WORLD CLASS ‘INSIDE/OUT’

Frederick Noronha

Inside/Out: New Writings from Goa, edited by Helene Derkin Menezes and José Lourenço, when released a few months back, did grab a lot of headlines. Much of the publicity was due to the inclusion of an essay by the noted novelist and partly Goa-resident, Amitav Ghosh. According to an internet forum message, the book did well, as immediately after its launch, nearly 650 copies were sold. When a celebrity writer of the stature of Amitav Ghosh is associated with a book that is published from a place more known for matters and things other than literary, there is always a fear that the writings of the other contributors may not receive the attention they deserve.  But, I can assure you, nothing of that sort has happened here.

            All the writers in this anthology are members of a diverse and vibrant group called the Goa Writers, launched in 2005. All were given a very vague and abstract theme: Inside Out, which they had to interpret in their own way. The result: a very beautiful and immensely satisfying collection of writings that we can all be very proud of.       

Like any good anthology, this book has an abundance of short stories, poems, memoirs, photographs and essays. Amongst them, Walking as Art is a free verse poem by Isabel de Santa Rita Vas which reminded me of Ogden Nash who is known for his free verse poetry. Isabel, like Nash, writes with a lot of wit and humour and at the same time gives us much to munch over. I am not someone who enjoys poetry but Isabel’s keen eye and deft words surely made me realize that walking is not just a simple act. There is a philosophy about walking and I found this extremely amazing. Similarly, Mario Coelho’s poem, written for children and peppered with lively and amazing characters, is also a treat to read.

            The contributors in this book are Goans, expat Goans, non-Goans or foreigners. Most of them, after spending a childhood or sometime outside Goa have now made Goa their home. So, for many of these contributors, the interpretation of the abovementioned theme narrows down to writing about their memories or experiences in the land that they were formerly living in.

            There is an interesting essay penned by Vidhyadhar Gadgil. He first came to Goa as a teen along with a few friends and confesses to drinking as if there was no tomorrow during that particular holiday. Gadgil was domiciled in Goa before moving to Kathmandu. He discusses the dynamics of who is an ‘insider’ and who is an ‘outsider’. I find this interesting because Gadgil is giving a call to all Bhailes to come under an organization called Bhailyancho Saad (The Voice of the Outsiders) and gives them the slogan: Garv se kaho hum ghanti hain. On one hand he makes a case for the ‘outsiders’ while on the other hand he confesses to calling (not loudly) some bunch of smelly labourers on a bus “Bloody ghantis”, thus taking pleasure in ethnic and class superiority that only ‘insiders’ can enjoy (according to him). Such a statement, I guess, reveals that not all non-native people can come under the all-encompassing identity of ‘Outsiders’. There is definitely a difference amongst various ‘outsiders’ and a hierarchy by which the natives and the affluent and educated ‘outsiders’ try to keep the poor and powerless ‘outsiders’ at the lowest levels of the access-to-valued-resources chain.

            As a student of history, I always look forward to personal stories: the stories that our parents and grandparents tell us and which now the children put on paper. Veena Gomes-Patwardhan’s Granny’s Goa does exactly that. She tells us how her great grand-parents would travel all the way to Caranzalem so as to run a bakery there. Fatima da Silva Gracias tells a personal story as she tries to find out some facts about an old family photograph in The Unresolved Mystery of a Family Portrait.

            Aimee Ginsburg’s One Still Here is an interesting tale of three Jewish women: herself, her grandmother and Catarina da Orta, the sister of Garcia da Orta who was burned at the stake, all linked together in different times and spaces.

            Amitav Ghosh has written a small essay called Anthony Vaz. Anthony Vaz, we are told, had compiled a dictionary of nautical terms that would help the English officers to communicate with the native sailors. Ghosh writes about the importance of preserving such dictionaries, “With the vanishing of wind-powered merchant vessels, this entire apparatus (of words as well as things) has more or less disappeared from the face of the earth. This is precisely the values of books like Vaz’s: they give us a glimpse of a way of life that is now extinct. …I am convinced that there are many yet undiscovered manuscripts languishing in Goan houses. Let us hope that they will soon come to light.”

            I am a big fan of the writings of Amitav Ghosh. Reading his many books and essays, I am always stumped by his mastery over words. Although I found this essay important, I was a little disappointed as I was looking forward to be blown away by Amitav Ghosh’s unique style of writing. But maybe I was just expecting too much.

            The pains that the editors and Aniruddha Sen Gupta (design and layout) took to pack a beautiful collection between the covers are clearly visible. The photography of Vivek Menezes for the cover is sure to attract attention. All the contributors are introduced in a novel way at the beginning of their writings. It is a short and perky introduction written in a lighter vein and is sure to bring a little smile on one’s face.

