OPINION Pg8

HERALD
www.oheraldo.in

o= HERALD o=
Vol No CX No: 2
Time & Memory: Ringing in the New?
Goa, Saturday 2 January, 2010 Those with no memory or understanding of the past, are condemned to live without hope of a better future, says TEOTONIO R DE SOUZA
Chaos and T
he entry into 2010 has certainly been an da ‘Lusofonia e da sua Hora’ e principalmente como
occasion for most of us to convey our good é o caso do Professor Teotónio de Souza, que não
wishes to ourselves and to others, desiring tem cessado de criticar muitas lusofonias reais e

confusion in Colva that the year may become a bearer of more satis-
faction than the year or years gone by.
sobretudo muitos reais lusófonos, deverá ser acu-
sado como “lusófobo militante” em todas as suas
constantes abordagens “lusólogas”?’ [Should those

T
he case of the CD that allegedly casts a priest and a
politician in bad light is getting, as Alice says in Lewis Carroll’s
classic tale, curiouser and curiouser with each passing day.
Two days ago, South Goa Additional District Magistrate Prasanna
Acharya issued an order preventing the media from reporting on
the case. The order read, “I hereby direct all the TV channels
broadcasting the issue…to discontinue the broadcasting of this
story forthwith in South Goa district.”
The media reacted with understandable outrage to this attempt
to prevent it from doing its discharging its duty. When questioned
about this order, the ADM clarified that this order was with respect
to the electronic media only and that it relates to a specific news
item “in which the facts of agitation were wrongly quoted in the
story”. He went on to state, “…the press is free to cover any story/
news item with respect to Colva incidence (sic) except the story
referred to in the order issued under section 108 of CrPC 1973 for
the reasons mentioned in the order which is based on the police
report.”
What exactly does this convoluted clarification mean? The media
is free to report only a particular version of events? In a controversy
as complex as this, with as many conflicting versions as there are
participants, the authorities will decide what is the ‘true’ version of
events, and prevent the media from presenting any other version
or viewpoint?
This ham-handed attempt to muzzle the press is part of a pattern
that has characterised the administration’s handling of the entire
case from the very outset. The Margao Sub-Divisional Police Officer,
DySP Umesh Gaonkar, has clarified, “…nowhere have I asked the
Magistrate to direct TV channels to discontinue broadcast of the
ongoing agitation.” Yet, taking cover under the tired excuse of
maintaining law and order, the administration is trying to muzzle
the press, and is now moving to ‘ban’ the controversial CD itself.
Certainly it is the duty of the administration and the police to
maintain law and order, but they have abjectly failed to do so – not
because of anything the press has done, but due to their own
failure to act when needed. The time to maintain law and order
was when the house of Colva panch and producer of the
controversial CD Calvert Gonsalves was vandalised. The time to
maintain law and order was when mobs beat up Tarun Bharat
reporter Mahesh Konekar outside the house of Calvert Gonsalves.
The time to maintain law and order was when violent groups
blocked roads in Colva, inconveniencing locals and tourists alike.
Instead, the administration is now pointing fingers at the media,
and trying to prevent it from doing its job.
The case of the controversial CD highlights much that is wrong
with the way the administration functions in Goa, particularly the
dangers of political interference in the work of the police. The
same problem was witnessed most recently in the case of the
alleged rape of a Russian tourist in South Goa. Police officers, with
It is in the act of wishing that lies the signifi-
cance of time. It links the future with the past.
Those with no memory of the past, or those who
for some reason are deprived from the use of their
memory, are unable to wish anything better or
worse for anyone.
This fortnightly column on the theme of Histori-
cal Explorations completes one year and enters
into 2010 with renewed hopes and wishes that
our memory of the past may stay synced (to use a
digital expression) with what is in store for us in
the times to come. As the psychologists and neuro-
physiologists tell us, this exercise of synchronisa-
tion depends largely upon the impact that past
events have left upon our individual and collective
psyches.
During their first year, my ‘Historical Explora-
tions’ got a reception of varying nature and inten-
sity, depending precisely upon the individual and
collective psyche of the readers. I consider it my
duty to respect them all. But I also regard it as my
moral and professional obligation as an historian
to analyse and expose the social memory that is
engineered and sustained through writing for the
benefit of a privileged or dominant class of the
society.
