GULF GOANS HOTELS CO'S ILLNESS.

By: Special Correspondent.

 

Formation of Gulf Goans Hotels Company by Kuwait Goans was the unique experiment conducted by the Goans  working in Kuwait and so far this is the only such experiment conducted by the expatriate Goans, thanks to the excellent initiative of dynamic Kuwait Goan Mr. Vincente D’Souza.  Hotel Goan Heritage erected at Ghauravaddo Calangute is the first and the only baby so far conceived in the womb of GGHC. It is now about a quarter of a century that this Hotel is functioning at a very lucrative place but according to many who are directly and indirectly involved in its operation are disappointed that its management and administration is run by persons not fit to be there. Those who are running the day to day administration of this Hotel are irresponsible and unfit for the job. If this trend is not arrested now then there is every possibility for this great experiment to go to the dogs and God forbid  if it happens it will be a very sad moment for the patriotic Kuwait Goans.  The exorbitant unnecessary expenses done could have been avoided but the Board as a whole is not competent  because it comprised some inefficient elements whose job is not in the Board but elsewhere.

There is only one director among the twelve who is a very qualified and experienced person in running the Hotel business while the rest are having zero knowledge of Hotel business.  Majority of the directors are not fit to be in the board and  yet unfortunately they are sticking to their post shamelessly because they want  to avail of the free meals, free expensive drinks  and financial doles that they get for doing nothing worthwhile, besides they want to make show of their directorship. Most shameless directors are those who are based abroad and being outside India they are impotent to contribute anything. Two of the directors are known to have questionable character, one of them is Alex Wison Coelho  who was involved in financial irregularities of the community funds  besides  being  morally corrupt.  The other is Tony Cordeiro from Saligao who as per the information,  was disgracefully sacked for doing financial irregularities by his company in Kuwait.  Secondly up to now he has not disclosed the whereabout of the funds of Kuwait Goans Association of which he was one of the leading members.

When this is the case how one can rely on these  men to protect the interest of the Hotel? And as per the latest information Mr. Cordeiro  is aspiring to be the next Chairman of the Board when the current useless Chairman  retires permanently.  Entrusting the Chairman’s   Job to Cordeiro means a great risk.  During the invasion period of Kuwait he was at the helm of affairs for a few months in the absence of right man and during this period as per the available information he made a mess of everything in the Hotel,  good that Flav Pimenta the then Chairman was overseeing everything.   He was during this period feeding expensive food and drinks not only to his family and relatives but also to his Dogs and Cats, of course all F.O.C.  He got no knowledge of anything but he pretends to be a genius in running the Hotel business.  He is not even fit to be a Waiter and he is not adequately qualified academically having passed only SSC but speaks English as if he is come from Harward.  Share Holders must think very hard on this subject and take a very hard decision on this man if they want to save their Hotel.  He is the most selfish man and in this direction he will do anything.

The job of the Chairman is very important and currently to my assessment there is nobody in the Board who is competent enough to take up this job.  Shareholders have lost their hope in the Board to do right things to get better dividends for them.  Chairman’s job is not the job of a Ladru – Pedru type of a person.  It requires high competence and knowledge.  In view of this, Shareholders must be very assertive of their rights to express their views and not to leave this matter entirely into the hands of the Board.  GGHC is not the personal property of the Board to act irresponsibly.  This company belongs to the Shareholders whose voice must be sought.

On 26^th of this Month, Hotel is hosting a Picnic party to the Shareholders.  During this time the share holders must discuss this subject among themselves and try to find out the way to knock out the unreliable man not only from the next post but also from the board itself otherwise there is every possibility for this corrupt man to knock down the entire Hotel from its location.  He is a shameless thick skinned man, not even feeling shy to show his face openly in public for the scandalous life he faced in Kuwait. For him and for such others Hotel interest goes to hell as long as they get their quota.

To repeat it again, Hotel is not the personal property of the Board but the way some are exploiting the Hotel  it looks there is no one to question them.  A few of them feel they own not only the Hotel but also the Shareholders. Unless the entire Board is revamped by throwing out by the Shareholders the useless Directors the situation will not change.  Most of the Directors are not fit to be there, they are a shame on the Board.

