FN: Frederick Noronha’s blog

A young cyber-friend Jason Monserrate (jasonzcrazy at yahoo.com of Santa Cruz, Goa) sent in this interesting post to Goanet recently. It’s about a field I’m quite illiterate about (or chose to be so, since my schooldays, when I was intensely hooked onto following sport):

There are 4 test cricketers of Goan origin, two for India and two for Pakistan. Wallis Mathias and Antao D’Souza have both played for Pakistan in the 1950s and early 60s.

Dilip Sardesai, who opened the batting for India on the West Indies tour of 1971 is Goan. Paras Mhambrey, the fast bowler, who went to England with the Indian team in 1996 is originally from Aldona.

A number of Goans have played cricket for East African countries. Unfortunately, we do not know much details, due to lack of records available. A few names that are prominent are Jack Britto for Malawi and Alban Fernandes for Tanzania as also Lawrence Fernandes for a combined East African side in 1967-1968.

More recently, Rahul Keni and Saurabh Bandekar played for the India U-19 team. Saurabh played a vital role in India’s runner-up performance at the U-19 Cricket World Cup.

It is true that a state that has produced 52 internationals for India (excluding age group internationals) in soccer should produce atleast a decent amount in cricket as well. Swapnil Asnodkar, our best cricketer at the moment, is in the South Zone team.

Cricket is very popular in Goa, but it is the tennis ball variety. For some players, the transition to whites and pads and red balls is hard to make. Some fit in easily, but opt out to concentrate on academics or other career options. Another reason could be that the season-ball cricket culture in Goa (We have no Shivaji Park) is not as big as the some of the major cities in India, and very good players, lose out due to the lack of facilities and infrastructure. Incidentally, Goa is one of the top states in tennis-ball cricket in the country and has produced a fair number of internationals in this less glamorized version of cricket.

Besides VB Chandrashekhar, a number of former India players have played for Goa. Roger Binny, Praveen Amre, Nikhil Haldipur are a few names that come to mind. We have even had former internationals as Goa coaches. Balwinder Singh Sandhu and Kenia Jayantilal are a couple. The newspapers say Dodda Ganesh has been assigned the responsibility of coaching the Goa team and will be the current coach.

Getting international players and coaches will not help Goan cricket as much as having a proper and easily accessible cricket facilities, equipment and good pitches (not matted pitches) would.

There is so much potential for the cricket administrative brains in the state to develop enthusiasm for the game. A national level 20-20 tournament will go very well not only with the public, but also with sponsors, and with the sponsors and money around, you can expect the big names in Indian cricket to be in as well. Hong Kong has its own tournament called the Sixes, which is very popular. There is no reason why a similiar experiment would not work at the Panjim Gymkhana, arguably one of the most scenic grounds in the country.

Cricket should not go the hockey way. Today if you are a good hockey player in Goa, you need to go to Mumbai to get decent exposure and be noticed because to put it straight, hockey in Goa is gone to the dogs!

technorati tags:goa, india, sports, cricket, hockey, goanet

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On chat a few minutes ago, a friend in his ‘twenties was telling me something unusual. He said: “We asked 20 people on 18th June Road (Panjim’s main throughfare) on a Sunday
afternoon if they could speak Konkani … Only five knew or could
understand Konkani.”

Like many in most Indian states, Goans too are acutely concerned about their identity. About migration. About changes taking place here.

I describe myself as an “unpatriotic” Goan. An accidental Goan. One whose identity has been shaped by accidents of history (which I accept, but I’m neither terribly proud nor ashamed of). To me all languages are the same. All deserve support; specially smaller and endangered ones. If I were to support Konkani, it would be on this grounds alone.

So, I commented back: “It also depends what time you ask them this question! I think at 7 am at the Mapusa market, 2% would…. And at the Red and Black dance at Carnival 98% would.”

To me the issue is not ethnicity.

We need to accept a few things. People everywhere (Mumbai, Bangalore, Orissa, the entire North East, Kashmir, wherever) feel a sense of alienation from a growth pattern that empowers an elite and seems to leave the majority out in the cold.

Goa has long been a melting-pot, and will probably long be. The challenge is: how do we get more people to “speak Konkani” … to build up a fair and larger “Goan dream” (not one based on chauvinism and fear-of-the-other) and to make sure we have more us-and-us rather than just see things as them-versus-us.

