FN: Frederick Noronha’s blog

Rudolf Ludwig aka Kammermeier of the Art Chamber (aka Galeria de Belas Artes) at Gauravaddo in Calangute has helped the Goa Tourism (of “365 days on holiday” fame) to put together a tourist guide for museums, galleries and places with cultural activities. Don’t ask me how to get a copy of this 23-page booklet, I just ran into one through one of the museums!
Even if a little slanted towards the central coast of Goa — the tourist zone — it throws up an amazing set of places to visit, maps, URLs and basic info.
Any guess how many museums Goa has? There’s the Goa State Museum and then there’s Architect Gerard da Cunha’s relatively-new architectural museum called Houses of Goa (no website listed, but email archauto at sancharnet.in). The Xavier Centre of Historical Research, at Porvorim, has its Gallery on Christian Art, named the Xavier Xandev Museum. (Again, no website. Email delio at sancharnet.in).
Then, there’s the archaeological museum and portrait gallery at Old Goa, the Christian Art Museum at the same location, and the Pilar Seminary Museum. (”Its history was brought to light by the discovery of ancient artefacts while digging the foundations for the educational institutions and while desilting an old tank within the compound of the present Society of Pillar. All these items collected and mounted in the Pilar Seminary Museum are displayed in relation to the dynasties and the periods passed through the centuries.”) Email aisem at sancharnet.in
Big Foot at Loutolim (aka Ancestral Goa) is an attempt to illustrate and recreate Goa’s traditional past. See Big Foot’s site. You might find it hard to believe, but there’s even a vintage-cars collection of sorts — Ashvek Vintage World “dedicated to restore and preserve motoring and motorcycling gems of historical interest in Goa”. You can find cars ranging from ye old Mercedes Benz, to the Peugeot, Morris, Chevrolet and the Volkswagen. Check it out at Nuvem, on permanent display. Entry Rs 50. Email ashvek at sancharnet.in
Then, there’s the Museum of Blessed Joseph Vaz or email sanjovaz at sancharnet.in) and the Naval Aviation Museum. You can see and touch vintage aircrafts like the Sealands, Doves, Alizes, Seahawks, Vampires and Huges Helicopters. After all, our defence outlay is unexpectedly high!
Other venues listed — Art Chamber at Calangute, the Kerkar Art Complex and more. Dr Subodh Kerkar has two galleries, one for his permanent collection, and the other housing the works of Indian and foreign artists. The open air auditorium puts up performances in Indian classical music and dance.
Then, there’s the Kala Academy — and the Fundacao Oriente in India, the Central Library (even tourists can become temporary members). Art galleries in Goa include Gallery Gitanjali (run by Ajit Sukhija in a building that once was the People’s High School at Fontainhas), Galeria Cidade at the Cidade de Goa luxury resort, Peace Cottage Fine Art Gallery perched between two luxury hotels at Betalbatim , Gallery Boa Arte opposite the Municipal Garden in Panjim, Picturesque opposite the Goa Urban Cooperative Bank also in Panjim, Gallery Yemania in Verem (kips at vsnl.net.in) and the Attic with its clay sculpture and antique furniture near Mount Carmel Chapel in Mapusa . Don’t forget the Sound and Light Gallery Museum at Old Goa, where one can get a religious tour, artistically done, for just ten rupees, even at most of the museum and centres in Goa continue to charge abysmally low entry fees even for those who could pay more! The last named is the Goa Science Centre, a great fun-place for kids specially, but not only.

Today’s Herald announces (Page 4, Feb 26, 2005) that the Goa Konkani Akademi will mark its 10th anniversary with a “short programme of releasing new books”. This is to be held on March 4. Details of the books however are not spelt-out, neither is the reader told how many books would be published.

