Budding architects with amazing musical talent
It is always wonderful to see students energetically participating in extra-curricular activities. All the more in today’s educational arena where students have to grapple with voluminous syllabus, extra classes and never-ending project work to meet deadlines. In fact every educational institute should endeavour to encourage students to unravel their talents by associating in extracurricular activities. It is also imperative that in this challenging and competitive world our students venture way beyond the classroom and textbooks.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Kudos to those seven students of Goa College of Architecture whose music was delightful to hear while they performed last week and were selected in the qualifying round in that contest organised by the National Association of Students of Architecture. They will now participate in the finals being held at Bangalore next week. This budding team comprises Vera de Noronha, Mariah Gonsalves and Ansh Volvoikar (all vocals) with Tenecia Afonso (Keyboard), Erwin de Souza(bass), Joshua Mascarenhas (drums) and our Ribandar’s Shawn D’Sousa (electric guitar).
It is going to be a fierce contest for that ‘Battle of Bands’ Trophy.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
Tiatr getting step-motherly treatment
It is shocking as also disappointing to note that the ‘Pai Tiatrist Joao Agostinho Fernandes’ auditorium at Ravindra Bhavan, will be unavailable to stage Konkani Tiatrs throughout November 2023 due to the forthcoming International Film Festival of India (IFFI). It needs to be noted that the main auditorium of Kala Academy and Ravindra Bhavan at Baina are closed. It appears that Konkani Tiatr is being given a step-motherly treatment by the state government. Tiatr directors are now staging their shows in other countries, especially in London and the Middle East where there is a good response. However, Goan Tiatr lovers in the State are being deprived of the same.
Tiatr directors spend a lot of money and time to come up with a show. Several new actors are being introduced on the Konkani stage. If there is no proper auditorium to stage these dramas all these efforts could go to waste. It must be said that the film festival is being thrust on Goans who have to suffer due to traffic congestion in the capital city as a result of the influx of delegates. The movies during the film festival could be screened on the beaches along the coastal belt as was done in the past. Ironically the auditorium at Ravindra Bhavan named after the founder of Konkani Tiatr, Pai Tiatrist, will be out of bound of the Tiatr fraternity during IFFI.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Eco sensitive areas in Goa
With respect to hue and cry about the eco sensitive areas, the ground reality is that the forest officials have two sets of rules, one for the people and one for the forest officials.
People cannot build a house in their own private property nor can they repair their houses. Whereas the forest officials can encroach government forest land, and apply for land through forest reserve committee and claim rights over the land and build a house without any permission from town and country planning department and taking conversion sanad. This is happening in my village Collem. The minority community are being harassed by the forest officials.
Even if the Goan villages knew what the draft notifications contains, people will not want to be part to eco sensitive areas. The ESA notification allows people to stay and live in those villages is false narrative.
Elvis Colaco, Collem
Protecting ESAs
An expert committee constituted by the Union environment ministry has been informed by our CM that only 69 villages in the Western Ghats should be considered for declaration as eco sensitive areas (ESAs). Our CM, without any proper environmental impact assessment study or application of mind has emphatically ruled that out of 99 villages spread over 1461 sq kms of green area identified for declaration, 40 do not fulfill the criteria. God only knows how he came to this conclusion.
In a related development, a ruling party MLA is rallying people from many talukas to demonstrate against their villages being declared as ESAs, misleading them by saying that the people won’t be able to even enter their houses once the demarcation comes through. Villagers are being grossly misguided by these supposed public representatives to serve their narrow political ends. In fact even after a village is included in the ESA, the residents would continue to enjoy full right to stay in their houses and carry out activities as before provided it doesn’t harm the environment. Panchayats have been passing erroneous resolutions based on the fulminations of these nefarious politicians who are working in tandem with real estate sharks to grab whatever is left of Goa. In another development the Advocate General of Goa openly declares that there is no need to notify the Tiger Reserve immediately despite the HC’s orders. We froth at the mouth saying that ‘outsiders’ are taking over our land but infact the enemy lies within, our ‘crooked ‘leaders’ themselves are handing over our beloved State on a platter to the construction lobby and outsiders, one big slice at a time.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
Bombing hospital, a war crime
The Israeli airstrike on a Gaza hospital where 500 people perished, is horrifying. The attack came just before US President Joe Biden visited the Middle East. Thousands of people, including civilians, have died in the war. The Israeli act was labelled a war crime by the Palestinian Health Ministry, and Iran cautioned that opposing forces would be unstoppable if Israel continued its bombardment. The conflict has caused global tension. The situation could worsen if it escalates.
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
Afghan cricket team, a unifying force
Afghanistan cricket team can no longer be called as ‘minnows’ of the game, as they have proved this fact in no small measure when they defeated mighty England in a resounding manner in the ongoing ODI World Cup a few days ago.
For a country sharply divided along ethnic lines, Afghanistan cricket team has been a unifier. It has lived up to the flattery, taking giant strides in the game since 2008. Ironically, in a sense, war in Afghanistan has contributed to the rise of cricket there. Forced out of homes, players of the likes of Mohammad Nabi and former captain Nowraz Mangal had honed their skills at refugee camps across the border in Peshawar. In fact, many of the Afghan players grew up in these camps, and some of them couldn’t even make ends meet and didn’t know whether there would be a tomorrow for them. They had nothing, but an unflinching desire to see Afghanistan play cricket on the world stage. And today, the team’s rapid rise in international cricket, especially in white ball cricket, has been staggering indeed. For a war-torn nation, which hardly celebrates and smiles, its national cricketers are determined to bring some cheers, and they have been constantly doing so in the last some years now.
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
