Prutha Goa

Twenty years of celebrating World Goa Day are nearing successful completion, and a global cartoon contest is being organised with the theme of ‘Goa’. This event is open to the Goan diaspora irrespective of age and gender. Your cartoons can be uploaded to the World Goa Day Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/WGD-2019-Cartoon-Contest-296427724639421/  until the 30th of June 2019. World Goa Day was first celebrated on the 20th of August 2000 with a special emphasis on the date as it is when Konkani, Goa’s native language, was included in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution by the Indian Parliament in 1992. The date varies in countries around the world for the reason of practicality but is always celebrated around the original date. The cartoon contest for 2019’s World Goa Day is of particular significance because it sees a collaboration between the founder of World Goa Day Rene Barreto and Goa’s own socio-political cartoonist Smitha Bhandare Kamat. The focus of this competitio

Smitha Bhandare Kamat comes across as an unassuming person, and indeed, she does prefer the solace of home and hearth and bonding with family and pets to the constant spotlight. Her cartoons, many of which have featured in prominent magazines and won her awards, seep into your sensibility, packing a punch with humour. Her style is her own, evolving from years of doodling in numerous school notebooks. The messages Smitha communicates through her cartoons emerge from a psyche moulded by a strong and steadfast upbringing by her parents. Her father, Govindas Bhandare, was a self-made man who did not shy away from hard work and encouraged in Smitha an interest in political issues. An amateur cartoonist himself, his drawings were limited to his family for an audience. Fortunately, it is a talent he passed on to his daughter together with his values. ‘I was particularly close to my father, late Shri Govindas Bhandare. He was a very determined man with a rag to riches story to his credit. He w

The man engages his audience with candour and the humour that effortlessly emerges from it. Alexyz, the cartoonist and the fearless activist for any legitimate cause, will wake you up with his wit and a dash of laughter therapy should ennui impede your concentration. The Friday Balcao, an initiative that evolved in 1999 out of the need for information and discussions related to issues in Goa,  hosted Alexyz   on the first day of the Konkan Fruit Fest 2016. He spoke on the topic ‘Goa, Today and Tomorrow’ using the description of cartoons from his latest book O to be in Goa…Today as an insightful yet playful educative tool. Alexyz began with the monumental problem of alcoholism in Goa that shows no signs of abating. The cartoon declares that Goa is a government approved bar and restaurant. The chance for cheap liquor has tourists from other states heading in droves for Goa where the highest number of deaths are alcohol related. Goa Medical College records 300 deaths connected to alcohol