Nehru immediately named Lal Bahdur to his own office, an effective resignation of his own. 
Soon, he was dead, a bitter and broken man. Had Laljee survived, he would have brought Kamraj to Delhi. Both detested the Moscow 
fifth column, and our 'socialist' farce would have ended very quickly. India would have become Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Singapore, 
rolled in one, with genuine free enterprise, not the crony variety that gave us ACC Cement and Birla Motors. eric. 

[Goanet] G'bye Goa - Migrants, necessary evil: HERALD(Goa), Oct. 11, 2009

[Valmiki Faleiro]

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G'BYE GOA: MIGRANTS, NECESSARY EVIL
By Valmiki Faleiro

Migrants abound Goa. Most who in-migrated between the 1960s and 1980s are well
assimilated, speak the local language, and consider themselves as Goan as any 
other.
They now own accommodation, ranging from a comfy house/flat to a shanty in a 
slum.
Even if they had a choice, most would never return home. For them, Goa is home.

We curse them, but what would Goa be without them? Let's briefly look at who 
powers
Goa's workforce today.

In manufacturing, mining, civil construction, tourism, transport, fishing, 
services including
retail vending, and the tertiary sector, it is migrants, migrants and migrants 
all the way .
Perhaps, 80 per cent of the way. We Goans chase only white-collar jobs. And 
clamour
that migrants be chased away.

In manufacturing, save good paymasters like Zuari, Syngenta, MRF and Nestle, 
bulk of
manpower particularly in the Industrial Estates is migrant. Goans have 
developed a
squinted view towards blue-collar jobs.

In mining, both legal and illegal, over 50% of the workforce is migrant. Ditto 
with truck-
tipper drivers/cleaners who shift the ore to river-loading points. Barges that 
take the ore
to port, however, are largely manned by Goans, perhaps because diesel pilferage 
pays
them more than their wages.

(Only a cynic like me would say that chasing away migrants from mines would be 
a good
idea. That way, Goa's current environmental destruction would be reduced by 
half.)

Construction: Where would Goa be without migrants? From unskilled labour to all 
kinds
of skilled/specialized workmen, Goa depends almost entirely on migrants. The 
only job a
few Goans, mainly from the OBC community, still do is lay concrete, where wages 
are
twice the daily average. They are now being edged out by ready-mix concrete 
factories,
which employ migrants. Migrants today do the traditional OBC road asphalting 
work. We
sure abhor malaria-spreading, night-thieving workers at construction sites, but 
try
building a house exclusively with Goan labour!

Tourism: Go around Goa's coastal villages, from Pernem to Palolem, from small 
shacks
to big hotels. Who constitutes the bulk of waiters and kitchen staff? A tiny 
place like
Palolem seasonally employs around 2,500 Nepalis alone, not to count experienced
hands from touristy places like Himachal and Kerala, and of course the rest of 
India.
Today, cooks from Orissa to Bengal dish out their version of authentic Goan 
Xacuti to
the world. Imagine the fate of Assado and Sarapatel if they handled beef and 
pork.

Transport: The role of Goans in ferrying the public in private buses is that of 
mere
owners. Most I know contract their vehicles to migrant drivers/conductors for a 
fixed daily
return. That's one of the reasons why recklessness has increased on Goa's 
roads. Read
names of drivers charged by police as responsible for road fatalities and you 
will get a
better idea.

Fisheries: Ask any trawler-owner what his fate would be if the boat crew didn't 
come
from elsewhere in India. Even a few days' delay in their arrival at the start 
of the fishing
season around Nariyal Poornima would mean a huge difference to his entire 
year's
fortunes. Because the first three or four weeks of August yield bumper crops of 
the
prized Solar shrimp.

Trawler-owners are so dependant on migrant labour that they pay substantial 
advances
to crew at the end of season, and lose a lot when crewmembers do not show up. 
And
consumers pay for it at Goa's fish markets.

The story is not much different in the service and tertiary sectors. Almost 
every
technician (or Service Engineer as euphemistically called in this age) that 
we rely on is
invariably a migrant.

Now revert to the scenario of what would happen to Goa if some bright day all 
migrants
could be chased out Goa. Goa would grind to an agonizing halt the next morning!

We cannot blame migrants. If Goa is changing, the cause is not them. It lies 
elsewhere.
Let's come to that next Sunday.

