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BooksPp.36 (1998) Rs.50 Goan grandmas recount absorbing Goan folk tales to avid grand children, who gobble the stories and worry grandma for more. Some stories nest in childhood imaginations for several years. But hardly any grandchild decides to put the tales together for their own grandkids to read. It’s so trivial an exercise for enlightened grownups! That’s not so with Anita Pinto. Anita grew up on exotic bed-time stories. She loves children, she loves the Goan ambience she lives in. So she took time off from her household chores and teaching youngsters to craft some of the finest tales involving children and Goan locales. My two sons got their mother to read the book to them from the first page till the last. Children love to read or hear such stories. Their parents get to know how good Goan folk tales can be. Pick up the slim book “Tales from Golden Goa”, beautifully illustrated by Mark de Souza. Cartoonist Alexyz has penned the foreword. So read on for yourself or for your kids. Both will love to find out what happened to Patsy's pig Koku from Calangute or about little Florian's carnival frolic... What Azo told the kids in Bastora or the episode of Pascoal’s chicken at Mapusa’s Friday bazaar. You’ll encounter engaging people, places and pets: the crab with the cross on the seashore, the wise mosquito at little Maria's house in Benaulim, footballer Caitan from Saligao, Gautam pinching neureos during the Ganesh chaturthi, turtle Myrtle from Palolem, Sao Joao feast in Corlim, Mosto the monkey, little Mehmood at his father's big shop in Vasco, Pedro who fell in a well at Candolim while flying kites, granny Imelda from Margao. Almost out of breath to list them all. But that’s the type of rather wild excitement the fifteen golden tales from Goa work up. The narration’s neat and lucid for every child to understand and retain easily. The setting has been woven with the silken threads imbued with the flavour and ambience of rustic Goa. Anita travels with the kids’ imagination uphill and down dale on a magical excursion. Her vivid imagination and intrinsic knack for narration form the essential elements of the tale genre, which make the “golden” stories simply absorbing. They’d make an appropriate gift for a child. Anita’s fond gift to Goa’s kids, one hopes, will beget more “golden” siblings. May her endeavour inspire others to join in an effort to produce a complete corpus of folk tales for our children. GOAN COOKBOOK By Joyce Fernandes Pp.96 (1998) Rs.65 Goan cooking is near synonymous with the name of Joyce Fernandes, whose love for cooking and excellence in traditional food has brought her fame worldwide. It shows a simple, economical and satisfying way of cooking the good old hearty fare families relish. GOEMCHEM RANDOP (Goan Cook-Book) By Joyce Fernandes Pp.70 (1988) This is the Konkani version of the Goan Cookbook for Goans who'd prefer to read about traditional cuisine and wish to learn it in their mothertongue. "Goemchem jevon Goenkaranch bhaxen jentachem, ani Goenkarancho jent tanchea jevnantleanuch ieto-so dista," Joyce says in the preface to the handy book. CALANGUTE: IN SEARCH OF SANDS By Carmo D'Souza Pp.140 (1997) Rs.60 An unfolding of the culture, beauty and heritage of Calangute Village: tales involving playing marbles on the beach, the palm trees, a walk around the tinto, moods of the sea, religious festivals, Calangute Panchayat and Comunidade and drowning too! ANGELA'S GOAN IDENTITY By Carmo D'Souza Pp.148 (1994) Rs.35 A novel set in Goa. Deals with the "clash of cultures" and the Goan response to meeting with other people back home. INDIA AND THE WEST: THE FIRST ENCOUNTERS By Joseph Velinkar Pp.222 (1998) Pb Rs.150 $15) Clothbound Rs.200 ($20) The author highlights the contribution and influence of the Portuguese on India. From changes in the environment, economy and religion to the social life, education and laws a deep change has overtaken Indian society. The book throws a lot of light on the taluka of Salcete. Most of the books have been listed in The Other India Bookstore's CATALOGUE OF GOA BOOKS (email: oibs@bom2.vsnl.net.in) |
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