All Izz "Sit" in Goa's State Archives.

ALL IZZ 'SIT' IN GOA'S STATE ARCHIVES
By Bernardo de Sousa


Any visit to Goa needs to start with a wallet refueling stop at a bank. Having connections
speeds up that process. In the Mapusa bank we went to, a lady was seated at a desk,
dozing peacefully; she suddenly woke up, picked up a ball, rolled it on the desk, then
returned to dozing. We later learnt that banks are required to hire personnel belonging to
scheduled castes/tribes. Being a local bank, this occurs through the intercession of an
MLA: the candidate controlling the largest number of votes gets the job. A win-win
situation: our aspiring athlete gets a salary, the MLA gets the votes. Thus, “vote bank”
politics ensure the “upliftment” of the downtrodden.

My contact at the bank being away, I was instructed to head upstairs. The scene was
chaotic: no boards indicating which counter handled which transaction, people rushing to
any counter that was manned. An acquaintance said he would call Mr. X and guided us to
a pair of chairs with a parting instruction: “Sit” -- an instruction I would repeatedly
encounter in Goa with devastating consequences.

After about an hour, I managed to obtain from Mr. X the prized ATM card that, sadly,
failed to function until our departure. For expediency, we cashed traveler’s cheques at
Vivanta hotel in Panaji, where the transaction absorbed all of three minutes flat -- the
most efficient and friendliest service I have ever encountered anywhere on the planet.
Our wallet thus replenished, we headed to the State Archives, Panaji, where I wished to
consult a list of historical documents.

We were greeted at the ground floor by an overpowering smell of naphthalene,
attempting unsuccessfully to mask the odours from the nearby toilet. The strong influence
of carnival in Goa is not to be underestimated – a vote bank mask at the bank, a
naphthalene mask at the State Archives.

The clerk at a counter instructed me to go upstairs to see the manager. I did not quite
comprehend why but arguments would only waste time. We were invited into the
manager’s cramped office. “Sit!” he instructed. Not again! After reading my list, he
confirmed that the documents were public; we were thus in violent agreement but the
documents still eluded me.

I was now instructed to cross the corridor to the public documents section; as we did so,
we saw a lady sitting on a bench, resting one of her feet on it, blissfully cutting her toe-
nails. I did not need an explanation: another vote bank mask with an aspiring beautician
replacing an aspiring athlete.

In the public domain, five persons were seated at five desks, engaged in deep
conversation, otherwise doing nothing. I showed one of them the titles of the documents.
She looked at it and shouted to her colleague a few meters away. Having been
disdainfully ignored twice, she approached the recalcitrant colleague, exchanged a few
furious words, returned, turned to me and ordered: “Sit”.

Decidedly, “sit” was becoming the bane of my short holiday. In my mind, I silently
slipped an “h” in between the “sit” but refrained from vocalising my thought.

Explaining to us children the intricacies of traditional Goan hospitality, our father once
recounted that guests were routinely greeted with the Konkani phrase: “Ailoi, io, bosloi,
bos, kashti sodd, lepti kha” – loosely translated “you have arrived, please come in, sit
down, loosen your loin-cloth, share our food”. I did not expect these five uncooperative
chair-warmers to share their food but there was no escaping the instruction to sit. I
politely but resolutely declined. The lady repeated her instruction except that this time it
was an order: “Sit”.

The situation was turning hopeless. Asked how long this was going to take, she muttered:
“5 minutes”. My heart sank: in Goa, 5 minutes encompass any span between 5 minutes
and eternity. I heard my wife say that she had been handed a form that I was required to
complete hence, sitting down may not be a bad idea. Her pragmatic logic carrying the day,
I sat down, opened the small rucksack containing my pen and other items. “You have to
keep your bag downstairs,” said the recalcitrant librarian, who had just concluded his
yogic meditation and was back in command barking out his orders.

I explained to him that I had carried my rucksack all this time from the counter
downstairs, transiting through his manager’s office into the public documents section,
without anyone’s objection until then. He repeated his order, this time raising his voice.
Another mask, what was his bark really masking? Resentment because I was an NRI, PIO
or OCI? Or because I had not presented him with a motivating incentive in an envelope?

