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Professional dossier
dr. BrIAn d’CoSTA “Watching someone take the field again or be finally pain-free gets me most excited and gives me a feeling of accomplishment” In today’s stressful life that many of us lead, a physiotherapist is a key to a pain-free physique
By syBil RodRigues Early Life, Childhood and Education I was born and raised in South Mumbai. I studied at St Xavier’s High School, Fort (SSC) and opted for Science at St Xavier’s College, Fort, Mumbai (HSC), after which I moved to Bangalore to join Garden City College of Physiotherapy (BPT). I worked in Mumbai for two years after graduating and then moved to the UK to read for an MSc in Sports and Exercise Medicine at the University of Nottingham.
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I was lucky to have an allround development growing up. Sports were at the heart of my growth and I excelled at extra-curricular activities.
What made you get into physiotherapy and choose it as a profession? I really liked biology as a subject and was good at it. The interesting fact is that my first preference within the Health Sciences was Physiotherapy and from the day I joined, I knew I wanted to be a Sports Physio. Being an athlete myself I recall going to see a doctor about a heel pain when I was about 11 years old and his twominute advice allowed me to go back to training within 3 days. Also having lived with my grand-parents, one of who had suffered a stroke and the other severe osteoporosis, we had physios in and out of the house so I was well aware of the impact this profession had on people’s quality of life and road to recovery.
How were your early years in the practice and profession? After completing my internship at Sir H. N. Hospital and subsequently graduating, there was a period during which I was looking for a sports centre to work at and gain experience. I needed two years of work experience to be able to apply to the Sports Medicine Masters programme in Nottingham, UK that I had already set my sights on. I joined Prakruti Sports Science and Physiotherapy Clinic in Mumbai and I recall the first day and my first patient that I assisted with was an IPL cricketer who got injured during the tournament and had come to Mumbai to recover. My mentors were brilliant with the knowledge and guidance that they imparted and with the patients they treated; I was able to work with professionals at the highest level and learn lessons for life.
What was your experience working with professional sports? My journey as an on-field sports physio started out in Nottingham, UK where I volunteered at the BUCS Inter University Sports and I worked primarily with Rugby. Thereafter, I covered home matches for a local rugby club, Nottinghamians RFU and did a two-month internship with British Swimming working with Olympic athletes and world record holders.
When I returned to Mumbai, my goal was to continue to work with professional sports and I was recruited by Sporting Clube de Goa where I worked for 3 seasons. I joined Mumbai City FC as the physio for the second season if the ISL and in season three of the ISL, I took the opportunity to work with FC Goa and although the team didn’t do too well, the medical team was successful in having every player fit for selection on the last day of the league – something that coach Zico highlighted and applauded in his last team talk.
Working with professional athletes is very rewarding when they win, challenging when they are injured and disheartening when they lose; but as a physio I have learned how to maintain a neutral demeanour so as to keep the athlete focussed on recovery for the next performance.
dr brian d’Costa What is the Importance of physiotherapy in today’s day and age when most people live a sedentary life? I think the human body is a piece of art and for the most part each person is responsible to keep it well. I work out of Elite Physio Clinic at Campal, Panjim where the mantra is “we keep you moving”. Movement of our joints and muscles in their complete ranges is so important so keep degenerative conditions at bay. The typical complaints of low back pain and neck pain have a lot to do with being in one position for a prolonged time while either working or driving or standing and cooking or gaming or most recently using the mobile phone. I would say physiotherapy in the form of simple body movement, core strengthening, guidance about safe and correct exercise and advice on how to generally be more active goes a long way to fight aches and pains and to make one functionally independent.
What are the aspects of work that excite you the most? Like anyone in healthcare watching someone recover and go back to leading an independent life or watching them take the field again or be finally pain free gets me most excited and gives me a feeling of accomplishment. Having worked in sports and always fighting a clock to get the athlete back to full fitness, I always aim to help patients recover as quickly as possible and I use a variety of tools, techniques and therapies to achieve that.