P.S: Laxmikant Shetgaonkar has earned his niche in history. His film, whose 
title
translates to Man Across the Bridge, won an international award, the 
first-ever film in
Goa's native tongue to earn such honours. A filmmaker of the stature of Shekhar 
Kapur
had, it seems, prophesized last year that Shetgaonkar had it in him. (ENDS)

The above article appeared in the Herald, Goa, edition of October 11, 2009

[Goanet] Terror threat to Goa: HERALD(Goa), Oct 9, 2009

[Valmiki Faleiro]

* G * O * A * N * E * T  C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S *


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Some serious food for thought below. The Goan author is a retired Commodore
from the Indian Navy, now settled in a coastal village in Salcete. -v

=
FIGHTING A SEABORNE ATTACK ON GOA
We need to urgently devise a strategy to deal with the threat of a seaborne 
attack on Goa, says COMMODORE GILBERT MENEZES (RETD)
(http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=28366cid=14)


I have a confession to make. For many years, I have planned commando attacks 
from the sea on the territory of India. And I must
confess that I have actively participated in a successful one in the late 1970s 
as well. This is how it goes. Every nation's armed
forces prepare contingency plans and war games. I was invariably a part of the 
'Orange' or Enemy Force, whose stated purpose was to
catch the 'Blue' or Friendly force by surprise by carrying out preemptive 
attacks on his homeland - in this case, the territory of
India.


If I recall correctly, the coast of Goa was the scenario of many such attacks, 
and the high-value targets were the airport, fuel
storage tanks, five-star hotels and densely crowded locations to achieve 
maximum impact. The favoured means of insertion of
commandos was by unobtrusive fishing vessels or by submarine. I was a submarine 
captain and have landed commandos on at least 3
occasions. This is how it is done - and it's absolutely foolproof, with almost 
zero chances of detection. The submarine approaches
the coast and dives, at night, and at periscope depth, ideally mixing with 
coastal traffic or fishing activity. When about 5 miles
from the coast, the submarine surfaces, and launches two sets of 5-member 
commando teams in two inflatable rubber dinghies fitted
with outboard motors and oars, and carrying the weapons, ammunition and 
explosives required for the mission. The entire time spent
on the surface, when the submarine is vulnerable to detection, is only about 10 
minutes. After launch, the submarine dives and
clears the area. This is the preferred method of launching an attack and only 
careful sanitisation of the coastal area by the Navy
or Coast Guard can prevent it. In the case of Goa we have almost 100 km of 
beach where a stealthy landing can be made quite easily.


I must stress here that this sort of coastal attack was practiced for offence 
during full-scale war or during the precautionary
stage leading up to it, when the political climate between two nations had 
deteriorated to the point of no return. In the case of
the recent Mumbai attacks, we have a completely different political scenario, 
and therefore a much lower level of preparedness to
respond to it. It is therefore obvious that we have to seriously revise our 
strategy to counter such possibilities.


In the case of Goa, I feel that the government should not waste too much money 
on waterborne assets, but leave the task of
sanitisation and coastal policing to the Coast Guard (CG), who are 
professionally competent to do this. However, there is no doubt
that the control of trawler traffic and education of their crews about the 
terrorist menace is the responsibility of the Goa
Government, in close collaboration with CG authorities. The crux of the matter 
is that the internal security of Goa is the bounden
responsibility of the government, as well as every institution in Goa, and 
every citizen of the state too. As of today, we are
ill-prepared to deal with any threat, ill-prepared to deal with any calamity, 
natural or manmade, and ill-prepared to ensure minimum
collateral damage in case any attack gets through. When I mention the word 
'government', please read the word 'bureaucrat', because
this is one group of people who are responsible for perspective planning, 
monitoring and implementation of the internal security
situation, but who vanish into thin air when things go wrong and the blame game 
starts. Politicians are birds of the night, who come
and go, and who resign from time to time, as in the case of the Mumbai terror 
attacks. So it is time that the people of Goa take a
hard look at the Head of Police and other bureaucrats of the Home Ministry at 
Goa.


Take the case of the Goa Police. After years of poor leadership and 
mismanagement, I would best describe them as a ramshackle force
of men in uniform. There is nothing wrong with each man of the force per se, 
but they are improperly and inadequately trained, lack
weapons and, most of all, motivation. There is nothing worse than seeing a 
potbellied man in uniform, slouching with his hands in
his pockets, watching the world go by. Can you put him against a terrorist 
armed with an 

Re: [Goanet] Fw: What's in a name - Club Soda !

