GoaBooks

[PRESS RELEASE] The new Directory of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman was released by Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao, at a simple ceremony held on August 10, 2006 evening at Archbishop's House, Panjim, in the presence of Archbishop Raul Gonsalves, Heads of various Diocesan Bodies, and the Staff of Archbishop's House. The Directory, published by the Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media and printed at New Age Printers, the diocesan press at Verna, comes in a neat shrink-wrapping of two volumes.

The first, hard bound, with 298 pages, contains information of more permanent character, e.g. history and pastoral organization of the archdiocese, details and photographs of every parish church, territorial maps, information on the various religious congregations and church institutions, besides a photo gallery of some diocesan institutions and events.

Prominent Indo-Portuguese historian Dr Teotonio R. de Souza points to some online resources, saying: All those interested in the early history of Goa and of India at the time of the Portuguese arrival will find the following accounts left by two contemporary Portuguese businessmen very interesting. You can read the English version at the following site of the Gutenberg project.
http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/resources/english/etext-project/history/vijayanagar/. About 18,000 or so free books in the Project Gutenberg Online Book Catalog consult: http://www.gutenberg.org/license.

Cecil Pinto has posted to the GoaWriters mailing list a useful link to the life-story of Eight-Finger Eddy. Cecil elaborates: "Eight-Finger Eddie is a living legend from the time when the hippies first discovered Goa. He has been around a long time and seen all the sex and drugs and raves and a lot more. Eddie tells his life story at http://www.8fingereddie.com/8fingereddie.pdf. It's a free download and is 1.3 mb PDF file. If you have difficulty viewing or downloading let me know and I will send to to you by e-mail." Dunno if that offer is open to the public :-)

Michael Ali from Pakistan writes: I have downloaded a free copy of this book and have found it extremely interesting. It does not take long to download and it contain 87 pages packed with stories of Goa of the 1950's. It is in pdf format. And is a must-read by anyone with the slightest interest in the great land of Goa. A Collection of Goan Voices: Stories by People of Goan descent. edited by Susan Rodrigues has just been published. As it is a no royalty option anyone can download the book for free or order a copy from the website: www.lulu.com where you will be charged for the book and postage. http://www.lulu.com/content/273359

"Mas-ca-ren-has?" queried a curious Chat Ramilo, obviously struggling with the many syllabyles of the name, as I showed her the book cover. Given the Philippines' Spanish colonial heritage, she might have found the name faintly familiar. But, seeing it at Dhaka, Bangladesh obviously caused the astonishment. Actually, one wasn't personally surprised. Like Radharao Gracias, the maverick legislator from South Goa, my hobby too has been (or should I say had been?) to keep track of POGs (people of Goan descent) across the globe, doing all kinds of odd and unusual things. When I saw Anthony Mascarenhas' book Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood at the Dhaka airport, I didn't think twice before picking it up. That I wanted to get done with the few Taka left in my pocket, before leaving back for home, further convinced me to take along a copy of the book. It was priced at Taka 490, and the Taka-Rupee exchange rate is roughly ten-to-seven favouring the rupee.

Goa Today, the monthly magazine from here, reviews Church in the Evolving Society of Goa (Delio de Mendonca, ed), A Goan Crucible of Memories by Dr Renato Gracias, Brian Mendonca's poems titled Last Bus To Vasco and Basil D'Cunha's 600-page bi-lingual English-and-Konkani Choose Your Very Own Career in its May 2006 issue.

Outlook magazine of New Delhi has this review of a new book called "Francis Newton Souza: Bridging Western and Indian Modern Art". The book is by Aziz Kurtha and published by Mapin Publishing (212 pp, Rs 2000). Madhu Jain's review says: "If it wasn't sex, it was the hypocrisy of the Catholic church that obsessed Souza. His Christ was scary: black and scrawny." An interesting quote: "Souza left India for London in 1949, barely two years after he founded (and indeed w

Goa Today is one of the few publications that has space for reviews of local books. It's March 2006 issue has a mention of Khand, a novelette written by Goa College of Art lecturer Willy Goes in Roman-script Konkani. Also reviewed by Lt Col Sylvester M D'Souza (Retd) is Param Vir, Our Heroes in Battle (by Major Gen Ian Cardozo, Roli Books, New Delhi 225, Rs 295).

In the news pages, there's mention of the book by Fr Nascimento Mascarenhas, released in the port town of Vasco da Gama recently. It's titled Mormugao's Rich Heritage. Then, there's Rajshree Bandodkar Karapurkar's recently-released Saimakaden Samvad, or Dialogue With Nature, a science book in Konkani for children spanning 72 pages.

Check this review in The Hindu of the book Criminal justice system in Goa. Details of the book: Criminal Justice India Series, Volume 9 Goa: N. R. Madhava Menon — General Editor; Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd., & National University of Juridical Sciences, 17, Chittaranjan Avenue, Kolkata-700002. Rs. 240.

While posting it to Goa Research Net recently, one had commented: "Strange. I had not noticed this book nor the review earlier!"

Indian English spoken here -- "a blog about books, movies and music - from a total desi point of view" has this November 7, 2006 review of Guardian of the Dawn by Richard Zimler Constable & Robinson Ltd; 372 pgs; UKP 5.95 See http://www.epicindia.com/indianenglish/2005/11/grumbles-in-goa-book-review-of.html.