Goa Streets - Issue 40

August 11 Freedom Forever 2013

India’s biggest Independence Day party is back! Celebrate the feeling of being free with dance and some great music. The DJ line-up includes Ma Faiza (‘Mother of Electronica’), Joel, Navin, Ryan Nogar, Jay (aka Brainwash), Usman, Su Edits &Akshit.

For tickets, check out the www.bookmyshow.com and www.indiastage.in.

At Tito’s Lane, SauntaVaddo, Baga @12 pm onward +91 9765947824/9923590207

August 9 – August 13 Treat For Art Lovers

Feeling artsy this week? Take some time out to check out an exclusive display of paintings

by Bangalore-based artist SunitaDeshpande. The underlying themes of MsDeshpande’s exhibition are femininity and Mother Nature. Treat your eyes to abstract depictions of mother & child, dance and some 10-15 landscape paintings.

At Kala Academy, Panjim @ 10 am – 7:30 pm +91 832 2420450/2420451

August 1 – August 25

August 9

Wine Festival

Jazz Evening At Edge Bar

Wine lovers, here’s your chance to try out wine from all over the world at the ongoing wine festival at MotiMahal. There are some special offers that you could avail of as well. Order two glasses of wines and get scrumptious vegetarian &non-vegetarian kebabs free. And if wine is not on your list of favourites, check out the cocktails that have the one plus one offer.

At MotiMahal, Municipal Building, Ground Floor, 18th June Road, Panjim @ 11:30 am onward +91 832 2423125/9922442155

Kickstart your weekend with a musical evening featuring jazz collective Smoking Chutney accompanied by renowned ‘bluesman’ PratishMotwane. Relax to some groovy mixes spanning jazz, blues, funk and fusion covers and originals with a variety of tapas, single malts and other premium beverages. Other performers include BenoyRai(guitar), Jason Quadros(keyboards), Colin D’Cruz(bass) and LenonPires(drums).

At Edge Bar, AlilaDiwa Goa, Majorda @ 8 pm onward +91 9049997530

3

Thursday, August 8, 2013

streetspicks

Monsoon Whisky Nights Monsoon Whisky Nights have arrived! Unlock the secrets of single malts with whisky connoisseurs on rainy evenings. Every Wednesday, listen to talented artists perform live music for you while you try the finest drink in the world. Brought to you by Goa Streets and Malts n Wines!

At Malts n Wines, Near Baga Bridge, Baga @ 8 pm Mamata: +91 9763711180; Althea: +91 8698694319

Reunion Of Beat Root Blues Band From Bombay Coming together after five years, THE Beat Root Blues Band brings a new love affair with electric jump-jive blues and other varied forms – the kind that set juke boxes on fire in the 1950s. The band features sizzling amplified harmonica, guitar and Afro-American-Indo grooves to give audiences a taste of the upbeat blues gravy train, ranging from down home boogiewoogies to stylish and personal takes on Memphis and Chicago style classics. The evening will feature Pratish Motwane on lead vocals & harmonica and Rahul Chatterji on lead guitar and vocals.

At Tawa Resto-Bar, Baywatch Resort, Sernabatim Beach Road, Colva @ 7:30 pm onward +91 93235 90051/9881568756

Pre-Independence Day Bollywood Bash Bring in this Independence Day by dancing to some of the hottest desi tracks at Café Lilliput in Anjuna on August 14. The celebration starts early at 7 pm. The DJs in charge of the music include Sulaiman, Anthony and Rohit.

At Café Lilliput, Anjuna @ 7 pm onward Email: cafelilliput@gmail.com

Battle Of The Bands, DJs, Stars & Dance Floor Think you’ve got amazing talent in music, dance and the performing arts? Show it off at the Slip Disc Battle of the Bands/ DJs/Stars/Dance Floor on August 15.

At Emerald Lawns, Parra @ 11 am – 10 pm +91 832 6515151

August 8

August 15

Thursday Night Live @ the Sofala

Celebrate Indepen-dance

Blues harp virtuoso Pratish Motwane will be jamming live with Smoking Chutney: featuring Chrystal Farrell (vocals), Benoy Rai (guitar), Sancho Menezes (keyboards), Colin D’Cruz (bass) & Dennis Coelho (drums) this Thursday at The Sofala.

At The Sofala, Bhattiwaddo, Nerul @ 8 pm – 11:30 pm. +91 7774008822

Join in to celebrate this Independence Day with indepen-dancing! Dance away the night celebrating your freedom with a special line-up of DJs. At Café Lilliput, Anjuna Beach @ 4 pm onward +91 9822132479

August 17

music & nightlife | 05 International Blues Music Day

lowdown | 06

GoaTronnik With Edwin Fernandes

Welcome World Goa Day with Goan sensation Edwin Fernandes making you groove to GoaTronikk, a mix of old and new music genres with the essence of electronica. Edwin Fernandes and friends will kick-start the celebrations with smooth jazz, lounge and much more. At Art Escape Restro Lounge, Benaulim @ 8 pm onward +91 9881568756/9323590051

August 15 – August 17

food | 07 Eid recipes

feature | 11

Freedom Express Weekend 2013

Freedom Express Weekend 2013 will feature 15 DJs, 15 performers & dancers and 15 artists from India and abroad. The party will start at 4 pm everyday and go on till 4 am.

At Ianos Club N Global Cuisine, Cobravaddo, Calangute @ 4 pm – 4 am +91 8380039910

Everyday

Single moms

Happy Hours

cover story | 12 North Goa vs South Goa

Enjoy 25% discount on all beverages& a buy-one-get-one-free special offer.

Happy hours, happier moments!

At Capiz Bar, Grand Hyatt, Bambolim Beach @ 7 pm – 9 pm +91 832 3011125

Club Ianos

arts & entertainment | 15 Quirky books

feature | 19 Goa’s sex industry

community | 18 Citizen Journalism

hot streets | 20 Threesomes

feature | 21

The newest party hotspot in Baga, Ianos is a particularly noteworthy addition to the northern beach belt’s after-dark scene. The club has various theme nights on different days of the week. Mondays and Tuesdays are for commercial club and house music.

Wednesdays are dedicated to the ladies, while Fridays and the weekend are for the hottest hip-hop and EDM tracks. At Calangute, Baga Road @ 8:30 pm – 3 am +91 832 6528283

Zuperb

This newly-opened restaurant at Holiday Street, Calangute, has a range of local artists performing live most nights of the week.

Sing and swing with Nelly to jazz, retro & the season’s popular tracks on ‘Zuperb Tuesdays’. On Friday nights, the vibrant duo of Jonathan and Nashvin get guests into the weekend mode with the ‘Music Fever’ theme. And if that’s not enough, check out the restaurant’s menu for some authentic Parsi fare like Patrani Machhi and Dhansak.

Gauravaddo, Holiday Street, Calangute @12 pm – 12 am +91 9869076107/9820134503/98331 56510

Every Tuesday

Good Cop, Bad Cop

Country Rock Night

give back | 22 Green Cyclist

Here is a chance for all music fans to enjoy an evening of country rock music at Café Mojo Pub & Bistro. Get ready for a good time with your buddies and make the evening worth remembering.

At Cafe Mojo Pub & Bistro, Panjim @ 8 pm +91 832 2426666

Every Wednesday

Cosmopolitan Ladies Night

Free Absolut Cosmopolitan cocktails all night long exclusively shaken & stirred for the fairer sex. Ladies Night, the Butter way! At Butter, Patto, Panjim @ 8 pm onward +91 8308838888

Wednesday Nights

With their frequent gigs, DJs David &Ashley entertained hordes of people with their act. Now they join hands together to make the crowds groove to their songs every Wednesday. The fun begins early at Kamaki!

At Kamaki, Baga @ 7:30 pm +918322276520/ 9923093408

Every Thursday

Thursday Grill &Games

Music, games & barbeque!

At Soul Souffle, Verna @ 7 pm – 10 pm +91 832 2782100/9764694321

Every Friday Blu Nights

With resident DJs Melroy, Xavier, Ross & guest DJs. At F Cube, Arpora +91 832 2275796

Every Saturday

Funky Saturdays At Butter

A lot of youngsters can be seen hanging out at Butter for its Funky Saturdays where everything – from the music to the dress code and even guests’ hairstyles – have to be funky.

At Butter, Gera Emporium, EDC Patto Plazza, Panjim @ 8 pm onward +91 8308838888

Exclusive Saturday

Groove to the mixes of DJs Cris, Rosh, Milad, Xavier and Melroy.

