FN: Frederick Noronha’s blog

Met up with John Thomas over the past weekend. My senior whom I reported to in Deccan Herald where he was Chief of News Bureau is currently the Editor (Operations) of the also-Bangalore-based Vijay Times. It was nice to get talking about people we knew, earlier bosses and colleagues, and the newspaper scene in Bangalore. John’s wife Susheela was also there, and we spent some hours walking around Panjim/Panaji/Ponnje/Pangim together.

At IFFI-2004 one heard of a film about the work of HS D’Lima (70), who has been campaigning against sound pollution in Mumbai. Unfortunately, in the shower of films, news conferences and hurry to ‘get the story out’, one didn’t get a chance to view that. So, ignorance remains bliss.
More recently, a friend mentioned that D’Lima had been attacked.
Going through my pending stack (mess would be a better word) of papers, one read the March 7, 2005 issue of Indian Express report that D’Lim “sustained two deep cuts on his left arm but was otherwise unhurt”. Apparently, the attack took place outside his Andheri residence.
Activists were quoted as planning to launch a group called MITRA (Movement against Intimidation, Threats and Revenge against Activists).
Does anyone know more about this person and his campaign? Is there any Goan connection, as the name might suggest? Just curious.

This report from the Hindustan Times has thrown up a shocking piece of statistics:
Goa accounted for the highest rate of accidental deaths — 71 per 100,000 population, as compared to the national average of 26.4.
The report is titled “Two rapes, four murders every hour in India” and is based on “figures compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).”

Fundacao Oriente later today, March 10, kicks off a lecture series series that continues its earlier Indo-Portuguese historical and cultural interactions. Some of the topics are interesting, and the speakers are mostly people one could look forward to meeting.
This Thursday, from 6-7 pm, Dr Glenn J Ames has a catchy title for his talk — ‘A Tale of Four Cities: The Provincia do Norte in an Age of Decline and Rebirth, 1640-1683′.
The ‘Provincia do Norte’, or the Northern Province, was the hardly-northern not-far-from-Bombay edge of the colonial Portuguese empire in South Asia.
Dr Ames here tells the story of four cities — Diu, Daman, Chaul and Bacaim (today’s Vasai) — in the rebuilding of the Estado da India of the 17th century, as the Portuguese colonial state here was then known.
He’s Professor of French and Portuguese history at the University of Toledo, USA. He’s currently in Goa as a Senior Research Fellow of the American Institute of Indian Studies. His earlier books include Renascent Empire?: The House of Braganza and the Quest for Stability in Portuguese Monsoon Asia, ca. 1640-1683 and Vasco da Gama: Renaissance Crusader (2005).
In this session, Dr Ames’ argument is that the Portuguese by the late ’seventeenth century, were beseiged by both European rivals (like the Dutch) and indigenous powers like the Mughals and Bijapur.
Comments he: “The decade which began with the loss of Cochin to the VOC (Dutch) and the reluctant transfer of Bombay to the English, ironically also marked the beginning of three decades of vital reform for the Estado da India”. His study looks at the geo-political, religious and economic challenges confronting the Portuguese Crown in Asia, between 166301700 and more. He’ll explain the importance of the “Provinces of the North” in this reformation process.
On March 17, Prof Jean-Pierre Angenot, a Belgian-turned-Brazilian known for his TADIA (The African Diaspora in Asia) Network , explains the history and geography of the current-day often-neglected African diaspora in India.On March 24, journalist-turned-Kala Academy member secretary Vinayak V Khedekar talks on ‘traditional communication technique — phonology’ while a week later photographer Sunil Vaidyanathan talks on ‘India through my lens’.

