I think that Ben’s mulling over the East African Goans’ sense of loss over Africa, in fact the idea that it was paradise, is quite interesting.I’d like to add my two cents if not shillings worth from my own, albeit short, sojourn in Kenya where I was born and lived the first decade of my life in the sixties.The idea that Africa was “paradise” was one that was believed in by those who were born or at least spent their early years there and then migrated to the West.It wasn’t always so for the generation who were born and migrated there from Goa. I’ve mentioned my father on this forum before who used to obsessively remark “Mhaka Goenchich mati zai” firmly believing that they had crossed the ocean for economic reasons although their hearts were in Goa.When it was time to leave after those East African countries got decolonized that generation by and large returned to Goa creating in the seventies a vibrant community of “Africanders” as they were known.It was the young Goan adults, like my older siblings, for whom Goa had little charm and who went to England and then Canada and Australia and so forth believing that their prospects there would be better.As for the notion that Africa was a “paradise” I think this is, if not pure bull, at least highly exaggerated. The educational system wasn’t that great - higher education was particularly a big problem.It’s true that for employment they were favoured by the white bosses over other Asians and certainly the native Africans but they could only go that far and no further. It was only their conditioning that they should be satisfied with their lot and not create too much “matata” (as Braz Menezes would put it) that the picture becomes a little rosy.One thing that did contribute to the creation of the paradise myth was the building of a feeling of a “Goan community” and I think that several commentators from Theresa Albuquerque to Stella Mascarenhas to Selma have dwelled upon this. I think that when the East African Goans get all nostalgic about how things were back there in Africa it’s this sense of community that they miss most.
After they went to the West this sense of community has disintegrated and I expect that the generation that was born and grew up there will care little about their parents’ obsessions.I think this loss of a community in their new countries would partly explain Ben’s puzzlement as to why the East African Goans cannot write coherently about their experiences in their new refuges. They don’t have a common thread to connect with their fellow Goans who will be their main audience.AugustoSent from my iPhone
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After I wrote what I did above it struck me that perhaps there was a subtle tone in Ben’s piece that suggested (in a genteel way) that the East African immigrants to the Western world were a tad snobby and clannish and that they tended to exclude those Goans who came via other routes, as did Ben himself or perhaps Selma too, from their conversations.
But I’ve heard from other sources that there are all sorts of “caste” gradations perpetrated in the heavens which people who share my ancestry perpetrate.For instance the more recently migrated Portuguese passport Goans born and bred and educated in Goa who have to work at blue collar jobs to make ends meet especially when they first land on foreign soil were given the right royal Rane treatment by other “Goans” who came in or acquired more fortunate circumstances - and that might include those who share Ben’s or Selma’s backgrounds.Over and out!
I think that Ben’s mulling over the East African Goans’ sense of loss over Africa, in fact the idea that it was paradise, is quite interesting.I’d like to add my two cents if not shillings worth from my own, albeit short, sojourn in Kenya where I was born and lived the first decade of my life in the sixties.The idea that Africa was “paradise” was one that was believed in by those who were born or at least spent their early years there and then migrated to the West.It wasn’t always so for the generation who were born and migrated there from Goa. I’ve mentioned my father on this forum before who used to obsessively remark “Mhaka Goenchich mati zai” firmly believing that they had crossed the ocean for economic reasons although their hearts were in Goa.When it was time to leave after those East African countries got decolonized that generation by and large returned to Goa creating in the seventies a vibrant community of “Africanders” as they were known.It was the young Goan adults, like my older siblings, for whom Goa had little charm and who went to England and then Canada and Australia and so forth believing that their prospects there would be better.As for the notion that Africa was a “paradise” I think this is, if not pure bull, at least highly exaggerated. The educational system wasn’t that great - higher education was particularly a big problem.It’s true that for employment they were favoured by the white bosses over other Asians and certainly the native Africans but they could only go that far and no further. It was only their conditioning that they should be satisfied with their lot and not create too much “matata” (as Braz Menezes would put it) that the picture becomes a little rosy.One thing that did contribute to the creation of the paradise myth was the building of a feeling of a “Goan community” and I think that several commentators from Theresa Albuquerque to Stella Mascarenhas to Selma have dwelled upon this. I think that when the East African Goans get all nostalgic about how things were back there in Africa it’s this sense of community that they miss most.