Cases that remains etched in memory. As an Indian sports physio, when you work with someone like Sachin Tendulkar, especially at a time when he was an active professional cricketer there is no greater experience you can ask for! I worked with him for about 20 sessions between 2009-10 and treated multiple injuries and as you can imagine he was one of the easier people to work with. I also recall working with Rugby in the UK where there were three bleeding noses simultaneously as the game doesn’t stop for injuries. I remember running across the field from one player to the next to stop the bleeding. I was lucky to have the Red Cross on site to help with the third player.
What is your success mantra for youngsters? I would say set your sights on a target and work towards it and when opportunity comes your way grab it. It doesn’t always have to be about the remuneration because when you like what you do and you’re driven from within you will eventually be successful.
What are the plans that you have been dreaming about? I feel that my working career is at a point where I’m constantly looking for opportunities to learn new techniques, to discuss ideas and use new systems to work towards better patient care and faster recovery.
Working with Elite sports abroad has always been something I have been keen on and if I do get the opportunity, eventually being able to transfer some of that know-how and organized processes back home to India is something that I would look forward to
limited editions Truly unlimited at Limited editions
Clare Marchon speaks about her venture, Limited editions, and the products stocked at the store
Clare Marchon
By syBil RodRigues
Clare Marchon, hails from Betim. She always had a dream to start a business in her ancestral village. Her family was blessed to own several shops and they run five different stores in Betim.
Clare’s entry into business began at a rather early age, as she began working soon after she completed her higher secondary education. Alongside working, the determined lady also went on to complete her graduation, earning herself a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dhempe College. It is this very early start that ensured Clare had a wealth of experience backing her, an asset that came in very handy when she made her formal foray into the business world. Post her graduation she moved to Dubai for a brief period where she worked in the public relations section at Future Establishment. After she moved back to Goa, and having developed a knack for business, Clare took up employment at an advertising agency in Panjim where she worked for two years
Clare opened her store, Limited Editions, thirteen years ago at her ancestral house located opposite the ferry wharf in Betim. Back then the store would sell furniture from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Every piece of furniture displayed there was unique and their customers just loved it. But unfortunately her father’s cousin who was a partner at the store and used to source the furniture for her migrated to Australia and they had to shut the store.
Her loyal customers never failed to ask her about the store and when she would be setting up something on similar lines. Just before the lockdown in March, Clare decided to revive the store again, this time with a different concept, and instead of furniture decided to fill it with curios from Turkey, Portugal, Thailand and different states of India.
Limited Editions stocks curios from Turkey, blue and white crockery from Portugal, artificial flowers from Thailand, formal and casual bags from India and other parts of the world.
Her suppliers are Turkish, Thai and Indians, who mostly run their businesses abroad and in India.
Clare is in talks with a lot of local artisans and young ladies who work with women from rural areas to stock their products. Local handicrafts and curios will be available at the store shortly.
Clare opened the store in December and thanks to the festive season, she had an excellent response. The location of the store, on the main road, opposite Terry’s Supermarket in Betim was an added advantage and the store saw a lot of outstation visitors.
Her husband has been her constant support and strength throughout, right up from her decision to revive Limited Editions, till date Clare considers herself lucky as she had purchased her stocks before the lockdown as sourcing the products now would be difficult, given various restrictions all over when it comes to logistics. She hopes that the pandemic loosens its grip and life gets back to normal.