Can someone help to maintain and correct this list of temples in Goa, on the Wikipedia? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Hindu_temples?
My listing came from ‘Devasthan Visheshank‘ (Special Issue on Temples) published by the Gomantak (Marathi) newspaper in June 2001. Please help weed out errors, and ommissions. Thanks! FN

PS: You could also create Wikipedia pages for these temples. As far as I know, only Shantadurga (Kavlem) currently has one linked to this page.

Goa

* Shanta Durga temple, Kavlem
* Manguesh temple, Mangueshim
* Mahalsa temple, Mardol
* Mahalaxmi temple, Bandora
* Ramnath temple, Bandora
* Naguesh temple, Kavlem
* Chandreshwar Boothnath, Quepem
* Saptakoteshwar temple, Naroa
* Rudresh temple, Harvalem
* Vimleshwar temple, Rivona
* Parshuram temple, Painguinim
* Malikarjun temple, Canacona
* Gomentashwar temple, Brahmapuri
* Mahadev Temple, Tambdi Surla
* Khandolacheya Ganapati
* Shantadurga temple, Nanora
* Brahmadev temple, Brahmakarmali
* Shantadurga temple, Kunkoliem
* Shantadurga Fatorpekarin, Fatorpa
* Shantadurga Cuncolikaren, Fatorpa
* Kamakshi temple, Shiroda
* Shivnath temple, Shiroda
* Vamneshwar temple, Dhavli
* Navadurga temple, Borim
* Navdurga temple, Madkai
* Gokarn Partagali Jevottam Math
* Tapobhoomi, Kundai
* Vijaydurg temple, Keri
* Laxminarayan temple, Kundaim
* Laxmi Narasinh temple, Veling
* Gomant Tirupati Balaji, Kunkoliem
* Shantadurga Shankvaleshwari, Veling
* Anant temple, Savoi Verem
* Aadhdeivait Shreekeshavdev, Ponda
* Dhareshwari Mahalsa temple, Dharbandora
* Shantadurga temple, Khandepar
* Kopal-Ganapati temple Kaswada
* Sainath temple, Borim
* Navadurga temple, Adcona
* Mahadev temple, Makdaye
* Dev Mahamaya temple, Dharghe
* Mahadev temple, Bondoomaal
* Gajalakshmi temple, Volvoi
* Gajalakshmi temple, Marcela
* Devkikrishna temple, Marcela
* Shantadurga Kumbarjuwarkareen, Marcela
* Mandodari temple, Betki
* Shantadurga Talaulikareen temple, Marcela
* Bhagwati Chimbelkareen temple, Marcela
* Shantadurga Verlakareen temple
* Shantadurga temple, Amona
* Kudneshwar temple, Kudne, Sanquelim
* Saibaba temple, Canacona
* Kaalbhairav temple, Dhargali
* Shantadurga temple, Dharagalim
* Bhagvati temple, Tuyem, Pernem
* Bhoomikadevi temple, Halarna/Alorna
* Ram Mandir, Colvale
* Dakkan Devi temple, Peddem, Loliem
* Morzai temple, Morjim
* Bhagvati temple, Parcem
* Devi Mauli temple, Menkurem
* Mahalsadevi temple, Madhlamaaz, Mandrem
* Narayandevi temple, Arambol/Harmal
* Kamleshwar temple, Corgao
* Mauli temple, Varkhand
* Bhagvati Sapteshwar temple, Mandrem
* Bhoomika Devasthan, Paliyem
* Azoba temple, Kerim
* Mahalaxmi temple, Corgaon
* Shantadurga Mauli temple, Varkhand
* Mahalaxmi temple, Paliyem
* Mahadev temple, Kasarvarnem
* Bhagvati temple, Pernem
* Kamleshwar Maharood temple, Corgao
* Pandurang temple, Sanquelim
* Radhakrishna Murlidhar temple, Sanquelim
* Datta temple, Sanquelim
* Lairayee temple, Shirgaon
* Lakshminarayan temple, Navelim
* Chamundadevi temple, Orgao-Pilgao
* Lakshminarayan temple, Narvem
* Shravani temple, Advalpal
* Maharudda temple, Mapusa
* Bhoomika temple, Saal
* Vanadevi temple, Mulgao
* Vithoba temple, Mapusa
* Venkatesh temple, Nanora
* Paramdham Omkar temple, Cunchelim
* Lakshminarayan Mahamaya temple, Nagoa
* Kalika temple, Kasarpal
* Kelbayee temple, Mulgao
* Sitaram temple, Dongri
* Adimaya Sheshti Shantadurga temple, Dongri
* Kamleshwar-Khapreshwar temple, Sada
* Mahalaxmi temple, Panjim
* Hanuman temple, Merces
* Mahadev Khapri temple, Belabai
* Damodar temple, Vasco da Gama
* Shantadurga Chamundeshwar Kudtoree Mahamaya, Quepem
* Shantadurga Lakshmi-Narsingh Sankhlyo temple, Sancoale
* Karmali devi temple, Karmali
* Lashminarayan IsvantiBrahan, Sada
* Vetaldevi temple, Poinguinim
* Nirankar temple, Mashem