Can you build within 500 metres of the high-tide line? (Yes, no, depends?) What do you do when you find an electric pole stuck in your backyard, after returning back to Goa, set there without anyone’s permission? (Can you do anything at all?) Can a buyer ask you to ‘convert’ your land before selling it? (What are the illegal rates?)
What’s the dividing line between a “Portuguese house” and one which is traditionally Goan? (Surprise: There are no Portuguese houses in Goa, as architect Gerard da Cunha unequivocally says, just a synthesis between the Portuguese and local style of houses!) Can a British national own property in Goa? Foreigners can, only if they establish they are a person residing in India, and that takes a half-year residence here to qualify. What does the 182-days-residence criteria (required to be considered a ‘person resident in India’) mean? What facilities are there for people of Indian origin to own land here — except for farmland — and can their children inherit it?
If you’re interested in such questions, and real estate issues, check out the Homes & Estates: Goa’s Property & Building Trading Guide magazine that comes out in four issues each year.
The Spring 2005 issue (Vol 6 Issue 3) is out, and is priced at Rs 30 UKP2 US$3 or Euro3.
It promises “over 2000 listings” of properties too. Have never myself checked out how effective this is as a tool to scout for properties. But as Goans rush headlong into a mad rush to sell their ancestral properties (a point _VM_ made not too long ago) the importance of such information becomes obvious.
There are two good panels offering architects’ and legal answers. Many raising queries are foreigners. This is edited and published by Michael Lobo of Parra and its art director is his Japanese wife Tomoko Mikada Lobo.
Generally, useful information. Even if one is suspicious about all those glossy adverts put out by the real estate lobby, which has significantly damaged the charm that lures to Goa, and has also made homes too costly for most local-earning locals to ever afford!

Links to blogs from India. Quite a few!

Search this page for two keywords: India and blogs. Not everything might be related though.

Often, debates over caste and class degenerate into a public airing of our biases and arrogance. The issue of caste has been hotly debated, not once but twice (and there’s probably lot more to come) in cyberspace. Take a look at the February 2005 archives of Goanet for instance.
Incidentally, in an article titled A Time To Publish published in the Economic and Political Weekly (Mumbai) issue of February 26, 2005, Rochelle Pinto makes some interesting points indeed.
EPW says the “article discusses two sets of pamphlets that appeared towards the end of the 19th century in colonial Goa, in an attempt to show how precedents and norms established by European print were not exactly reproduced in the colony. The function of print and the genre of pamphlets, in particular, were altered by class difference, caste hierarchies and the context in which rural and urban politics functioned in Goa.”
Quote: “Increasingly, in the early decades of the 20th century, the monopolies and usurpation of land rights by nadkarnis, kulkarnis, and other dominant castes began to be challenged across villages in Goa. In the Old Conquests of Goa, the territories conquered from 1510 on, the institution of the ‘communidade’, which administered village land through councils whose membership was hereditary, male, and usually upper caste, was particularly strong. Rising literacy levels among sudras had, however, resulted in their growing visibility among groups of litigants in Goa. Salaried employment outside Goa had enabled sudras to use print to supplement litigation for land-rights. Within Goa, the form of the pamphlet was considerably altered when they adopted it to challenge the monopolies of kulkarnis, nadkarnis, and their own village communidades.”
Surely, a very interesting and insightful read!

Indiamike.com where Goa is listed among the “major destinations”. Sometimes useful and interesting. The technology used to enhance communication is also neat. Have been posting there sometimes.

They have tonnes of money to offer when you don’t need it, and none when you need it the most. For long we’ve heard complaints that Goa’s credit-deposit ratio is simply too low. For every hundred rupees banked, less than thirty is lent out. Meaning, Goa’s poor levels of entrepreneurship gets even more badly depressed!
Check this link on Google.com for posts related to Goa’s C-D ratio.
Dunno if NRIs (non-resident Indians) really need loans to build homes. Anyway, the State Bank of India, the other day, handed out a brochure saying that just this is on offer. What a waste?
Anyway, to check the SBI sites visit StateBankofIndia.com or Sbi.co.in or even Onlinesbi.co.in. Caution: for some reason, the last mentioned site doesn’t seem to be working at the time of writing.