FN: Frederick Noronha’s blog

Interesting announcement in today’s papers:

Fernando Peres de Costa to hold an exhibition of his paintings and artefacts at his Reve Lane, Benaulim residence. July 31 from 6 pm. He schooled at Loyolas Margao, shifted to Lisbon in 1951 fo rhigher studies in art at the Escola das Belas artes. He spent holiday sin Paris studying at the Ecole National des Beaux Artes, with evening sessions at the Louvre Museum and occasional visits to Prado Museum in Madrid. His stint with the German airlines Lufthansa saw him posted in Rio, Singapore, Bangkok, Lisbon, Bahamas, etc.

A guestbook of condolences for an expat Goan lady, Susan Pinto, wife of Tony Pinto (of Saligao) and mother of Leon, who died unfortunately early, in the US. Some touching tributes via cyberspace.

Check this Goa-Portuguese mailing list. Description:

People from the Indian State of Goa who are interested in speaking and keeping in touch with the Portuguese Language. Serves as a Portuguese Discussion Forum for Goans and those interested.

Vito Oliveira of Frankfurt just phoned to say that for the first time in the history of the Goan community in Germany, they staged a full-fledged tiatr on July 22, 2006 in Frankfurt. It was organised by the GAG, the Goan Association in Germany, and Roseferns troupe was there, to stage a good show. Just sharing this via this blog. Please don’t forget to send in your other news and updates. (Vito studied at St Joseph’s Arpora, and we knew quite a few guys in common — windsurfer Mark Butt, former electricity department Goa engineer Cip Fernandes.

Don’t know how far the bureaucracy will allow this to function, but
the Right to Information Act seems to be — at least for now –
getting implemented with some determination in some quarters. Check
out this site, and you’ll know what I mean.

For instance a message I was sharing with my colleagues on the Goajourno mailing list here had this surprising subject-line: “Information Dept’s affidavit termed ‘a bundle of contradictions, misleading statements, if not deliberate lies’.”

If you’d want to join a network of citizens looking at loopholes and
possible innovative deployments of this law, sign-up here.

Goa-FLOSS-Developer list has some 30 members already. Do join if interested!

Here’s what Dr Cornel da Costa wrote in his Recent items of particular interest on Goanet weekly review, that he puts out in the GoanVoiceUK newsletter:

Following the recent blasts leading to death and destruction in Mumbai, several Goanet posts have explored the origins and reasons for the bombs. Among these, an article, lIndia’s Indestructible Heart has received supportive comments. Hopefully, Goan Voice (UK) readers will endeavour to read the article soon.

The Mumbai blasts have also drawn strong support for a regional war but anti-war sentiments have also been expressed. With so much strife taking place the Middle East, where many Goans work in the hospitality sector, commentary on the situations from GV(UK) readers will be particularly welcomed by Goanet.

Find out about The Mollekars of Veling from an interesting account by Valmiki Faleiro. (See also here.) It is about workers on the land and their excellent native business skills.

Did GV(UK) readers know that Entebbe, Uganda, could have become the capital of Israel but for the (1917) Balfour Declaration? Find out about such a real possibility from fascinating posts on Goanet.

In an unusual but informative article by Celsa Pinto, titled Virtue in Vice: Opium money and the making of Panjim we learn about the strategic role of opium in Goa. Celsa claims that, “the transformation of the emerging capital, Panjim, from swamp to city…is the gift of the Malwa opium trade of the nineteenth century. This material is truly fascinating and an excellent read.

Finally, a ban, perhaps a temporary one, has been placed on tourists visiting the holy shrines in Old Goa during services. This has caused much controversy. Some agree with the ban unreservedly, but others claim that such a ban is not acceptable as the sites are World Heritage Sites. This view claims that, the status of the sites prevents bans and that, very often, tourists travel great distances to visit the sites and shrines.

More details can be found at the Goanet archives at http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/ Or to subscribe to Goanet, send an email to subscribe@goanet.org

Priya Shah, a student from Mumbai, writes in to say that she is currently studying her last year in Bachelors of Mass Media (majoring in advertising) from the K. C College in Mumbai. She adds:

One of the subjects that is taught to us Advertising in Contemporary Society. The Group Project that has been assigned to us for this subject is as follows. We have to study the geographical, social and culture issues in Madgaon (Margao) and Panjim and how they effect advertising and visa- verse. It would be very kind of you if you could also assist us in who we cold talk to regarding radio, TV and Internet advertising in Goa.

Sounds interesting. This is one project that could throw up some useful insights on a little-studied subject.

Jennifer “Jen” Lewis, a Goan lady-engineer based in Birmingham, seems to be having a ball of a time with what she calls Family konkani knock knock jokes

While reading these jokes, I ran into one of her newer mailing lists which I wasn’t aware of. It’s the GoanStudentsAbroad list on Yahoogroups.com.

And btw, Jen is also behind the impressive VascokarsUnited mailing list, meant to keep in touch people from Goa’s largest urban area and port-town. Beneath her name, I also saw a link to the esoterically-named IEIGLC That stands for the Goa branch of “The Institution of Engineers (India) Incorporated by Royal Charter 1935″. Guess the GLC stands for the “Goa local chapter” and it includes members with engineering degrees such as the AIE, AMIE, MIE and FIE. Oh fie, don’t ask what that all stands for!

PS: And, btw, you can find Goanet Careers here, and that list’s archives here

Interesting story, which came up via Digg.com: Delhi Government Phases Out MS Office, Adopts Free ODF-Based Office Suites To Save Licence Fee.

Digg.com’s posts adds,”LIC (HUGE insurance co that moved to RHL from Windows), Delhi HC & Nirvachan Sadan (Election Commission Office) Set To Follow. It was costing Rs 24 Lac pa (US$ 52k, equal to 10x ave of annual salary of engg. Bachelors recruited by any top IT co. in India).”

Check the original story from the Times of India epaper.

Only regret: there could be better reasons for opting for Free Software!