Religion change and caste equations in India

DOES CONVERSION to a new religion change caste equations in India? Do social customs and traditions change with religious conversion? Or do Indians continue with their Hindu customs and traditions despite conversions?

 

These are some of the questions my foreign friends pose to me when the topic of religious conversions comes up. I say, Indians certainly do follow their Hindu customs and traditions despite conversions.

In fact, in the western Indian state of Goa, Christians continue to follow the age-old Hindu practices and traditions of their forefathers, who converted to Christianity in the 16th century, and take part in Hindu rituals and festivals.

Fathom this: Tony Fernandes’ forefathers converted to Christianity in the 16th century but the 48-year-old Fernandes still carries on the practice of visiting the Hindu temples and seeking blessings from his village deity - Shri Shantadurga Kunkoliarin. The practice is in conflict with the Catholic Church, which comes down heavily on idol worship and demands loyalty to only one god.

Fernandes is not alone. Hundreds of his fellow villagers, following the customs of their forefathers, regularly visit the Hindu temples to evoke the blessing of their village deity - despite conversions.

But there is a broader spectrum to Fernandes and his fellow villagers’ fling with Hindu beliefs.

Fernandes hails from a village that boasts of a unique history. Tales of bravery and the valour of the people of Cuncolim, a small village in Goa, are recounted many times when the state experiences injustice.

The residents of Cuncolim tried to ward off Portuguese missionaries, who were propagating forceful conversion to Christianity in 1583.

The efforts of the Portuguese to force mass conversion on the residents and to desecrate the temples resulted in the shifting of the village deity from Cuncolim to Fatorpa.

One of the traditions that the Christian converts from the village take part in together with their Hindu brothers is the festival of umbrellas (locally called Gulalustav - festival of colours), also known as the Sontreo (umbrella) procession. It is a pompous occasion with great significance for the local residents.

The festival falls on Panchami day in the month of Phalguna on the Hindu calendar, which usually comes in the month of March. This day has an added meaning to the devotees, who commemorate the return of the deity from Fatorpa to Cuncolim in a festival spirit. The deity is brought back along the same route it was moved to Fatorpa.

Young men of the village brave the heat to complete the five-kilometre procession in the company of the deity. The procession consists mostly of men, who wear traditional headgear and colour their bodies with dye. The procession begins at noon and reaches Cuncolim at around 3 pm.

The colourful and ceremonious procession makes its way to Cuncolim to the beat of traditional music accompanied by 12 silken umbrellas, one of which is completely red in colour.

Once in Cuncolim, young people dance with the umbrellas to music while devotees take blessings from the deity, which is doled out by Hindu priests. The umbrellas are propelled to a height of ten metres (11 yards) by bamboo sticks.

The dancing ends around 5:30 pm, when the deity is taken back to Fatorpa along a different route.

The 12 umbrellas represent the 12 clans or patrons of the temple at Cuncolim.

“The umbrellas are strong symbols of the common history and kinship of the villages, continued common devotion to a powerful goddess and the existence of a common Goan culture that has existed for centuries,” wrote Paul Newman, in a paper titled ‘Konkani Mai Ascends the Throne’. (Konkani is the official language of Goa.)

The Portuguese government, at the request of the then-patriarch Antonio Sebastiao Valent of the Roman Catholic Church, forbade the traditional procession. The ban was subsequently lifted in 1910 after the Portuguese republic was set up.

Sara's poverty escape; Muslim-catholic interreligious marriage in India

 

 

“I fear for the safety of my step-brother and my father,” said Qatar-based Sara in a trembling tone to her friend speaking at the other end of the telephone line from Mumbai.  She was conveying her terrible news that she had feared for a long time - the elopement of his brother Bashir with his Hindu girl friend Sunita. The dangerous fallouts of the Hindu-Muslim love affairs in the highly volatile communal sensitive city of Mumbai are well documented in the several religious related riots that the city has witnessed in recent years.

If Sara had concerns over the safety of her family in Mumbai , she was perfectly justified in having them.

She had valid reasons for that as the entire locality in which Bashir and his family lived were Muslims while Sunita who lived a few meters away in another pre-dominant Hindu locality. The Hindu locality where burning with fire as the elopement of the Hindu girl with a Muslim boy.  Sara herself went through the cycle of nearly creating a communal riot through her love affair with Christopher Columbkar Vas seven years back.

Her escape route from Mumbai to Dubai was planned to perfection by her husband’s family.

Sara had a huge task to accomplish when she married Christopher Columbkar Vas. Theirs was a mixed religion marriage, a union involving not just union of two individuals from diverse backgrounds, class difference but from two different religions.

English and Hindi language was the unifying common factor. Making their families to accept their union and to bless them in walking and taking the first steps down the aisle was a difficult job which bogged them.

The opposition came not from the girl’s family but from the boy’s side.

A few factors weighted down the mind of the groom family- the age difference between the two of them- 13 years, her Muslim religion, the social status of her family- they were slum dwellers and a few more irritants needed to be set aside. Instead of allowing the tempers to blow hot and cold over their love affair, they took the flight from Mumbai to Dubai and it is in the sin-city that their love bloomed.

Christopher Columbkar Vas was bowled over by the smile of this shy teenage girl everything time  he was returning from church on Sundays. The casual smiles were pushed to the back burner, as the two  starting exchanging notes in Hindi. So they met for their first date.

Christopher Columbkar Vas overlooked the fact that when he kissed her on their first date her protruding front teeth were certainly an irritant and a disturbing factor for him, a person for whom  kissing was a seasonal game, which he had played with many partners over the years. But as he was turning into his late thirties, finding a life partner for him from his Mangalorean Christian community based in Mumbai and Karantaka was a difficult proposition for his family and friends.  His family scanned for good educated girls for him in their community but without success.

So Christopher Columbkar Vas the love affair was a blessing in disguise who had by now given up hopes of getting married.

So every time Sara smiled her face will take one to a scene from an English horror movie. But it was her glowing skin colour and her tender age for which Christopher Columbkar Vas fell for.

But the biggest obstacle for Christopher Columbkar Vas’s family was Sara’s religion.

Majority of the Muslims in India are looked down upon in society, only a few ones have broken and fraught off the dogged system, come out through the poverty which have followed them for generations. Only a minute number of Muslims have reached the upper echelons of Indian society and are enjoying the fruits of its economic growth. Most of the lower lefts over jobs are taken up by the poor Muslims in big cities like Mumbai.

Sara’s family migrated somewhere from Bangladesh and stayed  in a tin-roof structure in Mumbai. As illegal migrants into India, they easily assimilated into the Indian crowds and now into their third generation had by now become legal Indian citizens thanks to the vote bank politics of India.

 

But the tin roof structure in which they lived was constantly at the mercy of the Municipal authorities, like young Slumdog Millionaire actors from Mumbai houses have been razed by the authorities in Mumbai.

Her father was a carpenter and had two wives. An Indian Muslim can have three wives at a time, under the Mohammedan law which is applicable to Indian Muslims while the rest of the Indians can have only one wife at a time.

 

Sara and his two sisters stated along with his other step brother and sisters in a dwelling which they called home.
They grew witnessing constant fights between their mother and their step mother. They were not in agreement in sharing their man Mohammed Mushtaq and sometimes the fight was over sharing the money he brought home at the end of the day.

Poverty and its associated pangs made them wage a battle for survival. Getting a decent education was a mirage. Two of the elder sisters did not complete their elementary school education. But Mumbai which is known as the city of the dream gave them ample opportunities to chase their dreams.

One by one the girls went chasing their dreams; the two elders’ ones went chasing the petro dollars. The first one went to Bahrain the second one followed to Dubai the Sin city. In the City of sin Sara found money in the company of many man. But love and prestige was what is aspired. It was when Viajy came into his life the crystal ball which she had in her hand changed its trajectory.

She was determined to hit the right places and made sure its impact remain for long. Christopher Columbkar Vas was one of her many targets.

Christopher Columbkar Vas’s mother a devout catholic that she was brought up all her children in pious Christian ways and she did want her son to be lured by a Muslim woman. But what made her reluctantly accept her was Sara’s kneeled appeal to her not once but many times.

“ I will take good care of your son now and forever. Do not be worried on that count. I am converting myself to Christianity. I will learn the religion inside out. Christopher Columbkar Vas is also going to help me. I am trying to learn Konkani, so people in the Persian Gulf do not know that I was once a Muslim and from Mumbai. I will be a good obedient and faithful wife now and forever to Christopher Columbkar Vas.”

Five years later, if Sara had escaped from the fury and rage of his Muslim brothers in Mumbai to marry Christopher Columbkar Vas and life in the Sin City, his brother Bashir has no such alternatives. He is torn between his religion and his finance’s Hindu believes.

He knows that he is sitting on a potential time bomb ready to explode. It is a volatile situation for him and all the more is he and his family is vulnerable to the mob fury as they reside tin Mumbai which has seen many a Hindu-Muslim riots. Inter religious marriages between two communities have provided the spark to the communal fires.