[Valmiki Faleiro]

* G * O * A * N * E * T  C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S *


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Simple, Dr. Eric. The reason why Priyadarshani succeeded in
throwing off the entire old guard is that she held the purse strings
to the party's funds. I was the powercentre, O just a shunniya.
And the Mundhra scandal was surely not the first since Aug. 15. -v


- Original Message - 
From: eric pinto ericpin...@yahoo.com

To: GOA2 goa...@goanet.org
Sent: Friday, October 09, 2009 2:00 PM
Subject: [Goanet] Fw: What's in a name - Club Soda !


Not to worry, Marshall, the 'one and only' priya would have found a way, much like she found her way back to the family mansion 
after dumping the pious Marxist, Firoze, soon after independence.
Indu conned her way to a LBS succession by posing as a pliable stop-gap, as the state bosses wrestled with the problem posed by a 
defiant Morarjee. That rotter was widely despised for the greed that saw his son's name used synonymously with graft - do you 
remember it ?Kamraj, the patriot, and nemesis of both the KGBÂ as well as Swiss banks, was the obvious choice for most, but fate 
was to decide otherwise.



What’s in a name? In a lighter vein, I was just wondering what would have
been the future of India’s ‘first family’ had Indira married say a Firoze
Batliwalla or Daruwalla or Treasurywalla. Would Indira and her heirs have
enjoyed the same adulation, power and aura that they command today?
Just a thought.

Regards,
Marshall 

Re: [Goanet] Goans worldwide

[Valmiki Faleiro]

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Dear Marshall and Richard,

A good number of Goans settled in Bengal and India's northern provinces
after the Portuguese set up trading stations (fort-factories) there -- 
Chittagong,
Bandel, Calcutta and so many more along the banks of the Hoogly. Some
4,000 of them were taken captive during the Moghul era, to the Delhi court,
and descendants of these spread/settled in the northern provinces.
Your Pereira possibly was one of them, Marshall !

Though I largely agree with what Richard says in response to Marshall (the
episode of the Baron of Cumbarjua is well documented), I would like to leave
Richard with just a small thought: why was Goa's native language, Konknni,
since olden times, described as the song language of India?

To be sure, European missionaries in the Portuguese era helped teach
western music to Goans ... who took to the parish schools like fish to water,
but would that be possible if Goans were not already attuned to oriental
music?

Rgds, v


- Original Message - 
From: rcab...@bsnl.in

To: Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994! goanet@lists.goanet.org
Cc: Marshall Mendonza mmendonz...@gmail.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 07, 2009 8:46 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Goans worldwide



Hi,
'But I noted they carried their inborn talent for music'.
The question is when and where was this talent born. The missionaries started the Parish schools in Goa around 1540. In these 
schools children were taught a bit of reading, writing and counting. However more attention was given to singing/music as they 
wanted people to sing during the religious services. In these schools music teachers were appointed who would also try to teach 
the three Rs. They were paid either by the Communidades or by the Confrarias or even by the Fabrica. Today, four and a half 
centuries later we are talking about community ownership of schools.
In fact there was a controversy during the time of Barao de Cumbharjua when he wanted the music teachers to be sacked after these 
schools were officially recognized. But the Saxtti people made a representation to the Governor and resisted the attempt. Today 
thanks to the foreing missionaries Goans have music flowing in their blood. I dont know about other things that might alos be 
flowing along with it.

That's it.
Richard Cabral


 Marshall Mendonza mmendonz...@gmail.com wrote:


Valmiki,

Besides finding goans overseas in various parts of the world, one is also
likely to find goans in the unlikeliest places in India. I once came across
a person called Pereira in Lucknow who worked for an insurance firm. He had
blended so much with the local ethos that I would never have guessed he was
a goan. He would continuously chew paan. His accent and manner of speaking
was that of a typical bhaiya. He did not know a word of konkani and had been
settled in Lucknow for several generations. I also came across some goans in
Gurgaon, Haryana who have been there for many generations. But I noted that
they carried their inborn talent for music.

Regards,

Marshall 

[Goanet] G'bye Goa - Goans of today: HERALD(Goa), Oct 4, 2009

[Valmiki Faleiro]

G'BYE GOA: GOANS OF TODAY.
By Valmiki Faleiro

Chandan Lakra, Kavitadevi Jangam and Ranjan Pandia are today's Goans who won
medals for Goa at the recent (July-2009) Lusofonia Games in Lisbon. Goa's own
Sonali Chakraborty won 3rd place at a national essay competition in April-2008. 
Miss Goa last year was a lass named Harshita Saxena.