technorati tags:goa, temples, list, wikipedia, india

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Photos above: At left, Shantadurga (Kavlem), most scenic… and (at right), a Marcela temple framed under a gate. Marcela is another village with literally dozens of temples (resettled there following colonial religious intolerance).

[Goa Science Centre Panjim, our scenic venue]

Saturday, Feb 24, 2007’s meeting at Goa Science Centre focussed on these issues:

* Demo of LUGRadio programmes via a Chinese-clone of the iPod. http://www.lugradio.org/episodes.rss Feedback: difficulty in following the programmes, and a bit of “excessive laughter” on the episode we were tuned into.

* Talking about devices, Arvind suggested the OpenMoko phone http://www.openmoko.com/ Notice to Developers: If you are interested in developing Free Software applications for the OpenMoko platform, please send information regarding embedded Linux projects you have contributed to, and the work you have done to coreteam@openmoko.org We had some hardware issues that set us back about a month. But now we’re back on track and should start shipping in February. All of our efforts are focused on getting the device out, so please forgive our delays in replying to your emails.

* Queries about web-to-SMS international gateways. Some suggested using Yahoo (only Windows compatible). BSNL is offering SMS within India for 40 paisa per SMS.

* Brief discussion about using ’sleep’ mode under GNU/Linux, while transporting laptop with a GNU/Linux distro.

* Fedora and its marketing strategies.

* Debate about new distros. Stanley is on the search for some.

* Some of us remembered Prakash Advani, earlier with FreeOS.com and now with Novell. He has an interesting photo blog. See: http://cityblogger.com/archives/category/photography/

* We also thought of the photography work of Tariq Sani (Nagpur) and Kalyan Varma (Bangalore), two other FLOSS techies. http://tariquesani.net/ http://www.kalyanvarma.net/photography/

* We had a brief discussion on the Simputer and also the plans of Geodesic, where Atul Chitnis is now vice-president See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/simputer The visit of Dr Vinay Deshpande to Goa was remembered too. There was a debate over the $100 computer (OLPC), and whether the it was really unsuted to India, or whether the opposition to it could be from those eager to block the spread of Free Software/Open Source among the younger generation. See http://www.laptop.org/ or http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Home

* Someone raised the question about the Mobilis. The Mobilis, is (was?) Encore’s inexpensive mobile PC http://www.engadget.com/2005/05/11/the-mobilis-encores-inexpensive-mobile-pc/

* Arvind was keen to get access to the book ‘Linux Kernel: In A Nutshell’

Apologies to the lady who missed our meeting, because we started late! Ashwin Naik phoned, and was eager to come to meetup (at the bhel-puri informal meet-up following the indoors meet at the Goa Science Centre, Panjim).

technorati tags:ilug-goa, GNU/Linux, FLOSS, goa, india, linux

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Goa’s Dabolim airport (above) has a non-existant public transport system. You can’t get a bus from the airport to, say, the state-capital or the nearest towns. (Unless you jump on a crowded ‘local’ minibus outside the airport.)

And, don’t believe that ‘official advice’ to pay taxis by the meter. Meters largely are non-existent. Anyway, despite this, I just felt like sharing a couple of photos from the airport recently. Any official reading this out there? Travellers to and from Goa (including the local population!) needs better transport infrastructure.

technorati tags:goa, airport, dabolim, india, travel, transport, travel-infrastructure

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The Saligao Institute [1] is now the properly inaugurated home to the Frank Simoes Children’s Library, that got inaugurated on Feb 24, 2007 at 5 pm sharp, at a function well attended by locals, a number of literary personalities, expat residents of Goa, artistes, and prominent citizens from across the state.