Till then Sara remains a worries sister and a daughter. She successfully tamed the ruffled feathers of her Muslim brothers in Mumbai with her marriage to Christopher Columbkar Vas, whether he would be able to do it as and when he gets marries remains to be seen.

But for now the love birds are meeting secretly knowing that love secrets are hard to keep. The day Bashir’s love with a Hindu girl from the neighborhood become were the talk of the  town then the agonies of Bashir and his household would multiply. With the elopement the test has come for Bashir and families the next few days will a testing time for all related with blood ties with Bashir.

 

 

 

 

Goans explore Europe through Portuguese citizenship

Thousands of Indians from the Portuguese colonies have gone to Europe and settled there after acquiring Portuguese citizenship. A Portuguese citizenship, gives them passage to work and settle anywhere in Europe as European citizens.

Remdious Rodrigues, a former Goa Shipyard employee - a government undertaking  is on his way to UK with a stopover in Portugal to collect his Portuguese passport and become a Portuguese citizen after surrendering his Indian passport. He is a step away from giving up his Indian citizenship in search of his European dreams.

 

The 50-year-old Indian from the holiday resort state of Goa who has his family of wife and children still based in Goa did not have to make rounds at the immigrations offices of the UK embassy in India, but pursued his English dreams through the Portuguese connections. Goa was a former Portuguese colony till 1961, until the Indian army liberated it, on December 19 that year.

 

An Indian born in that country and who has spent his entire life in India can he become a European Union citizen, is the immediate question, which comes to mind. For some with no connection to history Indians opting for Portuguese citizenship may seem strange. But this is the route, which Indians from the western state of Goa and union territories of Daman and Diu have been exploring to further their European dreams.

 

Yes, people from the former Portuguese colonies in India, which includes Goa, Daman, Diu, Nagar and Haveli can exercise the option to become citizens of Portugal subject to certain conditions.

 

Rodrigues is not the lone Indian who has opted for Portuguese citizenship. There have been hundreds and thousands of Indians from the Portuguese colonies that have gone to Europe and settled there after acquiring Portuguese citizenship. A Portuguese citizenship, which gives them passage to work and settle any where in Europe as European citizens.

 

For most Goans the most favoured destination is UK. Rough estimates indicate that there are more than 50,000 Portuguese Goans in England. The reason for favouring England over other countries is the language, which the Goans find ease to adjust, while the residents from Daman and Diu have settled in different countries.

 

But in recent times with Bulgaria and Romania joining the European Union, the migrant workers from India are facing competition in the cheap unskilled labour market, informs recently migrated England based Goan Anthony Baretto saying, “Early days in England are certainly a struggle.”

 

What are the benefits one gets of being part of the European Union by joining the club - citizens gain the right to move in the world’s largest cross-border job market.

 

Even as UK deliberates to keep a check on illegal migration to the country more and more people are registering online to get an appointment to submit their documents to the Portuguese Consul-General in Goa.

 

The process of securing appointment itself takes close to one to two years, informs Wilson Coutinho, a resident of Goa who tried last week to log in on the site to get an online appointment to submit his documents for Portuguese residency. With every day the backlog of cases is piling up at the Consul-General’s office in Goa.

 

Elaborate procedure put in place by the embassy before clearing applications take another one-three years informs Remedious Rodrigues. The process involved a lot of paper work and making rounds to different government in the last three years.

 

The tightening of procedures was necessitated after alleged gangster Abu Salem got a Portuguese passport through fraudulent means.

 

Interestingly Portugal has the largest numbers of people of Indian origin - some 70,000 people of Indian origin and Non-resident Indians.

 

 “Indian immigration to Portugal has happened in different waves from the 16th Century onwards. The first wave was the Portuguese ships, which carried craftsmen, tailors and others with specialised skills from India to Portugal. They have had a distinct influence on the architecture and culture of our country. The second wave was of Goan intellectuals who went to Portugal to study and then settled down and the third and most significant wave was in 1961, when the people of Goa were given the choice of opting for Portuguese citizenship,” says Constantino Hermanns Xavier, a researcher.

 

That was when a large number of Goans in administrative services and military officers immigrated. The people of Goa, up to the third generation, can exercise the option to become citizens of Portugal even now. The application process in such cases, however, is long and a large number of documents need to be verified. Sometimes applications remain pending for many months,” he adds.

 

 

Requirements by Goans to apply for a Portuguese Passport

Requirements To Apply:

All applications for Portuguese Nationality should be submitted to the nearest Portuguese Consulate of your area.

The following documents will be necessary for the Application:

1. For those born in the Antigo Estado da India before 18th December 1961:

Birth certificate and Marriage certificate (if applicable) issued by the Conservatória do Registo Civil de Goa, Damão, Diu e Dadrá e Nagar Avelí.
Same documents for the spouse (if applicable).
Legal Identification Documents (current passport). If submitted in Goa: valid Indian Passport or identity certificate with attached photograph issued by Mamlatdar/Sarpanch. Other identity cards can include a ration card or a voter identity card or a driving licence.
Certificate of Residency with full address and photograph.
Certificate of Residency indicating residency between January 1974 and December 1975. If you were residing in the ex-Portuguese territories in Africa you do not qualify to apply.


2. For those born after 18th December 1961:

It will be necessary to prove that their parents were born in the Antigo Estado da India (Goa, Damão, Diu e Dadrá e Nagar Aveli) and got married there before 18th of December 1961.


Birth certificate of the parents, marriage certificate of the parents, death certificate if any of the parents is deceased, all issued by the Conservatória do Registo Civil de Goa, Damão, Diu e Dadrá e Nagar Aveli.
Birth certificate and marriage certificate (if applicable) of the individual applying.
Legal Identification Documents (current passport). If submitted in Goa: valid Indian Passport or identity certificate with attached photograph issued by Mamlatdar/Sarpanch. Other identity cards can include a ration card or a voter identity card or a driving licence.
Certificate of Residency with full address and photograph.
Certificate of Residency indicating residency between January 1974 and December 1975. If you were residing in the ex-Portuguese territories in Africa you do not qualify to apply.


3. For those born after 18th December 1961 whose parents were born in the Antigo Estado da India before that date and got married after that date or got married outside the Antigo Estado da India:

It will be necessary to register their parents first or at least one of the parents according to number 1.

The Nationality Application of the individual can only be submitted after the full registration (birth and marriage certificate) of the individual's parents (or at least one of the parents) as Portuguese in the Registo Civil Português.

If the birth and the marriage certificates of the parents (or of at least one of the parents) of the individual are already registered in the Registo Civil Português, the individual just has to submit the respective references (numbers and year of the birth and marriage certificate).

Attention:

All documents written in English or any other language must be translated to Portuguese.
All documents issued in Goa must be certified by a) Public Notary, b) Collector, c) Under Secretary (Home)
All documents issued in Damão and Diu must be certified by a) Public Notary, b) Mamlatdar and Joint Secretary (Home).
All documents issued in Bombay must be certified by a) Public Notary, b) Mantralaya.
Incomplete documents or documents not following these instructions will not be accepted.
NB: These are not legal/professional translations.

This part applies to all applicants:


The reader must consult and refer to the nearest Portuguese Consulate and ask for detailed and up to date information before proceeding.
It would be advised to search for professional help as well (lawyer or solicitor).
Please note that Portugal allows dual nationality but not all countries allow and you should be aware of this before applying.

 

 

 

 

 

Sky bus project gathers dust in Goa

On one hand the progress chart of India has been hailed but the benefits have not percolated to the lower strata of society. The Sky bus project which is path breaking indigenously-developed technology is one example of the slow pace things move in the Indian democracy.

 

Indian infrastructure is facing the problems which any surging economy faces in its transitional phase. With rapid growth on the economic front, Indian transport system is trying to have grip over the situation, what with crammed roads, overcrowded trains and buses, being a usual scene in the metros and the major cities of the country.
 
The Sky Bus transport was taunted as one of the solution to ease the load on the congested traffic lines of the Indian metros. That was almost three years back when the railway minister dedicated the modern rail transport system technology to the world when federal Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav dedicated the Sky bus project to the nation on October 15 2004 in the western Indian state of Goa.

 

But in the intervening period, since October 2004 the   project has been caught in a dilemma with the indigenously-developed Sky Bus technology awaiting a nod from federal law makers on whether it should be introduced in India.
 
"My biggest problem is that the railway ministry has not been able to decide whether the skybus is a train or a bus. In fact, the skybus is ready for commercial use but for policy constraints," B Rajaram, the former managing director of Konkan Railway Corporation (KRC), had said before his retirement in Jan. 2005.
 
Sky Bus transport- what is that - is that is the immediate question which shoots up.
 
The Sky bus is essentially a fusion of a bus and a train. Its carriage looks like a bus, but it runs like a train, and instead of the compartments running on rails, they hang below the rails and slide 10 metres above the regular road traffic.
 
The new technology innovation is  Rajaram's baby and he holds   patent rights for it in the US.

A second, KRC Managing Director Dr K K Gokhale retired recently and he had these to say about the pending sky bus project which is awaiting the light of the day.
 
"The Union Cabinet has informally cleared a proposal to bring in legislation. But, the Bill is yet to be placed before Parliament to make it a law," he has said last month.
 