Since 1950 at least, with the emergence of the
computer world, the traditional writing that was
largely the privilege of the local dominant classes
has given way to a globalised exchange of real-
time information that crosses spaces and permits,
for instance, members of the Goan diaspora to
follow the day-to-day happenings in Goa as quick-
ly, and at times more quickly, than those living in
Goa themselves. Just about a week ago I was hap-
py to join a new social network of Goans on Face-
book!
Let us admit that Goa has become a global vil-
lage that can be watched by interested Goans
anywhere. Curiously, not all Goans in Goa have
adjusted to this change and continue to resent any
critical comments by the Goans in diaspora. There
is no doubt that those who have to put up physical-
ly with the odds, year in and year out, may have
good reasons to resent the comments of those
who come to Goa for holidays! But they should also
thank the Goans in diaspora for adding their voices
and raising to global level the complaints and woes
that could otherwise remain restricted to the world
Tongue in Cheek
HISTORICAL EXPLORATIONS
of the frog in the well. No one will deny that public-
ity contributes to solutions.
Two issues in my ‘Historical Explorations’ that
irked some established interests in Goan society
and gave rise to polemical writings in the local
press and cyberforums were connected with the
Portuguese colonial influences, and the Church ad-
ministration of finances. Some respondents exploit-
ed the debate for venting their personal animosities
or to foster fresh animosities. Obviously, such re-
sponses could only get my counter-responses befit-
ting their nasty intentions, but I can reassure my
readers that my ‘Historical Explorations’ reflect my
personal concern for the well-being of Goa where I
was born and to which I dedicated forty-eight years
of the most active period of my life, most of it to find
new ways of participation of the Church in the de-
velopment of post-Liberation Goa. The establish-
ment of the Xavier Centre of Historical Research
(1979–1994) and of the Museum of Christian Art of
Goa (1991–1994) will remain as two of the more
visible expressions bearing witness to my efforts.
Some touchy issues that will continue bugging
some sections of the Goan society and their ex-
colonial patrons or friends concern the post-colonial
relations of Goa and Portugal. That is one area
Pitch Report
where love-hate relationships are yet to be synced.
The mentality fostered by 50 years of the Sala-
zar regime still continues to be present in Portugal
and, not unsurprisingly, in Goa as well. One of the
expressions of this is to classify a critic as enemy (of
the State, of the Church, etc). Loyalty for such peo-
ple is tantamount to chamchagiri! Some believe
that my criticism of colonial and present-day Portu-
gal is a lack of gratitude towards the country that I
chose to live in as its citizen. Surprisingly no one
has raised the same issue when I am critical of
India (now as its Overseas Citizen). It is a problem
of some oversized citizens with puny minds on
either side of the planet. There are others who
believe that I am anti-Church for criticising some
aspects of the Church of Goa that I see as devia-
tions to be checked.
In this context I cannot fail to cite a paragraph
from an essay that the former Rector of my Univer-
sity in Lisbon, Professor Fernando Santos Neves*
contributed to the Festschrift entitled Metahistory
(Lisboa: Nova Vega, 2007) that was dedicated to
me on completion of 60 years of my life: ‘Alguém
que insiste, como tem sido o meu caso, na necessi-
dade de uma “permanente crítica da razão lusófo-
na” em ordem ao advento efectivo e interessante
who insist on “a permanent critique of Lusophone
reason” in order to promote an effective and inter-
esting ‘Lusophony and its Hour’ – as has been my
case, and more especially the case of Professor
Teotonio de Souza, who have not ceased from crit-
icising many real Lusophonies, and particularly many
real Lusophones – be accused of being ‘militant
Lusophobes’ in their frequent ‘lusologue’ treat-
ments?]
But unfortunately such men of vision are still
exceptions. There are in Portugal and Goa many
wise men and women, even of a high scientific
calibre like Orlando Ribeiro, whose intellectual
qualifications do not make them sufficiently crit-
ical and free from rabid nationalism. After his
study visit to Goa from October 1955 to February
1956, he wrote a report to Salazar. Despite some
frank comments that Salazar did not like (and
led to Salazar making him put the report into a
side drawer), Orlando Ribeiro was also critical
of the appointment of two Goans to be bishops
in Africa! He also described the Goans as un-
grateful to the Portuguese nation. He was disap-
pointed hearing most Goans speak only in Eng-
lish and Konkani.