After they went to the West this sense of community has disintegrated and I expect that the generation that was born and grew up there will care little about their parents’ obsessions.I think this loss of a community in their new countries would partly explain Ben’s puzzlement as to why the East African Goans cannot write coherently about their experiences in their new refuges. They don’t have a common thread to connect with their fellow Goans who will be their main audience.
AugustoSent from my iPhone
On 25-Aug-2018, at 11:05 AM, 'Selma Cardoso' via The Goa Book Club <goa-book-club@googlegroups.com> wrote:
--Ahead of the release of the September 'Seasonal Blooms' issue of the Joao Roque Literary Journal, we bring you Ben Antao's piece which is featured in the issue.'I understand that the place of one’s childhood and early influences leave an indelible stamp on the memory and subconscious. But can the influence be so profound as to negate all subsequently lived experiences in other lands? Indeed, this seems to be the malady afflicting Goans in the diaspora who at one time in their lives had the luck to sample life in colonial East Africa.'Read full text here:https://selma-carvalho.squarespace.com/nonfiction-1/2018/8/5/the-literary-maladies-of-diaspora-goansWe publish the best in Goan or Goa-centric short and long-form narrative writing and we appreciate respectful discussion on everything we publish.Best wishes,Selma CarvalhoEditor
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On 25-Aug-2018, at 11:05 AM, 'Selma Cardoso' via The Goa Book Club <goa-bo...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
--Ahead of the release of the September 'Seasonal Blooms' issue of the Joao Roque Literary Journal, we bring you Ben Antao's piece which is featured in the issue.'I understand that the place of one’s childhood and early influences leave an indelible stamp on the memory and subconscious. But can the influence be so profound as to negate all subsequently lived experiences in other lands? Indeed, this seems to be the malady afflicting Goans in the diaspora who at one time in their lives had the luck to sample life in colonial East Africa.'Read full text here:https://selma-carvalho.squarespace.com/nonfiction-1/2018/8/5/the-literary-maladies-of-diaspora-goansWe publish the best in Goan or Goa-centric short and long-form narrative writing and we appreciate respectful discussion on everything we publish.Best wishes,Selma CarvalhoEditor
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I must admit that when I first saw Selma’s excerpt of Ben Antao I was a bit disappointed that what appeared to be a serious journalistic undertaking, was beginning to resort to ‘shock’ headlines to increase readership...
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Dear Cyprian
The message I tried to convey in my article has obviously been misunderstood. I have read both your books. You’re a good man and I apologize for disturbing your peace.
Warm regards
Ben
To bring this unsavoury saga to an end, I am pleased to publish an apology
my friend Cyprian Fernandes has received from Ben Antao together
with Cyprian's postscript.
Mervyn Maciel
*Dear CyprianThe message I tried to convey in my article has obviously been
misunderstood. I have read both your books. You’re a good man and I
apologize for disturbing your peace.Warm regardsBen*
*Received with thanks. I now await a similar gesture from the editors of
the Joao-Roque Literary Journal to see if they can display the same quality
of responsibility as Ben has done and remove the posting from the Internet.
Cyprian Fernandes*
>>> "*Africa changes you forever like nowhere on earth.*
>>> *Once you have been there, you will never be the same.*
>>> *But how do you begin to describe its magic to someone who has *
>>> *never felt it?*
>>>
>>>
>>> *Mervyn Maciel*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Aug 27, 2018 at 9:59 AM Jeanne Hromnik <jeanne...@gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear Augusto
>>>>
>>>> While I wonder at how many feet you have and how many places you manage
>>>> to put them in, I agree wholeheartedly with you and thank you for your
>>>> post. For me, the following strikes at the heart of the matter.
