Patagonia, where’s that?

For PRINTED WORD

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Frederick Noronha takes a look at the growing number of memoirs by Goans, a compiliation of editorials, and a book on the monsoons. This weekly column on books in Goa also focuses on a photocopied, self-published model, and looks at a book that unravels what goes into creating a book!

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Biblophile-friend Dr Nandkumar Kamat reminded me about the upcoming release of a new book ‘From Goa to Patagonia’ slated for August 24, 2007 at 4.15 pm at the Kala Academy’s meeting hall. This not only sent me scurring to my cluttered email in-box, but it also saw me go off in a hurry to the Wikipedia to understand what this was all about.

Patagonia?

This was how that amazing online encyclopedia, the Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org), explained it: “Patagonia is the southernmost portion of South America. Mostly located in Argentina and partly in Chile, it comprises the Andes mountains to the west and south, and plateaux and low plains to the east. The name Patagonia comes from the word patagon used by Magellan to describe the native people who his expedition thought to be giants. It is now believed the Patagons were actually Tehuelches and Aonikenk with an average height of 1.80 m compared to the 1.55 average for Spaniards of the time.”

This book is by Alfredo Bachmann de Mello, the Uruguay-based Goan-bon son of renowned doctor-scientist Dr. Froilano de Mello and his Swiss wife. Some years back, I ran into Alfredo “Fred” via cyberspace, and we had many an interesting exchange till (I think) we disagreed in our perspectives and lost touch. He had then also drawn my attention to a book he published, explaining who the ‘real Columbus’ was. (Frankly, history not being one of my favourite subjects, I found that text a bit too complex to adequately follow.  That book of his is called “El Verdadero Colón” in Spanish, and in English it’s “The Real Colon: Columbus is a misnomer”.)

Head of the Lisbon-based Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias history department Dr Teotonio R de Souza, while welcome the growing number of Goan memoirs and autobiographies, gives a preview of the book’s content. He also refers to De Mello’s father’s possibly misunderstood role in representing colonial Goa in Lisbon.

Of the book, de Souza writes: “Despite some unpleasant memories, Alfredo de Mello does not display any hangover of colonial past. He revealed very early in life his conviction that all empires had their end! This understanding of history and his joie de vivre pervade his memoirs, giving them a seriousness and without making them dull.

“In between some colourful descriptions of his deft control of a pony galloping downhill at Matheran while still a child; a confrontation which ended badly for a cobra in his home compound at Altinho in Panjim; a rub of the ring of the Archbishop-Patriarch that left him with bleeding nose; and his first experience of the pleasures of Eden with a young British eve while a boarder at Bishop Cotton’s in Bangalore, there is much we can learn about social life in the capital city of Goa as well as about the wild-life in rural Goa of those years.”

AN EDITOR’S WORDS

On his sixtieth birthday, Rajan Narayan’s wife Tara compiled some 60 editorials he wrote over the years. These are from his Stray Thoughts series, and go back right to the 1980s.  This column incidentally featured in the Herald for some two decades each Sunday, before shifting to a two-page spread in his ‘Goan Observer’ tabloid, started in 2003.

Some read strangely familiar. These are all related to events
that happened in Goa, or Narayan’s interpretation of them.

Stray Thoughts, as his readers know, is a gossipy mix of comment, interpretation, misinterpretation and typos. It also gives a different perspective on Goa, and is also usually bold in saying what the other sections of the press wouldn’t dare to.

This is a very personalised story of a changing Goa. It includes the travails of finding medicine on a Sunday. MGP politics of the 1980s. A dog-shaped tabletop mascot being stolen from the editor’s office. His ire at a non-Catholic not being able to become the god-father of a Catholic child. A complaint that Mario Miranda wasn’t taking him (the editor) on a “guided tour of Loutolim”. And much, much more.

’60 Stray Thoughts 1983-2007′ is a 400-page book, reasonably priced at Rs 200, and published by the Rajan Narayan Felicitation Committee of La Campala Colony. It’s available in major bookshops here, including Broadway’s. Whether one is a fan of Narayan’s writing or not, it’s an interesting read.