 Contrary to the views of its managing directors, the Konkan railway website mentions that  - Sky Bus metro falls under tramway category, under Art 366(20) of Constitution of India, since it operates along existing roadways and within municipal limits, hence excluded from Indian railway act.

 

The former MD of KRC Rajaram has been vocal in propagating sky bus as the one of the solution to decongesting the cities. "At Rs.50 crore per kilometre, it will provide the same services at one-fourth the cost of the Delhi metro. Unlike the metro, the skybus follows existing roads, thus reaching into the very heart of the city while decongesting the roads. Moreover, it can be implemented and commissioned within two years," he says.
 
The two-coach Skybus has a capacity for 300 passengers on a single trip and depending on the number of coaches, it is expected to handle 18,000 to one lakh passengers per hour.

But concerns over safety issue have been the major fears of the railway ministry on this untested technology and not so keen attitude to push things and they fear a black lash from the public if something goes wrong.

And the testing of the technology has come at the cost of human life and that's where the concerns of safety have been raised. On September 25, 2004 during a test run, the sky bus over sped and hit a pole-  one died and two others were injured.

"The accident most likely occurred because the bogey was heading at a higher speed than it should have. Also it oscillated to a higher degree than we had expected," KRC MD B Rajaram reported at that time.  
 
The Skybus does not really need a driver or an operator. When the Skybus approaches a station, it is supposed to slow down by itself and stop. The brake is only for emergency usage. In this case, the Skybus did not slow down, and the Control room threw the emergency brake which resulted in the accident. The accident happened on the 1.5 km test track in Goa.

 

Each part of the Skybus was made in India by contractors and corporate's like the Tatas and Essar provided construction material free or at nominal rates to Konkan Railway for building the test track in Goa.
 
The KRC has spend Rs 50 crore on this project at the 1.5 km testing laboratory at the Margao railway station, in Goa, as the new technology awaits a nod for its commercial use.
 
"Skybus is the story of Indian industry and entrepreneurs coming together to produce a unique thing," Rajaram had said.
Till then, the unique Indian innovation awaits the nod from the Indian law makers, on whether it will be best suited for commercial use or it will just rust out on the Goa tracks.
 
Why Sky Bus is an ideal solution according to KRC:

Follows the existing roads- but does not take road space- and be as flexible as a bus

Have rail based mass transit capacity, same as existing rail metro

Does not divide city while providing integration along its alignment

Be derailment and collision proof- with NO CAPSIZING of coaches- so that there can never be loss of life

Be free from vandalism

Noise free and pollution-free

Non-invasive -requiring the least amount of scarce land space- and not come in the way of development. 

Salient features of the Sky Bus

Heavy 52/60 kilograms /metres  rails placed at standard gauge floating in elastic medium and damped by inertia of measured mass held in a 8 metres X 2metres box enclosure, supported over a 1m diameter. columns spaced at 15 metres and located at 15 metres distance from each other, in the divider space in between lanes on a road- way, at a height of 8metre above road surface- provides the support and guidance for powered bogies which can run at 100 kmph, with the coach shells suspended below, carry passengers in air conditioned comfort, can follow existing road routes, while existing traffic on roads continue.

Aesthetic and eco-friendly, the Sky Bus can never derail, capsize nor collide- by design as well as by construction, hence is safer than existing rail-based system. 

With no signaling and having no points and crossings, it is a unique mass-transit system, which can be put up within two years in any crowded & congested city.

Sky Bus metro falls under tramway category, under Art 366(20) of Constitution of India, since it operates along existing roadways and within municipal limits, hence excluded from Indian railway act.

 

 

 

 

Russian blonde's seduction games in Goa

The sea waves were roaring at a fast pace nothing unusual on a rainy day. But the intensity and frequency deviated. Pedro's life, who sat on the edge of the beach had also deviated and swung like a pendulum over the years. He has seen the bad, good and ugly side of the beach and the beach bunnies over the years. 

Pedro was a seasonised beach gazer, his circular shining scalp in the middle of his big skull gave made him look he had look the Bishop whose pictures we were used to seeing in our younger days. To cap with his sparkling white hair he light green yes, a goatie beard with a couple of black hair thrown in all which added to his crescendo as a man of wisdom. He long forsaken his country of birth and made Talpon his home. 

Talpon, a sea side beach village where villagers lived off the sea, fishing being there prime business. Some indulged in toddy tapping and others were carpenters building boats for fishermen. 
Mystery stories surrounds the time and year when Pedro landed by in this village. But stories woven around Pedro were told to household children and instill fear in them. Some lullabies were scripted around him to put children to sleep by mothers. Yet, no one for certain knew him in and out. Until some part of the mystery came unfolding with his yoga classes. 

For any new comer to the village, Pedro from a distance looked a typical Taplonkar with his khasti (lion-cloth) to cover his private parts and drenching in the host sun anytime of the year. Years of tan in the sun had tanned him to give an Indian look. And he was proud of it. 

Life has had been unpredictable for this six-footer chosen loner over the last five decades in term of life-partner, it was in the last three decades he had found a new awakening in him and a new message. 

Before being marooned in Talpn, Pedro indulge in Hashish, Ganga and a host of drugs. But cut off from the outside world in the island he had no choice. One fine day his experiments of fermenting 
came through. He had found the formula to make wine from tomatoes. After having pots and pots of wine which he fermented from locally grown tomatoes he cultivated in the paddy fields, one day he got so sick of the routine and the hangover effect that he said to himself enough of the wine stuff. 

That day he vow to become a tea-totaller and continued to this day. But for that he needed scriptural energy to fight the monster of the wine which started in his face. He found one in yoga. 

Talpon has changed over the years, he was no longer the lone foreigner in area and the island which remained cut off from the main land was now connected by a bridge and thus had brought hordes and hordes of tourists to once secluded village and Pedro as the first foreigner in the village was 
just cashing in on the tourism boom promoting the form of yoga he had learned and practiced over the years. 

Five decades later he is a guru deliberating over a handful of his followers. A small bunch of them. All eager to hear his words. Sitting on the white silvery sands they were in the mist of the various postures that the guru was demonstrating to them. The sun was slowly gong down in the back drop of the Arabian sea. 

Some of them were gorgeous and tantalizing with sex appeal, Svetelana, a lady with a huge six plus frame with blonde hair was visiting the yoga session for the first time. She came from Russian. And like the tennis girls she looked stunning for her age 40 plus yet looked she was in her late 20's. Poor lady she made herself a laughing stock when she came to the guru and told she wanted to join yoga. It was not 
her looks but her dress which made others who were close to hearing distance that made them laugh. 

The black rope extended till her foot and unlike the abaiya, which the muslim women wear, hers was short sleeved one and she matched with a contrasting red hat. 

She was ready for yoga, in a moment being late for the class, she shed her black gown and joined the class, with just red knickers, shedding her gown and cap. She was the not the only one who had any inhibition of going topless in doing yoga. Several of the white foreigners were doing it, which she witnessed the day before when she came to enroll for the evening classes. 

With a perfect figure and matching dress sense made her a stand out in a crowd wherever she went. A sweet talker she could find her way through trouble and here in Talpon she was a Russian tour representative bull dozing her way to make fellow Russians stay in the village comfortable and a memorable one. 

She did not mind making odd Godfrey, Dominic or Shiva the local boys happy some day of the week. Here were the boys who supplied her local girls to his male customers while some of her holiday friends serviced the local boys. Theirs was a perfect batter system, which worked well for Stvetlana. 

Hers was escape route to India, from the harsh winter and form the mafia control which her business had come across in her home town of Petersburg. She had for long relished the idea of enjoying the Indian tropical climate. Having set the ball rolling on her first visit and having hooked a couple of boy friends in Talpon in her two-weeks stay, next season Stevelana move stock and barrel to frolic in the sun and sand and indulge in bit of sex in the village. 

Back in Russia, she was comfortable selling cosmetic goods to customers here in Talpon she was selling goodies in the form of good restaurants to chose, discos to patronize and arranging shopping trips besides a few thing which did not come under her preview. 

Stevelana went through the asana of the guru with sincerity. Perdo's disciples came from different directions at the beach side meeting points and no one knew the spot as it remained secluded from the Indian tourists visiting the place. One had to cross a height of six feet water during high tide to go the place and then additionally the hillocks acted a natural blockage keeping the group away from 
attention of the other tourists who frequented the beach. On her side was Harold, with long flowing hair and an equally flowing beard which he had taken care to trim and kept in shape. In striking contrast 
were his crumbled clothes which stinker of sweat. 

Terezina was the lone local lady in the group, two of her Stevelana's friend Abdul and Mark had come along with the Russian lady. 

At the end of the day's session it was time to un wind and change to discard the sweaty clothes and taking an opportunity to spring a conversion with the local lady, Terezina, Mark scribbled a note on the paper he was carrying and wrote "Your face is an endless wave in a big ocean. Your lips tantalize me. Your eyes keep me focused. You have mesmired me. Lets talk." At the end of the message was mark's mobile number.