Besides Saligao-based Dayanita Singh [2] photographing the event, the small institute premises was this evening also host to such big literary names as Vikram Seth [3].

[Wikipedia says[3]: “Vikram Seth, born June 20, 1952 is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children’s writer, biographer and memoirist…. Having lived in London for many years he now maintains residences near Salisbury, England, where he is a notable participant in local literary and cultural events and in 2006 bought and renovated the house of the 17th century Anglican divine and metaphysical poet
George Herbert and in Delhi, where he lives with his parents and keeps his extensive library and papers.”]

Giselle Lobo, a US-returned expat, explained how initiatives had gone to improve the earlier dilapadated reading room. Some Rs 120,000 had been spent on the premises, and the library now has a collection of 1500 books for children, she told SaligaoNet.

Frank Simoes [4] remembered in the Wikipedia as one of India’s “most respected ad men”, was paid tributes on the occasion. His neice Manda Simoes spoke of her uncle as a man of compassion and generosity, deep spirituality and a “love for Goa”. Frank’s widow Geeta made the present possible to the village, where his family roots are traced to.
She recalled Frank’s fond memories of the place when he was alive.

In a brief presentation, children who have been part of the libraryand weekly reading hour explained what they enjoyed and liked aboutthe now-upgraded library, run by a team of volunteers from the areawithout official or government support.

Noted Indian cartoonist Mario Miranda [5], present on the occasion, handed out prizes for the draw-a-story competition which he had earlier judged.Prizes went to Delialah D’Souza (4-6 years), Nina Trivedi (7-10 years), and Preeti Gad (10 and above).

In what was to be a vote-of-thanks, social activist Mario Mascarenhas turned the tables around and made an impassioned plea to villagers to support the initiatives of Giselle Lobo. He stressed the need for broadbasing the volunteer initiative to ensure a firmer base to the ‘reading hour’ held weekly, and kiddies’ library. Four volunteers promptly signed up to do the same.

Mascarenhas also said that few in the village were actually aware of the art talent of senior citizen Isabel “Isa” Vaz, and urged her to extending the reading intiative for children into one for drawing too.

Earlier prominent Saligao-settled photographer Dayanita Singh narrated that Simoes had good-naturedly cautioned her, “If you don’t depict Goa in the way it should be, I’ll make sorpatel (a spicy local pork dish) of you”. Singh’s black-and-white portraits of Saligao have lent grace to the institute set up by village pioneers in the 1920s.

Late Frank’s brother Frederick Simoes, friends and others were present too.

Vikram Seth later presented two of his signed books to the children’s library — “Arion and the Dolphin” and “Beastly Tales From Here and There”.

This library offers children to “read a book, draw a picture, play games, have fun, learn more”. It is open everyday from 5.30 to 6.30 pm, with a special reading hour from 5 to 6 pm on Wednesdays.

Members and non-members of the Saligao Institute are welcome to participate.

* * * * *

SIMOES FROM WIKIPEDIA: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Simoes] Frank Simoes (b. 1937) was a Indian writer born in Mumbai. He studied at St. Mary’s School in
Mumbai and began his career as a writer with the Times of India, where his first article was published. After his initial foray into writing, he began to have his articles published fairly regularly.

Simoes was of Goan ancestry and left India at 19 to serve as a deckhand on a Japanese trading ship and travelled to Genoa, and later spent time in Europe doing odd jobs of all kinds. Upon his return to India, he got a job with Ogilvy & Mather as a copy trainee, and stayed with them thirteen years, three as a board director. He then started Frank Simoes Advertising Private Limited in 1970 and ran it for over twenty years.

He then retired from advertising and devoted gis full time to writing. His first book, Sale Forward Voyager, a biography of Goan industrialist Vasudev Salgaocar, was published in 1991 and gained him nation-wide recognition. Simoes was elected to the Hall of Fame at the National Awards for Excellence in Advertising 1991 in Kolkata. His best known work remains Glad Seasons in Goa, a work on Goa.

Simoes died of cardiac arrest on August 26, 2002. He had been suffering from cancer at the time. He is remembered as one of India’s most respected admen.

