‘Laura, Edna and the Willow-Pattern Platter’ and ‘Auntie Effie’s Chest’ has put Tino firmly in the niche of the twist-in-the-tales author. And these a‘Laura, Edna and the Willow-Pattern Platter’ and ‘Auntie Effie’s Chest’ has put Tino firmly in the niche of the twist-in-the-tales author. And these are good stories.
In these eight stories there is a bit of everything… sadness, resilience, a devil-may-care-attitude, greed, bits of human emotions and vagaries.
‘Did Moonlight Mary’ and ‘Cousin Juliana’ bother about what the village people would have thought of their behaviour? Of course not…Life is for living not worrying about what your neighbours and relatives think of you.
Many of Tino’s stories are about Greed, which is what ‘Moogabai’s Tiffin Carrier’ is all about.
I loved ‘Onjini’s Gift’ for its beautiful recipes and the laborious processes turned into works of art.
Sometimes, God works in mysterious ways they say…and so it is with ‘A Miracle for Rosita’ who gets hers.
And yes, utter selfishness can also be a great failing as we see in ‘The Love Stories of Ninette Pinto.’
Eight stories enmeshing us in the virtues and failings of fragile human lives....more
Not for Bina Nayak, the conventional Goa of sun, sea, sand and palm trees gently swaying in the wind. Bina drags us through the unconventional Goa thaNot for Bina Nayak, the conventional Goa of sun, sea, sand and palm trees gently swaying in the wind. Bina drags us through the unconventional Goa that surprisingly does exist.
We see Goa through the eyes of Tara Salgaonkar, a professional diver… A professional woman diver? Yes that’s what Tara does for a living and if that doesn’t astound us… Tara is a diver who works at retrieving, dead human bodies from wrecks, plunging the depths of the seas and oceans.
Tara, as most of the young people in the seventies and eighties is deeply attracted to the peaceful culture of the Hippies who had come by the overland route to India in droves. Their music, their devil-may-care attitude is what drew Tara and her group of friends to Goa every summer.
In Goa, Tara is deeply mesmerised by Bholenath Guruji and his trance parties, something that all young people were very attracted to, with most of the times unsavoury consequences.
Tara collects some dark experiences as she navigates through life.
Now, the question that confronts the reader is, will Tara be able to surpass these unfortunate experiences and move on peacefully through life? Or will she succumb to the darkness....more
Mr. Mendonça is instrumental in inculcating a deep love for Goa in his family
Every year the family came to Goa, but it was just not coming to Goa…eveMr. Mendonça is instrumental in inculcating a deep love for Goa in his family
Every year the family came to Goa, but it was just not coming to Goa…every little detail was planned by Mr. Mendonça, letters, postcards, inland letters flew back and forth between relatives and friends to ensure that the holiday would be a most splendid vacation.
Mr. Mendonça made sure they stayed for a week at the Tourist Hotel, Calangute with rooms facing the sea. If that is not love, what is?
It is no wonder that Michelle too fell deeply in love with Goa and when her grandparent’s house was bequeathed to her, she jumped at the idea of renovating the house, and living in it, which she has done…
The process of renovation was long and tedious, and that is when Michelle had her doubts…’Am I really a real Goan?’ she wondered.
Very humorously she has compiled a list of 19, ‘you are Goan if…’ sadly there are only four items that I can relate to. That had a strange effect on me…’Am I a Goan I do not fit in Michelle’s list. I am still pondering…’
Michelle being extremely persistent, set out to write ‘Becoming Goan’ a book from the perspective of a person in Goa for those out there in the wide world who may like to settle in Goa as well as the huge diaspora who misses Goa terribly. A detailed humorously written account about what Goa is really like.
If you think Goa is this verdant place that God has created, you need to read Michelle for the Monsoons, the pre monsoonal jobs, she has even delved into the very complicated Civil Code of Goa and tackled the ills that beset Goa at the present day.
Of course it is not all Sturm and Drang, you can relax have a cocktail and forget about the trees being cut in Siolim, the road widening and so many other problems…all you have to do is go to her Living-Local-Finding My Go- to- Places an extensively and thoughtfully compiled list of Fun places to go to.
