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

  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