It’s not just trivia though. There’s a mix of tongue-in-cheek writing, ire directed at politicians, and a record of events in Goa from a particularly Rajanesque point of view.

Builder and chairman of the Rajan Narayan Felicitation Committee 2007, Anil Counto has this to write: “Rajan, though a non-Goan (“bhailo”, as he is called) has always fought throughout his life for social issues concerning Goans.”

Well, that’s a different debate. But this is an interesting book.

MONSOON SCIENCE

Physical oceanographer turned meteorologist Dr M J Varkey of the Goa-based NIO has authored and self-published his ‘Science of the Asian Monsoon’ (pp 162, Rs 150, May 2007). What’s interesting is that some 5000 copies of this book have been published.

It offers an introduction to the monsoons, looks at the Goa case, and then shifts to themes like monsoon clouds and mosoon rains and monsoon disturbances (cyclones and floods).

Did you know that the Asian monsoon covers 23 million sq. km. of land, or that almost all Asian countries can be included in the core Asian monsoon sector? And check this: Panjim gets about 277 cms rain each year. But near the foothills of Goa, it rains over 400 cms per year!

Don’t get intimidated by the diagrams this book contains; it has a lot of useful information too.

GAUNKARS AND DEMANDS

My one-time classmate Savio Herman D’Souza from Porvorim comes out with these interesting booklets, mainly focussed on comunidade issues. One he handed over to me is ‘The Charter of Demands of The Gaunkars of Goa’ (April 2007, http://www.geocities.com/newagegoa)

I’m not sure about the soundness of the attempt by the comunidade campaigners to compare gaunkars with the aboriginals of Australia. But these publications throw up interesting issues and concerns. Of course, comunidades need to be democratised and made more gender-sensitive. But their shortcoming is clearly no excuse for them to become victims of landgrabbers in a political or other garb.

Check out these books, actually booklets, or contact New Age Society, 1140 Maina Socorro, Porvorim phone 2416573.

YOU CAN WRITE

Recently, I picked up a copy of Michael Oke’s “Writing Your Life Story” from Broadway’s at Sant Inez. This title (Jaico, Rs 150, 2006) explains “how to record and present your memories for friends and families to enjoy”.

It offers tips on how to plan your project, and get working on it; how to deploy writing techniques; and even the reasons for writing your life story. As the biographer-author says very encouragingly, “If you can write a letter, you really can write a book.” You might think this is an exaggeration; but after seeing the writing process for long, one can’t feel that it’s largely a confidence trick.

Why not check it out if you have your doubts?

Feedback welcome: fred@bytesforall.org, 2409490 or 9970157402

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XCHR’s OLDEST BOOKS   ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

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Xavier Centre of Historical Research, the Alto Porvorim Jesuit-run institution headed by Dr Délio Mendonca sj, recently put together for the GOMANTAK TIMES this list of some of the oldest books available at their library.

Says the XCHR: “All books are in good condition. The Library is open from 9.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 to 5 p.m. On Saturdays, the library closes at 1 p.m.

Miranda, Jacintho Caetano Barrteo, Quadros históricos de Goa, Margao, Typographia do Ultramar, 1863-1865, vols.3. (Portuguese).

Gracias, J. A. Ismael, Apontamentos para a história da representação provincial no Esatdo da India, Nova Goa, Imprensa Nacional, 1891, 49p. (Portuguese)

Gracias, J. A. Ismael, Agulha fixa da invenção de Jeronymo Osóri da Fonseca no século XVII, Nova Goa, Imprensa Nacional, 1882, 135p. (Portuguese)

Gunjikar, Ramchandra Bhikaji, Sarasvati Mandala, or A Descripation of the Maratha Brahmans, Bombay, Nirnyasagar, 1884, 172p. (Marathi)

Xavier, Felippe Nery, Collecço de bandos, e outras differentes providencias que servem de leis regulamentares para o governo economica e judicial das provincias denominads das Novas Conquistas, Panjim, Imprensa Nacional, 1840-50, vols.2, 600p. (Portuguese)

Danaita, Yashavant Fondaba Naika & Wagle, Ramchandra Govinda, The history of Goa, ancient & modern, Bombay, Asiatic Printing Press, 1873, 111p. (Marathi)