And Michelle you can never be anything else but a Goan…Goa is in your blood it was what Mr. Mendonça intended....more
The most refreshing aspect of Braz Meneze’s book, ‘Beyond the Cape’- Sin, Saints, Slaves and Settlers is that although it is partly autobiographical aThe most refreshing aspect of Braz Meneze’s book, ‘Beyond the Cape’- Sin, Saints, Slaves and Settlers is that although it is partly autobiographical and full of memories it does not slide into that terrible realm of sap. Braz, narrates events dispassionately, events that touch deeply on the lives of Indians who for better prospects had gone to East Africa, here Kenya, in search of a better living for themselves as well as their families. His terribly sad life as a Boarder at St. Joseph’s Arpora is revealed to us vividly through his letters to his Family. Unemotionally, Braz, tells us what we all know, the way religious Institutions treat their dependants, in this case the Boarders, without any qualms....more
The most refreshing aspect of Braz Meneze’s book, ‘Beyond the Cape’- Sin, Saints, Slaves and Settlers is that although it is partly autobiographical aThe most refreshing aspect of Braz Meneze’s book, ‘Beyond the Cape’- Sin, Saints, Slaves and Settlers is that although it is partly autobiographical and full of memories it does not slide into that terrible realm of sap. Braz, narrates events dispassionately, events that touch deeply on the lives of Indians who for better prospects had gone to East Africa, here Kenya, in search of a better living for themselves as well as their families. His terribly sad life as a Boarder at St. Joseph’s Arpora is revealed to us vividly through his letters to his Family. Unemotionally, Braz, tells us what we all know, the way religious Institutions treat their dependants, in this case the Boarders, without any qualms....more
What relief! António Gomes seems to have strayed away from themes much favoured by writers of Indo-Portuguese literature. He ignores the much approvedWhat relief! António Gomes seems to have strayed away from themes much favoured by writers of Indo-Portuguese literature. He ignores the much approved devdasis, temple girls or muscular sadhus godmen with luxuriant moustaches reclining on tiger skins. He abhors, the batkar-shetkar, landowner-farmer theme, with hunger, poverty thrown in. Just when I thought he really was veering as far away from the much abused themes, he goes for the jugular, Gomes just could not resist it, the favourite of all the themes sought by Indo-Portuguese writers, the inter caste marriage.
António Gomes writes about a landowning Catholic Brahmin family from Loutolim in Salcete, Goa. Set a little before the Liberation of Goa in 1961 and ending just a little after the Opinion Poll in 1967, the book, chronicles the journey of the Albuquerque Family savouring their joys and sorrows, learning from their mistakes, and enduring the repercussions. But Roberto the youngest son of the Family and the narrator of the story, remembers those heady days when the hippies found magical Goa.
Paulo, the oldest son of the family, returns to Goa when he is unable to complete his Degree in Law from the prestigious University of Coimbra, but that’s hardly uncommon, in fact a pretty familiar story for the many young men from the ‘Boas Famílias Landed Gentry' who moved to Coimbra to obtain a Degree in Law, bleeding their parents dry.
Some did extremely well but a great number whiled away their lives, spending their parent’s hard earned money in bars and on prostitutes.
And the Law degree? Always somewhere out there, always to be completed...carpe diem. Most stayed as paying guests with middle aged Portuguese landladies, who strapped for cash, took in students to supplement their meagre incomes. These little educated landladies doted on their paying guests, who in turn abused their hospitality.
Life for some of these aspiring lawyers was a never ending carousel of fun until the loan sharks caught up with them, as they did with Paulo.
You get a catch in your throat when António Gomes describes the dinner to 'welcome' Paulo back from Portugal, a typical mix of Goan and Portuguese food and wines, Dona Isabel’s artistic flower arrangements and the soiree... for music was the soul of the family. And Paulo? Lording over the festivities... the Degree in Law? Never pulled off and now forgotten, relegated to some loft where old furniture and copper vessels rubbed shoulders.
Amanda, the daughter of the Albuquerque family falls in love with Winnie a college professor, the eternal trajectory taken by writers of Indo-Portuguese literature, rich girl from landed Brahmin Family falling in love with poor, but highly educated man of a lower class.
Tears, recriminations, threats follow but here António Gomes gives it a macabre twist... Amanda a highly neurotic woman, head full of romantic stories, does marry Winnie, an emaciated Winnie practically on his death bed, makes love to him and in the manner of most romantic heroines tries to commit suicide, although saved in the nick of time.