The next time one needs a gift for any occasion or just a curio for your house to be a topic of conversation for your next get together, head over to Limited Editions, for unique gift items; Clare plans on stocking items from all over the world in the coming months
L to r: blaise Costabir, Vijay Hede, Ca Parimal Kulkarni, and Ca rohan bhandare Goa Management Association (GMA) conducted a Panel Discussion on ‘Decoding the Union Budget 2021, recently. The panel consisted of Vijay Hede, Managing Director, Shivranjani Securities Co. Pvt Ltd., Blaise Costabir, Chairman CII Goa State Council & MD, GMI Zarhak Moulders Pvt. Ltd. and CA Parimal Kulkarni, Chairman, Taxation Committee of Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The session was moderated by GMA Executive Committee Member, CA. Rohan Bhandare. Amin Ladak, Chairman, GMA welcomed the audience and Harshvardhan Bhatkuly, Immediate Past Chairman, GMA introduced the panel members. Hede presented the macro-economic view of the Budget with emphasis on Infrastructure, health & water allocations in the Budget along with Digital India. Costabir provided insightS on the impact of the budget on the industry and the practical aspects for improving the ease of doing business; while Kulkarni focussed on the important changes in direct tax, indirect tax and company law.
The panel discussed the economic survey and topics such as the sustainability of the current level of stock markets and its correlation with the economy, divestment &privatisation and the impact of digitisation and artificial intelligence on tax compliances.
The program concluded with a vote of thanks proposed by Virendra Acharya
BNI’s Goa Biz fest 2021: Biggest Virtual Event to Connect Businesses
BNI (Business Network International) is an organization present in 74+ countries helping more than 2,70,000 entrepreneurs and professionals grow their businesses through passing of business referrals among each other with the underlying philosophy of ‘Givers Gain’ thereby generating millions of jobs. BNI Goa Region with 14 Chapters and 625+ Members, as a part of the 10th year celebrations, is organising the 4th Edition of Goa Biz Fest as a Virtual Expo & Summit from 18th to 20th Feb 2021. Also, for the 1st time ever this will be a Mega Virtual Expo in partnership with BNI Kolhapur, Hubli- Dharwad and Mangalore regions, together accounting for more than 1200 members. The expo will be attended by more than 5000 visitors from India and abroad. GBF is being hosted by BNI Goa’s largest chapter – BNI Mathgram which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. BNI Mathgram
(L-r) yogendra Karmali, anand Chaterjee, arch. avinash borkar, rajkumar Kamat, arman bankley, Mudit agarwaal and Mayuri bhate also ranks amongst the top ten chapters amongst 900+ chapters of India. GBF will be inaugurated by Chief Minister of Goa on 18 Feb and will be virtually open for 3 days round the clock. There will be over 100+ stalls from members of Goa, Kolhapur, HubliDharwad and Mangalore from five major sectors of real estate/construction/interiors, computer/electronics/ information technology, hospitality/health and wellness, finance services/ business consultancy, and other trades and services.
GBF is open for all and is mobile friendly too, any visitor can log on as a guest and visit the online stalls, can chat or video call with exhibitors, download brochures and see product videos etc. There are also lots of prizes to be won for the visitors. GBF is targeting to invite 5000+ members from across the globe along with visitors from household to industries from Goa to get connected and explore the vocal for local products and services within Goa. BNI Goa Executive Director Rajkumar Kamat, with a vision to set up 1000 strong members and creating 10000 jobs is ably leading GBF and exploring business potential avenues for business beyond boundaries. They have also invited 10+ Executive Directors from other regions of BNI for collaboration and channel partnership. GBF summit will have a wide array of eminent speakers from across the industrial sectors like Manish Sharma, India & South Asia Director of Panasonic; John Mahtani, former VP Global Warner Brothers; Dr. Jagat Shah, Nitin Kunkolienkar, Sanjay Ghodavat, Graham Wheileimer, CEO of BNI Global; and Mac Srinivasan BNI Global President, will be virtually present and mentoring the gathering via live online auditorium. GBF is supported by sponsors like Planet Hollywood, Epee Kamat Group, ARmines Industries, Gauravi Creation, Priyanka Row and AU Small Finance Bank
Creating a room for art
Gautam Amonkar speaks about the newly opened sala de arte an initiative to display and appreciate art by artists and art lovers alike
the expansive art space at Kamat towers, Patto Plaza, Panaji
By syBil RodRigues
The newly opened Sala de Arte is a state-of-the-art gallery for artists and creative designers with an aim of providing art connoisseurs and promoters with an equipped space to display, interact and appreciate art. Located at Patto Plaza, this brain child of Gautam Amonkar is spread over 1650 square feet and intends to provide a stimulus to amateur as well as established artists to display their work.
