Prutha Goa

Vamona Navelcar – the first time I heard the name 4 years ago, it meant nothing to me and probably to many people in Goa too. It took a UK expatriate’s curiosity and fascination with the genius of this man for us to become aware of him. Anne Ketteringham, a retired aeronautical engineer, despite her lack of education in the area of fine arts, was mesmerised by the man and his paintings. She persevered in her quest to document his life, even travelling to Portugal to confirm facts, and the result was her insightful book Vamona Navelcar, An Artist of Three Continents , which was published in 2013. Vamona Navelcar is both an enigma and a role model to be emulated. His art shapes him as much as he shapes his art. In these modern times, where fame and money are hailed as the ultimate accomplishments, this octogenarian shuns them to epitomise integrity. He has lived by his principles all his life and no political duress or fear of loss could inspire reasons disregard them. Many artists cater

The 7th to the 9th of May saw the celebration of children at the Our Lady of Divar School on Divar Island. Bhurgeanchem Fest , or ‘children’s festival’, was held in association with Uzwaad-The Rays of Hope, a group that focuses on furthering the conservation of Goa’s socio-cultural heritage. The three-day festival had a number of activities for young children that included talks on the history and heritage of Divar by social activist and college professor Prajal Sakhardande, who encouraged the children to learn from history and do their best to preserve and take pride in the heritage that has been passed down to them. Agriculturist Miguel Braganza spoke on gardening and plants to enthuse the youngsters to continue to keep alive the plants and trees that are endemic to Goa, and Sangeeta Naik instructed the young people in using their mobiles and the internet to help them in their studies. There were workshops held in dance, art, street plays, football, singing, tiatr and so on to engag

The 9 th of February 2019 saw a flurry of joyous activity at  Nirmala Institute of Education. It was time again to celebrate that vibrant flower that is endemic to Goa, the abolim , or firecracker flower, with the Abolianchem Fest . The concept of using the flower as a symbol was integrated into  Nirmala Institute’s own Project Goa, which highlights Goa’s socio-cultural features with a variety of  typical Goan music, games, songs, dances, food, art, craft, etc that existed before 1975. The campus of Nirmala Institute of Education was alive with the abolim abounding in great clusters in one section. Missing in action was Goemcho Festakar Marius Fernandes, the man who suggested the use of the symbolic abolim and has in recent times been a great promoter of Goan culture. His absence was sorely felt. Project Goa was first developed on the basis of ex-English Methodology lecturer Ms Sharmila Veloso’s own English project. The goal of this project, which evolved into Project Goa, was to re

  In a time when we are struggling to recognise our roots as Goans and fighting to keep our identity from merging into a potpourri of cultures, we have some clarity in the form of the various cultural festivals that have been peppering the years since the beginning of the 2000s and will hopefully continue on through the years to come. We have one man to thank for this and that man is Marius Fernandes, now dubbed ‘ Goemcho Festamkar ’ for daring to leave a lucrative career behind and spend 17 years injecting goenkarponn into the goenkars (Goans) and their progeny. Marius was not born in Goa, but in Kenya in 1959, albeit arriving into a family that was firmly entrenched in Goan culture. Adventure seems to run in his veins since his grandfather Mathias Xavier Fernandes found himself in Kenya after spending the night on a dhow. He had been trying to escape the confines of strict convent education and had sought refuge in the dhow for a night’s rest only to find himself sailing to the con

The Muzgachem Fest at Carmel College of Arts, Commerce and Science for Women, Nuvem was a flurry of musical notes, art and delving into Goa’s cultural roots. On the 9th of December 2017, Marius Fernandes organised his penultimate cultural festival in collaboration with the women’s college which was established in 1964. The campus was abuzz with the chatter of young women around the college’s trademark trees before the basketball court. Clarice Vaz Artist Clarice Vaz, who specialises in spin painting, fluid painting and syringe painting, was on form demonstrating painting using combs and brushes with her usual enthusiasm. Alexyz, the cartoonist, introduced visually impaired artist Stacy Rodrigues, an ex-student of Carmel Higher Secondary School. The indomitable Stacy spoke about her struggles with her eyesight and how she had conquered them. Savio Godinho spent time entertaining the young Carmel ladies with painting attractive images on their forearms. Akshay Chari, a graduate of the Go