Despite efforts of some official and private Por-
tuguese agencies to revive contacts of Goa with
Portugal in recent times, including the promotion
of the language through paid teachers in high
schools and organising singing competitions, there
is still a long way to go to neutralise the historical
experiences that have jolted the affective ties. The
reported Christmas celebrations at Kala Academy
and elsewhere in Goa were marked by singing of
Christmas carols only in Konkani and in English. To
my surprise and disappointment, a message of
Christmas greetings circulated worldwide (I re-
ceived it too) by a representative of Instituto Camões
in Goa showed a ‘Menino Jesus’ wrapped up in
musical score sheets singing Silent Night and Jin-
gle Bells!
* Fernando Santos Neves, one of the co-founders of
the Universidade Lusófona in Lisbon, is a philoso-
pher. He placed the reference in the context of the
philosopher Kant, who is known for his treatises
on ‘Critique of Reason’. He did it because he was a
great defender of Reason and its role, not because
he did not care for it.
By Adelmo Fernandes

loyalties to one or the other politician, have been neglecting their
basic duties in their efforts to please their political masters. And
the biggest casualty of this approach has been law and order, to
the extent that Goa, at the height of the tourist season, has acquired
the reputation of an unsafe tourist destination in the national and
international media.
In fact, nobody has come out of the Colva episode with any
credit. When it is common knowledge that the entire episode is
the result of political rivalry between Tourism Minister Mickky
Pacheco and his one-time mentor Calvert Gonsalves, why are
ordinary people letting themselves be used as cannon fodder in
this proxy battle? If the CD is objectionable and defamatory, as
alleged, why are people resorting to extra-legal means to tackle
the issue? And why are the religious authorities remaining silent?
The very least that should have been done was to counsel restraint
and to preach against the use of violence. But the silence on the
issue has been deafening.
I
n the ODI played at Ferozshah Kotla in New Delhi, it was neither
Virender Sehwag nor Sachin Tendulkar who made news. On the
contrary it was the 22-yard pitch which made it to the front pages.
The pitch in fact started a pitched battle within the Delhi & District
Cricket Association (DDCA) which in no time reached fever pitch.
Several former players pitched in with their comments.
Cricket is a game different from other sports in several ways. It is
known as a gentleman’s game. Unlike football, which happens to be
the most popular sport in the world, cricket is not played in the rain.
This is not because the players are afraid of catching a cold playing in
the rain, but because the all important part of the cricket ground, the
pitch, is not supposed to get wet. Hence, when there is an interrup-
tion of a match due to rain, the first part of the ground that is covered
with a plastic sheet is the pitch. I can’t think of any other playing arena
in any sport which is pampered more than the cricket pitch. In fact
there is an altogether separate committee which looks only after the
cricket pitch. Laying a pitch is a complex process requiring expertise
and the correct raw material. Any defect in the pitch could cost crores
of rupees in damages, as was the case in Delhi.
That brings us to a very important question. Why should the pitch
be given so much importance? Well, an under-prepared pitch can ruin
the career of even the finest batsmen. Bones could be broken and
dreams shattered. The pitch can make the cricket ball bounce too
much or keep low. It can make the ball skid or spin. It can do such a lot
of things that we talk of the pitch like a human being. The expert who
gives the pitch report before the start of a game normally talks of how
the pitch is expected to ‘behave’. It can assist fast bowlers or spin
bowlers, assist stroke-making or make life difficult for the batsmen.
So what goes into the making of a perfect pitch? A lot of expensive
material, lots of patience and lots of perspiration. It takes months to
make a perfect pitch. Though some pitches are as bald as a billiards
table, others have a varying amounts of special grass on them. This is
Bermuda grass, which is probably as mysterious as the Bermuda
triangle. It is believed that the best time to plant the grass is spring or
just before the monsoon. It is understood that the Kotla fiasco was
the result of the grass being planted just a month before the match.
Another important aspect of the pitch is the soil that goes into making
it. It is not just dirt or sand but a mixture of several types of soils. The
pitch is than tested several times before the actual match is played.
Compare this extensive procedure with the astroturf that is used for
a hockey ground and is laid in almost no time.
It thus comes as no surprise that the cricket pitch attracts so much
attention. A cricket expert will tell you that pitches across the world
behave differently. That is probably because every cricket playing
nation prepares a pitch that will assist its bowlers. So in India you will
find spinner-friendly pitches. In contrast the pitches in the Caribbean
will assist the speedsters. Since the pitch has so much significance it
was this very part of the ground which a political outfit in India
decided to dig up to disrupt an international match some years back.
While South Africa will not be playing a Test match in Delhi and no
matches of the 2011 World cup may be allotted to the Kotla ground,
the question uppermost on everyone’s mind is whether New Delhi
will also make a fiasco of the Commonwealth Games scheduled in
2010. One hopes not.

Letters to the Editor

A trick to distract?
