FN: Frederick Noronha’s blog

Ritanabooks.com has just announced a release of a title, Abbe Faria: The Master Hypnotist Who Charmed Napoleon. It’s by Diogo Mesana Fernandes and was released in New Delhi on October 22, 2006. Governor S C Jamir released the book at the Habitat Centre in New Delhi.

Rajat K Sharma read the excerpts from the book. Dr Yogesh Choudhury, a clinical hypnotherapist spoke on the relevance and use of Hypnosis, ["as discovered by Abbe Faria"] as a therapeutical tool today.

A press statement says: Author Diogo Fernandes spoke of the tremendous research that went into the preparation of the book. He felt that the book accurately brings out the trials and tribulations that Abbe Faria suffered during the course of his work with hypnosis. The book goes a step further to bring to life the philosophy of Abbe Faria. He felt the book must be read and debated upon.

Ritana Books publisher Rock Furtado said that the book is a not only a biography of Abbe Faria but it essentially covers the work that Abbe Faria did on the subject of past life regression and hypnotherapy from the perspective of a lay reader. The understanding and appreciation that one gets on reading the book is phenomenal, he said. And the claim:

“That Abbe Faria practiced hypnosis on Napoleon and others and got positive results, almost two centuries ago, would go a long way in bringing back this phenomenal and fascinating subject to the forefront.”

For those who might not know: Abbe Faria was born Jose Custodio de Faria on May 31,1756 to Goan parents, CaetanaVictorio de Faria and Rosa Maria de Sousa, of Candolim Village in Goa, India. A Jesuit [or so says the Press release!] priest, Abbe Faria was one of the first to study hypnosis scientifically. Faria claimed that hypnosis worked purely by the power of
suggestion, a thesis that is now accepted throughout the world.

And some more background: Faria discovered a scientific explanation for hypnotism and clairvoyance. He was also the first to propose a psychological theory for examining the phenomenon of somnambulism, giving the therapeutical suggestions in an extraordinary manner. Recognizing his contribution to the progress of medical science, Faria was made Member of the Medical Society of Marseilles-no mean achievement in those times for a non-medical person.

During his stay in Paris, he was the most talked about and written about [surely a Goan exaggeration here! --FN] subject of his time. He had praises and abuses showered upon him by newspapers in France and elsewhere. He acquired a reputation as a magnetizer and hypnotist in Marseilles.

Faria became a trusted counselor and friend of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Emperor was very impressed with Faria’s skills and vast knowledge of the esoteric science. Faria gave Napoleon the priceless French translation of Chinese manuscript The Art of War. Napoleon cherished the gift, learning from it and keeping it with him all through his victorious years. About a century later Dwight Eisenhower, the American President who made good use of it during his days as a general, bought the manuscripts.

Diogo Mesana Fernandes was born in Goa on October 9, 1942. He is a journalist and has worked with various newspapers in Mumbai and Goa. He contributes articles and stories to newspapers and magazines in Macau. His published works include The Golden Censer, Sir Richard Burton of the Thousand Nights and a Night Fame, The Goddess Who Came to Live Among Us: A Story of Mother Teresa. He lives with his wife in Macau, and has a son and a daughter.

Ritana Books describes itself as being

established in 1984 as a distribution house for books imported from the UK, USA. Gradually it has carved a niche for itself in the world of publishing. Coffee table books on Indian Air Force, published by Ritana Books, are high quality all colour publications which are available throughout the world. Recently, Ritana Books published Born Again by Dr Walter Semkiw, which became a phenomenal bestseller and a much written and talked about book in print and electronic media. The buzz on Born Again is said to be one of the highest in Indian book publishing.

Goa’s scenic shrines: The Temples of Ponda http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/sets/72157594212460200/ 39 free-to-share (attribution, non-commercial) photos from Goa.

And do check out Rajan Parrikar’s scenes of the narkasur night:

In Hindu mythology, the cruel Narkasur got his just desserts at the hands of Lord Krishna. After a night of boisterous merrymaking the effigies of Narkasur are consigned to flames in the small hours of the morning, ushering in Deepavali (aka Diwali). Goans take their Narkasur-making technology seriously. The tableaux exhibited in the hinterland, home to the traditional artists and craftsmen, are particularly arresting. The images presented here are from in and around the city of Panjim and may serve to convey the flavour of the night.

When I searched for “Goa” and “India” on Project Gutenberg, I found
240 books showing up. [http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/results]

Many seem related to the history of the Philippines, and there’s one
titled “The Pirates of Malabar, and an Englishwoman in India Two
Hundred Years Ago”.

Snake-enthusiast Rahul Alvares’ “Free from School” (feel happy I
convinced him to put it up there) is available there too.
[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10347]

Here’s another book that could have some relevance to Goa: Prince
Henry the Navigator, the Hero of Portugal and of Modern Discovery,
1394-1460 A.D. With an Account of Geographical Progress Throughout the Middle Ages As the Preparation for His Work. [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18757]

There are books related to Macao and Akbar showing up too. Interesting! Didn’t someone say “sharing knowledge is power”? Incidentally, you could help this project by proofreading just a single page a day [http://www.pgdp.net/c/]

Following Dr Nandkumar Kamat’s article on the St Estevam hill-cutting and its references to the local laws, a friend asked for details of Goa’s Town and Country Planning Act. I searched online, but obviously it wasn’t there.

But the citizen’s charter is here:
[http://goagovt.nic.in/charter/files/town_country/index.htm]

It’s really very, very sketchy. I was shocked to see how little
information they have online!