Gautam completed his engineering studies and began his career with a construction company following which he started his own construction business. In the past three decades he has been actively focusing on investments in art and startups. One of his dream projects has been farming–developing cultivable land for farming in Goa.
Gautam was attracted to art right up from his childhood days where he was exposed to different art forms – performing and visual arts from all over the world.
“I have always been drawn to artisanal works created in different parts of our culturally enriched country. I have been collecting diverse artforms in the last 20 years with artists such as F. N. Sousa, M. F. Hussain, Jogen Choudhary, Jamini Roy, NS Bendre, KH Ara, Laxma Gaud, Mario Miranda, Hesham Malik and others in my collection. Amongst the Goan artists, I have extensively collected works by Mohan Naik, Suhas Shilker, Laxman Pai, Vamona Navelkar, Nirupa Naik, Viraj Naik, Rajashri Thakkar and so on.” He elaborates on his purpose behind setting up Sala de Arte. “Throughout my life (and I’m sure in the years to come), I have witnessed a spectrum of individuals with differing perspectives and eye towards art. The personal dialogue that one tends to have with the works is something that has intrigued me. As an ardent collector of art, the predominant factor that comes to my mind is strengthening and nurturing social bonds by means of which people can freely express their inner depths to one another, something that now seldom exists in the broad millennial world. The eagerness to learn and the curiosity to delve into differing emotions have led me to collect art. These are some of my driving forces that led me to set up Sala De Arte – a quaint space that aims to exhibit works of established as well as budding artists in all spheres of Art.”
The inaugural show was curated by Sandeep Murgaonkar and organised by Shikha Sardessai. Named as ‘Multiple Impressions’, it featured six well-known artists – Francis Desousa, Mohan Naik, Suhas Shilker, Vasudev Shetye, Viraj Naik and Vitesh Naik.
Gautam then goes on to speak about how artists have managed to keep themselves relevant during the pandemic. “Relevance of art is a relative term and is purely situational. What seemed to be strong in the Baroque period may have been reinstated with a different style in the Art Noveau, Fauvism, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism periods. I believe the artists have suffered from loss of sales, cancelled openings and other limitations to showcase their artworks in their desired milieu. However, artists are adept at innovating and shifting the landscape. I am sure the struggle has been overwhelming and for a few there have been standstill moments. The artists we worked with have been motivated through the pandemic with ups and downs, where they focused on creating art with a finality of hope. They were all hopeful that we would be able to breathe freely in the near future and this has led us to displaying their phenomenal works in the launch of our art space – Sala De Arte.”
Gautam concludes with his opinion on the future of art in a post pandemic world. “We need to be more inclusive in our approach in not just selling but educating people around us to trust Art. People need to be receptive when viewing a piece of work and that would lead them to eventually talk about it in society. Selling art is just the ultimate outcome of the whole process. We intend to have the artists themselves talk about their work and the difficulties they have gone through whilst/before creating them. We also intend to have a mix of artforms in our gallery – sculptures, pottery, organic clothing, statement furniture, jewellery, handlooms, etc”
Patient day care centre at dempo healthcare
A state-of-the art Patient Day Care Centre has been recently opened at Dempo Healthcare in Miramar with an aim to provide the general public with ease of access to top quality medical assistance, excellence in service delivery and patient comfort.