Sample three reports from the single edition of a local paper (June 8, 2009):
* Town Police Inspector today said that Tara Sumappa Rajput reported theft of a
temple donation box at Monte, Margao.
* In another case, the PI disclosed that they have arrested Mahendra Dave, 
native of
Rajasthan, on a complaint of cheating by Kimraj Chowdhury, resident of Margao.
* Fearing surgery, a 40-year-old resident of Cumbarjua committed suicide, per 
Ponda
PSI Tukaram Chavan, investigating the case under supervision of PI, C.L. Patil.

Sharada Rathod who knows not to read or write, and signs with her thumb, is/was
Sarpanch of Sancoale, once a hoary village of prominent Salcete Saraswats,
including Margao's Vithalwadi-Comba Naiks.

Former MLAs Sangeeta Parab, Mohan Amshekar, Shambu Bhau Bandekar, Babuso
Gaunkar and sitting MLA Victoria Fernandes, at a Legislator's Day not long 
ago,
staged a play titled, No SEZ, no Kannada CM!

Migrants are not so visible today because bulk is from the labour class. A 
family of
ten could be crammed into the outhouse of a Goan's larger house of perhaps two 
or
three occupants. Give the younger migrant generation time to be educated and 
grow.
That's when, slowly but surely, village panchas and Sarpanchas, civic 
councillors and
mayors, MLAs and the Chief Minister would be ... toss a coin . a Kannadiga or
Kashmiri, a Malayali or Maharashtrian.

It's just a matter of a few years.

A million migrants would make no difference in a large state. In a place like 
Goa, with
just over one-half million souls in 1961, already strapped with mass emigration 
and a
negative birth rate, this phenomenal population surge translates into an 
altogether
different story.

Realities are reflected even in villages. Try approaching someone by the 
roadside
(for directions, for instance.) The odds are that you will be greeted with a 
boliye
(speak up) or malum nahin (I don't know.) Older post-1961 migrants sure know 
the
local lingo and the locality as well as a Goan.

As of now, forget industry where Goans won't account for 10% of workers, either
because they lack the skills, shun menial jobs, or despise low wages. Common
occupations like fishing, vending (check the fruit and vegetable markets across 
Goa),
street hawkers, cooks and waiters, drivers/conductors of public transport buses,
construction and road workers, barbers, even beggars . bulk is migrant. (More on
this next Sunday.)

Where there is work, and no local workers, migrants are bound to be attracted, 
like
bees to a flower. Migrants are here because a livelihood is here.

The demography of Goa has so changed that USA-based friend Arnold Noronha
remarks, Departing Goa for a long sojourn, an expatriate, on returning, could 
feel
like Rip Van Winkle in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The land he once knew,
traditionally and culturally, has yielded to inexorable vicissitudes carrying 
the Tides of
History.

Wrote the famed Indian journalist Jug Suraiya on April 1, 2006: Last week when 
I
was there, Goa whizzed past me. Goa? Whizzing? How could laidback Goa ever be
made to whiz? What was whizzing about were people. Not local Goans, but people
from outside ... Goa is selling like hot vindaloo. And pretty soon there'll be 
no more of
it left to sell, or to buy. And when that happens, Goa will stop being Goa and 
become
something else. Like Ghatkopar, or Brixton, or Greater Kailash III. Already 
Baga and
Calangute look like Lajpat Nagar market. The thought saddens me. For when Goa
stops being Goa, what will Goans do? Rent the place back from the new owners?

P.S: One can only sigh when an environmentalist of the commitment of Rajendra
Kerkar is being ostracized in his home village, for pursuing the tiger-killing 
case.
Obvious the trap was not laid for a tiger (no one eats tiger meat here.) When 
one got
ensnared, the trap-layers must have decided the best way out was to kill the
wounded animal. But ostracize Kerkar? (ENDS)

The above article appeared in the Herald, Goa, edition of October 4, 2009

[Goanet] G'bye Goa - Goans, already a minority: HERALD(Goa), Sept 27, 2009

[Valmiki Faleiro]

G'BYE GOA: GOANS, ALREADY A MINORITY
By Valmiki Faleiro

For an idea of the extent of post-1961 migration into Goa, let us look a tad 
closer at
population patterns. As seen last Sunday, Goa's census figures fluctuated 
throughout
the 19th century and the earlier part of the 20th century. Population dipped 
with waves
of out-migration and increased with in-migration from border states.