Wind energy experiment gone wrong in coastal Goa

 

 

 

 

Haste makes waste, that’s what Charles D’Silva a resident of the coastal village of Kanaguinim in south Goa discovered albeit painfully some fifteen years back. His ancestral village which has not been affected by mass tourism till now , has had been constantly facing water shortage and low electricity voltage problems for the last several years.  And when the Norwegian company installed a wind turbine in 1993 to tap the wind as an energy source in the region, residents like D’Silva were happy.

A sea of change was witnessed in the area with the installation of the wind turbine. The water pump motors which behaved erratically earlier – dependent, as they were on the fluctuating electricity supplied by the government – started working smoothly and the power fluctuations were a thing of the past.

A state which depends for its power needs from the neighboring states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh

But the initial euphoria lasted for just over one year. Things went back to square one after a year. An after a couple of years, the wind turbine a gift from the Norwegian government to the Indian government had to be dismantled. In the present day, the wind turbine which held a lot of promise to the residents of the area has been confined to history.

“Immediately after the inauguration I remember the water pumps in the area were functioning smoothly. The whole village would have been getting power if more turbines were installed at the same place,” recalls Silva, a former tour guide who has now taken a plunge into tourism related business along with his Swiss wife.

The sleepy village surrounded by mountains on three sides and Arabian Sea on one side was once mine for its minerals some four decades back – but the same abandoned mines have been reworked on, thanks to the demand for iron ore from China. The Open-cast mining has added to the discontent and inconvenience of the local residents, which has been opposed by the locals. The villagers had two decades back successfully opposed the setting up of golf course, thus keeping out the mass tourism away from the village. The tourism boom, which has been attributed to the many vices that the Goan youth have been afflicted with in the present era.

Silva who earlier worked as camp boss for the Norwegian company said:“It was the government of Norway who came and installed it and it was running for a period for about 6months with the Norwegian people in control of the (power) station. The Norwegian people were hurt by the treatment met to them by the local government. The Goa government did not even provided drinking water to the people on the site. The local residents helped them in providing water to drink and to have bath, which was supply in plastic cans. What a pity they were treated in this disdainful way.”

The Norwegian personnel contract was to teach and train the Goan electricity department personnel to mane the station. But sadly that did not came about but experiencing frustration and non cooperation from the Goan authorities they decided to close shop before the one year period and left after six month, recalls Silva..

“The saddest part was the Indian(Goan) guys could not even replace the fused on top of the tower, which in resulted in continuous breakdown and finally the owner of the land came in the picture to get the non-performing  white elephant to be dismantled from his property.

And elsewhere in India to all appearances, the wind energy sector in India is booming – but it could very well be nothing but an optical illusion. Despite rising installed capacity and huge investments, India does not manage to generate enough power from wind because of lower than average plant load factors (PLF).

This has been reported in its latest expose by Down To Earth magazine, a New Delhi-based science and environment fortnightly, published with assistance from the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

“We know that wind energy can and must play a critical role in securing our future needs,” says Sunita Narain, director, CSE. Over the past few years, the Government of India has given incentives to promote wind energy. Today, the country has over 8,700 megawatt (MW) of installed capacity. The country has also set a target to add another 10,000 MW in the 11th plan.

“But our review of wind energy in the country finds that there is an urgent need to reassess the current policies and incentive structures, so that the business of wind gets serious about generating power, and not just installing wind farms and reaping benefits from fiscal incentives,” says Narain.

The Down To Earth study has found that shockingly, wind energy -- while accounting for 6 per cent of the total installed power capacity in the country -- only contributes 1.6 of the country’s power generated! On an average, across the country, the PLF of wind energy has increased marginally from 13.5 per cent in 2003-04 to 15 per cent, but there are states like Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, where wind energy is functioning at a PLF of less than 10 per cent.

Maharashtra, ironically has more than tripled its wind capacity in the past few years, but has actually decreased in terms of its PLF. Today, in this energy-starved state, wind energy functions at a PLF of 11.7 per cent – a pathetically low figure compared to other states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and certainly to global averages of 25-30 per cent.

 

 

 

 

Radika the sex bomb from Cambia town

Radika was wearing a micro-skirt and tauntingly swinging her shapely ass which caught the attention of the video men’s cameras covering the christening party of Jetroy. She loved every bit of it- The attention of the small crowd and the cameras spotlight on her. She was not the only one on the floor, there were more beautiful and shapely women around her. But her reveling dress – shapely thighs of all things - which set the crescendo rising in the lustful men. And there many around ready to take in her bed that afternoon in Colva 

The music belted by Terminators did not end at the Furtado’s beachside restaurant in Colva but echoed from the sea waves back into the restaurant. 
The Terminators winded up for the afternoon and were keen to catch some afternoon siestas as they had to play at a wedding reception in the evening. 

But for Radika, the beginning of yet another exciting evening game has just began. That evening Radika ended in bed with two teenagers whom she met from the first time at Jetroy’s party but always had a crush on the two village boys for the last one year. 

The christening party was perfect setting for her to execute her plans. Once at the party the mother of two‘s constant gaze and the occasional smile thrown in could not hold back Mark. Son of a wealthy resort owner, he could not muster courage to speak to her but picked up a pen and scribbled a small note on the napkin provided at the party. 

The note read: “ Your face is an endless wave in a big ocean. Your lips tantalize me. Your eyes keep me focused. You have mesmeric me. lets talk,” At the was mark’s number. 

Both of them exchanges many SMS that afternoon. 

Mark was a college dropout a spoilt brat who went about in town with Maruti Zen black tinted car. Seducing young college girls and taking into bed was his hobby but here was a lady twelve years older to him, with whom she was trying to play games with. 
Radika always lusted on laying her hands on good looking men. Mark was a prize catch for her. She had lost count of the number of men she had bedded every since her teenage days. But her regular affairs after marriage has had been a talk of the town. 

She did not care what the world had to say that included her widowed mother-in-law and her seamen husband who was away from her for nine months. He beat her physically, threatened to divorce her, but all that did not deter her in playing the sexual games with boys during the nine months that Nixon was away. 

She traced her lineage to a gold smith family and was given in adoption by her grandparents as both of her parents her died living her a orphan at a young age and thus she ended up with a Christian family and got baptized . 

Going out to town with the latest designers dresses had been her craze right from childhood and with a boy friend not ready to support her financial needs and parents who had no financial power, she used to her body as bait to carve for the best of clothes – with many businessmen from Margao willing to reach out to their purse to satisfy her, after all they knew how to derive the interest from their investments. 
It was her big hips and a shapely ass and her sexy smile which made men run in crazy circles around her. 

She was the face of the new woman in Cambia town – bold, fearless and ready to break the taboos and take away many amen in bed with her- married and bachelors, whoever was a willing ally in her pursuit for happiness. Giving birth to two children had not withered her lust for men- more and more men is what she carved for. 

Her husband unable to hear the swings of her wife drank a cup full to drown his sorrows. 
Poor Nixon he was tied to the knot with the two kisses from Radika, love followed and marriage all son for her who had not seen the world and longed to see places which he could not fulfill as he soon left for his job on the high seas, leaving Radika alone. With 
loneliness striking her and boredom setting in 

Radika fell for Nixon’s charms as a teenager. The Teenage infatuation was a major mistake which she regrets now. 

He came from across the river and from a different village. According to customs of the villages laid down many decades back, marrying men from across the village was taboo. A different tribe, different clan, different class consideration. 

But then Radika was orphan and no such thing applied to her although she was adopted by a Khastriya caste and Nixon belonged to Sudra caste. 

But in villages where many a battles were and even fought now in churches and Temples to have a hold in the administration over the religious affairs by the khasitrya caste, Nixon’s and Radika’s marriage raised a storm, a storm which died down, until Radika’s nocturnal dating antics brought all of it to the surface. 

If Radika flirted round , Nixon was not saint with a paint, on every port he made sure to visit the seamen’s club and then proceed with his girl to the release his stagnated oil and his vent up emotions which also got released with it. 

Nixon port of calling was Rio de Janiero in Brazil, it was Carnival season and the girls charges had hiked their charges, with thousands and thousands of tourists coming to town for the four days of fun and 

Revelry. But paying 200 dollars for a night with maria the Brazilain blond, Nixon, did not mind. 

Back at his home, the carnival spirit also in the air but Radika was in the arms of another man. 

“Abdul give me a love bite! . a love bite on the mole above her breast is one partying kiss which both of them would indulge in with regularity. 

In Cambia, love between Abdul, a conservative Muslim, coming from across the border as a migrant labourer and Radika was along kept secret. A secret which came out when Abdul dated Radika for the first time in the shanty green Rest restaurant in Margao. 

The two unwittingly fell in face before a receptionist, who knew Abdul family. Vithoba, the receptionist was paid in kind that afternoon his silence bought with Radika spreading her legs for him after Abdul had finished his job. 

Vithoba, was short-statured man, but he had seen a lot through the peep hole of the hotel rooms and when Radika spread her legs that afternoon, Vithoba unleashed a dozen odd tricks on her trying to her impress her and make her a regular sex toy for him to be played with. 