Inaugurated at the hands of Rajesh Dempo, Managing Director of Dempo Healthcare (A unit of Dempo Vision Group), the Day Care centre is managed by Goa’s prominent cardiologist, Dr Digambar Naik, Director of Golden Health Services Pvt Ltd and one of the ‘50 Pathfinders’ in the Indian healthcare industry.
The Day Care Center at the Dempo Healthcare, will be open every day, including
rajesh dempo inaugurated Patient day Care Centre in the presence of dr digambar naik, Mangala naik, Melvin noronha and other dignitaries Sundays and public holidays. The centre is equipped with diagnostic equipment such as ultrasound, echocardiography, a fullfledged pathology laboratory, X-ray machines, pulmonary function tests, audiometry, Doppler and other medical monitoring and treatment facilities. The day care centre will cater to all emergency services under the supervision of a team of doctors, nurses and other medical staff available at the facility. Prominent doctors conduct their OPDs at Dempo Healthcare in the field of ayurveda, neurosurgeon, orthopedic etc. It consists of India’s most trichology clinic by Richfeel brand, which is its largest chain of hair and scalp trichologist clinics in India.
Dempo Healthcare is an initiative to bring world class treatment modalities to India and to light up million smiles by providing quality
Workshop to Connect Rural Women to Entrepreneurship and Business
(L-r) sandra fernandes, Member, GCCi Women’s Wing; Pallavi salgaocar, Chairperson, GCCi Women’s Wing; deepali naik, director, Women & Child development; Charudatta Panigrah, founder & Mentor of Goa Livelihood forum; asha Vernekar, Poonam shirsat,Co-chairperson, GCCi Women’s Wing GCCI Women’s Wing along with Goa Livelihood Forum recently organised ‘Goa Rural Entrepreneurship Program’ for women entrepreneurs from rural areas.
The program had three sessions- Finance & Statutory compliance by CA Minal Alway, Branding your goods & services by Darpana Athale & Business Planning by Asha Vernekar. A grassroots women entrepreneur Chitra Kshirsagar also delievered an inspiring talk on her experiences and entrepreneurial journey. The Chief Guest of the function was Deepali Naik, Women & Child Development Director, Government of Goa who encouraged the women to follow their dreams and stand on their own feet. GCCI Women’s Wing Chairperson Pallavi Salgaocar welcomed the gathering and CoChairperson Poonam Shirsat proposed the vote of thanks. Also present at the function was the founder and mentor of Goa Livelihood Forum Charudatta Panigrahi. The function was compered by Sandra Fernandes, a Women’s Wing member. This first rural entrepreneurship program had an overwhelming participation of 100 women participants and it marks the first of the many workshops that the two organizations will do across the rural areas of Goa in the future as a joint initiative to empower and enlighten small women entrepreneurs across Goa and connect them to entrepreneurship and business
5th edition of Tangentia Jigyasa Business and Technology Quiz
The Tangentia Jigyasa Quiz is one of the leading nationallevel business and technology quizzing events held every year. Having successfully organized four editions with an overwhelming response, the Tangentia Jigyasa Quiz is back for its 5th edition to reward the smartest technology and business minds. A team event, the quiz is open for college students or corporate professionals from all over India.
The Tangentia Jigyasa Quiz has caught the fancy of the highly competitive corporate quizzing community across the nation, with top quizzing teams from corporates like TCS, Accenture, Sai Mitra Constructions, Google, among others hoping to make a dent in their quizzing endeavours this year, too.
Quiz Master Vijay Thomas, CEO of Tangentia, will be up with his unique style of questioning, as always. Due to the current circumstances, the Jigyasa Quiz will be held online (PAN India) on 20th February 2021 at 11 am IST and the finals will be held virtually on 6th March 2021 at 6 pm IST. This year, the lucky Champion will win a Grand Prize of `1,50,000/- and the first runner up will receive `75,000/- while the second runner up will get `50,000/-.
Do you have what it takes to be the next Jigyasa Quiz Champion? Visit here to register www.jigyasaquiz. com/registration