In any event, the decadal population growth between 1800 and 1961 was NEVER in
double digits. Despite in-migration from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar 
Pradesh,
decadal growth was always below 9%.

Goa's population stood at 5.90 lakh in 1961. Then hell broke loose. The age of
Zalach Pahije dawned. Dozens of deputationists and hundreds of Marathi 
primary
school teachers and policemen were imported from Maharashtra/Karwar. As more
segments of the local administration went into Indian control, large number of
engineers, secondary and college teachers and other professionals moved in from
all over, including from South India.

Hardly a surprise that the highest ever decadal population increase in Goa's 
modern
history occurred between 1961 and 1971: an unprecedented double-digit increase 
of
34.77%!  It jump-started at 7.95 lakhs in the 1971 Census. These early post-1961
in-migrants never returned.

The influx slowed a bit in the decade that followed (1971-81), but at 26.74% 
was still
way beyond what minuscule Goa was acquainted with in the pre-1961 era. In the
1981 Census, the population count raced to 10.02 lakhs.

And then began the galloping from 11.70 lakhs (1991 Census) to 13.48 lakhs 
(2001)
to an estimated 17.00 lakhs today, or about FOUR TIMES since 1961... 
cumulatively,
the highest ever population increase since Goa's pioneer migrants, the Mhars!

When the next (2011) Census figures are in, Goans will awaken to one fruit of
freedom in its Golden Year: demography beyond redemption.

Paradoxically, as we saw from the Malthusian theory of population changes last
Sunday (and as reported in the HERALD of July 29, 2009), the natural population
growth rate among native Goans declined from 1.2% in 1981 to 0.8% now. This is
confirmed in both the Census report and that of the State Economic Survey 
2008-09.

In simple terms, thanks to increased education and wealth, fuelled by 
emigration,
Goa witnessed not just the lowest birth rate in the country, but a negative one 
(i.e.
below replacement level, as say in four grandparents generating two spouses who
prefer a single child.)

The rate of Goan out-migration/emigration also did never abate. From the 1980s, 
the
Gulf Fever bloomed into full fury. Other avenues like cruise-liner jobs, land 
based
jobs in the Caribbean, Portuguese passports for EU jobs opened up. Emigration to
Australia/NZ and the West picked up.

With a negative population growth rate, coupled with continued emigration, one
would think that Goa's population would plummet. It did not. It surged. Is the 
reason
far to seek?

Assume the 5.90 lakh 1961 Goans grew at 1.2% in the first two decades upto 1981,
before growing negatively at 0.8%, factor in the great Goan emigration upto 
now, and
of Goa's estimated population of 17.00 lakhs today, the native (pre-1961) 
segment
would at best be seven lakhs. The rest is post-1961 migrant. Goans were reduced 
to
a minority quite a while ago.

(Don't be taken in by Census terminology. The 2001 Census declares migrants in
Goa at 2,64,000. Bear in mind that in census lingo, yesterday's migrants are 
today's
natives. The 2.64 lakh migrants of 2001 will be counted as natives in 2011. 
Nothing
methodologically wrong with that. All our ancestors were migrants at some point 
of
time in history.)

I'll paraphrase Donna J. Young from her Defining Goan Identity: a literary 
approach,
a thesis at Georgia State University, USA. As more Goans leave their homeland, 
it is
important to them to maintain the dream of returning home, and more: to preserve
their heritage, traditions and distinct culture. The Goa of their dreams is 
changing
drastically. It is assuming an Indian identity.

Literally speaking, no one acquainted with India's history will ask if Goa was 
ever a
part of India. Because geo-politically, India, our motherland of today, came 
into
existence as a single entity, for the first time in history, only at the 
midnight hour of
August 15, 1947. Jai Hind!

P.S: First came “bomb the (BJP) HQ.” Then “cattle class.” And now, “rancid 
pickle.”
How is it that intelligent politicos like Arun Shourie, a journalist, Shashi 
Tharoor, a
diplomat and Manohar Parrikar, an IIT-ian, at times open their mouths to shoot 
at
their own feet? (ENDS)

The above article appeared in the Herald, Goa, edition of September 27, 2009

Re: [Goanet] Frederick Noronha's GoaNet

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Marlon,
Word for word, I endorse what you say. Easy to criticise.
Over the years, Goanet has appealed for volunteers. How
many of us have offered free service? I too salute moderators
like Frederick, Viviana, Bosco, and others I don't know.
Rgds, v


- Original Message - 
From: marlon menezes goa...@yahoo.com

To: Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994! goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 9:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Frederick Noronha's GoaNet



Cecil,
You make it sound like as if Fred has done a bad thing in raising goanet. He IS the person who has put in most of the grunt work 
in establishing Goanet as Goa's premier discussion forum. I for one salute Fred's presistence in keeping this forum going. You may 
call him Godfather, I call him Goanet's Patron Saint.

