Book Release: Goa Rewound

BOOK RELEASE:  GOA REWOUND

As Goa readies itself to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of its Liberation, Goa Chitra, the ethnographic museum at Benaulim, takes a look at the past 50 years and those to come in a different manner.
You are invited to Goa Chitra on Saturday, November 19, 2011 at 5:00 pm, for the release of the book Goa Rewound, penned by Alexandre Moniz Barbosa. The book will be released by Justice Dr. Eurico Santana da Silva, retired Judge, High Court of Bombay, Chairman State Police Complaints Authority.

This will be followed by a panel discussion on the topic – Goa at the Crossroads: Is there Hope on the Horizon?, Eminent panelists Dr. Maria Aurora Couto, Academic, writer, Padma Shri awardee,  Damodar Mauzo, Writer, Sahitya Akademi Award winner, Fr. Manuel Gomes, Director, Biblical Apostolate, Pratima Coutinho, advocate, youth Leader will discuss the way forward for Goa and for its youth. The discussion would be moderated by  Savia Viegas, Writer, academic, Fulbright Fellow. The  Concluding remarks would be given by Aldina Gomes, educationist and Director, Goa Chitra.

About the book:
Goa Rewound takes a look at events that occurred post December 19, 1961 and journeys back into history to discover that many of these had their genesis in colonial policies. The issues dealt with in the book are related to identity crisis facing the Goan today.  The book is published by Broadway Publishing House and presented by Xavier Centre of Historical Research and Film Goa. 
For details and confirmation please call +91 832 2772910 / 832 6570877 or RSVP +91 98 50466165. Please note that the Goa Chitra Museum and the ongoing previews of the upcoming Goa Chakra museum will be from 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. only on 19th November 2011.

House No. 498, Pulwaddo, Benaulim, Salcete, Goa - 403716
mobile:+91 9850466165   / landline: +91 832 6570877
www.goachitra.com


 Victor Hugo Gomes

Synopsis: The past 50 years since Liberation have been fraught with storms and history-altering events. It has been a time during which Goans had to struggle – fight and shed their blood – to retain their identity. To acquire a better perspective of this struggle, one has to go back in time, to decades and centuries before December 1961.

Goa Rewound looks at mainly three areas that played a major role in changing Goan identity during the period the Portuguese ruled the territory – politics, language and religion. Rather than looking at history and recounting it, this book takes a fresh view of how events that occurred in Goa after Liberation have their genesis, not in policies of the local government or in ideas that emerged weeks or months prior to the events, but in colonial policies and laws that were enacted centuries earlier.

For instance one chapter argues how the rather ‘surprising result’ of the very first election of 1963 in the then Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu and the subsequent Opinion Poll outcome should not have created the ‘surprise’ they did as history would easily have shown that this was bound to happen. Another chapter takes into account the bloody language agitation of 1985-1987 that saw seven people being killed and the state brought to a standstill on various occasions, and looks back into history to show how the people were divided by the Portuguese on linguistic basis which led to this agitation. Similarly, though it is mistakenly believed outside Goa that Christians are a majority in the State, the 2001 census shows that the community comprises 26% of the population, yet it plays a major role and the Church in Goa is in a position to make politically and socially sensitive statements that get the government listening. Yet another chapter deals with the town of Cuncolim and how events that occurred in the village in the 16th century still reverberate today and influence incidents in the 20th century.

About the Author: The writer is primarily a journalist, having spent over 20 years in the profession. He is currently Assistant Resident Editor, The Times of India, Goa Edition. Prior to this he was Assistant Editor with Goa Today. 

 He has written extensively on political, development, social and environmental issues affecting the state of Goa and as such has an in-depth knowledge of the State, its history, culture, heritage and its current politico-socio-economic state of affairs.He also has two books to his credit, the novel ‘Touched by the Toe’ that is set in XVI century Goa and has translated essays by Jose Inacio Candido de Loyola from Portuguese to English and published in a book entitled ‘Passionate and Unrestrained’.