At F Cube, Calangute @ 9 pm to 3 am +91 832 2275796/ +91 9822176572

Ongoing

Pickled Mango

It has a different menu every night where music is concerned! Monday: Karaoke time with Bonny; Tuesday: Music

by Jus’ Leo n Zie; Wednesday: Grill Nite with Music fever; Thursday: Rock n Retro by Country Joe; Friday: Dance your blues away with Party Creation; Saturday: Rio Festival with Crossroads Band; Sunday: Live entertainment with Hyden and Natasha. @ Resort Rio, Arpora @ 7:30 pm – 10:30 pm +918322267300

Souza Lobo

Oldest restaurant on Calangute Beach with live music in the evenings.

Nelson & Leo perform on Mondays & Thursdays with Leo performing solo on Tuesdays & Fridays. Wednesdays see one-man band Lui on the mic.

Victor & Sol perform on Saturdays and Valentino on Sundays.

At Calangute Beach @ 8 pm onward +918322281234

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Photographs by An anda Krishna

Goa plays host to International Blues Music Day

The musicians se tting up their gear

before the gig

By Puja Roy @AriAsher

I

Colin D’Cruz and Herman Abreo jamming at Baywatch on International Blues Music Day

Onshore

Offshore

Behind Old Secretariat, 1st Floor, The Crown Goa, Bairo Alto Dos Pilotos, Jose Falcao Road, Panaji.

Goa - 403001. INDIA Mob: +91 9158883461 Land Line: 0832 2222822/2222833 Email: reception@crowncasino.in Open: 12:00 noon-06:00am | All days

Entry Rs.1500/ Enjoy free unlimited snacks, Veg & Non-veg Buffet-dinner, alchoholic & nonalcholic beverages And loads of live entertainment.

At Panaji, Goa. Open 24 Hrs. +918888807256

Crown Casino

Chances Casino

At Vainguinim Valley Resorts +918322456683/4/5/6 Email: sales@chancescasinoresort.com

Gold finger Casino

At Vainguinim beach, Dona Paula +918322454545

Casinos Treasures At Majorda beach resort, Majorda +918322881111

Casino Paradise

At Neo Majestic, Porvorim +918326710101

Casino Carnival

Casino Royale

Casino Royale Goa is India’s largest and most luxurious offshore gaming vessel. Anchored in the Mandovi, Casino Royale Goa creates an ambience that is at par with gaming destinations worldwide, with international games such as poker, baccarat, blackjack, and roulette, and serviced by dealers trained to the highest global standards. A family destination, it also has a kids’ room where trained staff look after the little ones. Open 24x7. Entry: Rs 1,500 per person on weekdays (Mon-Thu) and Rs 2,000 on weekends (Fri-Sun).

Boarding Point: Fisheries Department Building (6 pm-6 am only), Opposite Mandovi Hotel, D. BandodkarMarg, Panaji; and Noah’s Ark Jetty, D. BandodkarMarg, Panaji 0832 6519471, 0832 2433289.

Casino Pride

Captain of Ports Jetty, Panjim +918326710101/111/ +91-832-6519641 www.casinopridegoa.com

n case you missed it, last Saturday, Aug. 3, was the inaugural International Blues Music Day. About 150-odd shows were organised in New York City, Sacramento, Mississippi (but, of course), New Hampshire, Las Vegas, Italy, Croatia, Moscow, Mexico, Switzerland, the Philippines, Brazil, England, and dear old music-loving Goa. The idea behind the International Blues Music Day is, as its website says, “to celebrate, promote and preserve the rich legacy, tradition, and future of the great American art form and international language known as blues music.” And a celebration of the Blues it was at the Tawa Resto-Bar in Baywatch Resort, Colva, South Goa. It was organised by Art Escape – The Live Music Project, an independent platform not bound by any particular genre that has been encouraging all types of music (from Rock to Jazz to Sufi and even Qawali) over the past four years. The event saw

Turn to page 6

6 The Lowdown Herman Abreo’s singing the Blues

The Lowdown We invite you, dear reader, to take a good look at this week’s cover story on the quiet rivalry between North and South Goa. There’s a good chance you’ll be surprised by some of our conclusions. We were told that having a nonGoan write this piece could be a problem. But the truth is we purposely chose a non-Goan for this task. Read the story and you’ll see why.

From page 5 a line-up of some of the best and brightest in India’s Blues music scene perform to a lively crowd of over 200 people.

The artists were handpicked for the event and included names from Goa, India and around the world. There were performances by Herman Abreo (popularly known as Goa’s Top Man’ and one of India’s foremost Blues artist), Benoy Rai (originally from Darjeeling, he’s a jazz, funk and Blues ‘virtuoso’ and freelances with local bands all over Goa), Colin D’Cruz (a bass player, Colin is also a music producer and has performed to crowds all over India and the world), Jason Quadros (an Audio Engineer, Jason plays the keyboards).

Featured artists included Gruto (a Brazilian chef who enthralled audiences off the kitchen counter and onstage instead) and Fabian Jones.

The celebrations began early at 7:30 pm (on a night when Goa decided she wasn’t going to play truant with the weather) and went on till 12:30 am. All the artists put on a fabulous show that was enjoyed by everyone. The crowd whistled, clapped, sang along, grooved, laughed and kept asking for more! The evening’s highlight was Herman Abreo who, in trademark style, cracked risqué jokes, apologised for making them and crooned to some of his own tunes and a few covers. (He also sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to one particular lucky lady.) A true talent, I heard someone at the event comment on how his style comes very close to the legendary Frank Zappa’s.

(Quite a compliment there, Herman!)

Gruto and gang were also quite a hit among guests. Toward the end of the evening, the artists started jamming together, the result of which was some more fun, music and celebration. The crowd even got to witness a reunion of sorts when Herman and Connie (now based in Dubai, Connie used to play with Herman’s band in the past) got together for an impromptu session.

Commenting on the event, Art Escape

Gruto from Brazil (left)

Co-founders Vinesh Iyer and Daryll Noronha said the International Blues Music Day in India was a real success. “The performances were fantastic. The feature was Herman. He is the Blues man of Goa; a legend”, said Vinesh. Daryll added “all the people who have supported us for the past four years were a part of the Blues celebration.” And it wasn’t just Goans who joined in for the party. Music enthusiasts from as far as Pune and Belgaum joined in to celebrate the Blues. Going by all the good vibes that it received, the International Blues Music Day was supported wholeheartedly by everyone who was a part of it. If you missed it this year, not to worry. Art Escape we will be continuing the celebrations of the Blues on August 10 with revival of revival Beatroot Blues. Be sure to mark your calendar for that and for future editions of International Blues Music Days on the first Saturday of each August (starting with August 2, 2014).

Don’t miss our piece on the International Blues Music Day or our quirky story on the quirkiest non-fiction book titles. Just as interesting as the titles, it turns out, are the books themselves. Everybody seems to dislike traffic cops, so we decided to interview one of the top traffic cops in Goa. And guess what? They’re not all bad. Our story on prostitution in Goa reveals some startling facts, including that the industry is booming in this tiny seaside state.

And of course, we wouldn’t want anyone to miss our story on single moms in Goa, and to learn about their lives and their struggles as told by the women themselves.

Goa Streets is very pleased to be co-hosting Monsoon Whisky Nights alongside Malts n Wines in Baga. The first such night was about to happen just as this edition was going to print on Wednesday evening. We hope all who attended had a wonderful time!

And remember, there’s another one next Wednesday! These are evenings of whisky tasting and fabulous music.

Lastly, all of us here at Goa Streets wish our Muslim readers a very happy Eid al-Fitr. We’ve devoted our Food pages this week to some wonderful Eid recipes. So again, happy Eid and happy eating!

The Goa Streets Team

7

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Eid Recipes

streetspicks Goan Sunday Nights

TinTin Bar & Restaurant is celebrating Goan Sunday Nights on August 11. The highlight of the evening will be on-the-house Caju Feni with live performances by popular guitarist Elvis Carvalho.

There’s also a special promo on Kingfisher Ultra Beer: buy 2, get 1 free!

Happy Eid al-Fitr and Happy Eating!

Chicken Biryani Recipe

At Tin Tin Bar & Restaurant, Vagator @ 7:30 pm – 11:30 pm +91 9623922796/9623973691

Tamari If a fancy evening out is on your mind, then visit Tamari at Vivanta by Taj which does Chinese, Thai & Japanese cuisine (sushi) in fine style.

