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Showing posts with the label English Literature

Lucio Rodrigues: Lover of Goa and Teacher Par Excellence

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Professor Lucio Rodrigues is another one in a long line of literary geniuses that Goa has produced. He may have long departed this world but nevertheless his legacy of literature lives on through his writing and his students. An authority on Goan folklore, Prof Lucio Rodrigues was not only a visiting professor of folklore at the Indiana University, USA in 1969; his essays in English, as well as those translated from Konkani, were published as Of Soil and Soul and Konkani Folktales after his death in 1973. It was the revised edition of this compilation, renamed Abolim , which was released at the commemoration of this exceptional son of Goa’s birth centenary (15th April, 2015) at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim. Professor Lucio Rodrigues was exactly the type of teacher students would recall with awe and affection for the profound impact he had on their lives. He had a an expansive career as a professor of English literature at Ramnarain Ruia College, Siddharth College

Making Authentic History Common Knowledge

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Amita Kanekar’s new historical novel Fear of Lions transports us into the world of Aurangzeb – a world of contradictions, where extravagant lifestyle and abject poverty are prevalent side by side…where a rebellion so powerful, led by a rumoured witch, threatens the Mughal Empire. This is Amita’s second novel after A Spoke in the Wheel, which was set during the period of Emperor Ashoka’s rule.  The novel took about 15 years to reach its culmination with the interspersion of other works such as The Portuguese Sea Forts of Goa, with Chaul, Korlai and Vasai along the way. It was mainly reworking the original writing and more in depth research that took up time. ‘I changed my attitude to the story and the way I looked at how it should be written because of exposure to ideas about caste, about anti-caste struggle, because basically this is an anti-caste story,’ says Amita.  The struggle of taking the research she had done and drawing a well-crafted appealing story out of it was a real one

Joao-Roque Literary Journal: Promoting Goan Literary Talent

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The Joao-Roque Literary Journal came into existence on the 1st of January 2017. Conceptualised by Selma Carvalho, the online journal had its first anthology released in its print avatar titled The Brave New World of Goan Writing 2018 at the Goa Arts and Literature Festival 2018. The objective of the journal is to glean the best of Goan literary talent and showcase it. Mentoring and rewarding fiction and nonfiction Goan writing is also part of the aim of establishing the Joao-Roque Literary Journal . The anthology contains letters, memoirs, poetry, short stories and literary essays from Goan authors. The journal strives to encourage the values of tolerance and diversity that embody the Goan culture, therefore translations of Konkani and Portuguese writing are welcomed. The literary compositions of gender and sexual minorities are promoted as well. The journal invites original contributions from Goan writers, but reserves the right to sift through them to select only the best and highes

The Permanent Resident: A Review

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Roanna Gonsalves’ first book The Permanent Resident comprises 16 short stories based in Australia, her adopted home. The stories weave their way through shattered dreams, disillusionment and the reality of surviving in an alien culture. The book was first published by UWA Publishing in 2016 and its reprint was published by Goa, 1556. Making her way to Australia as a student, Roanna has garnered accolades that are completely justified by her writing. Aside from earning her doctorate from the University of New South Wales, Roanna is a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Endeavour Award. The Permanent Resident has been incorporated in the syllabi of a number of Australian universities and is being studied in particular in the areas of Australian Literature, Postcolonial Literatures, and Creative Writing. Merely ruling her a skilful writer would be understating her genius. Her words traverse the pages with fluidity that leaps up to greet and refresh the reader at every helpi

Waking Up to the Pandemic of Bullying

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There is an insidious disease that plagues members of Indian society – apathy towards any problem that does not particularly apply to oneself and the unwillingness to battle with the powers that be to right an injustice done to a fellow human being. Ratna Vira’s new book It’s Not About You addresses the issue of bullying, a rampant problem in our society that Indians are apt to sweep under the rug. Ratna is the author of the national bestseller Daughter by Court Order , another socially evocative novel that forces us to face upfront the injustice meted out to women in India. It’s Not About You tells the poignant tale of 16 year old Aksh and his single mother Samaira taking on the school authorities and the bullies who leave Aksh battered and bruised. Bullying comes in many forms. At times it takes place within families or it could be bullying by colleagues, schoolmates, etc. The main aim of this book it to motivate the listless Indian public to recognise this averse behaviour for wha

Redemption for the Alcoholic

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Alcoholism has been a killer and destroyer of familial peace hiding in plain sight. This is because we chose to ignore it if it does not affect us directly. Many in society still have an attitude of disdain towards persons encumbered by this disease as it is seen as a sign of weakness. The stigma attached to it has led to deaths because alcoholics could not come to terms with their problem and families have been left devastated and in social, emotional and financial turmoil. Maria Viency Cardozo’s maiden venture as a writer has resulted in a book Diamonds Under My Feet that offers courage to all those families and individuals afflicted by this insidious malady. She says, ‘The book is all about a message of hope for families suffering because of the problem of alcoholism.’ Even though alcoholism is termed AUD or alcohol use disorder by the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5), the awareness of the fact that it is a disease and that sufferers can avail of help