You see both Amanda and Maria, Roberto's wife, have been brought up as fragile hothouse flowers, nurtured on romantic stories. Their dreams? Beautiful clothes and serenades. Life after marriage would be an eternal circle of balls and parties; here they would dance the night away in the arms of their beloved, now husband, to be envied by the less fortunate ones.. And what’s so bad about it? Their Mothers as well as Grandmothers had seen such lives.
But horror strikes, they who had rushed to Europe or the US as proud wives, how drab everything turns out to be, harsh reality strikes hard. Entertainment? Well, where was the money? The time? Husbands perpetually studying or working at their new job. No maids? Who is going to do the cooking? ‘You never told me there were no maids...?’ ‘There are but we don’t have the money, you could work...’ Would they want to take up the challenge of improving their lives? Learn to cook? Sew? Gardening? Or work in an office? Not a chance...
Such longing for Goa, the chatter, the gossip, the clothes, the maids at their beck and call... Totally depressed ... long holidays back home... mothers and ayahs to their rescue, shielding the ‘delicate’ daughter so far away from home. Divorce? The possibility arises...
Roberto, nobody thought of him as something of a genius, just an ordinary hardworking boy, mediocre they called him, not to be confused with Paulo the Genius, Paulo the Mother’s pet.
But sometimes surprises spring from nowhere. He achieves much, just by dint of sheer hard work. He is no angel, he has his whisky-sodas, he mixes with the hippie crowd in Baga and Anjuna, samples drugs, experiences the highs and lows of hash, has his liaisons but unlike his wayward brother keeps his wits about and graduates a brilliant Doctor.
Observations of Sonia do Rosario Gomes
The higher caste Brahmins and Chardos owned vast estates of coconut plantations and massive fields where rice was cultivated. The earnings were very substantial for the Landowners to build huge ‘Portuguese style’ houses, and with their penchant for everything and anything European bought vast quantities of crockery, particularly the blue and white china, called the ‘Macau’ for it was manufactured in Macau, a colony of the Portuguese, the finest furniture was made with local carpenters, not to forget the crystal chandeliers. In short the ‘Portuguese style’ houses looked Goan but felt Portuguese, Portuguese was spoken at home, studied in schools and Lyceum.
People ate a mixture of Portuguese and Goan foods. Of course there were lapses, you could not use cutlery for xec-xec a crab preparation, now could you? You got your fingers messy but so what? Xec-xec is delicious. Or you could not suck a chupadeira sucking mango without getting your mouth or hands really messy. They tried, they did. Sheer nylon stockings and synthetic suits for weddings and funerals in the heat of May were de rigueur. Yes, everyone tried very hard to emulate the colonisers. And then Goa was liberated or some would call it ‘invaded’ even going to Court to prove that they would remain Portuguese citizens till their death, for they had been ‘illegally and unlawfully invaded’ and the invaders were these Indians who did not know much about ‘Culture’...
Goa was now a Democracy and Salazar did not mean a thing. Oh the Joy of it, you could go quite close to the village Church and shout out loudly... ‘Salazar você e um filho da puta’ and no police in shorts rushed to apprehend you...nor were you tortured for hours. And there were schools for everyone, rich or poor, Brahmin or not.
Things were looking good... but these wonderful winds of freedom were treacherous, the erstwhile colonised were reminded of the saying ‘Alegria do pobre dura pouco’ ‘All good things must come to an end’
Democracy needs voters and to placate the masses two new laws were enacted; The Mundkar Act and the Land to the tiller Act. Overnight the ‘mundkars’ up in arms, could and were encouraged to buy their own plot of land. Large tracts of coconut groves were sold at rock bottom prices to the Mundkars.
But it was the ‘Land to the tiller Act’ that was the downfall of the Landowners, without any warning, the Landowners were deprived of their source of income, any tract of land cultivated by a tenant, be it coconut, paddy and cashew now belonged to the Tiller. The Landowners lost the fields as well as cashew groves to the Tiller. Now there was hardly any money to look after those majestic ‘Portuguese style Goan houses’ People went to Gulf or just abandoned their houses...
The scariest aspect however was/is that of the stately mansions, that went/will go the way of Roberto’s house, with only an old retainer, a trembling Carmina to take care of them... Most probably yes, until the Real Estate sharks, who are the only ‘people’ who cherish the Portuguese style Goan houses’...more
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