            The blurb of the book claims to “challenge and destroy the stereotypes” about Goa and to a great extent the writings lives up to that claim. Inside/Out: New Writings from Goa is definitely a world class product from Goa1556.

Name: Inside/Out: New Writings from Goa

Edited by: Helene Derkin Menezes and José Lourenço

Published by: Goa1556, Saligão

Year: 2011

Web: goa1556.goa-india.org, www.flipkart.com

(A version of this article appeared on Gomantak Times, dt: August 8, 2011)

A NEW LEASE OF LIFE FOR CARAMBOLIM CHURCH

Facade of the church

Goa is dotted with churches that are lofty, beautiful and are many centuries old. Many are well preserved while others are less fortunate and find themselves in a state of disrepair. Some of the churches which were once unique and timeless have been demolished to make way for a bigger or a newer (mostly newer) church of concrete. Most of the churches that were demolished or are in the process of being demolished were razed due to the ignorance of the lay parishioners to the uniqueness of the structure and also due to the failure of the higher officials of the church (along with the lay parishioners) to recognize its heritage potential and historical value.

            Quite close to Old Goa, we find an example of preservation befitting mention wherein the church was renovated and restored and its erstwhile splendor revived: the Church of St. John the Baptist in Carambolim. According to the Archdiocese Directory, 1984, this church was founded in 1541. Originally a chapel, this church was elevated to the status of a parish under the tutelage of Dom João Afonso de Albuquerque (1539-53), the then Bishop of Goa. Fr. Moreno de Souza in Tisvaddecheo Igorzo tells us that during the earlier days the feast of St. John the Baptist was celebrated with much pomp and gaiety with the Viceroy and State and military officials in full attendance. They would enter the parade riding on horsebacks and mock-fights were staged accompanied by music. After the High Mass, the long, regal procession would begin and terminate at the College of St. Paul’s at Old Goa.

            The architecture of the façade of the church, informs Jose Lourenço in The Parish Churches of Goa: A Study of Façade Architecture, is in the mannerist Neo-Romanesque style (as are most of the churches in Goa). Standing boldly against the clear blue sky, it has 5 bays and is 3 storeys tall. The center of the façade starting from the main arched doorway is stacked in the sequence of Arch-Rectangle-Oculus-Relief. It has a single bell tower to the left. The main doorway is framed by fluted Corintianized columns.

The pulpit with 'mermaid'
motifs

            The peculiarity of the altar is that it has panels containing paintings depicting various incidents of the life of St. John the Baptist, including his beheading at the insistence of the daughter of Herodias. The main altar is dedicated to the patron saint, while the side altars show a crucified Christ and Mother Mary. The pulpit of this church is unique because the motif of the “mermaids” can be clearly seen. These mermaids are depicted as if they are carrying the weight of the pulpit.

            This unique church was in a state of neglect until the charismatic Fr. Conceição D’Silva took the charge as the parish priest from Fr. Lino de Sa, who had already begun the work of restoration by plastering the walls. In his brief tenure of three years, Fr. Conceição, recipient of the State Award for Meritorious Services to Society, completed the whole restoration work giving the church, in the process, a new lease of life. The whole woodwork of the main altar, the subsidiary altars and the pulpit are now richly adorned with 24 carat gold, giving us a glimpse, perhaps, of what the church may have looked like a few centuries ago. Experts for the gold gilding work were flown in from Portugal.  Now the church basks in pristine and clear light and the gold is seen shimmering.

Fr. Conceição D'Silva

            The floor was repaired as well, with the specialists, this time, coming from Bangalore. Imported chandeliers from Portugal now adorn the church. Near the transept of the church, an azulejos composition of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper has been installed.

The space around the church is paved with pavers and the church compound, the church property and the adjacent football ground have been fenced in stone and cement. The flooring of the Parochial house was also improved. All these improvements, informs Fr. Conceição, is bringing a lot of tourists to Carambolim, many of them genuinely interested in the history and the architecture of the church.



View of the church

             Fr. Conceição is of the frank opinion that the old churches must be preserved and protected. Perhaps, it was this line of thinking which had propelled him to preserve and restore not only the church at Carambolim but also the one at Mandur where he was posted prior to his appointment at St. John the Baptist Church. Fr. Conceição along with the parishioners has spared no expense even for procuring new pews and a state-of-the-art sound system along with the restoration work.

            In a few days’ time, the 1200-plus parishioners of the St. John the Baptist church will bid adieu to a priest who has not only attended to their spiritual needs, but has also given a commendable facelift to their almost five-century old church. It is time that the example set by Fr. Conceição needs to be emulated.

(A version of this article appeared on Gomantak Times, dt: May 27, 2011)