Gomes, F.L., A liberdade da terra e a economia rural da India Portugueza, Lisboa, Typographia Universal, 1862, 102p.. (Portuguese)

Xavier, Felippe Nery, Defensa dos diretios das gaõcarias, e gaõcares, dos seus privilegios, contra a proposta de sua dissolucao, e diviso das sus terras, offerecide ao ex. Governo geral do Estado da India, Nova Goa, Imprensa Nacional, 1856, xvi, 104p. (Portuguese)

Pinto, Christovam, Politica Colonial Internacional Estados Unidos da India, Lisboa, Antiga Casa Bertrand Jose Bastos, 1898, 284p. (Portuguese)

Costa, Antonio Anastasio Bruto da, Goa sob a dominação portugeza, 2nd ed., Margao Typographia do Ultramar, 1897, 305p.. (Portuguese)

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Tags: books, goa, reviews, gomantak times

From the screen, to the page… the story of Goa and films

PRINTED WORD

By Frederick Noronha
fred at bytesforall.org

When one tried to pick up a copy of ‘Location Goa’, it took me a couple of visits and more to actually get it. To be fair to Director of Information Menino Peres, he promptly handed over a copy when we actually managed to meet.

But one still doubts that this book — about the strange relationship between Goa and films (mostly Bollywood) — has reached the hands of too many readers. In Goa or beyond.

That’s sad. Like any government-published book, once the money is spent, there isn’t any great pressures to make sure that the book is actually read, leave alone sold. The 257-page hard-bound large-size book has a lot of interesting information, which makes it even more unfortunate that it doesn’t get — or at least hasn’t yet got — the audience it deserves.

Edited by journalist and author Mario Cabral e Sa, the book is obviously aimed at shoring up Goa’s case for continuing as the permanent home of the annual International Film Festival of India (IFFI). While the mela that accompanies the IFFI should definitely go and only adds to the overall irritation of the average citizen, the IFFI itself could surely add value to the overall package that goes into making Goa an interesting and attractive place. Provided that it is better organised, of course.

Building a link between the big and glamorous world of films and tiny Goa is no mean task. Given the flak the IFFI has got — from a section of the outstation filmi-industry, politicians who want to point to flaws, media-persons who fail to see the big-picture, and also locals upset by the added pressures in their lives — it only becomes all that tougher.

But this book’s editor, Mario Cabral e Sa, does it in style. He attains a readable book by choosing an interesting set of contributors. ‘Location Goa’ also has some critical voices, enough to retain credibility but obviously not too much to upset the government authorities that paid the bill for ensuring that it came out before IFFI 2006.

This tome throws up some little-known-facts about the film world’s links with Goa. Did you know, for instance, that since the 1950s, some 90+ films were shot in Goa? Or, we are told, that the legendary Prithviraj Kapoor was introduced to films by an illiterate Goan girl called Ermelinda Cardozo of Divar? Before finishing for the ‘day’ at dawn, I ended up reading Mumbai-based journo Jerry Pinto’s chapter on the uneasy relationship between Goans and Bollywood — in terms of how they get projected, that is.

This book continues to get peppered with unusual facts.

Whether it will convince the film-makers of the south or eastern India that Goa is a good venue for IFFI (they seem to be in a tug-of-war with the Bollywood lobby) is anyone’s guess. Would it convince locals that they need to take their own, little-noticed film links more seriously? Or, do cinematographic accidents of history make up for the lack of a film-viewing culture in a Goa where the total number of film-clubs, for instance, could be easily counted on the fingers of one hand?

Cabral e Sa himself starts off with his chapter to the lady the book is dedicated to — Ermelinda Cardoso (Sudhabala), “the Goan star of the silent movie era….”

Chapter 1 is titled “what’s so great about Goa?” and makes a claim for talking about the nice parts of this region. Next, director Shyam Benegal — who shot ‘Trikaal’ and ‘Bhumika’ in Goa — narrates his experiences. (“I visited Goa for the first time in 1967, a few years after its liberation from Portuguese rule. It was an extraordinary experience. Goa was both a part and apart from the rest of India.”)