A Teppanyaki counter provides an interactive dining experience while two private dining rooms set the stage for a super-exclusive experience. There’s also a special tea menu with a variety of fine teas like Darjeeling Pearl Tea, Monkey King Tea, Jasmine Tea, Bi Luo Chi tea and Long Jing Tea. At Vivanta By Taj, Lobby Level, Off Dayanand Bhausaheb Bandodkar Road, Panjim @ 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm & 7:30 pm – 11:30 pm +91 832 6633636

Urban Dhaba Urban Dhaba sure lives up to its name of being an urban dhaba – there is a definite fusion of the rustic with the urban. While the menu boasts a host of cuisines (Goan, Chinese, Continental), the Indian food here is noteworthy, particularly Tandoori Chicken, Daal Makhani and the fresh Naans. It has a well-stocked bar and interesting décor.

At Opposite O’Coqueiro, Alto Porvorim +91 832 3290939 Email: urbandhaba@yahoo.com

Chicken Biryani Recipe

What is an Eid celebration without Biryani? It’s practically a must at the Eid al-Fitr table. Here’s a good way to make it: Preparation time: 30 min | Cooking time: 40 min | Servings: 5

KFC

Ingredients: • 8 chicken drumsticks • 50 g / 2 oz ghee or butter • 25 g / 1 oz almonds, chopped • 25 g / 1 oz cashew nuts, chopped • 1 large onion, thinly sliced • 4 bay leaves • 3 whole green cardamoms • 3 tablespoons Biryani spice mixture(available at Asian grocery stores) • 425 g / 14 oz long-grain rice • 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads • Salt

KFC is among the best places to satiate all your chicken cravings!

Choose from a range of goodies like Hot Wings, Chicken Snacker Burger, Chicken Shotz, Hot n Crispy Chicken, Fiery Grilled Chicken and a lot more!

For vegetarians, there’s Veg Zinger Burger, Potato Krisper and Veg Strips to choose from. For dessert, check out the Kreamball Sundae and Soft Serves.

At Neelam The Grand, Post Office Road, Calangute @ 11am – 11 pm

T

his week Muslims everywhere celebrate Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. In honour of Eid, Streets decided to bring you some tasty Eid recipes that are favourites around India and the world. And remember, the culinary delights of Eid can be savoured by everyone! Enjoy!

Time 11am-12 midniht non stop food service, open everyday.

Home delivery: 0832-2411959 & 9764159686 Caterin Service Contact: Mr. Roland Rodrigues @ 9890422440

To be ground into a smooth paste: • 1 teaspoon garam masala • 1 large onion, chopped • 2 garlic cloves, crushed • 2 inch piece of fresh root ginger, peeled • 150 ml / 5 fl oz natural yogurt • 1 teaspoon salt

For garnish: Fresh coriander

Directions: GETTING READY 1. Wash the chicken drumsticks and marinade it in the prepared paste for 30min.

2. Wash and soak the rice for 15min 3. In a thick bottomed utensil, heat ghee and fry almonds and cashew nuts till they turn light brown.

4. Remove the nuts using a slotted spoon,place on absorbent paper and keep aside for garnish.

MAKING 5. In the same utensil add the sliced onions and fry till golden brown.

6. Remove half of the onion on absorbent paper and keep aside for garnish.

7. Add bay leaves,whole green cardamom, Biryani spice mixture and the chicken to the pan. Mix well and cook for 10min till the chicken acquires a brown color.

8. Drain the rice and mix it lightly in the chicken mixture.

9. Add water 900 ml / 1 1/2 pints warm water and some salt to the vessel.

10. Cover and cook the Chicken Biryani for about 20 to 30 minutes, such that the rice is tender and all the water absorbed.

FINALIZING 11. Switch off the flame and uncover the utensil.

12. Take a little hot water in a cup, steep saffron in it for 2 minutes and pour over the biryani.

Turn to page 9

8 Food August 11

Grilled Lamb Kebabs

Lounge & Lunch @ the Sofala Featuring live music and authentic homemade Italian food at Mia Cucina with unlimited beer, wine, Sangria and select cocktails for INR 1,225 plus taxes per person.

At Mia Cucina Restaurant, The Sofala, Bhattiwaddo, Nerul @ 1 pm – 5 pm +91 7774008822

Every Sunday Champagne Sunday Brunch

Enjoy brunch at the Grand Hyatt with French champagne &food from 5 interactive & live stations dishing out Asian, Italian, Middle Eastern, Indian cuisine & desserts. Rs 2,200 + taxes (includes buffet, champagne, wines & select drinks) At Grand Hyatt, Bambolim @ 1 pm – 4 pm +91 832 3011125

Sunday Family Brunches

Rejuvenating cocktails, soul-warming gourmet cuisine from around the world, activities to keep the kids entertained.

At Latitude, Vivanta by Taj, Panjim @ 12:30 pm – 3:30 pm +91 832 6633636

Leisurely Sunday Monsoon Brunch

Among the offerings are age-old local favourites like Kheema Pao & Kathi Roll, Appam & Stew from Kerala and Madras Kuttu Paratha. For some Middle Eastern flavors, there’s Shawarma & Falafel. Satiate your sweet cravings with a variety of desserts, including Mississippi Mud Cake, Cranberry & Vodka Jelly, Rustic Apple & Mint Pie and a range of cheesecakes.

At Goa Marriott Resort & Spa +91 832 2463333

Anjuna & Around Cantare

Cantare is perhaps Saligao’s best kept secret. This traditional mansion-turnedlounge offers a good selection of food & wines and a warm ambience.

At Cruzwado, Saligao +91 832 2409461

Artjuna

Alcove Restaurant & Bar

Serves Continental, Goan, Portuguese, Indian, Chinese &Thai cuisine. Expect a variety of seafood with a range of barbeque & grills.

At Ozrant Beach, Small Vagator, Anjuna @ 8 am – 12 am +91 832 2274491/2273349

Curlies

This boutique hotel located in the heart of Calangute is cradled amongst some of the most famous beaches in the world. Enjoy the offerings of its exclusive bar tucked in a corner and refresh yourself with a drink.

At Gauravaddo, Calangute +91 9960524567

The restaurant serves you everything from charcoal-fired oven pizzas/ bakes to the best of Indian, Chinese & continental dishes, plus fresh seafood (Anjuna-style), with wine & beer.

At Anjuna Beach @ 9 am – 2 am +91 9822168628

Aquamarine Bistro & Bar

Baga, Calangute & Around

Fat Fish Restaurant & Bar

Set in an old Portuguese house surrounded by a beautiful garden, the café serves up chilled café au lait, milkshakes, sandwiches, juices &baked goodies, homemade dips, iced lattes, blended coffees &more!

At Monteiro Waddo, Anjuna @ 9 am – 6 pm +91 832 2274794

CoBa

Mamma Mia

Café de Goa

Italian cuisine with a blend of imported Italian ingredients &local organic produce with a nice view of paddy fields and coconut trees of Baga’s backwaters.

At Resort Rio, Arpora @ 12:30 pm – 10:30 pm +91 832 2267300

10 Calangute Beach Hotel

CoBa (short for Coastal Barbeque) is known for its starters, grills & steaks.

The setting is a treat for the eyes, with the pool on one side and saltwater lagoons on the other.

At Double Tree by Hilton, Arpora @ 10 am – 11 pm +9183266556672 Sandwiched between green paddy fields in Calangute, Café de Goa serves a selection of confectionary, fresh salads & sandwiches among other offerings.

At The Red Tower, Orchard Villas, Calangute @ 10:30 am – 5:30 pm +91 832 2279961

Specialising in Indian, European/ Continental cuisine, the seafood at Aquamarine is sought after along with its Mutton Xacutti, Vegetable Moussaka & Risotto Spinach. At Baga Land’s End, Baga @ 7 am – 10:30 pm +91 832 2276084/2275482 Known for authentic Goan cuisine, specialty Goan thalis, Continental, tandoor & seafood.

At Agra Waddo, Calangute-Arpora Road +91 832 6512288/8806077550

Cavala

Specialisesin Goan seafood &live music.

The restaurant recommends dishes like Country Captain, Trincomalee Prawns &Chicken Periperi. At Saunta Waddo, Baga, Calangute @ 7:30 am – 1 am +91 832 2277587/9552551422

Candolim Zuperb

Unlimited breakfast offer between 8 am – 11 am for Rs 180 only. Open all days of the week. One of the few restaurants in Goa that serves Parsi food. At Gaurro Vaddo, Calangute +91 9869076107

Banyan Tree

The garden restaurant at the Taj Village specializing in Thai cuisine set under a 300-year-old banyan tree.

