Prutha Goa

The Mustard Seed Company is a name well associated with quality English theatre and has evolved entirely in Goa, thanks to the efforts of Isabel de Santa Rita Vas. The amateur theatre company has in the past performed plays that make you stop and think about life, society, the world, and the role you have to play. The latest production of The Mustard Seed Art Company is called Good Luck, Bad Luck, Who Knows? , and it will transport its audience to a street in Goa. Why a street, you ask. Isabel Vas says, ‘This is where things happen, where people’s paths cross, where strangers make contact and for a moment become neighbourly.  Streets are pathways and footpaths, but they are far from being mere blank spaces between the point of departure and the point of arrival. Flanked by doorways and window sills, and verandahs and attics, the street is filled with sounds and smells and lights and shadows, presence and absence. It’s on a street that long lost friends bump into each other, where the f

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

As dramatic and over the top as tiatr can be, it cannot be denied that it is quintessentially Goan and has proven time and again to be a vehicle of social, political and cultural messages. There is a certain section of Goans who attempt to distance themselves from tiatr, believing themselves to be culturally superior to individuals who are a frequent audience. I remember my English professor at Carmel College declaring that Shakespeare’s plays were nothing but the tiatr of his times. It is indeed ironical that even today we have Goans studying Shakespeare in detail and disdaining this Goan form of theatre. Tiatr has existed in Goa for over 125 years and has historically played a part in the preservation of the Konkani language and culture during the Portuguese rule. The tiatr is divided into parts called pordhe (the singular is pordho ). Between two pordhe there will be two or three kantaram (songs) where the singers are accompanied by a live band using Western musical instruments.

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 title of Praveen Naik’s exhibition Notes from the Zeitgeist has embedded in it the idea that an artist is the product of his culture and that the art he produces is the reflection of that culture. Zeitgeist, a German word, comes from a combination of two words: zeit (time) and geist (spirit). Zeitgeist is then taken to mean the ‘spirit of the age’, which echoes the singular attributes of a particular period. India is at the threshold of monumental change which is evident in the social upheaval, unfettered voices and daring revolution being experienced in the country. It is this developing process that has been captured by the series of paintings in Notes from the Zeitgeist . Artist Praveen Naik is a graduate of the Goa College of Art having secured his degree in Visual Art. This resident of Kumbharjua, Goa, has participated in solo and group exhibitions in India and Germany. His most recent exhibitions have been Kama, Interrupted at Gallery Gitanjali, Goa, and Pushing Boundaries in

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

Documentary filmmaking is a tremendous social vehicle. It can generate the necessary impact when wielded by capable, intellectual minds that cannot abide with injustice. Anand Patwardhan has achieved the esteemed status of being India’s premier documentary filmmaker, making the medium a bulwark of social justice and questioning motives behind certain political agenda. Despite constantly being up at arms with the Indian Censor Board and the Indian Government, the filmmaker has established an unshakeable foundation of social activism via documentaries. Having been an activist since his student days, Patwardhan selected filmmaking as his choice of weapon against the maelstrom of social and political injustice this country has witnessed. He has participated in the anti-Vietnam War movement and upheld the cause for democracy  and civil liberties during the course of the 1975-77 Emergency and after it. These are but two examples cited. He is a man who is driven to make a difference. Prior to

6 Assagao appeared on the scene in Goa three and a half years ago as a confluence of art, intellect and social activism. Nilankur Das, who is part of the team that makes the events at 6 Assagao a reality, reflects on a social awakening birthed by the turbulent atmosphere of Assam in the '80s. Marked by political unrest, student agitation, secessionist movements, the Indian Army’s combing operations and the President’s rule, this time period shaped his motivation to work in the development sector, and later in outreach and communication programmes. People Tree, which was founded by Orijit Sen and Gurpreet Sidhu and functions as a space for products of unique design, began as an alternative bookshop in Delhi housing textile products and accessories. Far more than an ordinary store, People Tree boasts of having been the nurturing ground for social movements and the mentor of 6 Assagao. Nilankur says of People Tree, where he once used to have his activism T-shirts on display, ‘People T

A person upholding ethics is a rare experience in the world today. Finding an individual investing time, money and expertise solely towards promoting social causes is an even rarer occurrence. Lynn de Souza has achieved all that a career woman could hope to gain in life and has now devoted herself to giving social causes momentum through her media company Social Access Communications. Lynn, who is originally from Goa, has had a successful career spanning 25 years as a media person. Her versatility covers business acumen, sports (she has been a tennis champion), veterinary nursing, and women’s empowerment. With an MBA in Marketing, Lynn has been employed by prestigious advertising firms such as Ogilvy, Grey and Lintas. After a four year term as chairperson and CEO of Lintas Media Group, Lynn quit in 2012 to set up Social Access Communications in 2013. Lynn is no stranger to humanitarian works and has been instrumental in setting up an animal hospital and shelter (Socrates Oliver Veterin

The architect of the Indian Constitution, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, while addressing a group of Dalits in a speech, exhorted them to understand that though education is the future, land is our present and our future. The Dalit activist and Tamil writer Palanimuthu Sivakami explains B R Ambedkar’s ideas about land and its vital presence in India. The former IAS officer has made it her mission in life to alleviate the deplorable condition of low caste individuals in our country. The land issues in Goa have not escaped her attention and in her estimation the lecture, Ambedkar and the Land Question, at the Goa Arts and Literary Festival 2015, was one most pertinent at this moment in time. It is an undeniable fact that there is a link between the IAS and land. P Sivakami says, ‘Look at my case: if my father hadn’t had any land, I would not have become part of the IAS.’ A survey of IAS officers from Dalit and tribal communities would reveal that 99 percent of these officers have had land to su

Referring to globalisation in terms of time-space compression, a term first used by British geographer David Harvey, Professor Yudhishthir Raj Isar began his talk on Globalisation Versus Cultural Diversity at Goa University. The modern age has seen swifter movement of products, services and finance from one country to another; the arts, languages and culture have found a universal arena in the same way. So also, the connectivity between people across regions has increased. The innovations in telecommunications, transport and media, and the expansion of multinational corporations that are culture sensitive and their worldwide marketing strategies, etc, have all contributed to narrowing this time-space compression, in effect leading to globalisation. There are arguments that attempt to strictly classify globalisation in the brackets of positive or negative. Proponents idealise the concept, believing it to be solving the world’s economic problems, creating a platform for equality and enco