Poet and editor Manohar Shetty writes about Goa’s first two IFFIs. Among other essays of direct relevance to Goa are critic Deepa Gahlot’s “selection of the 20 best films shot in gorgeous Goa”.

What Gahlot says almost in passing of the film ‘Bobby’ (1973) gives a hint of the unflattering manner in which Goans feel they’ve been portrayed in Bollywood. She writes: “The film had terrific music, and was a trend-setter in its time. Bobby dresses, blouses, pins, everything became a rage. And this updated Romeo-Juliet tale spawned many rip-offs. It was a huge hit, and one of the few popular films that did not turn Goans into caricatures. Bobby must surely go down as the most stunning Goan girl seen in films for all time.”

Shama Zaidi, who wrote ‘Trikaal’ and ‘Bhumika’, recalls her experiences in Goa, in another chapter. Gahlot comes in again with a chapter on “some of the biggest stars who pranced and danced on the sets in Goa”.

Jerry Pinto argues that Hindi cinema represents Goans as people “on the margins of society”. (“It is no accident that Goa surfaces often in the imagination of Mumbai. Since the arrival of the hippies in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it has always been seen as the place where one might see nude women on the beach. That myth may have faded somewhat — though a repressed city with a skewed sex ratio in a repressed nation is always reluctant to abandon such mythologies — but it is still seen as ‘different’, just as Roman Catholics are seen as ‘different’.”)

In another interesting piece, the late ad-man Frank Simoes writes about the making of The Sea Wolves, based on a World War II episode in Goa. Time-Out (Mumbai) editor Naresh Fernandes writes on Anthony Gonsalves and other Goan musicians in the Hindi film industry.

Andrew Greno Viegas, that great fan of Konkani film who died so early on in life just a few weeks back, has his take on Konkani cinema, a subject he had written an entire book on. Renu Iyer’s listing of 90+ films shot in Goa seems comprehensive.

All in all, a book with lots of interesting content — if you’re interested in films, in Goa, or in both.

One only wishes that after spending so much of resources to put together a fairly decent product, the Goa government would make sure it is visible, readable and buy-able in bookshops around Goa. Better still it would be if a PDF version could be made available for free download via the Net. Governments spending taxpayer money need to look beyond an all-rights-reserved copyrighted model for their publications. With alternative approaches, the goal of collating and disseminating this information would be surely better met!

MONTE GUIRIM

Talking about alumni publications, there seem to be quite a few coming out from Bardez. In part, one suspects, this might be driven by the expat interest in the ‘old boys networks’ from this region. You simply get more nostalgic the further you are from Goa!

‘Yesterdays at Monte: Jogging Down Memory Lane’ (Aug 2006, pp 78, Rs 100, Vikram Publications Limavaddo, Porvorim) is Edward de Lima’s book on St Anthony’s at Monte Guirim.

As he puts it: “Life those days was simple and hard, but we enjoyed ourselves in different innocent ways.” This book focuses on, among other things, lunch at school, annual concerts, Mocidade Portuguesa (there was recently an interesting debate in cyberspace over how one could interpret this organisation and its politics), corporal punishments, the school’s debating society, the “brown hair episode”, retreats, and the author’s teachers and classmates.

 

“Those Good Ol’ Days!” (pp 82, Rs 150) is the 2006 compilation of tributes from ex-students of students from St Britto’s, St Mary’s, and St Xavier’s College at Mapusa. It shares some articles in common with ‘Britto’s Retro’ (pp 208, Rs 50), which focuses almost entirely on St Britto’s.

Maybe alumni networks could play a more active role in building links and encouraging the growth of institutions that gave generations a quality education at a pittance. It’s nice to see so many active alumni groups, including from institutions like the Goa Medical College, People’s High School, Don Bosco’s in Panjim, Loyola’s in Margao, the old Lyceum, and others.

TSKK WORK

The Porvorim-based Thomas Stevens Konknni Kendra keeps on quietly and actively publishing. Recently, one came across two, slim inexpensive publications from there.