Soter D’Souza, Socorro
This is in response to the false accusations
made by Dr Oscar Rebello against me and
Rajan Parrikar of baying for the blood of mi-
grants, Muslims and foreigners in his letter
titled ‘The options before GBA’ (Herald, 30
Dec).
Our views as regards in-migration and com-
munalism are in the public domain, unlike Dr
Rebello, who now admits to having “danced
footsie” with the Digamber Kamat govern-
ment. Three years later he pretends to re-
pent for letting down the people of Goa. Dr
Rebello must answer the set of questions I
have raised in cyberspace as regards the is-
sue of migration, and read the views of Goa’s
internationally acclaimed fashion designer
Wendell Rodricks on ‘cultural ethnocide’.
The minutes of GBA meetings clearly show
the undue haste from June 2007, after Mr
Kamat took over as CM, of pushing GBA to
cooperate with the government in the RP
Task Force despite members cautioning
against such a move. The impact of GBA’s
treachery will be realised by Goans once RP
2021 is out.
Dr Rebello’s trick of labelling us commu-
nal is to distract from his own doings.
The cost of infighting
Stephen Dias, Dona Paula
The letter ‘Living in an alternate reality’ by
Rajan Parrikar (Herald, December 31) in re-
sponse to Dr Oscar Rebello’s letter (Herald,
30 Dec) gives an impression to readers that
both of them are defending their own per-
sonal views by criticising each other.
No doubt they have the interest of the
people of Goa at heart, and want to carry on
their mission in their own way. But at what
cost? This infighting is helping the builders’
There was no issue of O Heraldo dated 2
January 1910, as the office was closed on
1 January on account of the New Year hol-
iday. Therefore, there is no ‘100 years ago’
column today.
and mine owners’ lobbies to flourish, and
giving them the freedom and opportunity to
continue their harmful activities.
Nobody is above the law
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
The recent incident in Colva comes as no
surprise. In a similar case in 2004, there had
been trouble in Ribandar. As in the Colva
case now, that Ribandar church case was
also handed over to the Crime Branch.
The handing over of routine cases to the
Crime Branch has to stop. It only proves the
impotence of the police stations to enforce
the law. This is all happening due to the polit-
ical interference in the day-to-day working of
the police.
In the Ribandar case, when I stood in soli-
darity with a parishioner, a 13-year-old minor
girl, I had cases filed against me. After the
ordeal of a four-year trial, the court in its judg-
ment stated that the allegations against me
seemed to have been manipulated and that I
was falsely implicated in the case.
The last time around too, the Archbishop
had chosen to be a mere spectator. The mes-
sage should go out loud and clear that no-
body is above the law, priests and nuns in-
cluded. In the Colva case, if anyone is ag-
grieved by any material in the CD, he needs
to file a defamation case. Stoning people’s
houses or creating social tension from Church
premises is uncalled for and against the law.
Guard or hazard?
Claudine Menesse, by email
Carvellosim has been a beautiful and safe
beach. We have been swimming and walk-
ing here for the last fifteen years and were
pleased to see that a lifeguard service was
going to be available .Now we are horrified
to see that this service is a cause of great
danger. The red lifeguard van drives merrily
up and down the beach .The beach is the only
safe place to walk and for children to play,
safe from vehicles. Now the lifeguard van
itself has become a major hazard.
Furthermore, the lifeguard station has be-
come the headquarters of a water sports ven-
playing for the whole beach? As a result, var-
Paths of Wisdom
Letter of the Day ious shacks that wish to play music for their
customers cannot do so.
This is not celebration at all – instead, all
Living in another country we are getting is noise. I request the con-
cerned authority to take necessary action.