But Radika knew her plan of action, Vithoba was just one of the numerous wares which she wore and today she was wearing him, the nest day it would been someone else. She will discard him for another men. No string attached and no gains and pains in her game. 

A week later, she had discarded Abdul for peeping tom for Nitin. Nitin, the peeping tom was her first lover besides Nixon before marriage, the first one to take her to bed, besides Nixon, he along with a couple of others were caught by her peeping through the bathroom window , but for the next night Nitin was over the moon, here he was licking and kissing Radika as he groaned and twisted and turned in bed, enjoying every bit of the attention, she was getting from Nitin’s tongue and hands. 


He was substituting on the play field for Nixon 

Goa the new football capital of India – has it replaced Kolkotta

Dempo’s entry into the AFC Cup semis brings the Goan clubs into the limelight at the Asian level

Goan club Dempo Sports Club entry into the AFC Cup semi-final, the first-ever for an Indian club, has shifted the focus on the former Portuguese colony which has emerged as the football hub of the country.  So what makes the small state rave about its success on the football field? If the Indian National League – I- League is one area to fall back to arrive at conclusions – then Goa with four I- League clubs takes the cake, the same as the Eastern state of West Bengal, in the 12 team League.

Goa Football Association (GFA) Secretary Savio Messais feels that Goa has replaced Kolkata as the Soccer capital of the country.

“The soccer capital has shifted to Goa not only because of the four I-League clubs but for many other reasons like a greater success rate at nationals, better administration, production of good players, coaches, referees and also better infrastructure.”

“Passion for football in Goa, a condusive atmosphere,  The  encouragement from GFA for clubs which helps them to  grow has been the secret behind of the so many Goan clubs featuring in the I league, “ adds.

But then the Indian I-League’s common complaint has been the concentration of the 12 clubs in just four states- Goa, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Punjab. Kolkata and Goa also has four I-leagues clubs and then Mumbai has three I-League clubs that means only one club outside the three states of Goa, West Bengal and Maharashtra.

That does not argue well for Indian football in terms of crowd interest – no teams from the southern states of  – Kerala and Karnataka and only one team from North - JCT.

Messais has  a solution  to the  problem.

“One should not try to kill the goose which lays the golden egg. The AIFF should take a leaf out of the Japanese Federation and built up teams in other states. The I League is 12 years old and it has been the same old story. You may reduce the teams or increase the teams, it will be the same states having representation. In Japan the federation formed a J League club in an area where no football was played and only farmers existed.”

And he agrees with national coach Bob Hougton suggestion of increasing the number of teams in the I-League.

“Yes, we needed more teams many years ago because you had a greater pool of players available. In a huge country like ours what can we achieve by having just 8 or 10 clubs ? Out of the 88 to 110 players 24 to 30 are foreigners. If only 60 to 80 players get exposure can you think we can progress?

But that is the not the only grey area where Indian football administrators have to address  themselves and GFA is ready to help the All India Football Federation (AIFF)

 

“If our suggestions are sought we are ready to suggest and help other states grow, but basically other state associations should first get their house in order, and AIFF need to be tough with these associations. A few states in India do not even have an association for many years like Andhra Pradesh and now Rajasthan. Can these states even dream of having a team in the I league ?

And GFA raises a few eyebrows and ruffled a few feathers within the Bandodkar family when they proposed to auction Cup.  Messais explains the reasons for doing so.

“We felt that the Bandodkar tournament could never be organized again due to the changing scenario in India. We could not organize this tournament for the last 15 or more years and we would never be able to have it again, we are finding it very difficult to organize the Governor Cup and the Police Cup which are knock out tournaments for Goan teams only. Hence rather than keep the trophy in the bank locker we suggested that we set up an academy and name it after the Bandodkar family. It was only a suggestion but we need to brainstorm and look at other ideas too.”

GFA are upbeat at the progress of the state and are not resting on past laurels and plan to set up an academy in either Mapusa or Fatorda, presently it has a tie up for youth development and other related projects  with The University of Porto, Portuguese Olympic Association and F.C. Porto and soon will have a protocol with Leicester City

The tie-ups  have  benefitted around 200 coaches and players. The state players and coaches  have benefitted in many areas like coach education, training of players in Portugal, youth team visits to Portugal, restructuring of the youth tournaments and calendar.

 

Reviving football memories the Goan way

 

 

 

As head of Sports & Recreation Department of the University of Wollongong in Dubai (Australian), Franky Baretto the former East Bengal and Salgaocar Sports Club player has a hectic schedule at his work place.

Every December former India international in football, Franky Baretto, tries to squeeze in two weeks holiday to travel to his home town Goa. But the Goa trip not only serves as a perfect relaxing holiday for Baretto,  but time to connect to old friends from the football world.

This year the former defender who shot into the limelight playing for the Goa University team, had another opportunity to reconnect to old club colleagues in Qatar.

He is one of the many former Internationals who flew into Qatar for the one-day Intra Gulf Goans nine-a-side football tournament organized by Goan Welfare Association, Qatar (GWA). The event which took place on Friday 31^st October at Al Alhi Stadium.

Baretto shares many a joyous moments with club colleagues at Vasco SC, Salgaocar SC, Churchill Bros SC and East Bengal SC, during his football career which lasted for thirteen years. He is upbeat to meet his old colleagues to revive old memories, whom he has not met for many years, many of them who are based in different GCC countries. 

“Recently, former India International and now coach at Mahindra United, Mumbai, Derick Periera, one of the I-league club had written to his old colleagues from Salgaocar SC,  the need to meet up in Goa during the December vacation. But the Qatar tournament is like setting  an early tone for the December meet in Goa. Although some of our colleagues based in Cayman Islands and in the US will not be able to make it to the Qatar tournament,” said Baretto.

But, it not just the Goan origin football players who made the trip to Qatar, it is more a football cum family mela. Many football from different GCC countries took the two-day holiday into Qatar.

 

“Around 200 people from UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain came for the tournament.  It turned out not be just a football event but a  family event where the entire family were involved. Some fans and their families, flew in from Goa as the Goa veterans team consisting of a host of international and national players were playing in the tournament,” said GWA President Simon D”Silva.

A popular saying about Goans goes like this - ‘You cannot take Goa out of a Goan’ .

Overseas Goans try to maintain their Goan connection by indulging in activities which formed a part of their life, back home in the sun-kissed silvery beach side state of India. The moment one utters football, it will awake a snoring Goenkar from his afternoon siesta. 

Kuwait-based Norman Noronha along who enjoyed the Qatar trip said: “Tournament like this serve as a golden opportunity to add a new dimension to the Goan connections. It enlarges the friend’s network as new friend’s connections are made and old are revived.”

For Martin Mascarenhas Vice-president for sport at GWA it is a mini World Cup : “I have been receiving a lot of international calls from Goan friends and they have given the title  of ‘Goan mini-world cup’ for the tournament. As a tournament of such magnitude is taking place in the GCC countries involving Goa after a long time.”

But for Jerson Sequeira, Chief Coordinator of the event organizing such tournaments is giving some of the former players  to show their skills to a new generation who had never had an opportunity  to see the Goa Veterans players in their younger days.

“it is one way of saying thank you to the some of the great players from Goa who play with distinct for the clubs, state and the country,” said Sequeira, who was for a brief period associated as football manager of Churchill Bros team, one of the I-League club, before taking up his job as service manager at Qatar Airways.

Ten teams participated in the tournament won by Vaxim Divar from UAE - two each from Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, besides three from UAE and one from India in the form of Goa veterans.

Goa Football Association Secretary, Savio Messias was the chief guest for the tournament while Marcus Pacheco, who is assisting India’s English-coach Bob Houghton as goalkeeper’s coach was  the guest of honour.

Goa Veterans who had five former internationals  Bruno Coutinho (current India beach team coach and former India captain), Savio Madeira (India assistant coach), Chandrakant Naik (former India schools team coach), Lawrence Gomes and Camilo Gonsalves (assistant coach of Dempo Sc, I-League club) could not qualify for the semi-final, losing in the tie breaker battle.

After the finals  the assembled Goans indulged in another  favouritie hobby of belting ut a few music numbers and dance to the tunes of the music. Former Orkay and Sesa Goa player now based in Dubai Benny D’Costa and Goa veterans player who  is now into coaching Mathew D’Costa also sung a number of songs to the applaud of the appreciative crowd.

 

 

 

 

Green India on a rainy day

Greenery, floods, thunder, lightning, and rainbows are some of the things which 
one associates with the rainy season in India. In the west of India, 
Goa is no different. Working in a foreign land, Armstrong Vaz pens down 
his experiences and what he missed out on during the rainy season this 
year. 

As we reach the end of the rainy season, it is time to look at life 
during this period: the rains which we loved as kids and the things we 
did in the season. The things we miss, as we are away from the falling 
rains in a faraway land. 

The rainy season starts in June and ends in October. Rains, starting in 
the last week of May, bring with them a respite from the summer heat. 
May is the period when the school holidays end and it is back again to 
school for the children. 

The rainy season is on its last leg as we approach October. It is time 
to say goodbye to the rains as we head towards the middle of the month. 
It is time for the Goan farmers to collect the paddy from the fields. Paddy fields which turned green at the start of the rainy season in June have now turned golden. 