‘Dor Mhoineachi Rotti’ is a decades-old monthly (once even published from Karachi, Pakistan) in Konkani that focuses on religious and social issues. It is now out in a new format, and priced at Rs 10 for a single issue. Details from afonsoave@yahoo.co.in or mtthwalmeida@yahoo.co.in

‘Hansat Gayat Nachat: Bhurgeanchim Gitam’ (Pratap Naik sj, pp 52, Rs 20) is a tiny, pocketbook-sized compilation of poems in Konkani in the Roman script.

DON’T SELL?

Books published in Goa don’t sell. That seems to be the lament of those in the trade — specially writers and publishers. Or, some of them at least.

If we keep repeating this argument often enough, we might soon start believing that it’s true.

Miguel Braganza, a columnist for GT, commented recently: “We have few bookshops in Goa that let you browse through books before you buy one. Broadways at St. Inez, The Reading Habit at Campal and Golden Heart Emporium at Margao are the exceptions rather than the rule. Book exhibitions are still a treat in Goa.” Maybe one could add Varsha’s too.

Braganza pointed to some recent alumni publications — of Mapusa-based schools and a college — and said these gave “different perspectives of school and boarding life in Goa from 1946 (the Mocidade Portuguesa days) to the 1990s (Boy Scout camps and NCC days) that any person will enjoy reading.”

But he lamented that nobody seemed to be buying these. Even if books were being sold, was Goa reading them, he suggested?

Prominent never-say-die writer from Goa based in the US Victor Rangel-Ribeiro (vrangelrib@yahoo.com) joined the online-debate: “I agree that, with a few exceptions, even highly literate Goans do not count among the world’s great book buyers. That said, the books you cited might sell better if they are placed in more outlets than just one.”

George Pinto, a San Jose-based supporter of many a Goan cause, came up with another perspective: “Inspite of quality work, it seems to me three problems account for poor book sales: Goan apathy. Under appreciation of the humanities, arts, literature in the Goan community. No distributions network in the Goan Diaspora.”

He added: “I wonder how this can be solved.”

There are other problems too, one would argue. Goa-related books are hardly visible when published. They don’t get the reviews they deserve, in most of the local or outstation media. The market is small and scattered over a huge geographical area (the Diaspora could be a vital part of that market too, but reaching it can be tough).

Overall, the reading habit needs to be encouraged in Goa; and we have a long way to go here. But, then, we here too should be reporting a spurt in reading (like much of the rest of India, take the case of Hindi newspapers in north India) if Goa’s claims about the growth in literacy in recent years tally with reality.

But, greater visibility for the books is crucial. How will people buy one if they don’t even know it exists, or where they can pick it up from? Incidentally, one believes that Goa books should also become more affordable; nobody will pick up a copy at whatever price just because it relates to Goa.

Feedback welcome: fred@bytesforall.org, 2409490 or 9970157402

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Ten Goa books by, and for, children
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The Bridge At Borim
By Surekha Panandikar
Price: Rs. 14
Pp 79 /(1999)
A fascinating tale of the exploits of a young boy, Joze,
during the struggle for Goa’s liberation from Portuguese
rule. (Available from: OIBS, Mapusa)

Alfie Alphonso: The search for the mystical Crystal
By Odette Mascarenhas
Price: Rs. 175
Pp337 (2006)
Ever since Harry Potter became a phenomenon, more and more writers are trying their hand at the imaginary. Odette Mascarenhas has penned a story of a fairy godmother who enters the desolate world of a young Goan lad from Aldona village and transports him to the World of Magic where he tries to outwit the Dark Lord of Magic and his cohorts who are hell bent on preventing him from finding the Mystical Crystal. Will this book capture the imagination as did Potter? Recently published, it is too soon to tell. (OIBS)

The Sea Bird
By Mangala Anaveker
Price: Rs. 100
Pp 84 (2001)
A tale set in Goa, this book offers reflections on life interspersed in a fairly interesting narrative

Free From School
By Rahul Alvares
Price: Rs. 100
Pp.112 (1999)
Sixteen-year-old snake-loving Goan, Rahul Alvares, opted out of school for a year, to unravel for himself the mysteries of nature’s wonders reptiles, crocodiles, spiders, earthworms and turtles. This book reports Rahul’s thrilling real-life learning, which students and teachers will find enormously engrossing.