Praxy Fernandes, London
Congratulations Xavier
Rajan Parrikar, whose letter (Herald, 31 Dec), talked of an ‘alternate reality’, needs to
understand that it is far easier for people based overseas like us to express whatever we Nelson Lopes, Chinchinim
wish to in our letters. The Konkani stage artist-singer Xavier Gomes
The present ground realities in Goa are not conducive to writing or saying anything about has left an indelible mark and deserves our
ministers, politicians, their PAs and our law enforcement agencies, however truthful the admiration, appreciation and encouragement. Reason and Religion
information may be. So how can you target Dr Oscar when the CM and his cohorts have He qualifies as the best composer and singer
reneged on their promises? in the exalted category of Alfred Rose. His Leo Tolstoy
Do you expect Oscar to wage a war alone against these people in the present circum- themes and lyrics are thought-provoking, in- To those who ask my opinion whether it
stances? How about people like you and me going to Goa to lend him support? Like you, I tellectual, and his style of rendering messag- be desirable to endeavour by the aid of
too oppose the unchecked influx of migrants to build vote banks and the destruction and es is neither critical nor sarcastic. He conveys reason to attain complete consciousness
rape of Goa through illegal mining, building colonies for non-Goans, and providing permis- his thoughts deeply with maximum of educa- in one’s inner spiritual life, and to ex-
sions to fly-by-night operators who reap bumper harvests through drugs, sex and gambling. tive, philosophical, moral content along with press the truths thus attained in definite
But besides writing, have we done anything else? social emphasis. The standard of Konkani language, I would answer positively in
I have no sweet feelings for Oscar Rebello, as I have opposed his views of late, and I also stage is raised to a higher level with his com- the affirmative.
have no grudge against Rajan Parrikar. But I am sure that if Parrikar looks honestly at the positions. Man has been given by God one single
situation in Goa, he will want to apologise to Dr Rebello. He has so far refrained and resisted the instrument to attain knowledge of self
temptation to appeal to cheap basic instincts. and of one’s relation to the universe; there
dor. They have planted a red flag in the safest married man cannot do the same against his He has left a message for everyone through is no other, and that one is reason.
area of the beach so that he can ply his trade, wife. Why? his various songs, which are worth listening Yet he is informed that he may use his
endangering the swimmers with his water Rape cases need to be thoroughly investi- to and pleasurable to the ears. reason to solve questions, whether do-
vehicles .The other van plying on the beach is gated, as mere allegations of rape cannot be mestic, family, commercial, political, sci-
that of the water sports vendor. treated as final until proven by medical re- Profiteering on milk entific, artistic, but not for the elucida-
The beach has now become more danger- ports. If genuine rape against a woman is a Samson Papaly, Benaulim tion of the problem for which especially it
was given him; and that for the solution
ous than the road. On no account should motor crime, then false allegations against an inno- For the past one month or more, almost all of the most important truths, of those on
vehicles be allowed to run on the beach. cent man should be treated as a bigger crime. the shops that stock and sell Goa Dairy milk
Water sports should be conducted in the place The media should stop maligning the Goa for an acquaintance with which hangs all
are selling packets at Re1 more than the his life, man must on no account employ
that they have been allotted. flimsy reasons like rape. Such childish accu- printed MRP. I have sent messages complain-
sations are degrading our culture. ing about this to Consumer Affairs in Goa and
his reason, but must acquiesce in their
Stop maligning Goa truth independently of his reason, where-
in Delhi, but have not received any response. as, independently of reason, man cannot
Jerry Fernandes, Saligao Break for dismal cops The reason shopkeepers give is that the be conscious of anything.
I would like to congratulate Rajya Sabha MP L Fernandes, Candolim distributor of Goa Dairy milk takes the MRP It is said, “Accept the truth by revela-
Shantaram Naik for making a very bold state- This has reference to Alishya Carvalho’s letter price from them and they have to sell it at a tion, by faith;” but a man cannot believe
ment on rape and defending Goa in Parlia- ‘Give the cops a break’ (Herald, 29 Dec). She higher rate. I hope that the minister concerned independently of reason. If a man believes
ment. Some business-minded women have should have read the news item ‘Vasco cops will take action in this matter, as if it is not this and not that, it is only because his
started to misuse the word ‘rape’ to settle fared dismally in 2009’ (Herald, 29 Dec) before stopped now, it will go out of control. reason tells him that this is credible, and
personal scores, and to achieve instant fame. requesting the Vasco police force to act. that is not. To affirm that a man must not
Today’s women, despite being highly edu- Letters should be 150 words or less in length, be guided by reason is equivalent to tell-
and should have the writer’s name, address
cated and ambitious, think nothing about Madness in Baga ing a man who has lost his way in dark
maligning men though such silly accusations. and telephone number. The editor reserves catacombs that, in order to find his way
UK citizen, Baga the right to edit letters for size and readabil-
Today, a married woman can file a charge of out, he must extinguish his lamp, and be
rape against her own husband, using a sick A certain hotel near Baga creek is banging ity, and to delete any personal attacks or guided, not by light, but by something
libellous /objectionable matter.
law called the Domestic Violence Act, but a out boom-boom music till 3am. Why are they else.

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