Honour Pele
This is in regards to the news item appeared in your prestigious daily regarding the saving of five turtles by Pele, the fisherman from Benaulim. People are grateful for your esteemed daily for highlighting the noble deed by Pele and his group of boys. Knowing Pele as a local fisherman, he is also a reputed businessmen and a philanthropist for the last many years. It is with pleasure to further state that this is not the first incident of Pele and his boys doing such a deed. In the past, apart from saving turtles and their nesting places, Pele has been instrumental in saving so many human lives that have gone unnoticed in the media.
Pele has shown us that life matters in spite of the rough conditions of the sea in which he ventured to save turtles in neck deep water demonstrating great courage. He created awareness to others about the importance of saving endangered species means a lot to the natural environment and a boost to environmentalists.
Therefore, it is the humble request of his friends and villagers to the Village Panchayat of Benaulim to honour him with a token acknowledgement and to ask the Government of Goa to honour him for his noble acts of saving lives of endangered species and humans those he rescued from the jaws of death. Let us clap our hands for the son of the sea.
Saturnino Rodrigues, Per Seraulim
Rescuing the turtles was a noble act
Five Olive Ridley turtles were rescued by a group of fishermen at Benaulim beach. The video showing the rescue act went viral on the Social Media and the noble gesture by the fishermen came in for a lot of appreciation from the netizens. It is understood that the turtles got entangled in a fishing net and were brought ashore and freed by the fishermen by cutting the net. Four of the five turtles were released back into the sea while one turtle, which was slightly injured, was taken possession by the forest officials for necessary treatment.
It is common knowledge that Olive Ridley turtles are an endangered species, however they could be poached for their meat. Turtles getting caught in the fishing net may be a common occurrence. But then how many fishermen would be willing to cut their nets to free the turtles and releasing them back into the sea. There is every possibility of the meat of the turtle caught in the net being sold to prospective buyers.
Fishermen in general should take a clue of these saviours of these majestic creatures at Benaulim and release the turtles back into the sea if they are caught in the net even at the cost of destroying their fishing net.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Music to enthral your inner being
On June 21 this year we observed World Music Day, and it is thus significant that on this day, the role that music plays in the lives of us humans be given its due value. Every person on earth, be it the one who relishes popular music, romantic ballads, classical music, country exotics, spiritual as well as blue grass can surf YouTube to be wowed with the music of his or her choice, to nurture your soul and fill your senses with the melody and harmony of the music of your liking, which makes it a memorable experience.
The YouTube has such a treasure trove of music with exotic videos than you can enrapture yourself in the lap of your select harmonious gay abandon, in abundance to fill not only your soul up to the brim, but can also make it overflow and fill you with spell-binding tunes and harmony. There is a song for everyone to captivate your soul and to make you soar into a magical world of cochlear and visual romancing. So during the lock down free yourself from the yoke of boredom.
Elvidio Miranda, Panjim
Audacity of politicians and their kin
The audacity of politicians and their kin seem to have no limits. Even after being caught open handedly for submitting a bogus degree certificate for the job of Awal Karkun in Revenue department of Goa Raymond, the son of Canacona MLA has the guts to say that once he is selected for the job, he cannot be denied the same. This is not a rare instance. We know how politicians; their kith and kin get away with crimes including deaths on the road from their negligent driving habits. Can the police and judiciary not be pro-active in putting such criminals behind bars when there are open instances of such criminal activities.
When it comes to a common man the police harass them for undue reasons while of late the judiciary stay silent. Our whole justice system has become rotten where criminals rule the roost. We need a revolution to weed out corruption and corrupt public servants.
Praxy Fernandes, Sankhali
Tagore’s words need to be emulated
Rabindranath Tagore is the recipient of the Noble Peace prize for literature in 1913. He is the most revered personality in Bengal, to this day, for his contribution to art, literature and music. And we cannot forget that he wrote our National Anthem. His writings are full of practical wisdom that can glorify us all if we choose to seek it and practice it in our daily lives. Discipline would have set in all following generations at a very
early age had our predecessors inculcated and passed on such teachings of wisdom to the generations. This would, to a large extent, have prevented the material life connected with lies, greed, hatred, jealousy, violence. Perhaps with such enriching wisdom India could have boasted
of having the best administration after having been tormented and looted by the various foreign invaders.
But very sadly, we are now infested with indigenous commercial looters and family destroyers and cheats, and have set an awful loathful precedence for the future generations.
Here are some quotes by Dr Rabindranath Tagore full of wisdom and compassion. Go not to the temple to put flowers upon the feet of God,
First fill your own house with the Fragrance of love and kindness. Go not to the temple to bow down your head in prayer, First learn to bow in humility before your fellowmen. And apologise to those you have wronged. Great words of wisdom from a great man.
Antonio Pinto, Benaulim
Coal exporter
I see that India is aiming to be the biggest coal exporter in the world. Whilst appreciating the need to boost the economy in these debilitating times I fervently hope that serious thought and consideration be given to effect on the environment which results from not only the mining of coal but also the burning of coal, wherever that may be.
Countless environmental conferences have highlighted the disastrous effect the burning of coal has already had on the planet. Years ago the UK, who also has vast deposits of coal, saw the dangers and started switching to the wind and the sun as sources of power both of which are in plentiful supply and free.
Recently the UK, which once totally relied on the burning of coal in power stations for electricity, had its third month in succession where not a single coal fired power stations was used to produce electricity. Investment in the development of and then sale of solar energy and wind turbines would be far more beneficial not only to the Indian economy but also to the environment as a whole.
Dranreb Aclos, UK
