GOANVOICE DAILY NEWSLETTER SUN 16 MAY, 2010
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Death: Augustilia Pereira e Araujo
16 May: Benaulim, Goa. AUGUSTILIA PEREIRA E ARAUJO. (Born 1919). Wife of late Tony. Mother of Frank/.Ida; late Renee/Cosme. Funeral on 17 May at Benaulim.
Lucky Farmhouse says she was threatened
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17 May: Times of India. In a new batch of tapes, Swedish model Lucky Farmhouse [aka Lucky Mangarda Amori] threatened to kill her with the help of anti-narcotics police officials. "Today the chief called me. Chief tell me you are finished for life... You understand... As now you need to think about this little bit," Atala told her … The 'chief' is suspected to be the head of the anti-narcotics cell … 136 words.
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Katy Perry's wedding secrets
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16 May: News of the World. Katy Perry and Russell Brand are planning a "small" wedding … They will fly their select guests to a secret location for seven days of celebrations. Katy's pal Rihanna has suggested they could get hitched in India where reformed womaniser Russ, 34, proposed on New Year's Eve. And it looks like the idea could be a Goa… 309 words + photos.
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Treasure trove for antique lovers
16 May: Deccan Herald. The Braganca House in the sleepy village of Chandor … the 450-year-old mansion was built in the 16th century by two brothers… handcrafted furniture in rosewood and teakwood… the library… the single largest private library in all of Goa of 5000 books … 915 words.
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News Summary
Death: George W.E.B. D'Costa
16 May: Nairobi, Kenya. GEORGE W.E.B. D'COSTA. Loving father of Gaye, Gayle, Gillian, Glynis and Peter. He was a doting grandfather to his beloved grandchildren. He will be dearly missed by Jenny and Gracie. Funeral arrangements will be announced. [Info: Goan Welfare Society, Nairobi]. f
Goa to refurbish brand image
17 May Economic Times. Goa needs to shore up its appeal after tourist inflows into the state dipped for the second consecutive year… The state is now looking to encourage producers and directors to shoot more films in Goa to boost its image, recently battered by some attacks on foreign tourists … 738 words. Full Text.
A Brahmin groom for a Catholic bride
16 May: Times of India. By Ashley D'Mello. … Most Catholic publications do not list caste categories as they did 20 years ago, but casteism has not disappeared among Christians. It has merely become more subtle… 316 words. Full Text.
Bowling: Kuwait: Spicy Goan Cyborgs clinch title
16 May: Arab Times (Kuwait). At the conclusion of the ACDC 2010 Winter League Bowling Team Tournament held at the Kuwait Sea Sport Club bowling lanes, the spicy pin breakers of the Goan Cyborgs clinched the coveted … the crew of Uly Menezes, Lloyd D’ Souza, Colin Costa, Lloyd Fernandes, Nelson D” Souza, Adrian Noronha, Brian Fernandes, Fatima Fernandes, Janice D’ Souza and Nadine Dias went home with the title tucked under their belts… 690 words. Full Text.
Mumbai Catholic land scam: Bishop Agnelo Gracias listens
16 May: MidDay. Bishop Agnelo Gracias met Father Hugh, the parish priest at St Michael's Church in Mahim, on the church premises at 7.45 pm on Saturday to discuss the Marinagar land deal with protesting residents. Earlier in the day, the bishop had invited protesting Marinagar residents to the Bishop House for a discussion … 367 words. Full Text.
Beach patrol timing increased in Goa
16 May: PTI. Goa’s beaches will now be manned till 11 pm instead of 6 pm … The Chief Minister said that certain incidents involving foreigners raise apprehensions in the mind of international travellers… 248 words. Full Text.
WHO THE BLEEP CARES. Weekly column by Selma Carvalho.
81. Who the Bleep cares about Goans abandoned in the UK?

My services as a Konkani-English-Konkani translator are taking me to curious places. This time, I am asked to present myself at a Mental Health hospital.

The woman at reception looks at me intently, "Are you the interpreter?" she asks.

I nod my head and sink into the hideous, red sofas in the reception area. A screeching alarm is going off, piercing my ears and making me even more nervous than I already am. What is it, about mental instability that makes us so nervous? The idea that a person is not normal, frightens us, and makes us realise, that but for the grace of God or some quirk of fate, go I. The alarm quietens down.

A thick, British accent is giving out authoritative instructions from behind me, the owner of the voice concealed from me. The voice becomes shrill, the words disjointed, not forming sentences, just incoherent utterances, robbed of any dignity it might have had a few minutes ago. A fat, elderly West Indian woman walks past, uneasy with her weight. I think of the word "stodgy" but I stop myself. I am being cruel. The mentally-unstable have very little choice over their physical and emotional lives. Many of them become dependent on food, drugs and alcohol. And yet ironically many of them do make incredible choices that enable them to lead functional lives. In the room adjacent to the reception, I see a nurse feeding a woman clearly suffering from Parkinson's. The nurse is speaking to her in slow-motion, the words elongated and every syllable emphasised. It's strange how we talk to the elderly. As if they are children. Some years ago, these very people were raising children of their own. Age is a thief; it creeps into your life and robs you of everything you once had.

I'm led by the doctor to "my patient", a decrepit, shrivelled-up, skin of a Goan man, huddled in a chair. He refuses to talk to me, instead brandishing his walking stick and threatening to hit me if I don't leave him alone. I find this baffling. Any Goan is only to glad to meet another Goan in the Diaspora. They generally embrace each other and immediately want to know where they come from. I try this approach. I ask where he's from. He responds but only weakly. What had brought him here, to this state, incarcerated in a world of silence, in a country whose language he cannot speak. Abandoned by all those who know him. In the care of the State.

I try to find out if he is really mentally impaired or just cowed down by anger and fear. So far, the doctors are not exactly sure. I try to explain to the doctor present that he is culturally atypical. In an instant, I had morphed from language interpreter to cultural broker. It dawns on me, how important language is, as an indicator of who we are. But the man is in no mood to talk. Threats of being hit by his stick have escalated to having his coffee-cup thrown at me. We abandon the interview.

As I walk past the sterile doors of the antiseptic smelling hospital, I can't help wondering how many other elderly or hapless Goans there are, lying in some God-forsaken nursing home or hospital or worse, jail. The cases that become State responsibility almost invariably are stories of people who have been taken advantage of, swindled of their money, of their state-sponsored benefits and then turned out on the streets. Without language to cope, they are literally at the mercy of the elements, saved only by the grace of a welfare state which grows weary of them, by the day.

Do leave your feedback at carvalho_sel@yahoo.com