At Vivanta Holiday Village, Sinquerim @ 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm & 7:30 pm – 10:30 pm +91 832 6645858

Addah

Adda specialises in Indian, seafood, European/Continental cuisine. Popular dishes include Paneer Zafrani Tikka, Dum Aloo Kashmiri, Maan Sahari Kebab Platter &Bhuna Hua Anjeer.

At O Hotel, Ground Floor, Dando, Candolim @ 7 pm – 10:30 pm +91 9890800073

Beach House

This Goan & seafood specialty restaurant has a live kitchen counter of Goan-Portuguese fusion food.

Signature dishes include Galinha Cafreal, Camarao Tigre Con Cilantro, and Clam Chops with Mango Chilly Sauce. At VivantaByTaj Fort Aguada, Sinquerim, Candolim @ 7:30 pm – 10:30 pm +918326645858

L’Orange

Tucked away in a cosy corner in Candolim, L’Orange also doubles up as an art gallery. It’s open through the year & features a multi-cuisine menu with homemade Goan delicacies, seafood & pastas.

At Next to Magnum Resort, Candolim Main Road, Candolim @ 12 pm – 3 pm & 6 pm – 1 am +91 9970173606

Wok & Roll

A multi-cuisine restaurant which serves Japanese, Thai, pan-Asian cuisine.

Restaurant recommendations include Honey-glazed Pot Roast, Pork Ribs, Thai Garlic-peppered Prawns, Deep-fried Prawns Tossed in Garlic.

At Sinquerim, Candolim @ 1 pm – 3 pm & 7 pm – 11 pm +91 9049022348

Margao & Around Fig & Olive

Offers specialties from Morocco, Spain, Italy, Lebanon & Greece. The menu boasts tapas, fresh salads & seafood, paella & pasta, wood-oven pizzas and homemade desserts. At Holiday Inn Resort, Cavelossim @ 9 am – 11 pm +918322871303

Firefly Goan Bistro Bar

Top picks includes Chicken Liver Paté, Fish Ambotik, Fish/Prawn Curry Rice& Barbeque Pork Ribs.

At Lamour Beach Resort, Benaulim +91 9822123535

Hotel HQ

Multi-cuisine restaurant with buffet and ala carte service and a wellequipped bar. At Near Axis Bank, Vasco @ 12pm – 3 pm &7pm – 11 pm +91 832 2500015/2500016

Shandong

An Asian cuisine restaurant with a fine dining ambience focusing on fresh, inseason ingredients.

At Radisson Blu Resort, Cavelossim Beach @ 11 am – 11 pm +91 832 6726666

Food 9

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Café Mardi Gras

A 24-hour café serving seafood, Goan & North Indian cuisine, coffee & snacks.

PanfriedPomfretRecheado, Chicken Xacutti, Pork Vindaloo and Goan Fish Curry are some of the popular offerings.

At Holiday Inn Resort, Cavelossim @ All-day +91 832 2871303

In & Around Panjim Tea Café

Boat Quay Grill serves tropical cuisine in a romantic setting. Favourites on the menu include Grilled Tiger Prawns & Beer Battered Fried Fish.

At Royal Orchid Beach Resort, Utorda @ 7 pm – 12 am +91 8805013553

Nestled in the Latin Quarter of MalaFontainhas in the heart of Panjim, Tea Café offers a lot of goodies (along with tea). Everything is made in-house, including a wide range of pastries, biscotti, quiches, a mezze platter, sandwiches and, of course, its famed Red Velvet Cupcake. There are also many types of tea to choose from, be it Green, Chamomile, Masala or regular. Open Monday to Saturday, visit the Tea Café for a quaint unhurried chai break.

Empresa Dempo, 31st January Road, Fontainhas, Panjim Contact: +91 832 2223050

Mog Café

Carasid

Boat Quay Grill

A pastry shop with some innovative décor! Choose from a selection of cheesecake pops, cupcakes, crispy chocolates &lemon pie shots. Also offers ‘designer’ cakes, desserts and chocolates.

Shop #3 & 4, Colaco Residency, Off Abade Sariya Road, Comba, Margao +91 8380078252/9892588252

Gawin’s Restaurant & Pub

Specialises in Goan cuisine & curries with generous helpings. The Chicken Cafreal here is quite popular among regular patrons.

At Verna Cansaulim Road, Off NH-17, Verna +91 9822177179

Peppers

If your weakness is Goan cuisine, head to Pepper’s for a wide range of local delicacies cooked in a traditional style with a hint of modernity.

At Gold Road Pajifond, Margao @ 11:30 am – 11 pm +91 9822133506

Ruta’s World Cafe

Located on a quiet side street right by the city’s Latin Quarter, a world away from the madding crowd. Open for breakfast, lunch, coffee.

At Dr Miranda Road, Margao @ 9 am – 6 pm +91 832 2710757

Spice Studio

The award-winning Spice Studio has a dinner menu that boasts the fiery flavors of the southeast coast, the dum preparations of the Nawabs of Awadh & Hyderabad, Tandoori fare from the Northwest Frontier & Goa’s rustic flavors.

At Alila Diwa, AdaoWaddo, Salcette @ 7 pm – 10:30 pm +918322746800

Upper Deck

A lively coffee shop with an interactive kitchen & communal/bench/ roundtable seating; offers a creative a la carte menu with Continental & Indian fare.

At Radisson Blu Resort, Cavelossim Beach +91 832 6726666

For quick bites like burgers, sandwiches, wraps, cakes & chocolates, drop in at any of the five outlets through Goa to sample the offerings (designed by co-owner Christabel Shrivastava, who is also a nutrition expert). The cheesecakes here are also quite nice, we hear. So go, enjoy some healthy, tasty bakes at this wallet-friendly confectionary.

At Ground Floor Chanson Building, Near Hotel Solmar, DB Marg, Miramar +91 832 2465904/9326111476

A Pastelaria

This bakery & confectionery serves gateaux, pastries, cookies& traditional Goan sweets. The chocolate &strawberry mousses are hugely popular. Big G Complex, Ground Floor, Mandovi Appartment, Dr Dada Vaidya Marg, Panjim @ 9 am – 9 pm +91832 2426270/2426273

A Tona Bar &Restaurant

Nostalgia’s the first word that comes to mind when one walks in to A Tona (meaning ‘A Canoe’). Specialising in authentic Goan & Portuguese food, the menu here seems to be straight out of a grandmother’s kitchen.

At Carina Desa, Betim @7 pm – 11 pm +919823129239

Baba’s Wood Cafe

An Italian wine bar &restaurant specializing in wood-fired pizzas and homemade gelato. Choose from a wide range of pure Italian dishes with beef fillet and fish always on the menu. At Mala, Fontainhas, Panjim @ 12 pm – 3 pm &6 pm –12 am (Closed on Tuesday) +91832 3256213/9923414098

Cantina Bodega

Pizzeria, bakery & cafe. Owner Vandana utilisesher her expertise earned from her years as a top pastry chef in New York City.

At Sunaparanta Centre for the Arts, Altinho, Panjim @ 10 am – 7 pm +91 9011662233

Coros Velvet

Want gourmet food in Caranzalem?

Head to Coros Velvet. It’s a multicuisine fine dining restaurant which specialises in ravioli, steaks &pastas.

At Miramar, Panjim @ 12 pm – 3 pm&7 pm – 11 pm +91 8605020020

Chilli ‘n’ Spice

A carnival of fusion cuisine, a bar to enlighten your spirits, this multi-cuisine restaurant serves up exotic traditional fare, with a focus on Oriental cuisine.

At Hotel Fidalgo, Panjim @ 7 pm – 2 am +91 832 2226291

Pan Asian Bowl

The restaurant gives you a bowl, which you then take to a bar of noodles and raw vegetables and meats. You then fill your bowl with as many of these ingredients as you like, then choose one or more spicy or non-spicy sauces from a list of 18 and then hand your bowl over to a chef who cooks the concoction in a sizzling wok before your eyes. Bella Goa Annexe, Next to Hotel Solmar, River Road, Miramar, Panjim +91 832 6455547

Forrest Veg Food Court

Serves a wide range of fast food from different parts of India: Mumbai’s Butter Pav Bhaji, frankies & paani puri, Delhi’s Chatpata Chaat & samosas and the South’s dosas. Apart from that, there’s Continental, Chinese, Thai & Mexican cuisine to choose from.

At Bhagwan Mahavir Bal Vihar, Panjim @ 11 am – 11 pm +91 832 6454353

Confeitaria

The Grand Hyatt’s patisserie, Confeitaria serves homemade products. Ideal for snacks, light lunches & desserts, it also offers chocolates, cookie, teas &seasonal specialties.

