inside/out - new writing from Goa: March 2011

Who's Who, and What

Introducing each of the 29 writers featured in inside/out:

Velim-born and Margao-raised, Ben Antao believes that sex and money are drivers of human enterprise, themes that recur in his stories and novels, and in pursuit of which he escaped to Canada.

Isabel de Santa Rita Vas tries to juggle many hats- the writer’s, the theatre-person’s, the teacher’s being some of them. She is convinced she was born old and is growing younger- these things do happen sometimes.

Frederick Noronha’s constantly changing facial hair grew grey in cyberspace. He has named his three children Riza, Aren and Goa 1556, the last of which has published more than 20 books so far. He sits cross-legged in cyberia like a venerable sage, promoting intellectual and internetual freedom.

Aniruddha Sen Gupta likes to laugh and make people laugh, but when he starts writing, some other personality emerges and takes over. He’s had a couple of books published and that’s gone to his head, so he’s going with the flow.

Everything is possible- German writer Kornelia Santoro chose this credo early on. After travelling through India on an Enfield Bullet, she settled in Goa with her Italian husband and son.

Vidyadhar Gadgil is a hack who actually enjoys writing, but, being a contrarian, he prefers editing what others write. He has lived in Goa long enough to call it home, but, on the principle that home is sweetest when you are not in it, currently lives in Kathmandu.

As a journalist, Pamela D’Mello has been interpreting Goa for the national press, but now imagines she can expand her boundaries and interpret life itself!

Since there are ‘undo’ or ‘delete’ buttons in life, Sheela Jaywant steps on plenty of ‘ouches’ and marches on regardless. She writesbecause otherwise words would burst out of her ears with all the things she’s dying to tell everyone about. Believes you only live once and if you live right, once is enough.

Cecil Pinto dabbles in many diverse activities to make a living, while remaining consistent in producing his unique brand of Goa-centric humour writing. Cecil claims to be ‘world famous all over Goa’ and is not too keen on expanding these horizons, while sipping his beloved Caju Feni and observing the ways of the world.

Desperate housewife Melinda Powell used to fly the world’s skies. These days you are more likely to find her in the comfort of her garden chair, surrounded by her children and dogs, documenting life on the ground, one day at a time.

Helene Derkin Menezes likes her humour like her martinis - very, very dry. When she isn’t pounding away at her keyboard in the land of words, you will find her sticking something in the oven or reading aloud to her children. She abhors people who litter and loves prawn curry, Goan style.

Mario Coelho likes seeing people laugh and smile, free of malice, hate and guile. He loves to dance, and act, and sing, he likes just doing his very own thing. He loves children, and adults who are kids as well, there are so many tales he’d like to tell…

It is said that one can always see Mafalda Mimoso vividly in what she writes but she has always sought to hide herself behind her words. Intellectual indiscretion is celebrated in her real and artistic life.

For his entire adult life, Vivek Menezes (b. 1968) has been threatening to write a book. It’s true that his essays and photographs are widely published, but it’s not the same thing and he knows it.

Aimee Ginsburg has been living in India for close to fourteen years (ten of them in Goa) with two sons and an ever growing population of lizards, snakes, scorpions and other delightful creatures. She serves as the India correspondent for ‘Yedioth Achronoth’, Israel’s most widely read newspaper, and other international publications.

Sucheta Potnis has been writing all her life, which is not to say that she has been published widely. In between, there have been marriages, children, a career in travelling, moving from Bombay to Goa, spending time playing with dogs, eating, drinking, bird-watching and thus generally making the most of her life.

Himanshu Burte has finally accepted that he will keep moving across homes, disciplinary and real. Having practised architecture in an earlier life, he now writes full-time, obsessed with humans and the spaces they inhabit.

Veena Gomes-Patwardhan once lived amidst test tubes and petri-dishes. Now whenever she can tear herself away from her computer, and when she isn’t driving her grown-up sons nuts doling out unasked-for advice, she indulges in research and development in the kitchen.

Amitav Ghosh is one of India’s best-known writers. He divides his time between Kolkata, Goa and Brooklyn.

Born, bred and living in the not-so-quiet seaside village of Majorda in South Goa, Damodar Mauzo was once termed by an anchor on Delhi Doordarshan as an ‘honorary Catholic’ for his in-depth writings depicting the Catholic lifestyle of Goa. He is mainly a writer of short fiction, though his novels ‘Karmelin’ and Tsunami Simon’ have also become widely popular.

When Xavier Cota is not busy stirring his fellow villagers to protect their coastal village of Betalbatim, he is engrossed in translating his friend Damodar Mauzo’s Konkani stories.

Tony de Sa has tinkered for decades in the positions of teacher, supervisor and headmaster at Sacred Heart, Parra, one of Goa’s oldest English medium schools. He is now in his second childhood, fooling around with computers and Linux.

Jose Lourenco writes with his brain and his heart, using English for the former and Konkani for the latter. Since he doesn’t know which is which, he is often guilty of bilingual intercourse.

Surrogate daughter of Henry Miller and Anais Nin, Rosalyn D’Mello lives life like a lens, swallowing images, and recognising what makes them sublime before putting the lens over her readers’ eyes. Her words, like LSD, attempt to make reality seem fantastic.

Wendell Rodricks is a fashion designer by profession and environmental activist by accident. He lives in Colvale village and writes occasionally on fashion, history and all things Goan.

Fatima da Silva Gracias has written on health, hygiene and food from a historical perspective in Goa, and in this process has also kaleidoscoped the role of women in this land that she loves much.

Prava Rai lives on a mysterious island that drifts in and out of the fog on the Mandovi River. She is familiar with the parmal of Goa, and continues to seek Goa’s elusive fragrance, clearing the overgrowth of modernity to seek the flowers that bloom unseen.

Savia Viegas has recently retired from dog-walking under doctor’s advice and now only writes, paints and runs a pre-primary school in Carmona.

Victor Rangel-Ribeiro began writing feverishly at a very early age. Eighty years later, geriatric specialists have confirmed what he has long suspected: the fever will never leave him. For this they spent years in medical college?

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