GOEMCHEA SAIBACHEM FEST

A very large number of devotees, estimated to be in the region of 15,000, attended Goa's most popular feast, the feast of Goemcho Saib St Francis Xavier, on December 3 at the Bom Jesus Basilica campus at Old Goa.

In the first homily the Archbishop Patriarch appealed to the Catholic community to shun all sorts of discrimination, particularly, when it comes to religion, so as to bear a true testimony of Christ and be an example for the society at large. In a second homily, Archbishop Abraham of Nagpur and the chairman of Western Region Bishops Council, said that the 450th death anniversary of St Francis is a historic moment not only for Goans, but for everyone all over the world, who revere St Francis Xavier. He referred to the fact that all the Bishops and the two Cardinals from the western region comprising Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat, were here "not by accident" but for the important two-day Bishops conference at Pilar.

The security around the Bom Jesus Basilica at Old Goa, taking note of the sea of devotees expected and the recent spate of bomb hoaxes (one including the Bom Jesus Basilica), was tightened by the Goa police, even to the extent of installing of metal detectors at the main entrances to the campus.

Most devotees, however, believed that the presence of the sacred remains Goemcho Saib suffices to keep Goa save. Here we may also recollect an important statement by Nandkumar Kamat in his article in "The Navhind Times": (St Francis Xavier) has influenced generations of Goans from all the communities and castes. No vicious and communal tirade against his name is ever going to change this social and cultural reality." Another relevant statement in connection with communal harmony comes from Marathi writer Dr A H Salunke: "The increase in communalism in today's world is largely due to a lack of unity among intellectuals…" At the fourth Samajik Parishad held on December 1 at the Bhagwati hall in Pernem, Salunke also said, "We should respect all religions and one should not despise other religions."

Those who could not attend the festival heard the running commentary of the solemn high mass broadcast b7 the FM service of All India Radio, Panjim, on 105.4 MHz.

Virtually on the eve of the feast, the Goa government announced that along with four other holidays, the feast on December 3 would be struck off from the list of holidays for 2003. However, finding everyone disgusted with the of-the-cuff decree, Chief Manohar Parrikar said the decision would be held in abeyance. Cortalim MLA Matanhy Saldanha welcomed the restoration of status quo and urged the government not to hurt the sensibilities of any section of the Goan society.

Another irritation was the drying up of the taps for most of the day at Old Goa on the feast day. How much authorities really care for people, tourism, etc, became quite evident when complaints to some ministers and even the chief minister's office failed to elicit a positive action. By the way, one could hardly notice any minister or politico at the High Mass, except for Saligao MLA Dr Wilfred de Souza.

The biography of St Francis Xavier will soon be published in cartoon form in ten languages, including English. Mensajero Publishers of Spain have entrusted the job of doing the sketches to Miguel Berzosa, who specializes in religious comics.

BISHOP'S COUNCIL MEET

Writing about the two days WRCC meet, Fr Peter Raposo, editor of Konkani Weekly "Ixtt", quotes Bishop Agnelo Gracias of Bombay, "Enhancing support structures for married people, their involvement in small Christian communities and finding support structures to accommodate mixed marriages, inter-religious marriage and broken families, are some of the priorities of the meeting." As many as 87 representatives of 14 dioceses of the WRCC attended the conference. Empowerment of the family, in order to have a vibrant Church, has been the vision statement that highlighted the concluding day of the recent two-day Western Region Catholic Council at Pilar on December 2.

In Porvorim, as many as 20 eminent scholars from all over the country will participate in a two-day seminar on "In the footsteps of Francis Xavier, Jesuits in India", at the Xavier Centre, from December 7, to mark the 450th death anniversary of St Francis Xavier.

PAINTER ANGELO FONSECA

Another conspicuous function was the month-long exhibition, at the Pilar Seminary, of the exquisite work of the great Goan artist Angelo da Fonseca, to mark his birth centenary. Born on 6 December, 1902, the last of seventeen children, Angelo ventured into medicine and then into agriculture but finally discovered his true vocation-to be an artist. As Nandkumar Kamat wrote in NT: "Angelo da Fonseca, an illustrious son of Santo Estevam, is to Indian Christian art what Mother Teresa was to Christian charitable work. He was a multi-media artist and used water colours, murals, oil, woodwork and slate to express his artistic vision of Christianity following the neo-Bengali school of Abanindranath Tagore, Haldar and Nandlal Bose." The Pilar Seminary rounded up the exhibition with a very interesting symposium on "Art and Spirituality" on December 6. Fonseca's wife was present at the symposium.