At The Grand Hyatt Goa, Bambolim Beach @ 8 am – 8 pm +91 832 3011200

Doçaria

Doçaria is many things in one. A coffee shop, beverage counter, cake shop, games centre, snack bar and dessert lounge. It also has a late-night menu. In short, it provides everything you want in a relaxed open setting.

At Cidade de Goa, Dona Paula @ 8 am – 11 pm +918322454545

Edu’s Restaurant

A multi-cuisine restaurant with Indian, Chinese, international &Goan food.

Pizzas are one of their specialties.

DB Marg, Miramar, Panjim +91 832 2463777/2463888

Giardini

An alfresco restaurant, the menu here is exclusively Goan-Portuguese with some authentic Goan Catholic fare.

There’s live music on most nights.

At Curca, Bambolim @ 11:30 am – 11 pm +918805873335

Sher-e-Punjab

Well-known for its traditional North Indian fare, the restaurant serves Punjabi classics like Sarson da Saag, Paneer Makhani, Dal Makhani, Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka Biryani& Mutton Dry Fry. At Rue 18th June, Near Levis showroom, Panjim +91 832 227204/227975

From page 7

Lahsooni Jhinga 13. Lightly mix the biryani taking care not to break or mash the rice.

SERVING 14. Plate the hot Chicken Biryani and garnish it with fried nuts and onions.

15. Sprinkle chopped fresh coriander and serve along with a raita (yogurt salad).

Grilled Lamb Kebabs

Lamb kebabs are another must-have addition to the Eid table in many parts of the world.

Preparation time: 60 min | Cooking time: 20 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients: • Lamb without bones - 1 Pound • Yellow onions - 4 Small , quartered • Cherry tomatoes - 8 • Bay leaves - 4 • Oil - 1⁄4 Cup (4 tbs) • Soy sauce - 2 Teaspoon • Salt - To Taste • Black peppercorns - 6 , crushed • Rosemary - 1 Teaspoon • Lemon juice - 1 Tablespoon

Directions: GETTING READY 1. In a bowl mix the ingredients of the marinade.

2. Cut the lamb into bite sized pieces and add to the bowl.

3. Marinade the meat for 1 hr

MAKING 4. Take 4 skewers and lightly oil them.

5. Starting with onions, alternately arrange onion, meat and cherry tomatoes on each skewers. Finish off with a bay leaf.

6. Grill over fire for about 10-15 minutes. Turn often and brush with marinade.

SERVING 7. Once the meat is tender, immediately remove the meat and vegetables on a serving platter and serve with a spicy relish.

Bay leaves can be discarded.

TIP You may choose to make the kebabs more attractive by using colored bell peppers along with tomatoes and onions. This also enhances the taste of the kebabs.

Milky Seviyan Recipe

Milky seviyan is a popular Eid al-Fitr dessert in this part of the world. Here’s a delicious way to make it.

Recipe Ingredients • 1 gallon whole Milk • 1 1/2 cups pitted dried Dates • 1/4 cup sliced Almonds • 1/4 cup sliced Pistachios • 1/4 cup dried and shredded unsweetened Coconut • 1 1/2 cups Sugar • 1 cup roasted vermicelli, broken into small pieces • 10 crushed Cardamom pods • 1/4 cup yellow Raisins • 2 drops kewra • Recipe Method In a large pot over high heat, bring the milk to a boil. Add the dates and continue to cook over medium heat for another 20 minutes. Stir constantly, so the milk doesn’t stick to the pan.

After 20 minutes, or when the milk is the consistency of half and half, add almonds, pistachios, coconut and sugar. Let cook for 10 minutes over medium heat or until the milk thickens a little more. Add vermicelli and stir constantly. When milk thickens further, add the cardamom, raisins and two drops of kewra, if using. The dessert is a warm, creamy soup with thin noodles when finished.

Feature 11

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Their stories in their own words Ethel Da Costa with her two daughters

By Goa Streets

N

o, they don’t want our sympathy.

And they’re not looking for kind glances either. But in our patriarchal set-up, single moms don’t have it so easy. What are their challenges?

And what keeps them going? Journalist Jonathan Rodrigues caught up with two single moms from Goa, Helen Walia and Ethel Da Costa, to learn their side of the story.

Helen Walia From our childhoods, girls are programmed to get married, listen to the in-laws and put our husbands’ needs first. But, women have come a long way

from those stereotypes. It’s not fair to say that a woman’s place is at home, although running a house is not an easy task.

Today, women work, take care of kids and run the family. Being single, I know how difficult a job this is. These days, there are many marriages breaking up. One of the reasons, I believe, is that men think it is beneath their dignity to share the burden of housework and bring up kids. Women have progressed a lot and men have become insecure about it. If a man can drink and smoke, why can’t a woman? If it’s wrong for the woman, then it’s wrong for the man too.

It’s awesome being a mom. But it is always difficult when you bring up a

kid as a single parent. There are some questions which you need to answer with care to your children – something that wouldn’t be as difficult for couples. In our society, people always ask personal questions about your ex-partner. They always want to know the whys and hows of what happened and pass judgment.

Earlier, it was very painful when people passed all sorts of comments about me without knowing the truth. There were times when I used to lock myself away. But not anymore, because a few wonderful people entered my life and today they are my best friends.

My inspiration was my daughter. She showed me to live life, she told me not to

care about gossip. She told me to live my life to the max! I have learnt a lot through her and my friends. And I have learnt another thing: Judgmental people are the ones who have skeletons in their closets.

Today, nothing affects me.

I am happy now. It is lovely when single moms find love again. Life is all about moving on. Today I am living my life the way I want to live it. I have evolved into a better person. I learnt through my mistakes. You don’t have to be single to be free. When you can be what you want, speak your mind freely and conquer your fears – that is freedom.

Ethel Da Costa Being ‘single’ is different from being a ‘single mom’. If the former is about freedom, the latter is about freedom with responsibility. ‘Single’ and ‘single mom’ are both a state of mind, requiring intelligence, self belief and maturity in action. Both are extremely fun states of minds, if managed with a good head on the shoulders and economic independence.

Frivolous husbands are different from abusive husbands. Both, of course, border on lack of self respect first. Women can choose to become victims, survivors or fighters. Women can also choose to be forgiving and work on their relationships, or decide that boundaries have been broken & disrespected and act on them.

A healthy trend is one which results in positive action.

The only thing that mattered to me after I turned single again was my own self growth and the safety of my children.

My father, a traditional and conservative man, actively encouraged me to think for myself and be responsible for my decisions. I fought vociferously without losing my identity. I worked very hard with single-minded focus, a strong sense of self-worth and purpose toward creating my own destiny. I have been and am the provider for my family, so it does not matter what others have to say.

What matters is what I have to say about it and how I deal with the role I have given myself. I am my own hero and my children’s too. I take full responsibility for my decision to be a single mother. I have not regretted this decision, not once in my entire life.

If self-thinking leads to empowerment and economic independence (and hence a country of strong, independent, self-dependent women), it is a country walking toward its full self-sufficient potential. Women, after all, give birth to a nation. Indian women were responsible for the freedom struggle.

So many Goan women have contributed to Goa’s Liberation. Men who respect, appreciate and support this role, are truly enlightened souls. We need more of them.

I am a fun-loving mom. My children complain they find it tough to keep up with my energy, enthusiasm and dreams.

I’m very proud of my two daughters. I believe they chose me to be their parent, so naturally I would battle the world for them. There are friends in my life who I love unconditionally. But yes, it would be awesome to meet a spiritual, creative, fun mate to appease my hippie heart. That would be endless music...

12 Cover Story

North vs South – and the winner is…

By Puja Roy @AriAsher

I

Letting lose at a party in Baga

n New York, there’s the battle between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

In Mumbai, it’s SoBo versus the western suburbs. And in Berlin, despite there being no wall, you still see rivalry between west and east.

Like all of those places, Goa at its core is one unified land. And yet there was a time not too long ago when very few dared marry someone from across the River Zuari, and when northern and southern Goans didn’t exactly look up to each other. Even today, a certain mild contempt persists, even if the social and cultural differences are melting away.

Now some might say I’m not qualified to write about the differences between North and South Goa. After all, I’m a Bengali who was raised in Assam. But the truth is I was assigned this story because I am an outsider. Who better to assess these differences without bias than a person with no stake in them? Well, at least that’s what my editors thought. You be the judge.