Just came across some WWF-India (Goa) books, or should one call them reports, related to this state. They’re on the medicinal plants of Goa, birds of Goa and the like. Need to follow up with Nitin S Sawant, Director WWF India, Goa Science Centre, Miramar, Panjim 403001 Ph 832.2465480 or email wwfgoa at sancharnet.in. Nitin stays opposite Patrao Bar in Porvorim. Ph 832.2414278. Email nitinww105 at rediffmail.com

This page on Wikiwikiweb.de has links to FLOSS, i.e. Free/Libre and Open Source Software in India. Also see an earlier version at Pitas.com

Anuradha Ratnaweera informs that the Linux.Lk and LUG.lk groups have
been advocating GNU/Linux and Free / Open Source Software since 1998. Recently, they have started working closely with the tux group of Narada Center
Says Anuradha: “Check here to see what we have been doing.”
Lanka Software Foundation is another organization which is also promoting FOSS development in Sri Lanka. Anuradha informs that right now, they have a dedicated server on which they run the above web site and “many extremely active mailing lists”. They would like to contribute news items to the relevent events and localization and news
sections of international networks, like IOSN.net. When broached with the subject of building ‘partner uder groups’, he replied: “I am sure LK-LUGgers are willing to become a partner LUG. Shall I write to advocacy at lug.lk on this?”
Click Anuradha’s page to know more about him.

Dr D. Rama Rao, Head, ICM Division, National Academy of Agriculture Research Management (NAARM) or at this site in Rajendranagar at Hyderabad - 500 030 [Ph: 04-24015394 and Fax: 040-24015912] tells about a project being run in association with Center for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) and Society for Women Education and Environmental Training (SWEET).
It’s in Gujja village, Narayanpur Mandal, Nalgonda Dist, AP. Goals include to assess the farmers information needs relevant to internet and build a system using ICT in agriculture technology dissemination for problem solving.
Quote from Dr Rama Rao: In phase one, the information needs will be identified through an intense consultation with key informants in the selected village. It will examine, briefly, the current situation and developments in information and knowledge systems. It will also present an initial concise framework for further action.
In phase two, local experiences, expectations and the information needs will be acquired, adding rich local content and concrete examples where possible. A workshop will be organised with all stakeholders and contributors, in which the broad set of information will be discussed and the framework will be validated. Endquote

Check this page for some links of my work on the Free Software front. In particular, this is a 2003-04 study on FLOSS in Asia called Liberation Technology for the lands of diversity? Free Software in Asia. This report can also be found at this site.

A readable and descriptive travel piece by Peter Griffin on Goa, recently published (in slightly edited version) in Outlook Traveller

AT 35, PEDRO CABRAL ADAO has an almost boyish-look about him. But, in fact, he’s Portugal’s new Consul General in Goa, the tiny region along the west coast of India which once was the headquarters of the Portuguese empire in the east.
“When I saw the Consul, I thought he must be the son of the Consul,” said the lady-director of a Goa government department, speaking only half in jest at a function this week.
Barely a fortnight into his new post, the Consul knows ten languages and comes in with a rather colourful background. He is an expert in international law, was a journalist with Renacensa and the Semanario weekly, and has been a lecturer in international politics and Portuguese history. He has served in Iran, the UN, East Timor, Moldovia, and was last the deputy head of Lisbon’s mission in Sweden.
Speaking in fluent English, not always the mark of Portuguese officials Goa has known, the young diplomat said with undisguised modesty, after he was introduced as a chief-guest at one function here: “It’s not a very impressive biodata at all.” And he added: “I’m just doing my best for
my country … to bridge the gap. It’s a honour to be in Goa.”
As people he encountered almost rubbed-in his youthfulness, the Consul advised, in return: “I am young, so take advantage of that. Take advantage of me being young and my energies to get things done.”
So, let’s go about digging up some links that might be useful.
Was having some problems in locating the website of the Portuguese Consulate in Goa, though there’s this link to Lisbon’s envoys in many other parts of the globe.Incidentally the email address of the Consulate General in Goa is cgport1 at sancharnet.in
And this is a link where somebody’s complaining about
attestation of documentation in Goa This might not be directly related, but this URL has some useful information about scholarships for Indian students in Portugal — offered by the Camoes Institute (Portuguese language and culture, research scholarships, summer courses, Lusofonia Program, Pessoa Program, Vieira Program, Fernao Mendes Pinto Program, and the program to teach the Portuguese language). There are also openings via the Institute Camoes, the Embassy of Portugal in Delhi’s Cultural Centre, and the Consulate in Goa.
Here’s another portal with many Portuguese links
And my favourite Wikipedia ends with this quirky story: “On December 19 1961 India, under pressure from public opinion, and foreign pressure from the rest of the third world to oppose colonialism, moved into Goa. Twenty Indians and 17 Portuguese were killed in the fighting, which lasted twenty-six hours. A famous telegram was sent to a newspaper correspondent at the time - the single word “Goa?”. He replied, “Gone”. “

