Fr Agnelo's Day celebrated in France
20 Nov 2008,
Fr Peter Raposo, TNN
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3734600,prtpage-1.cms

Faraway from home, in Paris, France, the Goan community gathered under the aegis of the association "Les Amis du Père Agnelo" (The Friends of Fr Agnelo) to commemorate the death anniversary of Venerable Fr Agnelo.

This day popularly called "Fr Agnelo's Day" is traditionally celebrated with a Mass in French at which a large number of French Catholics participate. The Mass this year was held on November 9 and was presided over by Père Gilles Rousselet in l'Eglise de Saint Esprit (Holy Spirit Church).

A Manglorean Capuchin Priest, Fr Allwyn Dias, studying in Paris, preached an eloquent homily on the life and virtues of Fr Agnelo and called upon the congregation to emulate the life of Fr Agnelo and to imitate his virtues.

Among the highlights of the eucharistic celebration was the enthralling singing of Konkani hymns by the choir directed by Juliana Afonso and the performing of the aarti by Goan girls dressed up in colourful saris.

The parish priest Fr Rousselet was prompted to praise the interculturality of the moment and expressed his happiness on how this community has enriched the celebration. Fr Theodore Mascarenhas, the Central
Delegate Superior of the Pilar Fathers in Europe, who arrived in Paris especially for the occasion concelebrated the Mass.

After the Mass, the Goans present, about 250 in number, took the bust of Fr Agnelo in a procession singing the hymn, ‘Padre Agnel amche ixtta'. In the hall itself, a lovely Goan banquet with traditional Goan dishes was offered to those present.

Fr Theodore Mascarenhas, who is also closely coordinating the process for the beatification of Fr Agnelo with the postulator in Rome Fr Antonio Marrazzo and Fr Tony Fernandes the vice-postulator in Goa, led the prayer for beatification of Fr Agnelo in Konkani. Fr Mascarenhas later traced the itinerary of the process of beatification and requested the people to pray ardently so that the case submitted to doctors in Rome for a preliminary examination may be declared a miracle. Fr Agnelo will be beatified only if any miracle credited to his intercession is not medically explainable.

Fr Mascarenhas explained that Fr Agnelo is Goa's gift to the world and therefore having him beatified is not only the task of the Pilar Society but an honourable privilege to every Goan and Indian. "We as Goans should be proud of this saintly man," he said. He thanked the association of ‘Les Amis du Père Agnelo' for their hard work over the last 20 odd years.

"Les Amis du Père Agnelo" founded in Paris under the inspiration of Fr Sergio Mascarenhas 20 years ago, has been promoting the devotion of Fr Agnelo and organising funds for the process of beatification. Besides celebrating Fr Agnelo's birthday in January and death anniversary in November, they organize a carnival celebration in February, with a dance and a fancy dress competiton, conduct a summer picnic and celebrate together the Mass for the departed Souls on November 1.

Click here to read more on Venerable Father Agnelo de Souza His Life.

Saint John High students take a step back in time
Excerpt from Saint John Telegraph-Journal
Published Friday November 21st, 2008
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/search/article/488001

Remembrance Battle of Ortona was one of Canada's greatest achievements of Second World War - BOBBI-JEAN MACKINNON

Brandon D'Souza displays his grandfather’s medals, which include the 1939-45 Star, the Italy Star, the France and German Star, the Defence Medal, the 1939-45 War Medal, the Canadian Forces Decoration, the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and the Holland Liberation Medal.

SAINT JOHN - Brandon D'Souza always had a close relationship with his grandfather, who lived next door as he was growing up. But the late Clement Edward Shea never talked much about his military service overseas during the Second World War. "Even on Remembrance Days, he never mentioned too much," D'Souza said. "I think he was humble about it...He just saw it as his duty" to serve.

On Tuesday, however, D'Souza will get to see first-hand one of the places where his "Gumpy" served as a sergeant in a tank division of the 8th Princess Louise's, earning eight medals that are proudly displayed in his family's west side home. D'Souza is one of six Saint John High School students travelling to Italy today to participate in remembrance ceremonies commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Ortona.

"I feel very lucky and honoured to get a chance to retrace his footsteps; to see where he and many others fought for peace and freedom for us and other people around the world," said D'Souza, 16. It will also be his first time overseas, he said. "I think it will be a really interesting and amazing experience." Remembering Ortona is a national tour, being organized out of Ontario. The Saint John High group will be the only students representing New Brunswick, said teacher Maryanne Lewell, who will accompany and supervise them.