NOW.......ABOUT TOURISM

Dressed up to usher in a fresh tourist season and please every guest, Goa has been fortunate that the inflow of foreign tourists has increased quite a bit this month, and hotels appear to be booked well for the Christmas-New Year peak period. The fears of the hospitality industry have eased somewhat with the arrivals. Charter tourists from Tel Aviv and Israel are awaited whereas Russians have already arrived via six flights. The arrival figures indicate, so far, nearly 19,000 foreigners, largely charter-borne and from the UK. Goa has 71 charter flights, 14 per week on an average.

This appears to be a significant signal to dispel the fears in the minds of intending tourists that Goa is a sufficiently safe and still an attractive eastern destination. The international tourist seems to be unnerved by the border tension, the Gujarat riots, the violence in Kashmir and even the bomb blast in Mumbai.

In the meanwhile, the smarter hotels have been unrolling the red carpet for the non-resident Indians (NRIs), who return to ancestral Goa, drawn by their natural instinct or to visit their families and acquaintances, fairly frequently.

TOURISM ATTRACTION

The regular Goa-specific tourist attractions like the popular beach shacks and "Anjuna flea market" have upped shutters with their respective offerings. Of course, the foreign tourists don't sell their things at the flea market in Anjuna anymore, because most of the things they require are available in India nowadays. So they need not bring everything nor worry about what to do with the leftovers. The Europeans are, however, lured to the flea market by the surfeit of up-country stuff they prefer to see and purchase.

A two-month long exhibition-cum-sale opened at the EDC Patto Plaza in Panjim on 6 December, and the grand "Goa Gate" Handloom Handicrafts National Exhibition the following day. The first international Goa Kite Carnival at the idyllic Vagator beach on 18 and 19 January next year, will organised jointly by Nomad Travels, Goa Tourism Department and the Nomad Heritage Trust. Over 30 participants from USA, UK, France, Holland, Belgium, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa are expected to participate along with the Indian teams.

Valentino Vaz, who pioneered the idea of bottling Goa's famed feni and taking it from the taverna to the five-star resort table, has suggested the idea of setting up a dolphin show project. Vaz, who was fascinated after watching dolphin shows abroad, has collected sufficient data on dolphins and has handed it over to the State authorities to study the feasibility of setting up such a project in Goa.

Niraj Naik, writing in the "Herald" said that Mr P Shridhar, the CEO of India's fastest growing electronic design company operating from Goa-Controlnet (I) Pvt Ltd, claims that the quality of life and environment was what brought the company to Goa. The international tourists would be enthused to know that as per Controlnet's boss, the quality and the environment here is conducive to creative minds.

Well, Goa has been attracting all sorts of visitors down the centuries. The earliest ones came in quest of trade and spices, followed by conquerors and converters. Much later came those who were enthralled by the immense beauty of Goa's virgin beaches and pristine countryside. To accommodate them, mushroomed the hospitality industry. Visitors came to conduct trade and commerce, film Goa's celebrated beauty. Some came to spend their honeymoons, others to celebrate their weddings in oriental style.

And gradually, couples began coming and booking in hotel rooms to end their lives. The latest episode is: In a suicide pact, a VM Mahesh and MV Parvati of Tamil Nadu, aged around 30, booked accommodation in the Calangute Residency, last week. The husband hanged from the ceiling fan with his wife's sari, while the young wife gulped down 14 tablets to end her life. Parvati, however, survived.

THE SOCIAL CIRCUIT

Just recently, we enjoyed a lovely fashion show by six Indian designers, including Goa's upcoming designer Saviojon, at the Taj Holiday Resort. Goa's fashion guru, Wendell Rodricks, who is engrossed in the work of setting up a Period Costume Museum, is also likely to come up with his own show on the fashion front soon.

In the meanwhile, India's rock-star Remo Fernandes had the privilege to be invited to represent the Western Region of India at the opening ceremony of the 32nd National Games to be held in Hyderabad on 13 December. For the special occasion, Remo has composed and produced a unique nine-minute folk-song medley, which takes in its stride the music from Goa, Maharashtra and Kerala.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING

With the grand Christmas celebration almost at our umbro (doorstep), everyone will soon be busy with neureos, kolkol, bibik, pinagr, and all those irresistibly delicious things, besides posting the cards and doing all other things for the Season.

Right then…I have run out of matter for this letter. Wish netters elsewhere in the world could send in some small notes to be included in the forthcoming issues. The weather, of course, is just about 29 deg C at noon, which is "very pleasant by local standards" and will last in that "fine" version upto February at least.

Cheers.

Joel.