Goacom: Goanow November 2001

Pilot Anita Anita's hot-air arrival
Parra village in the neighbourhood of Calangute in North Goa, has become the latest destination for international tourists. The village, famed for water-melons, is being visited by European tourists, who come in search of adventure in hot-air ballooning. The giant balloon, manufactured by Camroon Balloons of the UK, is under the command of none other than Ms Anita Krishan Yadav, India's first woman hot-air balloonist. Haryana-born Anita, who has shifted base to Goa lately, is one of the six such women pilots in the country. She is all set to popularise the sport in the State. The hot-air affair has been introduced in Goa for the first time by Delhi-based Eco Adventures in collaboration with SITA and Alva Mar. Looks like it's another milestone for adventure tourism in Goa.

More uniforms by Wendell

GTDC staff in Wendell wear We fairly well knew that Wendell Rodricks belonged to the cream of the country's fashion designers. About a couple of years ago, the fashion guru from Colvale was assigned the task of designing uniforms for the Goa Police. Wendell recently opened his 'Made in Goa' salon at Goa Mariott Resort. And now we find also the staff at the Goa Tourism development Corporation in uniforms designed by him. Incorporating the theme of Goa's celebrated sun, sea and greenery, the designer has compiled a collection of smart separates in sunshine yellow, sea blue and fresh green for the GTDC staff. Vishwajit Rane, the Chairman of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation hopes that "the uniforms which are also a reflection of Goa's famous hospitality, will be an encouragement to the GTDC staff who wear the new Wendell Rodricks uniforms". The designer is "happy to be of service to Goa and reflect the best image for the golden state". GTDC can be contacted at gtdcorp@goatelecom.com, gtdc@goa.goa.nic.in or access www.goacom.com/goatourism.

Visual artist Lindy Lee and writer Suneeta Peres da Costa are joint winners of the $30,000 NSW Women & Arts Fellowship. Both women are concerned with issues of immigration and identity. Suneeta Peres da Costa's Fellowship project is a novel about refugees, immigration and exile set in contemporary Sydney. (http://www.arts.nsw.gov.au/What'sNew/What'sNewintro.htm.#women) Besides two novels--Homework and Oblivion--she has a number of plays--radio and stage--to her credit. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from New York's Sarah Lawrence College. Sydney-born Suneeta is from Curtorim in South Goa.

Playback singer Asha Bhosle Famed playback singer Asha Bhosle has been selected for the Dada Saheb Phalke Award for the year 2000. The award carries a cash prize of Rs.2 lakh, a shawl and a 'swarna kamal' (golden lotus). The prestigious award, meant to commemorate the outstanding contribution of the late Dada Saheb Phalke to the Indian film industry, was instituted way back in 1969. Asha, who vocalised her first song for a Marathi film in 1944, celebrated her 57^th year in the music industry this year. The first Indian vocalist to be nominated for the Grammy awards, Asha has nearly 12,000 songs to her credit, most of them being hits. She has lent her magical voice to songs virtually in every Indian language. We, in Goa, remember the Mangueshi singer for her songs in the Konkani film "Bhuierantlo Mhunis" besides a few other numbers.

29-year-old Liliana de Sa, originally from Panjim, has been appointed Assistant Executive Director of Switzerland's permanent delegation to the World Bank in Washington.

Bernard Mascarenhas is a Goan who fell a victim to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York. Known to many as Bonnie, Bernard was just over 50 years old and was holding the post of Managing Director with Marsh Canada. Known to be very generous, he contributed thousands of dollars in education bursaries, disbursed through the Canorient to university students. He leaves behind his grieving wife Raynette, children Sven and. Jaclyn and his mother.