>>>>
>>>> *"I think this loss of a community in their new countries would partly
>>>> explain Ben’s puzzlement as to why the East African Goans cannot write
>>>> coherently about their experiences in their new refuges. They don’t have a
>>>> common thread to connect with their fellow Goans who will be their main
>>>> audience."*
>>>>> .
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--Matata Books
Vassanji's works have been extensively reviewed by literary critics and analyzed for their sociological context.[9][10][11] The focus of his writing is the situation of East African Indians. As a secondary theme, members of this community (like himself) later undergo a second migration to Europe, Canada, or the United States. Vassanji examines how the lives of his characters are affected by these migrations.[12][13] Vassanji looks at the relations between the Indian community, the native Africans and the colonial administration.[14] Though few of his characters ever return to India, the country's presence looms throughout his work; his 2007 novel The Assassins Song, however, is set almost entirely in India, where it was received as an Indian novel.
Vassanji writes about the effects of history and the interaction between personal and public histories, including folk and colonial history.[15] Vassanji's narratives follow the personal histories of his main characters; the historical perspective provided often leaves mysteries unsolved. The colonial history of Kenya and Tanzania serves as the backdrop for much of his work;[16] in the Assassin's Song, however, he tackles Indian folk culture and myths.
Dear Augusto,Having published the rebuttal from my friend Francis Noronha, I felt it was only fair toinclude the apology from Ben Antao.But for Francis's letter and one from Cyprian himself, I doubt an apology would beforthcoming.Speaking personally, I had gone to Kenya to earn a living (having being orphanedat a very young age and with a younger brother to support) and NOT with any intentionof propping up a colonial regime as you tend to imply in your posts.I feel sure that the majority of Goans who went out to East Africa went out similarlyto earn a living as there were no comparable openings for them either in Portuguese Goaor India.Mervyn Maciel
On Fri, Aug 31, 2018 at 9:34 AM augusto pinto <pint...@gmail.com> wrote:
Is it appropriate for an "apology" sent in a personal capacity by a person who isn't even a member of this forum to another person meant to be aired like this?Augusto
On Fri, Aug 31, 2018 at 1:05 PM Mervyn Maciel <mervynels.watuwashamba@gmail.com> wrote:
To bring this unsavoury saga to an end, I am pleased to publish an apologymy friend Cyprian Fernandes has received from Ben Antao togetherwith Cyprian's postscript.Mervyn Maciel
Dear Cyprian
The message I tried to convey in my article has obviously been misunderstood. I have read both your books. You’re a good man and I apologize for disturbing your peace.
Warm regards
BenReceived with thanks. I now await a similar gesture from the editors of the Joao-Roque Literary Journal to see if they can display the same quality of responsibility as Ben has done and remove the posting from the Internet. Cyprian Fernandes
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It's such a pity that Ben Antao trips himself up by his simplistic understanding of the East African 'paradise'. It is clear from the writings of our literary maladious writers, from Braz to Cyprian to my brother Larry Nazareth, that there was a serpent in that paradise.
