Goan stories

[Ben Antao]

Dear Augusto

 

I’m addressing this message to you as, going by what I’ve observed over the past couple of years, you seem

more sympathetic to reading Goan literature than others on this forum.

 

To focus on Goan fiction and also to be relevant to the rationale of this online discussion group, I chose to

read one of Lambert Mascarenhas’ short stories in the collection In the womb of Saudade published in 1994 by

Rupa & Co.

 

I’d first read this story Blood and the Lily in Bombay in the Illustrated Weekly of India in the fifties, and this morning

I read it yet again for it is one of the best in the collection.

 

The story about love, seduction and betrayal is a quintessentially Goan story, set in a village near Margao presumably in the

forties. The introduction at the Zuari river crossing between Agassaim and Cortalim at once draws the reader into

the story narrated from two POV, first and the third. The dialogue is spliced with humour, the writer’s strong suit,

and although the narrative relies more on a tell than show, the ending is believable and surprising.

 

I wish to appeal to the present generation in Goa, the teachers and lecturers in the English depts of the many colleges,

to make a special effort to read and become well-informed about Goan literature in English.

 

Lambert’s short stories are a good beginning on this journey.

 

What do you say, Augusto?

 

Kind regards

Ben  

 

[augusto pinto]

Dear Ben

I would have loved to have responded to your question but although I have a copy of In the womb of Saudades somewhere I can't find where it is.

However there are many on this forum who ought to be able to respond to you especially college Associate and Assistant Professors like among others Brian Mendonca who is currently engaged in putting up a Goan special edition for an e-magazine, Glenis Mendonca, Lucy James, Prema Rocha, Roxana Singh, Claudette Gomes, Rafael Fernandes and so on.

As fellow teachers from Goan colleges who have the privilege of teaching literature and even a paper on Goan literature I have known them to be very articulate, (although they tend to protest too much that their students don't give them any responses in spite of the fact that I sarcastically tell them that it is because those students are just copying their teachers who never show their mettle by giving responses when challenged, but my colleagues are very kind to me and never are rude because they know that I am always just joking and poking at them only - we Goans are like that only - what do you say Ben?) and I am sure that since I have brought the names of Brian, Glenis, Lucy, Prema, Roxana, Claudette and Rafael out in the open they will respond to my bait positively and show off their abilities at literary criticism and not comfortably sit aside never saying or doing anything.

Regards
Augusto

PS: I think your books also deserve a bit of commenting upon Ben, but I have done my fair share of commenting methinks.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Goa Book Club" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to goa-book-clu...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 

--


Augusto Pinto
40, Novo Portugal
Moira, Bardez
Goa, India
E pint...@gmail.com
P 0832-2470336
M 9881126350

[Ben Antao]

Thanks for your response, Augusto.

 

I like your expression “we Goans are like that only - what do you say Ben.”

 

When I was growing up in Goa and even when working in Panjim in 1963-64, I never heard that expression.

 

It must have been coined by that journalist Mario Cabral e Sa who used to write in Portuguese for the O Heraldo.

 

Anyway, times change and make Goans like that only!

 

Regards and enjoy the remainder of your holidays.

 

Ben

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mailto:goa-book-club%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 

--


Augusto Pinto
40, Novo Portugal
Moira, Bardez
Goa, India
E pint...@gmail.com
P 0832-2470336

M 9881126350 --

[Brian Mendonca]

Thank you Ben for referring us to 'Blood and the Lily'. More interesting was the nugget of your reading the story in the 1950s. Your advice is well-taken. 

My only regret is that Goan poetry -- either in English or in translation -- does not figure in the GU syllabus in the final year (TYBA). We have brought this up at GU. 

Brian

On Sat, Jun 1, 2013 at 8:55 PM, Ben Antao <ben....@rogers.com> wrote:

--

[Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا‎]

On 4 June 2013 13:05, Brian Mendonca <brian...@gmail.com> wrote:

My only regret is that Goan poetry -- either in English or in translation -- does not figure in the GU syllabus in the final year (TYBA). We have brought this up at GU

Hi Brian, If you had a say, which were the poets you would recommend for the TYBA at the GU? FN

--
FN  Land +91-832-240-9490 Cell  +91-982-212-2436 f...@goa-india.org

[Brian Mendonca]

Good question Rico. I'll get back on this.