On October 22, 2001, after a long and courageous battle with ill health, Leonor Rangel-Ribeiro quietly passed away. She was eighty-eight. In the early 50's, Miss Ribeiro launched the Rural Welfare Centre in Guirim, which sought to bring free healthcare and other social services to the poor. A decade later, and in recognition of her earlier work, she was appointed by the United Nations as Community Development Advisor to the Government of Colombia in South America. In 1969, she gave up a prestigious UN career to return to her beloved Goa, where she convened a group of public-spirited citizens who shared her vision, and together they founded the Academy for Community Development and International Living, popularly known as ACDIL. For over a quarter of a century, first as Director and later as a member of the Board of Trustees, and as long as her health permitted, Miss Ribeiro was an active and motivating force behind ACDIL. In addition to the formal ACDIL school and teacher-training, ACDILs activities have ranged from non-formal educational programmes and income-generating courses for the poor, to health and sanitation projects, to participatory training for Anganwadi workers. Over 2000 Anganwadi workers have received their training from ACDIL. In 1990, on Ms Ribeiro's initiative, the World Bank, the UN and bilateral agencies conducted 3 participatory training workshops for trainers from several other states in India, as well as from Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The large body of Ms Ribeiro's lifelong work has made an indelible imprint on the socio-cultural history of Goa. She will be remembered as a powerful personality, a teacher of generations of social workers, as a prominent civic-minded voice among intellectuals, as a gifted musician and poet, and as one who loved Goa and its people. ("M.Mascarenhas" <mmasc@goatelecom.com>)

Suvarna Fonseca e Antao, a teacher from Carmel Higher Secondary School, participated in a seminar on "Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy" at Kota in Rajasthan and an orientation programme on "Eco-Life" in Delhi recently.

Kate Gracias of Maria Bambina Convent High School, Cuncolim, walked away with top honours at the first inter-school All Goa Sheldon Memorial Elocution competition.

Seton Almeida, a student of Fr Agnel's Higher Secondary School, Pilar, was adjudged 'Teen of the Year' at the St Andrew's auditorium in Bandra, Mumbai, on October 2.

The prestigious Poet BB Borkar Literary Award, instituted by the Goa Hindu Association, Mumbai, has been conferred on Dr Sachin Kandolkar, a Goan Marathi writer who has three books to his credit. The award includes Rs.15,000 in cash and a memento.

Bhutkhamb at Keri, near Ponda, was the place where the Nylon 6,6 plant was to come. The place has now been earmarked for a film city. However, K Vaikunth (75), a four-time Filmfare Award winner and a successful Goan cameraman with 82 films under his belt, feels that the Goa government's plans for a Film City could be a bit too difficult for film directors to swallow given the practical difficulties and lack of infrastructure.

Goa's star swimmer Annie Jose bagged the gold in the girls 400 m individual medley, at the National School Games, held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Annie earlier bagged silver medal in 200 m individual medley and a bronze in 50m backstroke.

The Sahitya Puraskar Literary Awards of the Kala Academy have been declared to Avadhoot Kudtarkar for his Konkani novel "Shaktipat" and Premanand Madkaikar for his Marathi book "Panchamata".

Armando Colaco, secretary and coach of Dempo SC, has been appointed as the coach of the Goa national squad for the 57^th National Football Championships for the Santosh trophy, which will get underway at Mumbai from 1 to 17 November.

Froylan M Fernandes, who hails from Goa, was recently elected president of the Travel Industry, Management Student comanisation (TIMSO) at Hawaii Pacific University. Fernandes plans to major in travel industry management and computer information system.

Renowned Goan acupuncturist, Dr MB Prabhu, will be presented with two prestigious awards by the Delhi-based international comnizations in New Delhi.

Anita D'Souza, a violinist from Goa, was the only Indian to participate in the International Course on Ancient Music at Academia de Musica Antiga de Lisbon, Portugal, this year. Anita says that the 10-day intense course has helped her evolve as a better teacher and a violinist. She was sponsored by Fundacao Oriente and the Kala Academy.

The Centre for South Asia Language and Area Studies, University of Pennsylvania, USA, has invited noted Konkani writer Pundalik Naik under its 'CR Parekh Indian Creative Writer in Residence Spring 2002' programme.

The English version of the Konkani short stories written by well-known Konkani writer and vice-chairman of the Goa Konkani Akademi, N Shivdas, can now be read at www.Goa2000.com, owned by Ratikant Mandrekar.

Seema Sawant from Sanvordem was elected as the South Goa Zilla panchayat chief by defeating her rivals--Nelly Rodrigues and Neelima Naik-who could not secure even a single vote in their favour. Ms Sawant says that her priority would be to see that the government transfers all the powers to the recently elected Zilla Parishads as per the provision of law.