We all know the stereotypes – the North is congested and cosmopolitan and overdeveloped. The South is pristine and laidback and, perhaps, a little boring.

The stereotypes, I realised, may contain a kernel of truth, but really only that, a kernel. These days it’s really not correct to say the South is not a party place (Palolem was recently named one the Top 10 Party Beaches in the world by the website Business Insider). Or that the North lacks serenity. Or that business is the purview of the South. Or that congestion isn’t a Southern problem.

Whatever the differences, today most Goans seem to celebrate rather than bemoan them. That’s good, of course, but an even better thing would be if North Goans and South Goans heed the lessons of their respective mistakes.

Award-winning Konkani writer Damodar Mauzo offers a historical perspective to the question of what separates the North from the South, referring to the Velhas Conquistas (Old Conquests) of the early 16th century as partly responsible for the cultural differences between the two sides. He says the impact of Portuguese culture is seen more in South Goa because the Portuguese wanted to keep the

Photographs by Ananda Krishna

Cover Story 13

A cyclist rides through the beautiful countryside of South Goa

new converts to Catholicism away from the influence of Hinduism, practiced widely in the Novas Conquistas (New Conquests) – the areas of Goa which were annexed much later in the 18th century. The Novas Conquistas are located in both North and South, but there are more in the North. All this might help explain why there’s more Portuguese food and language in the South. Or why the Ovi, traditional Goan wedding songs that pre-dated the Portuguese, are more prevalent in the North than the South (though of course the South still has its fair share of it).

When I started interviewing actual Goans about all this, the subject that came up as much as any other was language. The Konkani language varies from taluka to taluka; changing significantly as one crosses the Zuari. In Bardez (North Goa), the Bardezi dialect prevails while South Goans generally talk in the Sashtti dialect. Jose Lourenço, a South Goa-based engineer and writer (and my predecessor at Streets!), says “Bardezkars and Sashttikars tend to mock each other’s dialects and find the intonation funny. In tiatr (Konkani theatre), the Bardezi dialect is used for formal speech, while the Sashtti style is used for comedy.”

Journalist Cecil Pinto, a North Goan says, “We speak Konkani. They (South Goans) chant Konkani. All their Konkani interrogations end in a ‘u’ sound.” Pantaleao Fernandes, a South Goan married to a North Goan, says “In Salcette, a lot of people, especially the fisherfolk, speak in a singsong manner. Up North, it’s just milder. I enjoy this language difference.”

Now we come to the ‘real’ difference that a lot of Goans feel exists – that of lifestyle. Let’s hear what some young Goans have to say about this.

Turn to page 14

14 Cover Story From page 13 First, from Mumbai-based Alisha D’Souza, a 25-year-old media professional originally from Saligao in North Goa: “South Goa is much more chilled out, very beautiful. It is a lot greener and has many islands that people generally aren’t aware of. But there is a vast difference in terms of tourism and parties.

The entertainment spots – be they restaurants or clubs are in the North. The South has many 5-star hotels where tourists are mostly families and those who’re into swimming and yoga. It’s too peaceful for my taste.”

And this from 24-year-old Jonah Rodrigues from Utorda in the South: “Life on my side of the Zuari is comparatively more laidback.

Lifestyles, be they recreation or religious, are still conservative and cautious. Parents are not liberal and thus youngsters don’t venture out for late nights. Another reason could be that Margao is dead by 9 pm. There isn’t much one can do, unlike, say Panjim. People in the South have a bad notion of the North because of drugs and the party culture. But I feel North Goa is more accepting and tolerant.”

For all those new to Goa or too young to remember what life was like before bridges were built over the Zuari and Mandovi Rivers, it used to be Margao, not Panjim, that buzzed at night. In the old days Panjim closed up by 7 pm, as soon the government offices called it a night.

Besides the building of the bridges, the big change began when the hippies landed in North Goa and tourism started developing there – setting that part of the state on the road to fast development.

Installation artist Subodh Kerkar, a North Goan, offers a slightly different take on the ‘flamboyant’ image of North

Goa popularised by its parties and beaches. He says, “The hippies landed in the Anjuna-Baga-Calangute belt initially which explains the presence of so many crowded, and interesting, restaurants and shacks. The kind of buildings that have come up there are ‘cancerous’ with no proper infrastructure or aesthetics. While I personally don’t believe in the NorthSouth divide, I think the yet-untouched South Goan seaside could learn from the mistakes of the North.”

He believes the lack of a tourism policy is to blame for the damage to North Goa’s beaches. “The shack culture

has destroyed many of the traditional practices in the North. But in the South, you still get to see some lovely things from the past, like Rapon (traditional cooperative fishing where hundreds of fishermen fish together by casting a kilometre-long net into the sea) in places like Benaulim.”

It’s been a long time since Goans had to cross a river by ferry or boat to get from South to North. And gone are the days when Goans preferred to secure brides and grooms strictly from their areas “because Mapusa was very far from Margao”. But, as Damodar Mauzo says, “that mental block still exists”. Today, North Goans and South Goans are obviously falling in love and getting married to each other (half the people I interviewed for this story have spouses from a different part of the state), enjoying Goa’s natural treasures, and happily laughing at each other’s eccentricities.

And now for my conclusion as an outsider.

At the end of the day, there are very few significant differences between North and South Goa. In the course of doing this story,

people from the South repeatedly spoke of the laidback sussegado attitude of northerners. And that’s exactly what many northerners said of their southern brothers and sisters. Same goes for business. The number of people claiming the South was the centre of business was very similar to those who said it was the North. My conclusion, therefore, is that a lot of the perceived differences between North and South are in fact just that – perceptions, rather than reality. Perhaps based on attitudes and ideas that existed before the bridges were built and before the hippies settled in Anjuna.

I recently heard a North Goan complain bitterly about the driving habits in the South, and a South Goan make the same complaint about the reckless driving in the North. While I was mulling over my dilemma over whom to believe, Sumeet Bhobe, a North Goan businessman who owns the luxurious Snip Salon chain, sent me this email: “How does one quantify the privilege of living in one of the friendliest holiday spots of the world? With a relaxed attitude, sussegad re…” Sumeet wrote these words as his aircraft touched the tarmac of Dabolim Airport. As he landed, he wondered, “What makes Goa, well, Goa?” The answer hit him as soon as the aircraft door opened and a blast of warm balmy air greeted him ‘welcome home.’

“This warm, welcoming air is felt everywhere, be it North or South Goa… While South Goa is the solitude you seek, North Goa could have the answer to your loneliness. They may be two worlds apart, but they are part of the same Universe…” _____ Puja Roy is Head of Content at Goa Streets

15

Thursday, August 8, 2013

streetspicks

All-Goa Dance Competition

ysd.society@gmail.com

Put on your dancing shoes for the 43rd edition of the All-Goa Dance Competition on Saturday, August 10.

Performance categories will be hip-hop/fusion, with a maximum of 8 members in each group. Best group will be rewarded!

At Dugrem Ground, Agassaim +91 7507437370/7507891052

Just Phool It! Learn how to make simple garlands, traditional venis and gajras in a workshop organised

by Kalpana: Imagine & Create.

The session will involve real flowers and will be taught by Janani Narayan. It’s open to both children (9 years and above) and adults. Register before 2 pm, Friday.

At House # 43, Rangavi Estate, Bogmalo Road, Vasco @ 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm +91 832 253828/9422437623

By Puja Roy @AriAsher

Y

All-Goa Ad Film Contest COOJ Mental Health Foundation, in collaboration with the Department of Mass Communication & Videography at St Xavier’s College, Mapusa, is organising the All-Goa Intercollege Ad Film Contest as part of its suicide prevention awareness programme. If you have a knack for filming and are interested in sociallyresponsible ad films, drop by at

St Xavier’s on August 12.

At St Xavier’s College, PO Box #32, Mapusa, Bardez +91 832 2262356/2250705 Email: xavierscollege@bsnl.in

Special Independence Day Exhibition For those of you who love khadi, visit a special exhibition of khadi products organised by Art Escape on the occasion of our 66th Independence Day. The exhibition will feature handmade khadi bags, kurtas and sarees. Go ahead, splurge on your khadi cravings this I-Day! At Art Escape, Benaulim @ 12 pm onward +91 9881568756

The quirky titles of some fine books

Photograph by Ananda Krishna

ou can’t judge a book by its cover, but what about its title? I found some non-fiction books with highly quirky titles that perhaps could have been dismissed as a publishing house’s gimmick were it not for the fact that, in each case, the books are damn good – worthy of the distinction of their namesakes. Here, quirky reader, are my favourite books with quirky titles!