The rainy season blesses Mother Nature with an abundance of water and 
the greenery in the rainy season is worth going miles to see. The vast 
swathes of green paddy fields are sometimes mistaken as grass by an 
alien visitor and the reverse is also true when vast tracks of barren 
lands of wild grass are taken as paddy fields. 

Cattle graze on the grass as rains lash day in day out in the rainy 
season. Raindrops, which many Indians miss in faraway lands. Rainy days 
when floods come calling in and with the floods follows the inundation 
of the paddy fields. Flood water overflows the roads and makes them 
unsafe for driving. 

Floods, which gave us an eagerly awaited school holiday. Rainy days, 
when we use to sing the Marathi poem, urging the rain to come. Rain not 
just in a trickle but in a gush to flood the plains. 

The Marathi primary school opposite my house has since ceased to 
function, making way for a government-run library. But like me and many 
of my neighbors and classmates in school, we share many a childhood 
memories at the Marathi primary school, although I did not attend it 
myself. 

Breaking the roof tiles with a cricket ball, playing pebbles on the 
school wall and inside the gallery. It was also an indoor cricket 
stadium for us and sometimes a indoor football pitch all rolled into 
one. 

The Marathi school also dished out our first lesson of voting at the 
age of 18, ink on our fingers which we showed to our friends and well 
wishers that we had voted for the first time. 

The first rains made football a slippery exercise in the barren paddy 
fields but then falling on the ground had its own thrill. The 
continuous rains gave us extra stamina to play football. And then who 
can forget the sliding tackle, which came about not out of design but 
through the sheer slippery surface, which gave us the biggest thrill 
during rainy day football. 

On the cricket front, overcast weather meant that the ball would swing 
in the air and that was the only occasion, we could swing the ball and 
believe that we were playing in overcast English conditions. 

The rainy season was the time to burn the cashew nuts over charcoal. 
The odor of burning cashew seeds, sending odourous messages to 
neighbors far and wide. 

With many families shifting to gas stoves over burning wood, the thrill 
of having cashew nuts from the charcoal is lost these days. 

The first showers of the season invariably came during the last week of 
May or the first week of June. It was the time that we were getting 
ready for the school season and we eagerly awaited the rains but 
detested the thought of returning to our school after a long holiday of 
close to two months. 

Tradition has it that it is healthly to receive the first rain on your head. How far it holds good, I have my doubts. 

The first rains bring with them a gush of wind. A gush of wind, which 
used to bring quite a few mangoes tumbling to the ground. My favorite 
hunt was for the Mancura (a variety of mango). My highest catch in one 
day was a dozen of them. 


The rainy season was a time to catch fish in the ponds after draining 
the water and keeping it at bay through muddy embankments. I for one 
entered the muddy water once to catch fish and have never experienced 
such a thrill again. The freshwater fish which I took home as part of 
my share, was not to my liking nor of a flavor that my families 
relished. 

The rainy season was the time when the cow dung smell from the nearby 
cowshed became unbearable. A time when friends and relatives gave our 
place a skip. Their vehicles had to be washed if they visited our 
place. 

The first rains were also a time for catching frogs. Frog legs which I 
tasted for the first time as a teenager, and then fell for, only to 
give the practice a skip after realizing the damage the killing of 
frogs was doing to environment. 

Armed with a torch, knife and plastic bag we accompanied the seasoned 
campaigners to the traditional hideout of the frogs. The croaking of 
the frogs made our hunting expedition easier. 

The rainy season was the time when the ladies' umbrellas came out in 
force. The multi-colored umbrellas were a sight to behold. Men came out 
with their long black umbrellas. The workers wore special rain 
protection made from coconut palm leaves while working in the fields. 

The lightning which came also used to send a chill down our spines and 
the memory of a young couple dying in our paddy field haunted us 
whenever lighting struck. 

The multi-colored rainbow making its presence in the sky was another 
sight we used to behold. A rare occurrence, and as and when it happened 
in the sky we used to shout in excitement. 

The snakes were also driven out of their habitat when rain water 
entered their holes. They were sighted on the roads and even entered 
houses. 

The winds also brought trees down and blocked traffic, and fire brigade 
personnel would come calling in to clear the roads and sometimes come 
to the aid of people whose houses were damaged by falling trunks and 
branches. 

The rainy season is a time for festivals, and one that is eagerly 
awaited is the feast of St John the Baptist. During the festival it is 
the practice for newly married couples to hand a bottle or two of 
coconut feni, a local liquor, to the village boys celebrating the 
feast. 

It was a time for young children to have a taste of cashew feni. Feni 
burned over a candle and given in a tablespoon drove away the cold 
blues. Cashew feni, is still a medicine used to get rid of colds and 
coughs for many a Goan in the rainy season. 

The celebration ended with a litany and whatever money was left from 
the donations were gathered and then given to the local church or the 
local clubs in the evening 

In the rainy season the beaches become deserted and so are the 
restaurants on the beach. Only a few function. Foreign tourists too are 
few in number, with the sun playing hide and seek in the rainy season. 

As we travel far away from our native land, we miss the greenery, the 
people and all the things we relished in our childhoods. But then you 
have to forsake some things in pursuit of new experience and 
challenges.

Goan Poelpe’s Film Festival (GPFF)-a people’s initiative, ‘Celebrating Life and Livelihoods’

 

If the India International Film Festival (IIFF) was all about glamour, big stars and the red carpet being rolled for the stars, here was another film festival which was be fret of all the mega publicity and the associated glitz. Goa simultaneously hosted a parallel three-day film festival from November 23 to 25 – Goan Poelpe’s Film Festival  (GPFF)-a people’s initiative, ‘Celebrating Life and Livelihoods’ as they preferred to call it.

The curtains in IFFI which was inaugurated on 22 November will come down on December 2.

The GPFF was about social activism at the grass root levels and highlighting the issues which the mainstream media – both visual and print - have effectively ignored.

The film festival featured digital narratives and award-winning documentaries from around India and Bangladesh. It documented Goa’s fight against mining - 127 operational mining leases over 8% of Goa’s surface threaten livelihoods and water sustainability of the hinterland. The assault on tribal livelihoods – tribal Goa is being forced into a low-grade parallel economy. Speculative real-estate development – conversion of agricultural land to speculative real estate. The struggle for participatory democracy against corruption

Challenges to Mining- For eight years till 2008, driven by the global demand for commodities, iron ore mining in Goa escalated in activity and impact. The industry has long existed in Goa as an exclusive sector, insulated from accountability, quasi-political in its influence over state policy. This is seen most clearly now, with anti-mining protests being put down brutally by the state. The state and industry have persisted with the fiction that mining is a critical part of the Goan economy, but the ecological costs and social burdens of mining have never been accounted for. A Goa-wide anti-mining network has now been forged to expose the impacts of 60 years of strip mining in Goa, and to shut down the industry.

Tribal Livelihoods - Goa's people are being corralled into a narrow and short-sighted set of beliefs about livelihoods. The government-industry combination is advocating a very limited notion of socio-economic well-being. This notion keeps out entirely the self-sustaining and symbiotic living rhythms of Goa's tribal communities, and dangerously erodes the strengths of Goa's traditional agri-fishing communities. The results are forced dispossession of homelands, internal migration and recurring poverty. Ignored by 'official' and industry-sponsored policies, tribal Goa is being forced into a low-grade parallel economy.

Change in Goa's Villages (SEZ, Mega-Projects, Tourism) - No village, panchayat or communidade space was ever designed to host the intrusions of an economically charged India. From 2000, Goa's village ecosystems have been under siege. The struggle is waged not only over the theft of land and commons and its replacement by structures that are alien to the Goan village; it is also about an idea of development that is utterly out of synch with Goa's community structures. Goa's villages have resisted the imposition of the urban, and the metropolis, scale but not always successfully.

Celebrating Goa: Alternate Images of a Tourist Destination - Goa is many-layered, and only one of these layers is tourism as the consumer knows it. A combination of economic need and marketing overkill has given Goa a brand personality that it does not at all deserve. Despite the state being 'consumed' by tourists, it has many lives outside and away from this narrow and noisy sector. Village Goa remains intimate, cooperative, concerned about human and environment, and small-scale. The people of village Goa are local patriots and it is their care and effort, when taken together, that maintains the ideology of life and livelihood that we call Goa.

The Film festival featured documentary  and short films, touched many a diverse topics.  Untoucbaliity, Special Economic zone, Mega-housing projects, Right to Information, nomadic tribes of India, tribal issues.

Mario Fernandes returned back from Leicester ,England to settle in Goa, and took on a number of local initiatives he talks about what Goa really needs -- developing people's skills. In another  film he depicts what locals and Expats can do for their village.

WHY ARE GOA'S VILLAGERS ANGRY?- Bismark Dias, a Catholic priest from Goa, who takes a bold stance in supporting the villagers' movements in various parts of the fast-urbanising (and land-speculating driven) central coast, explains what are the issues involved, and why more concrete won't help the villagers there.