"This will be a really unique experience," said Lewell, who teaches history and social studies. Each student will represent a former Saint John High student who was a soldier killed in Ortona - with the exception of D'Souza, whose grandfather returned to Saint John in 1946 after six years of service in Italy, Belgium and Holland, and died of natural causes in April, 2006.

The Grade 11 and 12 students have all researched their assigned soldier's life and will each give a short grave side presentation about them. They will also assist in the ceremony by carrying flags and laying wreaths. "It's a way to bring the history of that event to the kids in a way that makes it very real and personal," Lewell said. The students all volunteered to go and to pay their own way - about $3,000 each. For some, such as D'Souza and Ashley Eadie, who comes from a military family, it was for personal reasons. "There's a real sense of connection for them," said Lewell, whose great uncle also fought in Italy, although not in Ortona. For others, it was a general interest in history and an opportunity to travel, she said.

The Battle of Ortona was a small but fierce battle in 1943 between German paratroops and assaulting Canadian forces, including the Carleton and York Regiment out of Fredericton and the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's) of Sussex, Lewell said. Canadian forces had been ordered to take the medieval seaport of Ortona. It was of high strategic importance as it was one of Italy's few usable deep water ports on the east coast and was needed for docking allied ships.

Ortona was impregnable from three sides, flanked by sea cliffs on the north and east and a deep ravine on the west. So Canadian troops attacked from the south on Dec. 20. It was difficult to get the tanks through the narrow, twisting roads. And the soldiers would have been vulnerable to sniper fire out on the streets. So they went house to house by cutting holes in the walls of the old buildings, which butted up against each other. It was one of the first times the tactic, called mouse-holing, was used.

On Dec. 28, the depleted German troops, who lacked reinforcements, finally withdrew from the town. It was considered among Canada's greatest achievements during the war. But the price was high. More than 1,370 Canadians were killed in and around Ortona, almost a quarter of all Canadians killed during the Italian Campaign.

Some of the surviving Canadian veterans are expected to participate in the ceremony of remembrance on Tuesday, Lewell said. A representative of Veterans Affairs Canada is also scheduled to attend.

Following the ceremony, the students will walk from the cemetery into the town, where they'll have lunch in the same location the Canadian soldiers ate their Christmas dinner in 1943. In the afternoon, they'll attend the town's own ceremony.

The students are scheduled to fly out of Saint John today, arrive in Italy on Saturday and spend a couple of days in Rome, visiting sites such as the Roman Coliseum and the Spanish Steps. On Tuesday, they'll be in Ortona. Then they'll visit Monte Cassino, the site of another battle, and go back to Rome for a mass for Canadian soldiers at St. Peter's Basilica before flying home.

“TRIBUTE TO ELVIS”---STAGEWEST THEATRE
Flavia de Souza

On November 10, 2008, a group of TEGSA members attended the “Tribute to Elvis”. Some of us, in our group, met each other for the first time. We were all excited about the show. For most in the group, this was the first time at Stage West Theatre.

After we were seated, we enjoyed the buffet. Between the crisp salads, seafood, and hot foods like chicken, veal, beef, veggies and a whole array in fron t of us, we had to make difficult choices, as to what dishes we should try first.. The veal parmigiana and the roast beef were the hit. The “mummified” shrimp were intriguing, but excellent. Desserts, for those of us that have a sweet tooth, were a meal in itself. The meal in all was excellent.

With our bellies full, we then relaxed back to watch the show. “ Stephen Kabakos”, the Elvis impersonator not only looked like him, but sounded and spoke like him. Stephen won the Grand Champion Award at 2001 Images of the King World Competition in Memphis, Tennessee. This past spring, he toured India, even went to Goa. He is Canadian, from Milton, Ontario. He sang a number of songs that we could sing along with, and some of us had to restrain ourselves. He did perform some songs that most of us had not heard before, but all the same, he was entertaining. Between his leather outfit, the white rhinestone outfit and his fancy footwork, he got the audience to be interactive. The side show with the little old ladies,drooling all over him, was very hilarious. It was well worth the evening of entertainment.

Everyone enjoyed themselves and even made new friends, that they will recognize at the club events in the future. I was asked to organize another show like this again in the near future.

A very special thank you to those members and non-members that supported this event. It was worth the effort that went into organizing this event.

A Paradise Lost For The Goan People
Brian de Souza
Sunday, November 16, 2008

Once Upon a Time in Aparanta
Sudeep Chakravarti
Penguin Books
220 pages
Rs 250

Goa means different things to different people. To tourists, it's one of India's happening places and a hot destination for New Year bashes. Companies that have their conferences here apparently get the highest numbers of sign-ins.

