Yesterday, 27th inst., Tiatr Academy Goa, organized
a function in Panjim to mark the birthdays of all the late Stage artistes born
in this month. They were altogether Ten artistes, the prominent being Saib Rocha,
C. Alvares, Minguel Rod, Alfred Rose, Shalini and Rosary Ferns.
Fatima spoke on 5 artistes including on Minguel Rod and Rosary
Ferns while William spoke on others detailing their contribution in the promotion
of Konkani Stage Art.
As a President of the Academy, Prince Jacob welcomed the
gathering comprising about 50 attendees and singled out my presence there in
the hall by specially welcoming me too.
Furthermore, he said that “there is nobody among us besides Veronica who
can talk better on Rosary Ferns” and suggested that Veronica can say a few words on Rosary Ferns after
Fatima the scheduled speaker on Rosary Ferns ends her speech. Then Prince
Jacob called out my name to come to the Mike but seated on my chair among the
audience I signaled him saying "NO".
There is a saying in Konkani, "Dheklem Moddem ani Ailem Roddnem". This is what it looked has happened to Prince Jacob. When he knows that I am now Goa based, he could rightly tell me in advance so that I could prepare myself for the delivery especially when he admitted that I am the best to speak on Rosary Ferns instead of giving this opportunity to a half baked speaker. This clarification is to all those who asked me why I said "NO".
When
unqualified speakers are brought in to talk on any personality then the value
of that personality goes down. Fatima is not a competent speaker to talk on Rosary
Ferns because she knows very little of Rosary Ferns as an artiste and his
contribution in the development of Konkani Stage Art, namely as a songster,
playwright, actor, director, Mando – Dulpod, Operattas, Audio Cassette and CD.
Rosary Ferns carry the unique distinction of producing the first ever Konkani
CD and that too from Kuwait. He was the first Goan from the expatriate Goan
World to release the first Audio Cassette. Besides, there is so much to speak and to
mention of this great artiste. As an
artiste Rosary Ferns was so big while Fatima Is so small to highlight the
greatness of Rosary Ferns. She even goofed in her statement while quoting Shakespeare
saying it was in Macbeth that Shakespeare writes “All the World is the Stage”.
It was in his last drama “As You Like It” that Shakespeare makes mention of All
the World is the Stage and not in Macbeth.
What I notice among us is that any Ladru-Pedru type of a person
when requested to talk on any subject he immediately grabs this opportunity without
having proper knowledge of the subject.
This has to be stopped if there should be credibility for the function.
Talk of cosmetic nature is not tolerated now.
There are competent persons among us who got better knowledge of Saib
Rocha, Minguel Rod, C. Alvares and others and some of them were colleagues of
these gigantic artistes on the Stage. Just because of greed for money any
incompetent person should not opt to speak on the subject of which his or her
knowledge is limited.
The organizers should also solicite the services of right
persons to speak on the subject in question. But who can do the right
selection? Only the Goldsmith can know the authenticity of the gold and not any
Altu-Faltu person whoever he may be and whatever position he may hold in the organization. It is not only the ministerial posts are in
the wrong hands but even our own organizations are in the wrong hands, for this
reason there is a mess everywhere in Goan community.
The vote of thanks was proposed by Joe Rose requesting for
more attendance in the next month for similar event.
As a matter of interest, one of the attendees for this
function was young Japanese lady named Mashukawaka Kioko holding a PHD degree
and teaching at the University in Kobe Japan as an Asst. Professor. Currently,
she is doing research on Tiatro and Konkani.
She speaks Konkani as well.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Candolim, Goa.
Tel: 7507394349.