 

TIATRO "NIVAR AMKAM" AT SINQUERIM.

TIATRO  “NIVAR  AMKAM” By Francis de Tuem.

The newly released Tiatro “Nivar Amkam” written and directed by the well-known singer  Francis de Tuem was staged on 21^st of this month, at Sinquerim, Bardez, in the Church compound attended by a good number of audience from the locality and also from the neighbouring places. Though scheduled to start at 7.00pm finally  it started at 8.15 pm.  No doubt the publicity for this Tiatro was not much done yet the response was good due to the tremendous efforts put in by all the Sinquerim parishioners under the stewardship of their dynamic and youthful Parish Priest who left no stone unturned to make this event a success. 

In future for any of their such activities this writer if approached will surely provide good publicity in this forum, of course free of charge.

Sinquerim is a small village in Bardez touching Candolim and  coming under the jurisdiction of Candolim Panchayat was made famous during the Portuguese era by the Sinquerim Fort, famous Lighthouse, Millitary citadel and the beautiful Church immortalized by the renowned tiatrist from the neighbouring village Dando Candolim, the late Young Menezes in his beautiful song “Sant Laurence Bogta” the patron saint of Sinquerim Church, which goes thus:

SAM LORENCE BOGTA, SOMDIRAN EK VHODD OJAP GHODDTA,

ARE DAKTULO GHANV TO SINQUERIMCHO ANI PORBEK TACHE GANVA GANVCHO LOK LODDTA etc.

Sinquerim in the olden days was well known for its Springs that generated medicinal water having curative effects and by having bath from  the water of these Springs the great educationist Fr. Lyon a non-Goan Deacon cured his deadly skin desease.  And as a  mark of gratitude for Sinquerim and Goa, he establised the first English High School of Goa at Arpora, Bardez, Goa.

In 1974 Sinquerim acquired name and fame because of the erection of the first Five Star Hotel of Goa by the Taj and this fame attained  crescendo when CHOGM meet of Non-Alligned Summit was held at Taj Hotel  Sinquerim.

 Coming back to the Tiatro, In the past the great tiatrist the late Alexinho de Candolim  was known to introduce new tiatrists on Konkani Stage.  Similarly, in this Tiatro Francis de Tuem also introduced some new faces who played excellent roles and displayed their beautiful talent.  One of them was Jimmy who played the role of a Dotor, the others were Pradeep who played the role of Moratee, Sanjiv who played the beautiful role of a gambler and the young girl who played the role of elder daughter. Besides, Pascoal Rodriges, Comedian Jesus, Chitra and Anita played their respective roles very well.

In the sideshow songs Pascoal Rodrigues,  Lawry Travasso, Marcus Vaz, Xavier Gomes and Francis de Tuem rendered their solos well.

Local youth also showed their talent by performing Dhekni and other items.

Since it is a newly released tiatro which is going to be staged all over Goa, I refrained from disclosing the story part of it.

Musical score was beautifully provided by Norman Cardoso and his team of musicians comprising Saxaphone, Trumpet, Drums and Base Guitar.  

The local MLA Michael Lobo along with others also attended the Tiatro and the local youth rendered a song eulogizing his simplicity and his developmental work in the constituency.

 

A. Veronica Fernandes,

Candolim,

Goa.

Tel: 7507394349.

 

SPLIT PE. VIGAR'S JOB FROM THAT OF SCHOOL PRINCIPAL.

Monsg. Filipe Neri  Mendonca popularly known as Fr. Mendonca was the 3^rd principal of the fist English High School of Goa, St. Joseph’s High School, Arpora.  About 35 years he worked as principal of that school. He was the great educationist of Goa having obtained first class in MA degree in Latin and acquiring second rank.  He died in August 1966 and interred at Arpora/Nagoa.  During Portuguese time he enjoyed highest respect from the Portuguese government for promoting English education in Goa.  During the critical time of the relationship between Indian government and Portuguese government in mid fifties, he acted as a peacemaker between the two governments with respect to educational matters concerning Goan students appearing for SSC thru Poona Board.  Regarding English education in Goa, the Portuguese Governador of Goa used to consult him on important decisions on education.  Many times he calmed down the Portuguese authority in favour of Goans in the matter of education and his voice had great respect before the Portuguese authority. 

