Fundação
Oriente, in an attempt to
rebuild the art of short story writing in Goa, released ‘Under The Mango Tree’,
a book comprising 25 short stories and four languages. Though run by the
Portuguese foundation, short stories with a Goa link were welcome in any
language – English, Konkani, Marathi as well as Portuguese. Themes of short
stories submitted this year showed a focus on issues of everyday life.
This is the fourth such competition organised by the
FundaçãoOriente, each resulting in a published volume, by way of an easily
accessible book. Earlier books were titled ‘Shell Windows’ (2012), ‘Coconut
Fronds’ (2014) and ‘Monsoon Winds’ (2016). This book is published by Goa,1556.
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For this time’s competition, entries were received English (59),
followed by 11 in Konkani, four in Marathi and two in Portuguese. The Alban
Couto first prize went to Marathi short story ‘Kahat Kabira’ (‘Says Kabira’) by
Vithal L Gawas. This narrative depicts how amiable relations between two
communities get communalised and vitiated.
The Semana da Cultura
Indo- Portuguesa second prize went to the English story ‘Murder?’ by Rajyashree
Dutt. “This racy, tightly-edited and humour-laced murder story, with several
twists, delved around the capabilities of portly Inspector Kunkolienkar to
solve the mystery of a dead body lying spread-eagle in a bedroom,” commented Dr
Savia Viegas, author, and chairperson of the jury.
Journalist Mayabhushan
Nagvenkar’s charming English story ‘Dhirio’ won the third place, and is the
story set amidst Goa’s bull-fighting tradition, with a surprise ending.
Those whose short
stories were among the 25 selected for reproduction in this 240-page special
volume were GU alumni Aaron S Rodrigues, children’s author Anita Pinto of
Mapusa, chartered accountant Anusha VR, artist and cover-designer Bina Nayak,
educator and editor Dr Brian Mendonca, social media activist Cherie Naroo,
journalist Clara A Rodrigues, expat author Dinesh Patel and travel writer
Francesca Cotta.
On the select list
were traveller-author Geeta Naik, GoaWriter member and poet-blogger Gouthami,
singer-writer Jeanette Barbosa Noronha, Konkani writer-translator Kiran
Mahambre, Portuguese teacher Maria do Ceu Barreto, journalist Mayabhushan
Nagvenkar, Marathi writer Narayan Mahale, Konkani assistant professor Naresh
Naik, journalist-storyteller Noel Sequeira, avid reader Preethy Sunil,
writer-editor Rajyashree Dutt, architect Shantan Sukhtankar, safety
officer-engineer Sunil Damodaran, writer Suvarna Bandekar and author Vithal
Gawas.
All the stories have
been translated into English. Speaking at the launch, respected Goan literateur
Dr Maria Aurora Couto narrated how the competition had been initiated by
FundaçãoOriente’s previous delegate Eduardo de Kol Carvalho, and continued by
Maria Ines Carvalho. She said poignantly that she would make sure that the
first prize was continued in name of her husband, the late Goa senior official
Alban Couto “even when I’m no more”. “One of the concerns of the jury was that
most entries were by mature writers and there was a paucity of strong, young
voices telling their stories,” the jury commented. In the past, Goa had a
vibrant tradition of short story writing – including some published in daily
newspapers – but that has seen a descent in recent years.
The
book has 25 charming illustrations by artist-writer Bina Nayak, alumni of the
noted JJ College of Art. The book is edited by Anjali Dar Sengupta.
