armstrongvazblogsfromgoa

Dear fellow Goans If you've been to Goa in recent times, or have spoken to someone who's been there, you may have heard constant references to what was and is no more, or is fast disappearing, in what many of us have known to be our golden Goa. Some of us have felt helpless in the face of rapacious destruction of our built heritage in our homeland, helpless that we are not, or cannot, physically be there to participate in any activism to protect what we should be proud to have as part of that heritage. Mercifully, as many of you would know, we have in Goa the Goa Heritage Action Group (GHAG), which has, within its limited resources, been carrying out commendable work. But, faced with the ever-strengthening financial muscle of the builders' lobby in cahoots with unscrupulous politicians, it faces an uphill battle. To face the battle, GHAG could do with some help from us who live outside Goa and, to that end, encouraged by initial support it recently received in t...

By Armstrong Vaz, Qatar Doha Aug 6: After an end to a football playing career, what's next had been a dilemma that was troubling Navelim based professional player Denis Cabral some five years before. And from that moment, he had set in motion the process of preparing for life after football. He had firmly set his sights on becoming a European Union citizen by availing the Portuguese citizenship. Unwind to 2007, with yet another football season set to roll in, football lovers from Goa and the rest of the country, would not find the diminutive midfielder playing for any of the clubs in Goa. Cause, he has decided to hang his boots for good. After 13 years of a football career which kick started with Salcete Football Club the cubby faced player has departed to Portugal enroute to England, armed as he is with a Portuguese passport, to set up his base in England. With his Indian football credentials as a footballer, Cabral does not see any chance of him securing a job in any footba...

y Armstrong Vaz Doha August 9, 2007: Goa minister for Urban development till date (political uncertainty not taking into account), and Goa football association President Joaquim Alemao has moved a proposal for adding Goan inter-village football clubs with Rs.50,000 for the 150 odd clubs by the government. Will it serve as tonic for Goan football growth? Armstrong Vaz analyzes the pros and cons of the decision. Goa football association President Joaquim Alemao has great plans for football in the state. The plans were on paper before the elections and now it is implementation time. The elections dust of Goa Football Association (GFA) has just settled down. India is marching ahead into new frontiers on the economic front and football, the game we love so much cannot be left behind. Goans have to set the pace for others to follow. Goa is getting ready to set in motion a host of changes and trying to keep pace to evolve itself into one of the major stake holder of the game in the ...

Foreigners moving in Goa to buy old houses in the villages By Armstrong Vaz Aug 2, 2007: Goa like India has been witnessing an economic boom. The new found wealth among the village middle class has made them abandon their old village houses and move to the cities chasing their dreams. The abandoning of houses in the villages has left many houses for sale. Carxetta, small ward of Velim village is not a tourist village, and villagers are selling their ancestral houses. The Schofield's from England are the first to set a foot toe in the village this year. The Russians are also on their way to settle in the village. Many are on their way to buy houses in Carxetta. The villagers of Carxetta, a small ward of Velim village in Salcete Taluka in the western Indian state of Goa have welcomed a new neighbor in their locality. The Schofield family. The name may seem strange among the predominant locality of the Colaco's, D'silva's, Fernandes of the area, But a star...

By Armstrong Vaz, Photographs Courtesy: Stan Martins, South Goa Doha August 17: The Hindu style wedding of Liz Hurley and Arun Nayar in Rajasthan has made it a hot destination for palace weddings for rich Indians and foreigners. But there is another state that is increasingly trying to project itself as an alternative for the rich and glamorous who want to tie the knot. Goa, in western India, is offering its beaches and landscapes as a place to tie the knot. Over the last three decades, Goa has been drawing foreign tourists in the thousands from Europe with its beautiful beaches. In the last few years, tourists who want to get married and those looking for cheap and reliable medical treatment have also been attracted to the state. Goa is also a hotbed for glamorous, high profile rich Indians and non-resident Indians to solemnize their marriage. Goa is a rich mix of Western culture and traditional Hindu values. Portuguese style houses and churches give an extra dimension to t...

By Armstrong Vaz, Qatar [ Published Date: September 5, 2007 ] Teachers' Day Special Fading photographs of school days remind me of the fading memories of school as we go down the memory lane. A trip where one delves deep into the brain cells to get memories on paper. School musing are sweet musings - an institution, which prepares for an entire life ahead. Going back nostalgically to the school days is the best bet one can lay hands on. School teachers in my school days were fortunately affectionate to a batch of students who at best could be described as good in studies, punctual and epithet of discipline. In school sports- games and sports - took a back seat, thanks to our physical education teacher. A teacher who lectured us on the rules of the games, which we were both mentally and physically not prepared for. Mind you it was not just football but a half a dozen rules of different games, which we never played in our life, were thrust upon us. That was the start o...

