Jamaican-born
political leaderMarcus Garvey once said, “A people without the knowledge of their past
history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” The same goes for
Goans who have lived their lives in Goa that is so rich in history and
heritage. While many think that history belongs to the past and it doesn’t
matter what has happened, it is surely influencing our future in some way. To
make this very heritage more interesting and absorbing is the Goenkaranchem
Daiz, an NGO based in Margao. They will be organising the first ‘Making
Heritage Fun’, a round-table discussion, on October 5, 2018 at Ravindra Bhavan
Margao at 4pm.
Goenkaranchem Daiz
was founded in 2006 with just 50 members with the need to safeguard the Goan
ethos through its Konkani language, literature, culture, history, art, music,
folklore, etc.
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Over the years, its
strength has grown to over 200 members, with more activities on their calendar
list. Their latest activity is reaching out to a wider audience through the
‘Making Heritage Fun’ discussion.
Goenkaranchem Daiz is
headed by its President, Arlindo D’Miranda, with Varun Hedge as the secretary
of the organisation. Besides the on stage programme, the organisation also has
a Goenkarancho Daiz Library near Dominos Pizza in Fatorda, Margao, with a
collection of over 11,000 books of Goan heritage, history and literature in
Konkani, English, Portuguese and Marathi.
“‘Heritage’ means
‘Daiz’ in Konkani and we wanted to take relevant issues and make them
interesting for the masses so that they could feel included and relate to the
issues. Many people believe that history is not important or fun but through
the two-and-a-half-hour program with three panellists who are experts in their
fields, we want to show the audience that history can be fun.
The programme will
include introductions, individual views of the panellists based on their field
and how they are making heritage fun, a moderated session followed by a Q &
A sessions with the audience,” says Varun.
The free and open to
all programme will have Sanjeev Sardessai, a hands-on historian; Victor Hugo
Gomes, Founder of Goa Chitra Museum; and Sawani Shetye, an archaeologist, as
panellists. “Sanjeev Sardessai is a storyteller who writes articles on history
for various newspapers. He has an interesting way of explaining unknown facts
of history without making it boring. Victor Hugo Gomes from Benaulim has worked
closely in preserving the artefacts of different traditional professions in Goa
through his museum Goa Chitra and has a wonderful collection at Goa Chakra
based on the invention of the wheel. Sawani Shetye is a young archaeologist who
organises various heritage trails in Goa and has an experience of making
heritage fun in her own way,” Varun elaborates.
Victor Hugo Gomes is
the curator and founder of Goa Chitra and Goa Chakra and is working on his next
museum in Betul. Sawani Shetye, a Porvorim based archaeologist with an MA in
Archaeology and Ancient Indian History and culture and has her own brand
Bhoomij Heritage Consultancy.
To
conclude, Varun says, “After this discussion, we plan on making this a monthly
programme at different venues in Goa. Many colleges have also showed interest
in conducting such discussions at their colleges for the students.”
