GOANVOICE DAILY NEWSLETTER SUN 28 FEBRUARY, 2010
| ANNOUNCEMENT | ||
| Goan Voice Changeover Time | ||
The Goan Voice website changeover to the next day will take place at midnight GMT in future instead of midday. | ||
Photo Gallery | ||
| Hartman de Souza: In remembrance of water | ||
 Mar. 2010: Himal… In the village of Maina, in Goa's Quepem District a strange
conglomeration of mining companies, politicians and real-estate developers are
sharpening their collective sword … To get at the ore, you have to hack the
trees, upend the earth, and do away with the vast aquifers that give Goans their
water… As the plunder continues, most Goans today are uncaring about what
happens to the aquifers… 2503 words. [Hartman de Souza (photo), ex-Nairobi,
is a theatre director, teacher and writer who is now involved in the movement
to save the Western Ghats]. Click
here. For a brief profile of Hartman, click here. | ||
| Death: Manuel Barretto | ||
 26 Feb. Costa Europa (in Egypt). MANUEL BARRETTO (ex Bhatti, Curtorim). Son of Bernadina/late Minguel. Brother of Jiet; Marcelina/Lino; Nanct Agostinho. Expired under tragic circumstances. For details, select the link below. | ||
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| Cricket: Neil D'Costa: Hughes to come back a man | ||
 28 Feb: The Sunday Telegraph (Aus). You can feel Neil D'Costa's intensity a thousand miles away. Over the phone from India, the cricket coach talks about the pressures on young cricketers today… The mentor of Phillip Hughes starts speaking extremely slowly and loudly about what his 21-year-old talent needs right now… 1885 words. | ||
| more details.. | ||
| Montreal: Boa Goa, March 4 to 20 at Place des Arts | ||
 27 Feb: Cyberpresse.Ca. At the Place
des Arts, Paula de Vasconcelos (photo), takes us on a trip to India with Beautiful
Goa, a part musical and part theatre production. Paula feels that historically,
the Indian women who wanted to marry the Portuguese were automatically liberated
of their caste. An Indo-Portuguese society was born and survived through the centuries.
Today, the contrast between Goa and the rest of India is striking. There exists
a special culture which touches the food, the dance, the songs and the music…
[Translated by Selma Carvalho] For a machine translation from the French., select the link below. | ||
News Summary | ||
| “Small incidents tarnish Goa” – Goa’s Chief Minister 1 Mar: Hindustan Times. Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat of the Congress described the spate of rapes and murders in his state over the past year as small incidents common to many popular tourist destinations. He spoke to HT about his plans to provide safe, healthy and sustainable tourism … Full Text. | ||
| I survived in India due to highly corrupt system: Dudu 1 Mar: Navhind Times. “I survived in India due to highly corrupt system, but if I was in Israel, I would have been in the police net long before due to my business”, disclosed the Israeli drug lord Drihan David alias Dudu during the course of interrogation … 605 words. Full Text. | ||
| FEMA violations by Russians need to be probed: Shantaram Naik 1 Mar: Navhind Times. Mr Shantaram Naik, MP, said on Sunday that there were large scale violations of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), by Russian in Morjim village, which require prompt action by the state machinery… 643 words. Full Text. | ||
| Naked Russians corrupt minds: Goa Congress MP 28 Feb: IANS. Russian tourists in Morjim move around naked on the beach or are scantily clad, Congress MP Shantaram Naik said Sunday after touring the area popular with Russians… He said that such bohemianism “besides corrupting minds of locals left a horrifying impression on children”… 262 words. Full Text. | ||
| Goa to step up policing, ban revealing ads 28 Feb: IANS. Goa plans to reclaim its tourist paradise image - tarnished by rapes and other crimes against foreign nationals - by deploying a tourist protection force, opening fast-track courts and banning bikini-clad women on advertisements… 524 words. Full Text. | ||
| Video: Kunbi Dance 28 Feb: You Tube. The Kunbi Dance is one of the traditional dances of Goa. 4m. 25s. Full Text. | ||
| Goa-nderful 28 Feb: Deccan Chronicle. The lesser known of the two districts that comprise the state of Goa, South Goa is popular for its deserted beaches, old mansions, 500-year-old churches and authentic 17th century Portuguese cuisine… 480 words. Full Text. | ||
| WHO THE BLEEP CARES. Weekly column by Selma Carvalho 70. Who the bleep cares about cooks, ayahs and butlers? One day I'd like to write a book dedicated to the cooks, ayahs and butlers of Goa. Imagine Goa, the tiny dominion on the west coast of India, an insignificant, crumbling outpost of the Portuguese by the dawn of the 20th century. Imagine this land graced with little more than spindly coconut trees and marshy paddy fields, that boasted of betel nuts, salt and urack as its prime exports, described in 1857 by the Bombay Telegraph as a "nursery for cooks and ayahs". From here the impoverished Goan Catholic ventured forth, with little by way of education and even less by way of what he took with him in his tin trunks. But here was a man determined to make the best of his circumstance. If he was to be a cook, then he would become the best cook there was. Harold Delamere-Thwaytes, a British Officer who served in the British Indian army from 1909-1935, speaks highly of Goans in an interview. Asked about the most memorable people in India, he remembers foremost the Goans in Poona. "Undoubtedly", he says, "some of the best cooks you can get in the world are the Goans…their standard of English higher than it was in other parts." By 1900, a Goan cook was much prized in Africa, earning anywhere between £2 to £3 pounds a month, almost twice the amount the British were willing to pay for African cooks. If they ventured out on the treacherous sea as stewards and cooks, they became stellar seaman. A 1937 report compiled by the British Royal Navy gives us an insight into just how valuable Goans had become as butlers and cooks: "It has long been recognized that the Goans as a race are particularly well adapted to these trades…and are generally accepted as being more efficient than other Indian races. A further advantage is that, being Christians, no religious difficulties arise in regard to handling food and wine." For this we have to thank the Portuguese and Christianity. The words poder, corrupted from the Portuguese padeira meaning baker and cusiner from the Portuguese cozinheiro, meaning cook, give us an indication of just how much the Portuguese influenced the Goan's pursuit of culinary skills. In contrast, the word dorjeeh meaning tailor comes from the Muslim Darzi who migrated from Gujarat and Maharashtra, and is likely to have given the Goan a head start in tailoring. It was the Portuguese who introduced the art of bread making, the acidic amelioration of meat with vinegar, light fluffy fantasies of cake and pastry which could only be whisked by egg yolk, the funnelling of spiced meat into thin, white tubes, hung in links over the fire and smoked to perfection. And it was Christianity that divested the Goan of any qualms he might have had in handling meat or fish. Whatever little life might have brought his way, the Goan ensured that he travelled far with it. When Richard Burton embarked on his second expedition into the depths of the African jungle, he took two Goan cooks with him - Valentine Andrade and Caetano Rodrigues and when the German explorer Dr Albrecht Roscher was killed near Lake Malawi, it was his Goan cooks who reported his murder to the British authorities. In all his travels, in all his occupations, in all his efforts, the Goan is marked by perseverance and resilience. He is formed of that rare quality which combines honesty, hard-work and a desire to excel however big or small the role assigned to him. Selma Carvalho is currently working on a book about the lives of Goans in the Diaspora. Do leave your feedback at carvalho_sel@yahoo.com | ||