Rudolf Ludwig aka Kammermeier of the Art Chamber (aka Galeria de Belas Artes) at Gauravaddo in Calangute has helped the Goa Tourism (of “365 days on holiday” fame) to put together a tourist guide for museums, galleries and places with cultural activities. Don’t ask me how to get a copy of this 23-page booklet, I just ran into one through one of the museums!
Even if a little slanted towards the central coast of Goa — the tourist zone — it throws up an amazing set of places to visit, maps, URLs and basic info.
Any guess how many museums Goa has? There’s the Goa State Museum and then there’s Architect Gerard da Cunha’s relatively-new architectural museum called Houses of Goa (no website listed, but email archauto at sancharnet.in). The Xavier Centre of Historical Research, at Porvorim, has its Gallery on Christian Art, named the Xavier Xandev Museum. (Again, no website. Email delio at sancharnet.in).
To this add the archaeological museum and portrait gallery at Old Goa, the Christian Art Museum at the same location, and the Pilar Seminary Museum. (”Its history was brought to light by the discovery of ancient artefacts while digging the foundations for the educational institutions and while desilting an old tank within the compound of the present Society of Pillar. All these items collected and mounted in the Pilar Seminary Museum are displayed in relation to the dynasties and the periods passed through the centuries.”) Email aisem at sancharnet.in
Big Foot at Loutolim (aka Ancestral Goa) is an attempt to illustrate and recreate Goa’s traditional past. See Big Foot’s site. You might find it hard to believe, but there’s even a vintage-cars collection of sorts — Ashvek Vintage World “dedicated to restore and preserve motoring and motorcycling gems of historical interest in Goa”. You can find cars ranging from ye old Mercedes Benz, to the Peugeot, Morris, Chevrolet and the Volkswagen. Check it out at Nuvem, on permanent display. Entry Rs 50. Email ashvek at sancharnet.in
There’s also the Museum of Blessed Joseph Vaz or email sanjovaz at sancharnet.in) and the Naval Aviation Museum. You can see and touch vintage aircrafts like the Sealands, Doves, Alizes, Seahawks, Vampires and Huges Helicopters. After all, our defence outlay is unexpectedly high!
Other venues listed — Art Chamber at Calangute, the Kerkar Art Complex and more. Dr Subodh Kerkar has two galleries, one for his permanent collection, and the other housing the works of Indian and foreign artists. The open air auditorium puts up performances in Indian classical music and dance.
On this booklet’s few pages one also comes across the Kala Academy — and the Fundacao Oriente in India, the Central Library (even tourists can become temporary members). Art galleries in Goa include Gallery Gitanjali (run by Ajit Sukhija in a building that once was the People’s High School at Fontainhas), Galeria Cidade at the Cidade de Goa luxury resort, Peace Cottage Fine Art Gallery perched between two luxury hotels at Betalbatim , Gallery Boa Arte opposite the Municipal Garden in Panjim, Picturesque opposite the Goa Urban Cooperative Bank also in Panjim, Gallery Yemania in Verem (kips at vsnl.net.in) and the Attic with its clay sculpture and antique furniture near Mount Carmel Chapel in Mapusa . Don’t forget the Sound and Light Gallery Museum at Old Goa, where one can get a religious tour, artistically done, for just ten rupees, even at most of the museum and centres in Goa continue to charge abysmally low entry fees even for those who could pay more! The last named is the Goa Science Centre, a great fun-place for kids specially, but not only.