MI’s knack of making superstars
Mumbai Indians have unearthed yet another young talent in IPL 2025 season.
After Vignesh Puthur, the left-arm wrist spinner who hogged the limelight with his 3-wicket scalp against CSK, left-arm pacer Ashwani Kumar from Punjab has made a spectacular debut, claiming 4 wickets against KKR, including the big one of Andre Russel.
In the process, he became the first Indian bowler to claim four wickets on IPL debut. If one thought that Puthur did well on his debut, Ashwani Kumar one-upped his teammate. Every franchise has a different approach to bid players at the IPL auction.
Teams like CSK bid for senior and proven players and some look for stars. But MI stands apart in this regard. Winning is what matters, and MI has five IPL titles to prove that. But no one invests in talent like they do. The franchise has a knack of making superstars out of unknown names. Vignesh Puthur and Ashwani Kumar are just two of multiple examples of MI’s scouting system.
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
Humane face of Justice Eurico
The gavel of Justice da Silva has fallen silent but his magnanimous acts will echo in his esteemed memory.
Many years ago, just after Liberation around noon time, a frail and fair elderly lady was literally shoved in the courtroom of Justice Eurico Silva. The lady was trembling in fear as she had never seen the malicious manhandling of the police and Justice Eurico da Silva on seeing the commotion stopped the proceedings of his August court, came down, approached the lady and politely asked her what had happened.
She replied in Portuguese that she was accused of robbing coconuts in daylight. It transpired that a ‘Mundkar’ had filed a false complaint. The era of false complaints and abuse of the process of the law had started soon after Liberation.
Justice da Silva saw the malicious intent of the complainant in connivance with the police. Justice da Silva requested one of the advocates sitting in the front row to file a bail application as ‘Amicus Curae’, bail was immediately granted and the nuisance was clipped in the bud.
‘Justice done and seen to be done.’ Justice da Silva kept the torch of honesty and integrity high. Justice is taught at the level of the cradle and cannot be bought’. This is a eulogy by his sons to their esteemed father as a last farewell.
Agnelo Furtado, Chinchinim
Salute genuine
Goan activists!
To non-Goans (India/abroad), Goans seem to have the perception to be known as susegad and complacent!
However, one interesting thing I would like to share with reference to my recent travels at some tourist hotspots in India where it was really sad to see the environment/forests/hills, etc, being destroyed by the real estate lobby, land sharks, celebrities, etc, all aided by corrupt politicians!
As I was driven around quite a few at these sites, names were given to me as purchasers of large tracts of land ( including eco-sensitive zones) and I noted that many of these names were the same ones doing the same in Goa with the help of corrupt Goan ministers!
The difference however was there was hardly any fight or opposition to the destruction in those places versus the scale of which we see genuine Goan activists fighting in Goa against the specific/destructive real estate companies/celebrities/land sharks, etc, all aided by a heavily compromised Goa government!
I feel proud of these Goan activists and salute them for their hard work, sacrifices and resilience despite all odds and challenges/pressures our forth by the Goa government! On this front, I can say that Goans are not susegad/complacent versus people from other Indian States!
Arwin Mesquita, Colva
Konkani should be Goa’s official language
A group of pro-Maharashtrawadi elements/die-hard Marathi supporters led by former RSS chief Subhash Velingkar on Monday were heard demanding equal official status for Marathi along with Konkani in the Official Language Act, 1987 (Act 5 of 1987) giving their own silly justifications in Goa.
Well, Konkani is a language of our unique identity and cultural heritage of Goa.
Konkani was rightfully made the sole official language of the State way back in 1987.
The Marathi supporters should therefore stop trying to divide Goans on religious/linguistic lines.
Forget about the circulation of Marathi newspapers, the language that is practically still spoken by 90% of our Goan population (irrespective of caste, creed and religion) in the State in their day-to-day affairs or in public is definitely not Marathi, but Konkani.
Konkani language is a unifying force, which still binds all the major communities of the State into one linguistic community. And for this very reason, Konkani alone must remain as Goa’s sole official language.
The pro-Maharashtrawadi elements should stop demanding more rights for Marathi in the State because as per the Official Language Act, they can make good use of this language for all official purpose in Goa, i.e. government correspondence, invitations, functions, circulars, police panchanama, etc.
The advertisements for government vacancies today clearly mention/say that besides Konkani, knowledge of Marathi can be desirable for candidates who wish to apply for govt jobs in Goa. This being the case, what more rights do they want for Marathi in Goa? Do they want to show that Goa is an inseparable part of Maharashtra by giving equal status to Marathi along with Konkani in the Official Language Act? Goans should wake up from their sleep at the earliest and thwart the evil designs of all these known anti-Goan morons because their latest attempt is nothing but a dangerous game plan to somehow discard Konkani from the top position under some pretext or the other and to slowly make Marathi the sole official language of this State to finally fulfil their long cherished dream of turning our world famous unique Goa into their very own 'Zalach Pahije' mini Maharashtra. Long live Konkani. Viva Goa, Viva Goenkar.
Jerry Fernades, Saligao