Brian

--

[augusto pinto]

I'd say Joseph Furtado, Eunice De Souza, Manohar Shetty and Jerry Pinto among Indian English poets for a start. There are others like Melanie Silgardo etc - perhaps one should check out Eunice and Melanie's recent 'These My Words'.

As for poetry in translation, better than recommending poets I suggest one should recommend poems, because much of the 'good' poetry in one language does not survive translation. Two of which I have translated and personally like are the following by Tanaji Halarnkar and Soter Barretto.

I Am the Flower of the Datura

By Dr Tanaji Halarnkar

I

Am the Flower of the Datura

Aware that I am

Destined to wither

On the stem

Then crumbling to dust

Vanish in the soil.

 I

Leave alone adorning

Temples

Leave alone mounting

The hair-buns of brides

Won’t even have the pleasure

Of being torn to shreds

In the heat of the passion

Of a prostitute’s bed

I

Have but one complaint

My Lord:

If I had to be born

To a Datura

Could you not have

Allowed me to live

In some barren plot?

Why by the edge

Of this glorious garden

Before these Jasmines

These Roses?

[Translated from the Konkani by Augusto Pinto]

Fingernails

By Soter Barretto

Poor Mama

Never had

Fingernails

Worth writing home about

As she endured widowhood.

She wore those nails out

Slaving for

Them.

They

On the other hand

Spent all their lives

Polishing their own nails

Brilliantly!

[Translated from the Konkani by Augusto Pinto]

[Ben Antao]

Dear Augusto

 

I’ve changed the subject line to better reflect the content.

In addition to the names you’ve mentioned, I’ve four books of poetry written by Goans. They are:

 

1. Last Bus to Vasco (2006) by Brian Mendonca

2. Eve’s Revenge (2008) by Ethel Da Costa

3. Heart Beat (2008) by Marinella Proenca

4. Dance of the Peacock (2008) by Cheryl Antao-Xavier

 

1. Brian’s volume comes with a CD that illumines his poems with his rich and languid voice.

 

Here’s a sample:

 

Proposal

 

You barge into my life

with a proposal.

‘East Indian, 35, based in Bombay.’

 

‘Call up the matchmaker

Don’t keep her waiting.’

 

Pray, what had she been doing

for 35 years?

 

2. Ethel’s poems breathe fire and brimstone. She’s hot as Goa Mirchi.

 

Here’s from Bondage  

 

                            The rain beats on the roof 

                             vacantly    

                             he stares at the ceiling 

                             thumping ‘Playboy’ under his pillow 

                             short-lived forays into reality 

                             pornography … hmmm …wet escape  

                             so what, if it’s only silicone boobs he can get it on? 

 

3. The poems in Heart Beat evoke nostalgia, awaken Goan memories.

Here’s a sample from Marinella of Calangute.

 

Green fields sow a design

of patchwork quilt

Rows in line:

Soft breeze brushing

Waves of shimmering shine--

Consumes the eye, with relief sublime

 

 

4.  Dance of the Peacock is by Cheryl, a Canadian Goan from Karachi.

 

Here’s from Memories of Karachi

 

Gazing into the murky depths

Of the steel grey waters of Lake Ontario,

My mind drifts away on a memory

Of the sapphire span of the Arabian Sea,

Where the white-crested waves ever so gently,

Lick the distant shores of Karachi.

 

     If the mood moves you, Augusto, could you send me a sample verse of the names you’ve

cited?

 

Thanks and keep the faith.

Ben 

 

From: augusto pinto

Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 6:50 AM

To: goa-bo...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: [GOABOOKCLUB] Goan stories

 

[Brian Mendonca]

I'll need to add this to your essay Ben.

Brian

--

[Brian Mendonca]

We are also featuring Mary Mendes -- now in Kurdistan with displaced children -- and her poems in Issue 50 of Muse India.

Mary shuttles between Gurgaon and Gogol (Margao) besides Lagos and elsewhere.

She is copied on this email.

Brian

--