By Armstrong Vaz, Qatar [ Published Date: October 28, 2007 ] Goan youth Rodney Rebello's unique social service and act of gallantry Twenty-eight drowning deaths in the first four months this year and 45 last year have ringed in serious concerns in the western Indian state of Goa in the tourist frequented beach side paradise. The lack of adequate lifeguards to patrol the beaches have forced many a local to risk their life's to save people from drowning one such person is Rodney Rebello from Palolem beach in South Goa. Meet thirty-three old Rodney Rebello from Palolem Canacona a real life hero and an unsung hero of Goa, who has shun all publicity and glare. Rebello, the shack owner of Titantic at Palolem. The lack of adequate life guards to do duty on the 105 kms coastline has been a cause of concern in the state. With the tourism department of Goa unable to recruit sufficient number of life guards to Man the beaches, it is left increasingly to volunteers to risk their...

Thunder, rainbows and chasing frogs By Armstrong Vaz, Goa [ Published Date: August 9, 2007 ] As we reach the end of the rainy season, it is time to look at life during this period: the rains which we loved as kids and the things we did in the season. The things we miss, as we are away from the falling rains in a faraway land. -- Armstrong Vaz, Qatar The rainy season starts in June and ends in October. Rains, starting in the last week of May, bring with them a respite from the summer heat. May is the period when the school holidays end and it is back again to school for the children. The rainy season is on its last leg as we approach October. It is time to say goodbye to the rains as we head towards the middle of the month. It is time for the Goan farmers to collect the paddy from the fields. Paddy fields which turned green at the start of the rainy season in June have now turned golden. The rainy season blesses Mother Nature with an abundance of water and the greenery in ...

Panjim August 19: Jhansi, a small city in the northern Indian Uttar Pradesh, celebrates the 150th anniversary of India's "first war of independence" this year. The 1857 war for independence from British rule has been well documented in history books. Unlike other parts of India, however, Goa, a small state on the western coast, was ruled by the Portuguese from 1510 to 1961. British rule ended in 1947. An uprising against the colonial Portuguese rulers launched by a small village -- Cuncolim -- some 48 kilometers from the state capital of Panjim in 1583 has gone largely unnoticed. Madicotto historic chapel The Portuguese first conquered Goa in 1510 and Cuncolim was the first uprising that the Portuguese had to face in Goa apart from the organized armies and rulers who fought different wars with them over a period of time. The villagers of Cuncolim, comprised mostly of Khastriyas (a warrior caste) who rendered services for different armies of different rulers, fo...

eginaldo Prins, a former real estate agent for the last 40 years in Amsterdam, has been a regular visitor to Goa, India for the last five years. The 65-year-old has spent his last three holidays in the village of Cavelossim in south Goa. He also is learning the Konkani language from former football referee Mariano Mendes, as he plans to spend the rest of his life here in Goa. With a foreigner's perspective, he likes to write about his observations. Here, he tells one of his unique experience traveling on a public bus in Goa. ©2006 Armstrong Vaz The mango and cashew trees have just started to flower. We are in the mist of mid-winter -- a winter far and wide as the ocean and sea that we experience back in Holland. The accompanying dew is everywhere to be seen as the sun sets at 6 p.m. in the picture-perfect setting on one of the Goa's numerous beaches dotting its 105-km coastline. The real attraction on this evening is not the weather but my travels on an overcrowded, pri...

Monk flees brutality in Burma October 24 marks 13 years of house arrest for Burma's democratic leader elect Aung San Suu Kyi. There are about 2,000 political prisoners currently being held in Burma by the military junta. Among them, for a time, was Ashin Panna Siri, a Buddhist monk who played a leading role in last year's saffron revolution. Determined not to suffer further interrogation and torture in custody, he made a daring escape from prison, and from Burma Share 42 Guardian Weekly , Thursday 23 October 2008 09.00 BST Article history I was one of the leaders during the saffron revolution, the monks' uprising, and the Burmese military regime were looking for me. The authorities raided monasteries in Rangoon and the top leaders of the monks were dragged away and arrested. Those who escaped were declared wanted men. I escaped and moved from one place to another. First I went to Mandalay and then to Sagaing and finally to Monywa, where I was arrested. I was found a...

Blogging for Burma A Burmese monk, award-winning blogger and citizen journalist, 27-year-old Ashin Mettacara highlights the plight of his people from self-imposed exile in Sri Lanka Share 4 Ashin Mettacara Guardian Weekly , Wednesday 6 August 2008 09.00 BST Article history  am not a political monk but just an ordinary monk from  Burma  helping the world to get more news from my country. I am not a reporter. My wish is just to use the freedom I have outside Burma to help the people of my country to get freedom and be away from the unbearable pain they have had to endure for too many decades. News is difficult to get and if you get information it is hard to get the same printed in the newspapers and in the visual media, because of the tough censorship of the junta. Buddhist monks from Burma dare not write news but, being a Buddhist monk, I have exposed those monks who helped in the killing of fellow monks; those are the pro-military monks. We have a lot of them in ...