Do they still insist on envelopes, or would plain cash do? Or was he another vote bank
beneficiary who resented having been disturbed from his reverie or conversation? I had
had enough of this rude, uncooperative, unhelpful, obstructionist and bureaucratic
attitude of the Goa State Archives staff. I got up, returned the form to the lady who had
given it, and walked out.

Back in the taxi, our friend suggested visiting the Central Library instead. Indeed, I was
led to the relevant section immediately - and could finally consult and photograph the
documents of interest. I now understood why the Central Library was so well frequented
whereas, excepting staff, not a soul other than my wife, our friend and I were present at
the public documents section of the State Archives.

This time around, when a kindly member of the Central Library staff pulled up a chair
and asked me to sit, I was delighted to comply.
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The above article appeared in HERALD (Goa) of March 21, 2010

ON COLVA CD & IN SUPPORT OF PRODUCER CALVERT GONSALVES.

From: Joseph Fernandes.
To: goa-kranti.

Dear Mr.Veronica,

I am from Sernabatim (Colva) and I’d like to thank you for highlighting the “Dogui Bodmas” CD case in a big way. It takes lots of courage to come out with alternative news that is not covered by the so called ‘fourth estate’. It is highly appreciated by us in Sernabatim that you put in that extra effort to meet Calvert regarding his CD and got to be aware of the ground situation first hand. The CD producer has only tried to convey a message to the people of Goa through a medium they best understand. I know Calvert personally and all that he is trying to do is to get the church authorities to wake up and act against some errant priests who are out to rob various parishes of Goa. In no way the CD is trying to defame or malign the Catholic faith. It has only tried to expose the scandalous lives of some priests like Fr.Diogo in the Catholic church of Goa and the reluctance by the church higher ups to correct these priests.


Since the release of the CD, Calvert has had to undergo a lot of distress in his life. People were even hired to attack him and his family. That is the price that one pays in Goa for speaking the truth against ministers and the church. Harassment at the hands of police and authorities is nothing new for Calvert; it has been going on for the last few years since the time he was elected back by the people of our ward in spite of political pressure by Mickky. Calvert is always known for being unconventional and is not the type who will bow down to political or any type of pressure. He has always had the courage to say that white is white and black is black. We have always supported him whenever he has had to make tough decisions and this time too we are with him in order to save our church properties from this ‘builder’ priest.


I read somewhere one so called journalist was wondering what kind of people have elected Calvert to the Panchayat. Let me tell this ignorant gentleman that builders are kept away from Sernabatim by electing Calvert to the Panchayat. When the minister tried to force his uneducated, rougish, fighter bull owner candidate on the people, they resisted and rallied behind an educated, smart and courageous leader who has done a lot of development for not only his own ward but entire Sernabatim. Many people have sort to criticize Calvert for producing the Konkani CD by stating the classic goan phrase ‘padrincher add ulounk zaina”. But should we remain mute when the priests live immoral lives? Should everyone remain silent and let the the priests sell our church properties?


The sensible people of Colva have decided not to allow this priest Fr Diogo to get away with his foul intentions. That is the reason why proper representations were made to the Bishop asking him to intervene and address the issue. The people did not even get a proper audience with the Bishop. I guess that the letters handed over to the Bishops palace must have been dumped in some dust bin because the Bishop and his associates at Altinho feel that we have to blindly obey their orders come what may. It is quite amusing to read the allegations against Calvert in different forums. One allegation was that Calvert is a real estate developer. Let me correct them by saying that it is true that Calvert has done several property deals in and around Colva - Sernabatim. However none of these properties have been sold to people outside the village, forget selling them to non goans. All these properties were bought by Calvert from the landlords of Sernabatim and sold to the youth mostly coming from fishing families. The properties were even sold at a price well below the market rate so that our local boys could afford them. Today the youth of Sernabatim are doing tourism related businesses or have built new homes for themselves in these properties. It is wrong to categorize Calvert as a typical real estate developer of Goa.


Another allegation I read was regarding lamanis. It is not a recent allegation against Calvert. It was first started in 1992 when Calvert was in the forefront to drive away lamanis from Colva beach. I can recollect that a lady Panch member had taken the market fee collection. Hence Calvert’s drive to get rid of lamanis from the beach area only angered her because it deprived her of a huge additional money collection. This Panch member concentrated on her pocket and the village did not matter to her. Hence the allegation was invented against Calvert to discourage him from conducting the drive to get rid of Lamanis from the beach area. Unlike Colva the Sernabatim beach does not have any ‘lamani’ settlements and it is almost completely free from these pesky hawkers because of efforts put in by Calvert. The only lamanis present are in a few shops belonging to a henchman of the minister.