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Yes Braz, I too got a negative reaction from Selma for my review of Cyprian's Yesterday in Paradise, which, I think, was in the monthly column I write for Goa's OHeraldo. In sharp contrast, Selma thanked me in an email for my review of her book, A Railway Runs Through It, which she mailed had mailed to me. I mentioned in a a post later on and Ferderick said with his tongue-in-cheek that Selma hates Cyrpian and I hate Selma.I don't hate anyone. In fact, in my review or write-up of Selma's first book, In the Diaspora Wilderness, I said it was good and I can say it came as fresh air over understanding of Goan presence in East Africa. I also said that Selma shows potential of writing more on the subject. She has, in fact, lived up to the potential.Braz described the publishing world as "hellish" and that there is space for all, particularly for conflicting views. Be it so, and one must let Cyprian's book be judged on its own merit. No point in dismissing his journalism, though one would welcome critical analysis. I have read many of the contributors' pieces in his new book, Stars Next Door, and I made few points on Goanet on what Zulema D'Souza, national hockey player of Uganda, said in an interview to one of Goa's newspaper. By the way, Zulema is former president of the G.O.A., Toronto, and under whose presidentship the First Int'l Goan Convention in 1988. I believe there's going to be a commemoration of this event's 30th anniversary.To further comment on this intriguing debate, I remember reading Ruth Praver Jhabvala's introductory essay, Myself in India, in her book, Out of India. I pulled the book out and re-read the essay of which the first para is, "I have lived in India for most of my adult life. My husband is Indian and so are my children. I am not, and less every year." She is a writer of, I think, Polish origin.She further says, India reacts very strongly on people. Some loathe it, some love it, most do both. Maybe some East African Goans faced the same dilemma in their lives in the African countries. To further understand the intricate problem of the African Goan, I re-read the first essay of his book, Imaginary Homelands, the title of his book of Essays and Criticism 1981-1991. His mention of the song for the old Hindi movie, Shri 420, starring Raj Kapoor, of Mere Joota Hai Japani, the first verse translates in English as, O, my shoes are Japanese, These trousers are English, if you please, On my head a red Russian cap, But my heart's Indian for all that.For many African Goans then and now in their new 'homelands", as much as for many Goans who have come to foreign lands from India, the heart "resides" in Goa. Though many would loathe Goa of today. Commonly said and that be applied to people of different communities, "You cannot take the Goan or Indian in me."Ben's lament was that the East African contributors for Goa Masala did not provide their experiences of Canada. In other way, the new generation of Canadian Goans have assimilated into the mainstream society and one hoped that events like Viva Goa would bring about "reverse assimilation". My anguish is that the Goan youth of 1988, during the convention, were all for a clubhouse. But they showed no enthusiasm later on and the excuse was they cared to spend their time in mainstream clubs and not get pigeon-holed in Goan settings.Eugene
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Cheap commentary is not History. Research is two years on the ground,
not a two-day flying visit. This snide JRLJ article article was promulgated in
pettiness and vengeance. 'If you sow the wind you will reap the whirlwind'.
https://cyprianfernandes.blogspot.com/2012/09/in-defence-of-east-african-goan-dodderer.html
FR
Just happened to visit Cyprian Fernandes' website, and I read Selma's reply, "Dear Mr. Raymond. You have a right to your opinion. That Mr. Cyprian Ferandes is a journalist is also a matter of opinion Selma Carvalho."
What a factitious woman. If she thinks Cyprian is no journalist, I like to know if Selma thinks Ben Antao and myself are journalists? Mind you, Cyprian has spent a lifetime in journalism and it doesn't need Selma's approval or certification to call him a journalist. He was one and will remain one.Since I can also have an opinion, do I think Selma is a historian in the academic sense? May I know where the "MBA" came from? As for writing East African history, does she have the background and qualifications of Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes or Teresa Albuquerque?The Canadian writer late Ladis da Silva has written on Zanzibar and when I asked Prof. Peter Nazareth on his review of the book he had said it was "historical fiction." Ladis also wrote a booklet on the Americanization of Goans.Thanks to some East African Goans, including Mervyn Maciel and Eddie Fernandes, for having providing some guiding light to Selma's forays into the history of East African Goans.Will the JRLJ confer the title of "honourary historian" on Selma - by herself on herself. Amen.Eugene
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Just remembered that Selma once remarked in an tone that dhe would like to det up a journalism school in my honour. Obviously, she was ticked off by what I wrote. I wish she can do me the honour now as she has done to her father by setting up the JRLJ. I admire a fire-eater.
Eugene
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