Striking silver from Saligao, Journalist Fredrick Noronha highlights the story of the boxers fighting it out to gain glory in the sport.
In, Rape of Goa, a photo documentary, filled with images of violence done to the ecology and people of Goa . It documents the violence done to the earth, as hills are cut and forests 'shaved' off. It speaks of the violence done to local inhabitants, as concrete apartments rise and threaten the security and life-styles of these older residents.
An  attempt to illustrate the occurrence of tourism-related child sex abuse in India. It speaks to a cross-section of Goa to comprehensively discuss the issues involved. Its driving force is the innocence of the child.

Other issues highlighted are villagers fight against a garbage dump atop a hillock in Saligao- a fallout of tourism.

--------------------------------------------______________---------------------------------------------

 

 

India Untouched Stories of a People Apart. By director Stalin K takes a comprehensive look at untouchability ever undertaken on film. With Hindi, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalm with English sub-titles, the film lasted for 108 minutes.
http://www.freedomfilmsindia.org/newsdetail.asp?NewsID=45

Tribal issues -In Mahua Memories, Director and Photographer: Vinod Raja portrays the tribal issues in     minutes Questions the view that projects like mining bring in employment and therefore development and prosperity to the region and its people. http://mahuamemories.notlong.com

In VANISHING TRAILS Dir: Vinod Raja Dur: 45 mins. The story of nomadic communities is highlighted . Glimpses of their past glory and their fast disappearing culture and craft usurped by changes in
information technology, industrialization and urbanization.

THE LAMENT OF NIYAMRAJA: a dongria kond song
Dir: Surya Dash Duration: 13 minutes.  Bard, druid, healer, shaman and mystic Dambu Prasaka of the Dogria Kond tribe sings a song about the tribe's sacred mountain Niyamgiri.

SHOT DEAD FOR DEVELOPMENT: Dir: Surya Dash Duration : 1 min An animation film depicting the ongoing reality of Adivasi people in Orissa.

ISSUES ... FROM THE HEART OF CONCRETE Dur: 10 minutes. A scenic part of Goa is going under the builder's axe.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=ESfMu3HdoME

CHALLENGES TO MINING

The state and industry have persisted with the fiction that mining is a critical part of the Goan economy, but the ecological costs and social burdens of mining have never been accounted for.

SEBY, ON MINING ISSUES IN GOA Dur: 3:05 mins
Goa's leader of the Opposition (BJP's Manohar Parrikar) charged Seby Rodrigues of being a "Naxalite" (Maoist) ... for his involvement in highlighting mining-related issues affecting the people in interior Goa. Listen to what Seby has to say.... http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=u-u9LHPEKRU

GOA, GOA, GONE*
Dir: Kurush Canteenwala Dur: 22 mins Eight percent of Goa's  land is already under mining, mostly for iron ore. Now, mining activity is intensifying across the state. So is the opposition of citizens to this unregulated industry.  http://infochangeindia.org/Infochange-documentary.html

NIYAMGIRI - A musical preview
Dir: Surya Dash Duration: 5 min  A musical documentary preview of the controversial aluminium
project by Vedanta in Niyamgiri hills.

PANI - the war for water
Dir: Surya Dash Duration: 25 min
A film made for a farmers campaign to stop diversion of water from Hirakud reservoir to mega aluminium, steel and thermal power plants.

AFTERSHOCKS: The Rough Guide to Democracy
Dir: Rakesh Sharma Dur: 1hr 05 mins
Aftershocks is a journey through the labyrinthine universe of Democracy, as it exists in its lowest unit level - the Indian village. Shot in Gujarat, after the 2001 earthquake, the film is about the transformation of the welfare state into an ally of the corporation.
http://www.rakeshfilm.com/aftershocks.htm


Change in Goa's Villages (SEZ, Mega-Projects, Tourism)
 

BHAILE
Dir: Ajay Noronha Dur: 40 mins
An  attempt to illustrate the occurrence of tourism-related child sex abuse in India. It speaks to a cross-section of Goa to comprehensively discuss the issues involved. Its driving force is the innocence of the child.

GOA UNDER SEIGE:
Dir: Gargi Sen Dur: 30 mins
English with subtitles  it Investigates the impact of the development of large-scale tourism on the hosts: on their ecology, economy and culture. The film presents the case study of Goa, a tourism hot-spot in India. It elaborates on the different kinds of tourists who visit Goa, and the consequence of their visit. http://www.magiclanternfoundation.org/mlf_gus.htm

SALIGAO, GARBAGE ... AND THE IMPACT OF TOURISM
Frederick Noronha Dur: 5 mins
Joaquim D'Mello, former bank manager now retired, explains  the struggle of the villagers to fight a garbage dump atop a hillock just looking over their village -- Saligao in Goa, India.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=xFoMJHuPRWs

SAIMAKADEN SAMVAD (Dialogue With Nature)
Dir: Rajshree Bandodkar Karapurkar Duration: 90 mins
Language: Konkani English Subtitles
Our environment is under severe threat as a result human activities. Produced by Sidharth Karapurkar and Roy Fernandes is its art director.

SEZs and Mega-projects

HOW GREEN IS MY VALLEY (collection of 5 films)
Dir: Multiple (courtesy Film Beam Dec 2006)
Dur: 18 mins
The Goa Bachao Abhiyan captured the imagination of an indignant citizenry who were shocked by the attacks on land, lives and livelihoods as proposed in the Regional Plan.

AMKA NAKA SEZ: The solidarity against SEZs in Goa
Dur:18 mins
A audio visual capture of the solidarity and success of the SEZ Virodhi Manch.

SOTER D'SOUZA on Panchayati Raj issues in Goa

Dur: 13 mins
Soter D'Souza, campaigner in Goa, talks about the panchayat raj issues he has been working on for a significant period of time here.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=93QWYwIeCaI
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk9FfnePi7M

THE CHANGING FACE OF THE GOA VILLAGE
Dur: 7:05 mins
Konkani poet Shashikant Punaji introduces his poem 'Mhozo Ganv'. In it he expresses the impact of urbanisation on the Goan village. "Somebody has buried a time-bomb in my village..." The poetry is in the Pernem dialect of Konkani. The poet writes in Konkani, but takes the trouble to explain his work in English here.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=WFVzfluvVqk

WHY ARE GOA'S VILLAGERS ANGRY?
Dur: 9:49 mins
Bismark Dias, a Catholic priest from Goa, who takes a bold stance in supporting the villagers' movements in various parts of the fast-urbanising (and land-speculating driven) central coast, explains what are the issues involved, and why more concrete won't help the villagers there.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=SX8I7KY5O0w

GOLDEN EYE REPORT ON ORDA HILL-CUTTING
Prod: Golden Eye Dur: 9 mins
News report on the cutting of a hill in the sea-side village of Candolim highlights a number of the problems that work together to create the nightmare for Goa's average citizen.

THE RAPE OF GOA
Rajan Parrikar

Photo documentary, filled with images of violence done to the ecology and people of Goa . It documents the violence done to the earth, as hills are cut and forests 'shaved' off. It speaks of the violence done to local inhabitants, as concrete apartments rise and threaten the security and life-styles of
these older residents. http://www.parrikar.org/


Celebrating Goa: Alternate Images of a Tourist Destination

Goa is many-layered, and only one of these layers is tourism  the consumer knows it. A combination of economic need and marketing overkill has given Goa a brand personality that it does not at all deserve. Despite the state being 'consumed' by tourists, it has many lives outside and away from this
narrow and noisy sector. Village Goa remains intimate, cooperative, concerned about human and environment, and small-scale. The people of village Goa are local patriots and it is their care and effort, when taken together, that maintains the ideology of life and livelihood that we call Goa. It seeks to initiate via digital narrative, and supplement through discussion with the protagonists of
the narrative, alternate visionings of a lived (as opposed to visited) Goa.


JOSEPH ANI FLAVIA
Priya Kamat Dur: 15 mins
This is a fictional episode from a day in the life of two persons from the village of Orlim in Salcete, Goa. Joseph is an entrepreneur of a cottage industry and Flavia is a little girl who chances to step into Joseph's house while he is in the midst of work. Using characters from factual life, the film constructs an imaginary encounter between them.  It reveals a moment of truth that blurs the distinction between
documentary and fiction.

