This year’s King Momo float will be a unique one as
it will have King Momo as well as his royal family in attendance! That’s right!
The grand float, to be called ‘The King Momo’s Royal Family’ will have King
Momo Geovani Bosco Santimano along with his wife Jennifer, daughters Rochelle
and Danniella and niece Serena. The Santimano family are true fans of this
festival and have been regular participants on previous occasions.
Geovani Bosco Santimano has been selected as King
Momo for Carnival 2015 that will take place from February 14 to 17, 2015. He
will lead the Carnival float parades in Panjim, Margao, Vasco and Mapusa. A
contest was organised by event management agency Advertising Associates to
select King Momo. The contest received a total of 13 entries. “There was an
open interview conducted by a seven-member panel. I was excited to get selected
after applying for the first time,” says Geovani, who is from Colva.
Geovani is the Joint Commissioner of Goa Customs and
Central Excise and Service Tax. After completing his schooling from Loyola High
School, Margao, he went on to graduate from Damodar College, Margao. An avid
lover of football, the sport was more than just a pastime for him. “Since there
was no Goa University at that time, we had to graduate from Bombay University.
I was chosen as the captain of the Bombay University soccer team for two years,
1979 and 1980. In 1980, I was in the Indian University team too and it was
during this period that I was offered a Customs Officer’s job in Indian Customs
as my academic qualifications were very good and sporting credits were
excellent,” says Geovani.
In 2002, he was promoted to Assistant Commissioner
of Customs and posted to Kolkata for almost four years. In 2006, he returned to
Mumbai as Deputy Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise and Service Tax and
in 2014, got further promoted and posted to Goa as the Joint Commissioner of
Goa Customs and Central Excise and Service Tax. “In IRS, I am proud and lucky
to reach to this status and serve Goa. A great achievement on being posted to
Goa was to detect and lead the investigation of the biggest smuggling case of
20 kgs of gold on July 9, 2014 on a flight from Middle East to Goa during which
we succeeded in recovering the gold and nabbing the 10 people involved who are
now proposed for action under COFEPOSA.”
During his postings, the one thing that kept him
coming back to Goa was his annual Carnival parades. “If not annually, I had at
least a float every alternate year. I have been participating in the floats for
the past 25 years and have won at least eight times in different competitions,”
says Geovani whose float ‘Tribute to Mario Miranda’ won the first prize in
Panjim and Mapusa and the second prize in Margao last year.
His other memorable floats include the ‘Mixed
Marriage’ float, ‘Bird Flu’ float and ‘Goa – Then and Now’. “I always work on
something contemporary and give out a message to the people. In the ‘Goa –Then
and Now’ float I tried to depict ferry boats in 1910 and casinos in 2020 in the
Mandovi River.”
On a parting note, Geovani gives us his message for
this year’s Carnival: “Spread joy and save electricity and water.”