Marlon

- Original Message 
From: Cecil Pinto cecilpi...@gmail.com


Similarly I suggest we start refering to GoaNet as Frederick
Noronha's GoaNet or FN's GoaNet to avoid confusion in the years to
come.


Cheers!
Cecil 

Re: [Goanet] Christian/Hindu names

[Valmiki Faleiro]

Dear Ana Maria,

What you say below reminds me of a few Goan Christian women who
chose to wear the elegant Indian sari in pre-1961 Goa. They were
virtually shunned as Jai Hinds -- as if to be one was a crime except in
the colonial eyes.

What levels can prejudiced human minds sink to! Tragic that some of
our brethren even today consider themselves more Portuguese or British
(or the generic Western) rather than the multi-cultural Goan.

Regards, v


- Original Message - 
From: Ana Maria de souza-Goswami anamari...@dataone.in

To: goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 7:51 PM
Subject: [Goanet] Christian/Hindu names


The other day 
I went for a dinner 'do,' wearing an 'oriya' sari.  Everyone else was in 
western attire.  How many Goans wear a Sherwani or a Bangala, is it because 
they consider themselves Portuguese. Do the westerners copy our attire. 
Now, in Portugual, Hindi films is the 'done' thing.


Please let us be secular, don't forget, Judaism, Christanity and Islam are 
all comparative religions.


Ana Maria de Souza-Goswami

Re: [Goanet] CHRISTIANs WITH HINDU NAMES ARE COWARDS.

[Valmiki Faleiro]

What's this rubbish going round? Christians with Hindu names?

Looks as though the poster forgot to underscore his unstated thesis
that Christians and Hindus (and Muslims, Sikhs, and all the dozens
of denominations in India where we usually celebrate diversity) are
sworn enemies of one another in Goa and the rest of India.
Plain ignorance of reality.

I proudly carry my first name. I was baptised with it at the church font
even before I realised it (according to my baptismal certificate, I was
seven days old when this happened.) Yet I'm proud, though certainly
not with any justification that I've even remotely lived up to the name
my parents decided to name me after one of India's greatest Rishis
(a Maharishi indeed), Valmiki.

Can't figure out how that could tickle Jorge!

I tend to agree with Mario (his post copied below.) Names like mine
are more Indian than Hindu -- and wish more such Christians knew
a bit more what about Hinduism is all about (they would then be better
armed to meet Hindutva theorists!)

(Incidentally, Valmiki is not just Indian, no private property here, the
Maharishi belongs not just to India but to the world.)

Can only hope some better sense will prevail in the minds of so-called
Christians.  -v


- Original Message - 
From: Santosh Helekar chimbel...@yahoo.com

To:  estb. 1994!Goa's premiere mailing list goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 9:47 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] CHRISTIANs WITH HINDU NAMES ARE COWARDS.


Pandurang Fernandes is no coward. He has fought against all forces of nature - Hindu, Christian and Muslim. He is not afraid to 
show his face to the facist, and use the full force of an armed Forsu, with the other arm tied behind his back, against a thousand 
faceless Forsus who hide behind their faiths and their fake IDs.


Cheers,

Santosh

--- On Tue, 9/22/09, Jorge Dias jorges...@gmail.com wrote:


 Those Christians in India who are
operating with Hindu names are doing this
to protect their skin from Hindu facist forces. May God
give these
christians the courage that they do not hide their
christian faith.

God Bless You.
Jorge Dias.
Bombay.

=

- Original Message - 
From: Mario Goveia mgov...@sbcglobal.net

To: goanet@lists.goanet.org
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 9:48 PM
Subject: [Goanet] CHRISTIANs WITH HINDU NAMES ARE COWARDS


Mario observes:

In my never-humble opinion, there is nothing inherently Christian or Non-Christian in a name. I know many Christians with 
so-called Hindu names who do not hide their religion, but have assumed Hindu names for other cultural reasons.