[1] http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/172607639/
[2] http://www.frithstreetgallery.com/singh.html
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikram_Seth
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Simoes
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Miranda

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I’m thrilled with Derek Cordeiro’s writing skills, as reflected in his blog. In a way, I could see myself as a mentor, a status he himself conferred on me vide this post titled “Be a flockstar”. It’s a status I would gladly accept, having seen Derek grow and go from close quarters over the past three, or was it four or five, years?

It would be immodest if I didn’t say here that most of the things he learnt, I don’t know about myself. So that makes me a mentor-by-accident. It was just by reading tonnes of magazines, trying out hundreds of CDs and DVDs (literally!) and keeping at it with consistency that Derek learnt.

It would also be unfair not to mention that Derek has been maintaining my computers (with near-perfection), even as he learnt on the job. Each time, he is reluctant to accept the little pocket money offered for helping me. And he has really good at his work… you just need to ask him how to achieve a certain goal, and you can expect, for sure, that he’ll come up with the reply in no time. The term “I can’t do it” doesn’t seem to be in his vocabulary!

(If you have one complaint against Derek is that he’s hardly a businessman. He would hardly bother about “commercialising” his skills, or going out of the way to cash in on them. So when I recommend him to someone else, particularly outside the village, one usually comes a cropper. Because he’s reluctant to go out there. Knowledge for knowledge’s sake?)

For understandable reasons, Derek is unsure of his writing skills. So I was working to convince him that… he’s getting to be good! Or, at least, is showing a lot of promise with his short, pithy, to-the-point technical writing.

Because he promised to do a review of a book that O’Reilly’s had sent us — if you didn’t know about their useful user-group programme, check the link here –  Derek pointed me to a URL where he had done the review. Take a look at Gimp 2 for Photographers: Image Editing with Open Source Software.

While on that page, I was pleasantly surprised to come across his other writing: Upgraded to Drupal 5 RC1, Waiting for Drupal 5 and modules, and Drupal 5. That these are interesting and well written, there’s no doubt.

What made me … grrr… a little angry was that Derek didn’t post these interesting issues to the ILUG-Goa list or elsewhere. What’s the use of knowledge and writing if it isn’t shared? And what more powerful a tool than a mailing-list to do this with?

Got to talk to him

technorati tags:reviews, mentorship, media, tech-writing, ilug-goa

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Just come across a copy of the National Centre of Advocacy Studies’ documentary by Atul Pethe (director) titled SEZ Arajakachi Nandi. It’s a documentary obviously released in Pune in October 2006.

One description:

The Indian Government in 2005 passed the preposterous Special Economic Zone Act to facilitate the growth of industries in various sectors byproviding them several incentives like tax rebates, freeinfrastructure, relaxation of labour and environmental regulations.Over the past year the Ministry of Commerce has approved more than 200SEZs. These projects are coming up in a big way in Maharashtra,Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, UP, Haryana and theCentral Eastern Belt of the Country.

Of the 267 projects, 50 are proposed to be in Mahrashtraalone. These would be spread over thousands of hectares in Raigarh,Nanded, Amravati, Aurangabad, Pune, Solapur, Yavatmal, Latur, Nashik,Thane, Nagpur and Jalna districts. Local communities whose lands arebeing acquired for SEZ projects have been voicing their protests.

In order to support the groups working on the issue andto highlight the SEZ struggle in Maharashtra, National Centre forAdvocacy Studies (NCAS) has supported the production of a documentaryin Marathi “SEZ -Arajakachi Nandi” made by film-maker Atul Pethe.

At first encounter (not seen it full yet), it seems interesting, well made, and while it has a rustic touch about it (of course, these are rural stories) it would surely be worth a watch. Not just for those concerned about the economic direction of “superpower”India and its implications for the rural poor, but for every citizen who is concerned about how the “other half” (probably much more than half!) lives.

technorati tags:documentary, films, sez, pune, ncas, india, rural-issues, rural

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Derek Cordeiro (who else!) has just helped me to set up a beta version of http://planet.goa-india.org/

Now for some fine-tuning and tweaking… it could take time. So please have some patience. FN

technorati tags:blogs, goa, planet, planet.goa-india.org

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Subramanya “Subbu” Sastry who created this fascinatingly useful tool called Newsrack has just sent me this note:

Could you change all newsrack links in your blogs (and del.icio.us) from http://floss.sarai.net/newsrack to http://newsrack.in ? Or, at least, use this new URL henceforth …

Sure Subbu!

technorati tags:newsrack, documentation, floss

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