I would like to conclude by stating, ‘Don’t kill the messenger”. We the parishioners of Colva need support from all quarters to save our church properties. We need support to stop the moral bankruptcy and bankruptcy of the minds of our gullible villagers. At the recent inauguration of the new Colva School, Francisco Sardinha openly said “Fr Diogo is the Shahinsha of builders”. Not Shahinsha of Priests. What a shame!! A Priest is suppose to be a spiritual guide etc and an ambassador of God. Sardinha is not wrong in his description. Today it is happening in our parish and in our village it could be your parish tomorrow.


Adeus. Mog Assum Dhi.
Joseph Fernandes.

A Perfect Lesson For Us All

A Perfect Lesson For Us All

 

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/randomaccess/entry/a-humane-tigress-and-heartless

 

The above article once again reminds us that we should not mess with nature and nature's natural progression. We all agree that nature by all means is beautiful, even though, we sometimes have to bear the ferocity that can devastate humanity, be it the volcanoes, the tsunami's, the thunder and lightening, fire, wind, waves, rain, fog, clouds, snow or hailstones, all these nature's happenings have ever so entranced and enchanted mankind, and man is still fighting a loosing battle to find the causes and the ways and means to control them or curb them.

 

Scientists and geologists have spent their life time, going through hardships and even death to educate us and the generations to come, about the repercussions of messing with nature, but alas, when will it ever sink into our thick skulls that we should leave nature, to it's self to create the required balance, for the survival of this very planet.

 

History has been a witness to the wrath and fury of nature, which mankind is still very much ill equipped to face, leave alone tackle or even dream of curbing. On more occasions than not, man has invited the fury of nature unto himself, and has been swept away each and every time. Even with all the wisdom and the advancement in science and technology, man is helpless against the force and fury of nature. So the only viable option to mankind is to leave nature to it's own terms and progressions.

 

In Goa, our money minded politicians to make a fast buck, have played havoc with nature by allowing rampant mining, destroying forests and hills, destroying the precious vegetation, and driving wild animals away from their natural habitat. We have been witnesses to the dwindling water resources, fertile lands being scorched and to the loss of our flora and fauna as a result of this atrocious attack on mother nature, as a result of which some of us have borne the fury of nature, and what have we learnt from it, or have we ?  

 

Of late we have been hearing of wild animals attacking humans, in and around their homes. If our homes are destroyed don't we seek food and shelter else where ? So too it is with wild animals. Once their natural habitat in destroyed and devastated by mining, where are they suppose to go, find food and shelter ? When we mess with nature, we invite the ills on ourselves. Wild life, left to it's self in their own habitat, will not attack humans as long as their domain is not invaded, but will man's curiosity and greed, ever let him do it ?

 

The above article is a perfect lesson for each one of us and more so for the forest officials. Even though the tigress felt threatened, she just displayed her natural instincts, but in no uncertain terms warned the man responsible for the threat, to leave her and her cubs alone and was lucky, that he lost just one eye rather than his life, in the standoff.  Live and let live should be our precise objective towards nature, if we want to live in harmony with nature.

 

Our corrupt politicians have been pacifying the environmental activists, by setting up different commissions and committees, but have they at any time followed the proposals, that have been made or recommended, to protect our environment ? What exactly happened to the remains of the tiger, that were found at Keri ? Or are the officials still trying to make Mr. Kamat the scapegoat, for their short comings and inefficiency ?  It goes to show just how indifferent, our authorities are towards wild life and our environment.

 

Our present corrupt politicians certainly lack the integrity, basic ethics, honesty, dedication and above all morals, to make Goa the Jewel that it once was, by protecting and preserving what's left of Mother Goa and providing a clean and constructive governance. Will I be wrong in saying, that just because electricity comes from electrons, why should we expect morality and good constructive governance from morons, we keep electing over and over again, thus proving, we ourselves are morons.

 

Freddy Agnelo Fernandes

Dubai - U.A.E

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