The Portrait
By Frederika Menezes
Price: Rs. 100
Pp.81 (1998)
Sensitive thoughts, ideas and oodles of humour by a young, bubbly spastic. She translates them in poems, which show a remarkable maturity as she shares with the reader her pain, dreams and cheer.

The Pepperns & Wars of the Mind
By Frederika Menezes
Price: Rs. 200
Pp 173 (2003)
A whimsical tale of a world wholly of the imagination authored by a young Goan girl.

Rebecca’s Inheritance
By Sushila Fonseca
Price: Rs. 55
Pp 189 (2002)
An adventure story set in Goa.

Elocution Pieces For Students
By Anita Pinto
Price: Rs. 25
Book 1: Pp. 102 (1995)
Poems and speeches for students of all ages to recite and declaim

Mathematics Manual For Children
By Pratap Naik
Price: Rs. 25
Pp.43 (1996)
Learn arithmetic in Konkani with English translations. Simple steps.

Aquaworld: The environment and ecosystems of coastal goa
By Theresa Almeida
Price: Rs. 270
Pp.267 (1998) LF
A resource book and activity guide.

Source: http://www.otherindiabookstore.com/index.jsp

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Tags: books, goa, fn, columns

Memoirs … of a voice from the airwaves

PRINTED WORD / On books in and about Goa
First published in Gomantak Times, Aug 2, 2007

This is about the most bizarre thing to do while encountering a book: try to read it from the ending! That’s just what I did with the autobiography of someone you might know, a lady called Imelda Dias. So one is still trying to put the pieces of the jigsaw together; but it was an interesting read.

Most of Goa of a particular generation — those around here in the 1960s and 1970s — would probably remember the name “Imelda” (or even Imelda Tavora). She then was the most popular announcer in the State, at a time when radio was the unquestioned king of all the mass media. (Forget about TV, which didn’t exist here yet, and newspapers were far smaller.)

So I began reading her book with the Epilogue. This chapter took me to my schoolboy days in the 1970s, and the music that Imelda played for all of us via the radio. It came through loud and clear on Sunday afternoons. It came on Friday nights. It came in the afternoon siesta time on weekdays.

All the names of the programmes sounded so very fresh — ‘Your Choice’, ‘Latin Rhythm’, ‘Your Favourites’ and more. Many readers would probably even recall the sign-off name “Yours truly, Imelda”.

This book is about the Goa that was, touching a bit on colonial Goa and the period just after 1961. Those were times of change and uncertainty. But they were nice times too, in a way. Imelda’s book tells the story of the Catholic elite of the times, the nostalgia with which it looks back, and life in the “good old days”.

Subtitled “An Autobiography of a Woman Ahead of Her Times”, this is also a story of a woman going against the trend, settling for a divorce in the 1960s, and facing the patriarchy of Catholic Goa of the times.

It’s a book edited by Margaret Mascarenhas, editor of ‘Skin’. Spiced with the gossipy details of Panjim’s life in the 1970s, parts of the book are very engrossing. But one couldn’t believe all one read, even if this only incited one’s curiosity to learn more of those times.

Besides her boarding years in Pune (then still Poona), this story talks about life in All India Radio, what it meant to be a political refugee of sorts in Salazar’s Lisbon post-1961, and stories of love and romance from another era.
 
It’s a good read for anyone who grew up in the Goa of those years, and one would not hesitate recommending it (2006, Rs 250, printed and published by Imelda Dias, pp 189, hb).

With an catchy title like ‘How Long Is Forever’ and a covered mostly in black-and-white cover, this is a book that would catch your attention. Strangely, it isn’t very well displayed in most bookshops. Friends I mentioned it to, had all not come across it either!

Learn Konkani

How do you sell a book in a scattered market like Goa, complicated by the fact that, despite our literacy, we are not quite a heavy-reading population?

Jesuit linguist-priest Dr Pratap Naik <pnaiksj at yahoo.co.in> recently announced that the TSKK Konknni Course Book in the Roman script will be released in the last week of September 2007.

At a special pre-publication price of Rs 175, this book is available — via post — from the Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr, B.B.Borkar Road, Alto Porvorim, Goa – 403 521.