Immediately after the ouster of Portuguese from Goa, some Goan “goondas” from that locality came with Guns and Revolvers to kill Fr. Mendonca for being Portuguese government’s “chamcha” but a few minutes before  the final operation his personal driver sensed something serious would happen and immediately took him away from Arpora school to Bastora Nun’s School without anybody’s notice and thus the faithful driver saved the life of his boss.  This driver’s faithfulness towards his boss was an example of past century’s faithfulness. Though Supreme Court of India in its landmark judgment on Goa said that on 19^th December 1961 Goa was not liberated but conquered yet Fr. Mendonca went a step forward and remarked openly in his school saying that Goa on that fateful date was not liberated but in fact was Invaded by Bahrat.

Fr. Mendonca was the first Goan educationist to receive the national award for being the best educationist of Goa after the ouster of colonial rule in Goa and this award was presented to him in New Delhi at Rastrapati Bhawan by the renowned philosopher educationist president of India Dr. Radakrishnan.  After the presentation of the award the president requested Fr. Mendonca to delay his return to Goa since he wanted to discuss some private matters with Fr. Mendonca concerning Portuguese administration in Goa.  Not satisfied with the discussion, the president again invited Fr. Mendonca to Delhi after 3 months to get more information of the subject about which nobody in Goa knew except Fr. Mendonca since his relationship with Portuguese government was very friendly especially with the last Portuguese Governador of Goa,  Vassalo e Silva.

After a few days from 19th December 1961 when the situation became normal in Goa, Fr. Mendonca returned from hiding at Bastora to his school at Arpora and resumed his school work.  Then immediately Goa Bishop Rebello appointed him as an adviser on Diocesan schools.  Candolim St. Theresa’s School was just shifted to the new location in the Church premises under the principalship of the Church Pe. Vigar, Pe.  Nicholau Noronha and Fr. Mendonca was advising Pe. Noronha on this school matters.  One day during his discussion with Pe. Noronha, Fr. Mendonca as a representative of the Bishop advised Pe. Noronha to stick up to only one job, either of Principal of the school or of Pe. Vigar of the Church because he said both the jobs are independent,  each needing  full time devotion and concentration.  However, in the end, Fr. Mendonca suggested to give priority to Pe. Vigar’s job which is the pastoral job for which Pe. Noronha became priest  and not to become school principal. Priest’s job is to do full time pastoral work and not of educational.

Fr. Freddy J. D’Costa when he first time came to Kuwait to stage his Tiatro in the Church hall, he approached the Kuwait Bishop Monsg. Frances Mechallef for permission for hall.  Mong. Mechallef refused his permission and immediately fired a letter to Goa Bishop Raul Gonsalves asking him “Why did you send Fr. Freddy to Kuwait?  To stage Tiatro? Is it a job of a priest to stage Tiatros by ignoring his pastoral duties?  Is he a priest to stage Tiatro or to perform his pastoral duties?  And what pastoral significance his visit to Kuwait is having?”

Bishop Gonsalves nor Fr. Freddy had any  appropriate answer and they both kept silence admitting their mistake.  Today Catholic community is in much trouble needing pastoral help from the priests many of whom have no time to devote their time and energy for this job because they have to devote their precious time for something else for which they did not become priests. Pastoral job is a full time job of a priest without any interference of any other job. 

During his first visit to India, the late Pope Paul John advised the clergy to refrain from taking active part in activities other than Pastoral which are yours and nothing else.

Hence, Bishop of Goa will be doing a great service to the Catholic community by splitting the job of Pe. Vigar from the job of the school principal.  Entrusting both the jobs into one priest will damage the efficiency of both the jobs.

A.      Veronica Fernandes,

 Candolim,

       Goa.

        Tel: 7507394349.