Many have also dropped anchor here to pursue their creative inclinations and that includes the author of, Once Upon A Time In Aparanta, Sudeep Chakravarti, resident since 2004, whose attention is engaged by the old world charm of the place that's fading away.

Chakravarti's attempt distills the many conversations with the locals; brushes up on the spellings of yore (Caxinath is how Kashinath is spelt in Portuguese); finds local nuggets that feni from a particular village is the best available, and blended all these with local newsmakers — corrupt politicians and wheeler-dealers — to weave a tale that is part-racy, part-nostalgic and at best a casual read for an extended weekend. The text is peppered with local language expletives and Portuguese expressions, one of which translates as "confusion to our enemies' and is used when raising a toast.

The plot, which is never quite substantial, revolves around a set of characters that include a professor and self-appointed guardian of the place, a corrupt politician called Winston (but with none of Churchill's erudition), a drug lord, a transexual and a corrupt cop.

In the end, the chief characters meet with gory ends right from the do-gooder who's eliminated by the "mafia" to the Russian "viceroy of trance" who was found with a bullet hole in his neck, in Moscow.

Chakravarti's book may have some resonance now given the events surrounding the mysterious death of Scarlett, the Brit teen who was allegedly raped and killed and more recently, the sordid events surrounding the Monserrate case.

The writer has used a satirical approach to describing a Goa that is going, going… and maybe not yet gone, and his characters are largely caricature, and all irrespective of their educational status speak a kind of pidgin-Goan English.

For the author, this has been an opportunity to give vent to his own creativity of words with expressions such as "the sea that embroiders the land to the west" or a reference to a villa as a 'lovingly built puzzle of stone" and yet another, Avenida Srinagar, a reference to a road line with shops owned by Kashmiri businessmen that are a front for nefarious activities.

d_brian@dnaindia.net

'Sonal Shah was VHP-America member for 3 years'
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200811132311.htm

Washington (PTI): Indian-American Sonal Shah, whose appointment in the Obama transition team has sparked a row prompting her to deny links with Indian right-wing groups, was a member of VHP-America for three years just after "getting out of college," the US-based group said on Thursday.

Shah, an eminent economist who was taken into an advisory board by President-elect Barack Obama to assist his team in smooth transition of power, had earlier this week rubbished reports of her links with RSS and VHP and said her politics "has nothing in common with views espoused" by such outfits.

However, an office-bearer of VHP-America told NDTV that Sonal was a governing body member of the organisation. He also said the outfit had no links with the VHP in India. The controversy is "absolute hogwash", he said adding, "is it a crime to be a part of VHP or RSS, whatever. VHP-America is an independent body... not a part of VHP Bharat," he said.

About Shah's links with the group, the office-bearer said "at that time, I believe, she was just getting out of college. And at that time, we were trying to get younger generation to get involved... so she was taken to the governing body... then Gujarat earthquake happened. But she was there only for three years or so I think."

National Geographic Getting Into Video Games
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3727941,prtpage-1.cms
18 Nov 2008,

NEW YORK: National Geographic, best known for its yellow-framed magazine and often breathtaking nature shows, is getting into video games. National Geographic Ventures, a unit of the nonprofit National Geographic Society, was set to announce Tuesday it will work with game publishers to turn its material into games for PCs, consoles and handheld devices.

"Our content is extremely well-suited for a global gaming audience," said Paul Levine, a National Geographic executive who will lead the new games division. The games will be drawn from a broad range of content and themes across National Geographic's properties.

The first title — available now for computers and the iPhone — is "Herod's Lost Tomb," a simple hidden-objects game built on a story in the magazine's December issue and a television show about King Herod. It's produced in-house by National Geographic. The company is also working with Namco Bandai Games America and Sony Computer Entertainment to publish and distribute games under its brand for consoles like the Wii and the PlayStation 3.

Namco Bandai's "National Geographic: Panda" for the handheld Nintendo DS, available this month, plays something like "Nintendogs," the 2005 virtual pet game that had you taking care of a puppy, and the aptly named "Zoo Tycoon" that puts you in charge of a zoo, Levine said.

While the games seek to offer "entertainment with substance," Levine said he doesn't expect them to be used in schools. "They are games, first and foremost," he said.

Other upcoming titles include "Rain Forests" and "Greencity," slated for next year from National Geographic, as well as "National Geographic: Africa," available next month from Sony.