Publishing travails

I ran into Odette Mascarenhas <odette.mascarenhas at gmail.com> via cyberspace, thanks to a brief mention of one of her books in last week’s column.

Writes Odette: “I would definitely help in any way I can to encourage Goan writers to reach their goal. I know how difficult it can be.” She is herself the author of two books. Besides the one mentioned last week, there’s “Masci: The Man Behind The Legend” on the famed chef Miguel Arcanjo Mascarenhas.

Rashmi Uday Singh wrote about the latter in businesstravellerindia.com: “It’s fascinating how a Goan
kitchen boy whose job was plucking 200 chickens a day rose to become world’s celebrated chef who catered to the kings and queens and viceroys of the world. Not only does his story come alive, you can actually recreate his food and have a taste of this legend too.”

But Odette Mascarenhas, from her experience with two books, has another less glamorous story to narrate. The first major hurdle in her work was finding the right publisher. Says she: “We have been running helter skelter to all the big names for over three years. Tata Press, Wilco, Rupa, Penguin, Jaico. While they all liked the idea, the question was: is it a viable investment. Very few Goans are known in this field.”

After publishing the book on their own, getting the book stocked and distributed — even in Goa itself — proved another challenge.

Says she: “Moreover… though space is expensive, it would be nice, if they (book outlets in Goa) could keep a small ‘Goan corner’ for writers to promote their skills (in local bookstores). After all if a fellow Goan will not help another, who will? Its happening for art, with exhibitions to promote local artists, but writing has taken a back seat.”

She adds: “The idea of having a read-out session (to promote Goa-based books) seems brilliant. They do it abroad. Maybe some shop could buy the idea?”

Online text
 
What the print world finds it difficult to do, the online world manages. A statement put out in cyberspace says that the entire Konkani Bible is now available online in Kannada script. See http://www.konkanibible.org/

Career books

In these days of competitiveness, when the world throws open a range of opportunities, are students in Goa geared up to seize them? At times when parents are willing to pay upto Rs 35,000 as annual fees for primary school, we could do with a better range of career opportunities at the adolescent level.

Two Goa books on careers made it to the bookshops recently. One was ex-Gomantak Times journalist Ilidio de Noronha’s “Careers: The Complete Guide” (Pp 178, Rs 150, Plus Publications, 2464687) and the other is “Choose Your Very Own Career: A Guide for Students, Parents and Teachers” (Pp 617, Rs 65, Basil D’Cunha).

The latter is an English-Konkani book. Both carry advertisements, making their prices more affordable to the
young, who would obviously be their main target audience.

Question is: will such books, which contain a whole lot of useful information, reach to the educators, students, parents, and school libraries — that can make better use of them?

While everyone gets worked out about “non-Goans” entering the State, and the buy-out of Goa’s land resources, we don’t seem as concerned about ensuring that our kids are competitive enough to take on the bigger world. Books like these are a welcome addition to those published in Goa.

Feedback welcome: fred@bytesforall.org, 832-2409490 or +91-9970157402

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Goa books, best-sellers

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List as per Golden Heart Emporium, Abade Faria Road, Margao-Goa. Ph.: 2732450/ 2725208 Email:
goldenbookstore@hotmail.com

• GOA: The Land and the People. Olivinho JF Gomes, National Book Trust Rs. 110
• 100 Goan Experiences Pantaleao Fernandes The World Publications Rs. 395
• GOA Romesh Bhandari Roli Books Pvt. Ltd. Rs. 225
• A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of Goa P. Killips Orient Longman Rs. 195
• Goa: A select Compilation on Goa’s Genesis Luis De Assis Correia Maureen Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Rs. 395
• Goa’s Struggle for Freedom Dr. P. P. Shirodkar Sulabha P. Shirodkar Rs. 395
• Farar Far- Local Resistance to Colonial Hegemony in Goa 1510-1912 Dr Pratima Kamat Institute Menezes Braganza Rs 200
• Goa Indica: A Critical Portrait of Postcolonial Goa Arun Sinha Bibliophile South Asia in associate with Promilla & Co., Publishers Rs. 495
• Goa With Love Mario Miranda M & M Associates Rs. 350
• House of Goa Gerard Da Cunha Architecture Autonomous Rs 1900

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