Patricia Ann Alvares cafe@herald-goa.com
Herald Café: Preserving the lusophone spirit in Goa is challenging given the fact that Goa is surrounded by Indian culture…
Antonio A Serra: When I was here 15 years ago, I was astonished at how well you’ll have maintained your heritage buildings and monuments. I feel you’ll are doing a very good job of preserving your traditions and heritage. I say this not as a Portuguese man, but as a visitor who is overwhelmed with Goa’s unique culture. Unfortunately, now people are pulling down some of these old building and putting up newer structures. I think you have a pearl in your hands which needs to be taken care of. You can do something unique here
and you can do much with what you have. The very fact that you have done this is that the lusophone spirit is alive in you and you need to feel it in your heart first to keep it going. HC: Given this fact, is it easier for other countries to preserve the lusophone culture by themselves?
AAS: As I have said earlier, the spirit of cooperation and partnership must come from within. It is neither difficult nor easy. I remember during the recent FIFA games, when Brazil lost, I put a post of my Facebook with a Brazilian flag which read ‘today I am for Brazil’. It’s a spirit that must be cultivated and nurtured from within first. I think the major problem with Portuguese-speaking countries is that everybody speaks too much about the past. What we need to understand is that the past is the past and that it was a situation driven by history. We
cannot rate that situation with the eyes of today. We are all connected by history and it is important that we culturally integrate and here the media plays a very important role by helping countries to open up to one another. HC: What efforts are being made to preserve the lusophonic culture through art, literature and other spheres? AAS: One of the points of discussion at the on-going Lusofonia Summit in
Delhi is to put several cultural exchanges between Lusophonia countries together. This point I feel should top the agenda of the summit, rather than political issues.