LEROY VELOSO, THE VILLAGE LIFE, AND STUDYING GOA
Dur:5:05
At a noisy cafe, Leroy of Moira talks about what it means to understand a village in Goa. He talks about the past and present, and what makes it special ... and the traditional clans (vangors) of the village.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=8TqWTdxgooM

SO OFTEN
Prod: Pamela D'Mello
Dur: 4 :15 mins
A personalized digital narrative about the enigma that faces village communities in tourist hot-spot Goa where runaway tourism converts the landscape spawning a holiday-home/tourist-resort building boom that dramatically alters rustic village communities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyMIdZ5-D9g

CAFE PRAKASH? WHY?
Dur:10:19
Voices from Goa tell you why Cafe Prakash, a tiny restaurant in Goa, now has pretension of being the 'unofficial press club of Goa'. http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=1_83RCYe_Xc

STRIKING SILVER... FROM SALIGAO
Dur: 4:50
On a summer evening in 2008, a walk down to Lourdes Convent brings one face-to-face with youngsters working hard on something unusual. What's it? We can fight together, and we can live together say three boys from there.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=753xgsKHPdc

POMBURPA INITIATIVES... WHAT VILLAGERS AND EXPATS CAN DO
Prod: Mario Fernandes
Shows what a village can do.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=E421E5WBFqs

MUSIC, SPORTS, A LIBRARY ... WHERE THERE'S A WILL
Dur: 1:07 mins
Mario Fernandes returned back from Leicester to Goa, and took on a number of local initiatives here. This is his story of what he sees Goa really needs -- basically developing people's skills.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=q7u03sp1ITs

MOVING IMAGES... A FILM SOCIETY FROM GOA, INDIA
Dur: 3:31 mins
Gayatri Konkar and her husband, Salil, returned early back to India from jobs in the US. With other local backers here, they set up and run the Moving Images film club that meets at the International Centre, Goa.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=pRtZdm_vQsA

RTI IN GOA... AND THE MEDIA
Dur: 8:06 mins
Lionel Messias long-time journo in Goa and elsewhere, explains his experiences in deploying the Right to
Information Act in Goa, to dig up the dirt...
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=NrP_X4OEi6U

 STORIES OF CHANGE
Dir: Simon & Sara
Dur: 55 Minutes

A real life documentary set in Bangladesh, about the lives of five women aging from 16 to 60, coming from different walks of life, from different profession, religions and regions of Bangladesh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stories_of_Change


SOURCE: - www.moviesgoa.org/gpff.html

 

 

 

 

Using cellphones to portray people’s bitter struggle for survival

 

 

Call it citizen journalism or social activism, but people from various walks of life are increasingly dabbling with the latest tools in communication to get their message across the world and India is no different. Video blogging is one medium which is used, effectively to send the message across to a larger audience. Goa is involved in a bitter struggle against a concerted assault on their lives and livelihoods from the forces of Globalisation of which the state government is a willing accomplice.

In a bid to empower grass root social activists in using cellphone and video blogs, as a quick, effective visual communication the organizers of Goan People's Film Festival also hosted a workshop last week, which was an overwhelming success as part of the People’s festival .

The people’s festival which was put together as a people’s initiative by the people of the state of Goa while the government sponsored India International Film festival was also staged in the state from

“You would learn how to spot a story, get a point of view, stick to one focus point and techniques of in-camera editing for fast production times. Our aim is not to teach you film making but using video blogs for quick, effective visual communication. This workshop could be beneficial to grassroots activists as a means of getting their stories to a worldwide audience. If you, or someone you know, would like to participate in the workshop do register at the venue or send me a message, “that was the message that I and several of my friends received from Gasper D’Souza.

D’Souza’s was referring to the workshop on Video blogging and online activism which he conducted at the Institute Piedade  Hall as part of the Goan People's Film Festival, with a focus on using cellphone cameras to communicate effectively and quickly in one to three minute digital stories (films).

How far grass root activists and citizen journalists use the medium will be seen in the days and months to come as Goa braces for another showdown with the administrators in protecting the small sate from the axe of development.

UK doctor provides answers to back problems in India; Chiropractor sets up shop in Goa

Ashley Moraes, my banker friend had a back problem; his regular eight-hour job meant he remains confined to his chair for most part of his duty hours. And to add to it the sedentary life style of his - he does not indulge in regular fitness regime to keep him fit. But now the back pain which was bearable a few months back  had became unbearable, and , he had no option but to make an appointment with an specialist doctor.

Someone suggested to him the new doctor in Margao town who has had been quite successful in getting away with the back pain of a number of patients who have visited them.  So Moraes, went about in search of more information about the new doctors in town which led him to Rafael Medicare Centre on Dr L  Da Costa Bldg, Ascanio Costa Road, behind Grace Church ,opposite Sapana Chambers, Margao

Here he came face to face with Dr Alison Bale and Martin Bale, the British couple.

Dr Alison Bale is a chiropractor and Martin is a Bowen and Trigger Point practitioner. She is one of only two registered chiropractors working full time in India.

The couple has had been coming to India since 2000 It’s nineteen months since Alison started her Goan practice and she says that it is “now flying, the numbers have increased to above the level we originally targeted”.

Bowen Technique was developed by Australian Tom Bowen in the 1950s to 80s, and then by Oswald Rentsch, who still teaches and practises today.

“It is a non-intrusive, gentle and effective hands-on therapy, aimed at promoting healing and pain relief. The technique addresses the musculoskeletal framework, fascia and nerves. It is believed to work by 'retuning' the body's connective tissues to their normal state, unwinding the compensations and imbalances that develop in accordance with our lifestyles and which can cause pain and disease, says Alison.

Bowen can be applied safely in most situations, however some moves are not used during pregnancy. Some of the conditions which people have consulted Bowen practitioners for are:

Sports injuries, anxiety and stress-related problems, back pain, sciatica, spinal problems, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Digestive and bowel problems, Fibromyalgia, CFS and ME, General muscle stiffness, Gynaecological conditions (heavy or painful periods, infertility and fibroids), headaches, earache and migraines, Hormonal imbalances, Joint problems (tennis elbow, frozen shoulder, ankle and knee injuries), Post-dental trauma, TMJ problems and jaw disorders, Post-operative recovery, Respiratory conditions, Repetitive strain injuries.

 

Martin guides you on what to expect from a Bowen treatment

 

“You will be consulted about your lifestyle, health and the reason for your visit. The treatment is generally carried out on a couch but can be done seated. The practitioner works directly on skin or through light clothing. Dependent on what is being treated a session will take 30 minutes upwards. Most first sessions concentrate on the back, neck and shoulders.

Many people report relief of symptoms following their first session, although results will vary based on your condition. Most people will be advised to attend for at least a second Bowen session, usually seven days after the first. Many conditions are effectively treated in fewer than five sessions. Musculoskeletal symptoms generally change very quickly although some chronic conditions may require on-going maintenance sessions. Many people choose to have monthly maintenance sessions once the initial complaint has been addressed.

 

The word means 'done by hand'. Chiropractic is the third largest healthcare profession in the West, after medicine and dentistry. Without using drugs or surgery, chiropractors aim to:

“Correct the alignment of the bones of the spine and other joints, restore nerve function, alleviate pain  and promote self-healing and health.”

Alison uses McTimoney technique, which involves a variety of low-force adjustments delivered solely by the hands of the chiropractor. To patients, it often seems extremely light, as the key to success is in the speed, dexterity and accuracy of the moves.

Because MctTimoney is a low-force technique, it is suitable for people of all ages, including pregnant women.

Chiropractic has been found to be helpful for - Back, neck or shoulder pain, discomfort and stiffness in joints and bones, migraine and tension headaches, Sciatica, Postural problems and Sports and work-induced injuries.

However chiropractic is also a preventative therapy and when used this way can improve health and well-being.

What to expect from a Chiropractic treatment

 

The first visit will begin with a full case history, including your general health as well as symptoms. With your consent, the history will be followed by a physical examination and tests as appropriate.

If chiropractic is appropriate for you, a proposed treatment plan and any risks associated with your condition will be discussed with you before you commence care.

If Alison, suspects a problem which needs medical investigation, you will be referred to a medical doctor. The first appointment typically takes around 1 hour and may or may not include adjustments.

Follow up appointments last between 15 and 30 minutes. The number of sessions varies, depending on your age, the nature of the problem, and the length of time you've had the problem. However most people see a benefit between two and 10 treatments. Once the initial problem has been resolved, regular check-ups may be indicated to keep your body functioning to its optimum.

As part of the care, Alison provides advice on posture, daily activities and gentle exercises that will help you to help yourself. During a course of treatment, most people feel physical changes as the body re-aligns. Alison will provide you with information on the most common reactions before you commence care.

“At Rafael Medicare Centre, we believe that health care ought to be exactly that—care of your health, and not just prevention and treatment of disease but also in providing you with a better quality of life. Our mission, therefore, is to provide advanced, scientifically-validated diagnostics and therapeutics available to help women and men feel and look as healthy as possible as they grow older, says Alison.

 

 

About Dr Alison Bale

 

Alison graduated from the McTimoney College of Chiropractic, UK. She qualified with a First Class Bachelor of Science degree and the award as the leading student in practical and clinical excellence. She is qualified to treat humans and animals.

She is a member of the McTimoney Chiropractic Association and the  College of Chiropractors. 

Her clinic is one of only three in India recognised by the Indian Association of Chiropractic Doctors.

She is registered with the General Chiropractic Council, the UK regulatory body for chiropractors, as an overseas chiropractor.

Alison has published a research paper (Clinical Chiropractic, Volume 8) on chiropractic for the treatment of acute and chronic neck pain

 

About Martin Bale

 

Martin has worked as a therapist for seven years, after retiring from a varied career in business. He is qualified to practise Bowen Technique, Reflexology, Sports Massage.

He now focuses on Bowen Technique and Trigger Point therapy.

He trained in Britain and is registered with the Bowen Association of Australia.