Becoming China’s Bitch And Nine More Catastrophes We Must Avoid Right Now (Author: Peter Kiernan) Of course a book with a title like that is going to catch your attention. After all, a former partner at global investment-banking giant Goldman Sachs is discussing how the United States needs to avoid 10 major ‘catastrophes’, the most urgent one being becoming archrival China’s, er, bitch. But the book is not about propagandist China-bashing.

It’s a pragmatic look at how America, the world’s economic powerhouse, has ‘lost its mojo’ and is getting ‘semiconsciously dependent’ on China on the economic front. Author Peter Kiernan, a selfdescribed ‘Radical-Centrist’, analyses the reasons sustaining America’s ‘national paralysis’ (including

ineffectual bipartisanship, irresponsible lobbying, influential, biased think tanks), and China’s dramatic rise to economic superstardom.

Emergency Sex And Other Desperate Measures: A True Story From Hell On Earth (Authors: Heidi Postlewait, Kenneth Cain & Andrew Thomson) One of the best investments in my library to date, Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures is a memoir of three United Nations staffers whose paths repeatedly cross at the ‘peacekeeping hotspots’ of Cambodia, Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Haiti and Liberia in the early 1990s. Narrated in turn by the

Turn to page 16

16 Arts&Entertainent August 17 – August 20

Faces & Places – Photography Exhibition

Photography enthusiasts should check out this unique photography exhibition by Neil Rodriguez where he juxtaposes portraits of people to their home environment.

At Kala Academy, Campal, Panjim @ 10 am – 7:30 pm +91 832 2420450/2420451

August 18 Solo Tabla Competition

Gomant Vidhya Niketan is organising its annual All-Goa Late Sushant Solo Tabla Competition. The competition is open to all and will be in two groups - Senior (12 – 18 years) and Junior (up to 12 years).

Each competitor shall perform for 8 – 10 minutes. Cash prizes will be given to winners in both categories.

At Gomant Vidhya Niketan, Margao @ 9 am. +91 832 2710847

August 19 – August 25 Goa Photography Festival

A week-long festival, it will include contests, workshops, lectures, demonstration, exhibitions, photo walks and quizzes. It will also feature a photography contest on the theme ‘Monsoon Moods’.

At Ravindra Bhavan, Opposite Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Margao +91 832 2726980/9422437100

From page 15

Galleries Of Note Big Foot Art Gallery

Big Foot displays traditional and modern artworks by local artists, exhibitions of Goan schoolchildren and handicrafts made by Goan craftsmen from bamboo stem, seashells and cane.

At Big Foot Art Gallery, Loutolim @ 9 am – 6 pm +91 832 2777034

Kerkar Art Gallery

The Kerkar Art Gallery exhibits installations and sculptures by local artists such as Subodh Kerkar and selected works by contemporary artists from all over India. It also organises workshops of painters and sculptors to create a healthy dialogue between artistic traditions of the East and the West. Apart from original art, the gallery sells reproductions of famous paintings and frames. At Gauravaddo, Calangute @ 10 am – 7 pm +91 832 2276017

Panaji Art Gallery

The Panaji Art Gallery displays figurative & individual works of art by local Goan artists.

At Panaji Art Gallery @ 9 am – 8 pm +919822168703

Ruchika’s Art Gallery

Ruchika’s Art Gallery displays fine art, performing art and new forms of art.

Opposite Goa Marriott Resort, Miramar @ 10:30 am – 6 pm +91 8322465875/9850571283/9881836400

Surya Art Gallery

Surya Art Gallery is situated in a quiet location where contemporary works of canvas paintings & artefacts of Goa are displayed.

At Bandawalwada, Pernem +919404149764

Xavier Centre Of Historical Research

Catch exhibitions of paintings, rare books and symposiums with particular emphasis on contemporary cultural &social issues affecting Goa. At BB Borkar Road, Porvorim +91 832 2417772

author-protagonists, the book follows Heidi Postlewait (‘ridiculously goodlooking’, she joins the UN straight after her divorce from a Manhattan-based modelling agent), Kenneth Cain (a Harvard Law School grad) and Andrew Thomson (a New Zealand-born doctor who goes to work in Cambodia after meeting a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide in med school) and their journeys from naïveté to despair and cynicism as they come to terms with the inner (read corrupt) workings of the bureaucratic behemoth that is the UN. Each one joins the UN with the desire to make the world a better place. But travelling from one foreign mission to another, this idealism unravels in the real world of kickbacks, incompetence and cowardice at the highest levels of power. Critical of the UN’s policies and peacekeeping failures, the book is also an intensely open and honest account of the authors’ personal struggles with love & loss, faith (in God, and ‘the system’) in the background of civil war and genocide. (Streets’ Trivia: The UN, under the Secretary-Generalship of Kofi Annan, considered the contents of this book to be too offensive and wanted it ‘suppressed’.)

My Friend The Fanatic: Travels With A Radical Islamist (Author: Sadanand Dhume) Travelogue writing from the frontlines of the world’s most dangerous zones is a fad that picked up post 9/11, what with journalists ‘embedding’ themselves with members of the political pariah – terrorists, Islamists, terrorist-Islamist sympathisers. My Friend The Fanatic is one such book where Indian-American

author Sadanand Dhume travels through the length and breadth of Indonesia with Herry Nurdi, the editor of the country’s foremost fundamentalist magazine who hero-worships Osama bin Laden. The story unfolds through very different eyes – Dhume’s atheist, Western-educated ones and Nurdi’s conservative Westernwary ones. The book introduces readers to contrasting landscapes within a fastchanging society through characters like Abu Bakar Bashir (the head of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian branch of al Qaeda), Inul Daratista (a popular singer and inventor of a risqué dance called ‘drilling’), televangelist AA Gym, sex workers, sorcerers and politicians.

Serious yet funny, this book is a fine piece of travel literature that explores the contradictions of globalisation and Islamisation in 21st century Indonesia.

The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa In Theory & Practice (Author: Christopher Hitchens) In our uber-sensitive world, the road is usually a long and solitary one for those who choose to go against general perceptions of religions and their advocates. And to write a critical book on someone who has been globally lauded and recognised for her contributions to society’s weak and downtrodden is by no means an easy feat. I’m talking about renowned atheist Christopher Hitchens and his investigations on Mother Teresa’s life and works that culminated in his controversial book controversially titled The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa In Theory & Practice. This book is essentially a condemnation of Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity (which he calls a cult that promotes suffering). He alleges her to be a political opportunist and dogmatist who acted to the detriment of the very people she was claiming to serve. Other charges include her support for unscrupulous figures like

Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and disgraced former financial executive Charles Keating (accused of defrauding investors of billions of dollars). Read this book only if your sensibilities aren’t going to get offended!

The Wisdom Of Whores (Author: Elizabeth Pisani) “When people ask me what I do, I say ‘Sex and drugs’…” says the preface to former Reuters correspondent-turned‘accidental epidemiologist’ Elizabeth Pisani’s book The Wisdom of Whores. The author is consciously provocative because “saying I do sex and drugs saves me explaining that epidemiology is the study of how diseases spread in a population…

And it is a good conversation starter.

Everybody has something to say about sex and drugs.” This book is meant for people not involved with AIDS in any form to know about the disease. It provides a microscopic view into the shady alleys of Jakarta, Hong Kong, Thailand and Nairobi with vivid descriptions of Ms Pisani’s interviews with pimps, prostitutes, transvestites, drug dealers and users there. While it primarily deals with that group of people who’re at the root of the disease, the book has a parallel narrative that deals with the business and politics of AIDS. It provides a scathing criticism of the global community’s failure to prevent the endemic from spreading and shows how the AIDS programme is being influenced by people with political/ religious agendas (from Muslim clerics in Southeast Asia and Africa to rightwing American politicians.) The Wisdom of Whores was meant to be a literary blitzkrieg – it shocked and awed. Read it for its well-researched content and Ms Pisani’s passionate take on a subject most people are either too prudish to talk about or have absolutely no time for.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

streetspicks Goa Food & Hospitality Expo Goa’s premium and largest food & hospitality-focussed trade show of the year, the Goa Food & Hospitality Expo will showcase a variety of products catering to hotels, restaurants, cafes, bakeries and fast-food joints from established brands. If you’re in the hospitality business, visit between August 8 – 11.

At Taleigao Community Centre, Panjim @10 am – 7 pm +91 9822689598

All-Goa Fishing Contest Like fishing? Take part in the 14th annual All-Goa Fishing Competition, organised by the fishing lovers of Ribandar in memory of the late Domingos Pinto on August 15. Participants will be required to get their bait and only one hook will be allowed for the line.