Indian Writing to Recognise the Real India

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India has been grossly misrepresented by diasporic writers, and Indian writers who seek to voice the authentic India through literary means are often drowned out in the cacophony of the former. Elucidating her topic of discussion, which was Writing India Right: Indian Writing in English and the Global Market, Professor Vrinda Nabar (Visiting Research Professor Programme under the Baakibab Borkar Chair) notes the story of an Indian poet who managed to have his work accepted by a Western literary journal by adding that his writing had been translated by him from an Indian language. ‘This story, whether apocryphal or otherwise, captures the experienced realities of Indian writing from the ‘margins’, a term which has ironically increasingly come to mean India, even in today’s globalised world. Ironic because it is Indian writing you speak of and it is India that has become the margin,’ says Prof Nabar. In this age of globalisation, however, the Indian poet mentioned would have had to meet

A Confluence of Feminism, History and Literature

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When we look back on history, we are able to perceive the effect a particular era has had on the people living in that period to the extent of colouring the character and thought of individuals. Women are singular in the bearing history has had on their lives and the lack of acknowledgement of their recordings of their times. Women have written from the earliest years, but they have received no place in a male dominated world. Despite the presence of the Buddhist theris’ literary works thousands of years ago, they became accessible only in the 20th century. The Bhakti poets Mirabai, Bahinabai and Janabhai were stylistically unique but they wrote in the vernacular about the everyday routine of life and their devotion. For example, Bahinabai recounts having a low caste mentor in Tukaram, while she came from a Brahmin family, and the repercussions of the situation. Dalit Marathi poet Hira Bansode’s poem in the late 20th century, Yashodhara, brings back before us the travails of the abando

Shorty Gomes – Ace Detective

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Reading Shorty Gomes: Vintage Crime Stories immediately transported me to a black and white TV era, where detectives were gritty and unafraid of gore. He is quite unalike Christie’s Poirot and, as his creator Ahmed Bunglowala will attest, ‘I perceive the British school of crime writing as too passive and plot-heavy. I write in the American school of hardboiled fiction, made famous by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.’ Bunglowala recommends the reading of Chandler’s essay, "The Simple Art of Murder", to connoisseurs of the crime genre. The stories in the book consist of three long-short stories that appeared previously as The Days and Nights of Shorty Gomes , published by Rupa &Co, whereas the fourth short story, 'Nagpada Blues', was published by HarperCollins India in the crime anthology Mumbai Noir in 2012. The stories, titled 'The Dark Side of Diamonds', 'The House on St Peter’s Street', 'Long Shadows of the North', and 'Nagpad

Ghost Stories with a Goan Flavour

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Author Jessica Faleiro ’s maiden novel, Afterlife: Ghost Stories from Goa , was published in 2012. She remembers suppressing her latent talent as a writer for as long as she was a student and untill she had graduated in Environmental Policy as an environmental scientist. She worked in research and policy and as a lobbyist before engaging her desire to write as a hobby. Soon it became evident that writing was an intrinsic part of her being and she says, ‘I’m happiest when filling a blank page with words, and creating stories and poems generated by something deep within myself. …at some level within myself I did always want to be a writer.’ Born in Goa and brought up in Kuwait, Jessica is a globetrotter of sorts having lived in Goa, Mumbai, Miami, Paris and London, and travelled to Afghanistan, Haiti, the Philippines and other countries for work. Her many travels have naturally given her the impetus to write travel features. She also writes essays, poems and articles which have appeared

Lights Out!: A Review

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Lights Out! by Manjula Padmanabhan finds new expression through Dnyanesh Moghe’s direction and his actors. The play, which was performed on the 10th of August 2019 at the Multipurpose Hall, Central Library, Panjim, was inspired by a true incident that took place in 1982 in Santa Cruz, Bombay, albeit with fictional characters recreating it. The play commences with an unnerving, unearthly cry, evoking a sense of trepidation and suspense. We are told that the protagonist Leela has been hearing these distressing cries for some time and been pressuring her husband Bhaskar to call the police. Although she is not certain of the reason for the cries, innate intuition does not allow her to dismiss them as anything but the result of a crime. Bhaskar, on the other hand, finds every excuse in the book to avoid calling the police. He deems it fit, however, to call his friend Mohan to watch the ‘spectacle’ that we learn he has been witness to. What follows is an inane justification of the clearly un

Dramatically Yours, The Mustard Seed Art Company! (Theatre)

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In Goa, Isabel de Santa Rita Vás is a name synonymous with English drama. Having written and directed numerous plays, this playwright of exceptional calibre, allowed us to partake of her vision of this art form. Her illustrious career as a college professor of English Literature has included becoming the head of the English department at Dhempe College of Arts and Science. Her position as an English Literature lecturer indubitably led to her acquaintance with other forms of literature. She was often entrusted with the duty of putting up performances to embellish regular college programmes or whenever occasion demanded it. Her passion for literature and the bond that she shared with her students enabled her to immerse herself wholly in drama and its nuances. In time, the challenge and charm of transmuting play scripts into stage performances encouraged a more adventurous endeavour. Along with a group of young people, she set out independently to stage a well-known American play in the t