Congrats to our colleague Satish Kashinath Naik whose daughter Manasi marries Shardul on Nov 7, 2006 at Mahalsa Temple. I knew Satish’s kids… Manasi and Harsh… as real kids. To rag me, Satish would prompt Harsh to call me “Father”. Which he would do dutifully This was maybe a decade-and-half ago. Recently, I learnt that Harsh was the classmate of a friend studying electronics. How time flies all the more reason to use it wisely… Here’s wishing Satish, his wife and the family all the best.

My Goan friend based in the US Rajan Parrikar (we actually start off with verbal dues and skirmishes in cyberspace!) has some great pictures of the narkasur festival from Goa. Check out Rajan photo pages on Parrikar.org.

Rajan is currently in Goa. He’s a GEC (Goa Engineering College) alumni, and take a lot of interest in Indian music, a topic he’s well versed with.

Needless to say, we have strong differences in understanding Goa’s current politics! Rajan is also very deep into Usenet newsgroups. (Sometimes it’s lonely on soc.culture.indian.goa — because of the strict, moderated, news-only ontopic-only policy of that network. And also the fact that Usenet newsgroups are kind of old technology… not very popular nowadays! It’s a kind of prehistoric animal, except that it’s good to archive news and such posts. Sometimes.)

Helene Derkin sent me this note: “Hi there, Sethu is having another ‘Sethu Sunday’ which is an excellent opportunity for you to donate all unwanted items from your house and pick up some new ones! (this does not include spouses, pets or in-laws!! )

“Please have a sort out - any ‘unwanted’ or duplicate gifts we could do with for our raffle and for prizes for the activities. Household items are much appreciated as is anything ‘good as new’. Once you have a bag or box sorted you can either drop it to Sethu, my place or one of the volunteers will come and collect it. Couldnt be simplier so spend 30 minutes over the weekend sorting out that cupboard that you’ve always been meaning to but got havent got around to and start donating!”

A soft-copy of a poster she included said: “Sethu Sunday 2006 jumble sale. 29 October 2006. 9 am to 6 pm. Venue: 32 Defence Colony, Porvorim (terrace). To donate/volunteer, contact Shalini tel 651 3749. Sethu Centre, Caculo Colony, Miramar.” Sethu is the child development and family guidance centre. One of the interesting but untold stories of our times in contemporary Goa is about citizens initiatives… which sometimes do work!

Nice page (brief but informative) that I came across
http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adesouza/

Andre is doing his second year of his PhD at Stern Finance. and he’s talking about:

* Perl scripts
* ImageMagick’s convert
* Picasa
* PDF output from his Gauss programs
* A perl script he wrote “to automate the TEX-ing of output and the writing of
it to a destination accessible to a browser, which has saved me so much
work it’s unbelievable.”

He writes: “I am a Goan from Goa. My home is in Nachinolá, but I spend a lot of time in Anjuna. No, I don’t spend my time getting drunk (the two times I’ve gotten near-drunk, I was in New York), or doing anything unbecoming. Though of course, that depends on how you define unbecoming. My view of Goa is home. Take a look at some pictures.”

Bombay Jesuits… a whole lot of Goan-sounding names. Probably some are. http://www.bomjesu.org/whoswhere/index.htm

Arnold Noronha copied this mail to Goanet and me, saying “the source of this yarn is unknown”.

Our friend from Moira, Juze Bostiaum, appeared on Kaun Banega Crorepati, the famous ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ hosted show. Juze had miraculously reached the end of all the rounds by saying all his Rosaries & Novenas and finishing all his feni. “You’ve done very well so far,” said Amitabh “but for Rs. 1 crore you’ve only got one lifeline left - Phone a Friend. Everything is riding on this question…will you go for it?” “Sure,” said Juze. “Aum ek last chance marta!”

“OK….. The question is…. “Which of the following birds does NOT build its own nest? (a) Robin, (b) Sparrow, (c) Cuckoo, or (d) Crow”

“Heje mainchem cazar… I not knowing dat,” said Juze,”so better use my last lifeline and phone to my friend Pedru Pochok (Actual name: Pedro Pacheco) from Mumbai. He is Goenkar, but he is a Bandra boy and born and brought up in Mumbai so he’s too smart -real shaana buggar.” Juze called up his friend in Mumbai, told him the circumstances and repeated the question to him.”Arree Baba Anton!” cried Pedru, “Sarko Endo Mure Tu, Simple it is…it’s a cuckoo.”

“Ah-vois, sure mure Pedru?” asked Juze.

“Arrre baba hundred percent sure re! Pakka!”

Juze hung up the phone and told Amitabh Bachan , “I tell Cookoo.”

“Is that your final answer?” asked Amitabh Bachan.

“Sarkem Sure murem, Sir!”

There was a long, ???????..long pause,????????. then Amitabh Bachanscreamed, “Cuckoo is the correct answer! Juze, you’ve just won Rs. One Crore!!!”

The next night, Juze threw a big party for all the people from Moira at the Moira Club. Pedru was specially flown in from Mumbai as the Guest of Honor for helping him win the jackpot.

At the time for speeches, Juze takes the mike and asks Pedru, “Saang mure, Pedru, whotold you? How you know cookoo is not building its own nest? Otherwise you are sarko bondo and you know nothing about birds…. Your Fadder or ticher (teacher) taught you ah-what???”

“C’mon yaaar! Baskya! What yor saying?” laughed Pedru.”You Goan Paos are sometimes such daffars men…. Everybody knows a cuckoo lives in a clock.”

Very interesting! I found it real funny! Vaguely remember coming across it before. My cluttered undefraged brain is understandably just forgetful. But has it got more embelleshed with time? That would be interesting. Maybe Arnold could call for a contest with a Re 1 prize on to see who can garnish it even further. The Cecil Pintos would be banned, though.