At Opposite Goa Institute of Management, Ribandar @ 11:30 am onward +91 750734174/9763379074

Goa Chitra With a collection of over 4,000 artefacts, Goa Chitra is an ethnographic museum that focuses on Goa’s traditional agrarian lifestyle and technology. It includes collection of local pottery, farming tools, musical instruments, ancient carts and palanquins. Visit for a walk down history and Goa’s interesting ancient past. At Goa Chitra, Mondo-Waddo, Benaulim @ 9 am – 5 pm +91 832 6570877/9850466165 Email: goachitra@gmail.com

Sahakari Spice Farm Spend a day among the lush green environs of the 130-acre Sahakari Spice Farm. Relax under a dense forest cover and take in the aroma of a variety of spices grown in the farm. Also, enjoy a traditional Goan lunch served in earthen pots & banana leaves.

At Ponda-Belgaum Highway, Curti, Ponda +91 832 2312394 Email: info@sahakarifarms.com

July 18 – October 15

August 10

A workshop on oil & acrylic painting on canvas designed for amateur artists.

Selected art works will be exhibited at the organisation’s annual exhibition.

At Canopy Azure, Art & Design Community, Margao @ 3:30 pm – 6 pm +91 9326135577

Explore your creativity at Chitrangan, the weekend art studio, at Gallery Gitanjali this Saturday. Learn about water colours, oil pastels and acrylics with an experienced teacher over 12 modules.

At Gallery Gitanjali, Panjim @ 2:30 pm – 6:30 pm +91 832 2423331/7350530445

Advanced Arts Programme

August 8 Mass At Montir Chapel

A mass will be held in honour of Our Lady of the Mount at Mount Mary Chapel in Montir on Thursday. Free transport will be made available to devotees at 4:45pm from Old Goa Post Office to the chapel and back.

At Mount Mary Chapel, Montir, Old Goa @ 5 pm

Quiz Competition

Goa Legislature Secretariat is organising the All-Goa Inter-collegiate Quiz Competition to mark the Golden Jubilee Year of the Constitution of the First Legislative Assembly of Goa, Daman and Dui. At Assembly Complex, Alto-Porvorim @ 10 am – 1 pm +91 832 2493200

Weekend Art Workshop

August 15

Independence Day Road Races

The Directorate of Sports & Youth Affairs, in collaboration with Goa Amateur Athletic Association, is organising the Annual Independence Day Road Race from From Old Secretariat, Panjim, to Miramar and back, immediately after the official function on August 15.

Participants need to report at the venue at 7:30 am.

At Old Secretariat, Panjim @7:30 am

Incredible India Quizzes

The International Centre Goa in partnership with the Sunday Evening Quiz Club will host the Incredible India Quizzes on Independence Day. The event consists of two quizzes – one for schools (begins at 2 pm) and the other an open quiz (begins at 5 pm).

The focus of both the quizzes will be on all things Indian. Cash rewards and trophies will be awarded to the top three teams. Last date for registration is August 10. At The International Centre Goa, Dona Paula For registrations, email seqcgoa@gmail.com +91 832 2452805

August 19

Launch of Find All Goa App

This state-of-the-art Android App will provide up-to-date information at your fingertips and will be launched

by Indian Squash player Ritwik Bhattacharya. At Hotel Fidalgo, Panjim +91 832 2473229/2473299

Everyday

Free Swimming Guidance

Organised by Walter Mascarenhas; every day by prior appointment only.

At The International Centre Goa, Dona Paula @ 5 pm – 7 pm +91 9822911161

TukTuk

From apparel to silver jewellery, bags to accessories and souvenirs to curios, everything at TukTuk is hand-picked from across India.

At A 104, Pereira Plaza, 1st Floor, Opposite Hospicio, Margao @ 10:30 am – 1:30 pm & 2:30 pm – 7 pm +91 9049017182

Spice Farms

Savoi Plantation

Offers traditional Goan Saraswat cuisine served in mud pots & banana leaf plates along with seasonal fruits grown in the plantation At Ponda +91 832 2340272/9423888899 Email: savaiplantation@rediffmail.com

Tropical Spice Plantation

Located in a village yet untouched by pollution, the Tropical Spice Plantation is spread over a setting that allows one to soak in the joys of nature at her unadulterated best. Listen to birds chirp & sing, ride on elephants, stroll through betel-nut plantations or just laze around by a stream. If peace of mind is what you’re looking for, the Tropical Spice Plantation is a good place to find just that.

At Arla Bazar Keri, Ponda +91 832 2340329 Email: tropicalspice@rediffmail.com

Museums

Museum Of Christian Art

Open all days of the week at the Convent of Santa Monica, Old Goa. @ 9:30 am – 5 pm +91 832 2285299

Ancestral Goa

A centre for the preservation & promotion of art, culture & environment started by Maendra JA Alvares. At Big Foot, Loutolim @9 am – 6 pm +91 832 2777034 Email: ancestralgoa@gmail.com Website:www.ancestralgoa.com

Casa Araujo Alvares

Goa’s first automated sound & light museum. A 250-year-old mansion showcasing traditional inheritance.

At Big Foot, Loutolim @ 9 am – 6 pm +91 832 2777034 Email: bigfoottrust@gmail.com Website: www.casaaraujoalvares.com

Dance

David Furtado Dance & Aerobics

Learn salsa, jive, waltz for adults & Bollywood, hip hop & contemporary dance for kids. @ Panjim, Mapusa, Porvorim, Candolim, Aldona & Saligao +91 9975914195

Dr Martin & Dance Illusions Team Learn waltz, jive, cha cha cha, tango, Viennese waltz & salsa. @ Panjim, Vasco, Margao +91 9823014397

Jason & Sylvia Dance Academy

Hip-hop, Bollywood, Latin American & jazz ballet for kids. @ Panjim, Mapusa +91 9822161652/9822151614

Cyrus Da Costa Dance Classes Learn Viennese waltz, foxtrot, cha cha cha and jive from Monday to Saturday. @ Sirvodem, Margao +91 832 2715906/9921039537

Languages

Alliance Francaise

Alliance Francaise offers high quality French training in Goa. By choosing to study at Alliance Francaise, you join a large and diverse network of students. Courses are designed to meet individual French needs.

House #46A, PE Agnelo Road, Near Menezes Polyclinic, Altinho-Panjim +91 832 2420049/9922813950

Cooking

Cooking Classes For Foreigners

Learn how to cook Indian, Goan, vegetarian cuisine, including desserts and starters.

At Detroit Institute, Panjim @ 12 pm – 2 pm (finishing with lunch) & 5 pm – 7 pm (finishing with dinner) +91 9822131835 Email: detroitinstitute@gmail.com

North Goa Snip Salon Spas

At Padmavati Towers, Panjim @ 10 am to 9 pm 2420898/989 www.snipsalonandspa.com

Sephora Salon & Spa

A Dubai-based beauty services chain Nr. Don Bosco School, Panjim. @ 9 am to 9 pm, Open daily 2231314, 3260890

Papiillon The Beauty

Lounge

Virginkar Bhavan, Opposite Saraswat Bank, Margao, Goa - 403601 9822488355, 9822488366, (0832) 6483110, 6483111, 6480107, 6480106

Snip Salon & Spa

the SNIP Salon & Spa offers an array of treatments specifically including massages, scrubs, ayurvedic therapy, hair treatments and anti aging facials.

At Calangute candolim road, Candolim +91 832 2275421

Spa Sitara

At Fort Aguada Rd, Candolim +918888886084

The Orient Spa at the Cambay Beach Resort,

Holiday Street,Kerkar Art Gallery Lane, Calangute, Bardez, Goa - 403 516 Phone: +91 832 2276151, 2277397 Spa Manager: +91 91580 07110

South Goa Park Hyatt Goa Resort

and Spa

Sereno Spa at Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa is a unique health and wellness oasis that offers holistic treatments through a blend of unique therapies.

At Arossim Beach, Cansaulim +918322721234/+919923207075

Amanya Spa & Salon

Traditional Ayurvedic Therapies, Relaxing European Massages, Mystical Oriental Therapies, Rejuvenating Body Scrubs and Wraps, Pampering Bath Preparations, Indulging Facials At Ranghvi Estate, Dabolim (Near airport), Vasco, +918326486888/+918322538661/ +919096700407

18 Community

W

e at Streets love the concept of Citizen Journalism and want to hear stories from you, our readers. If there’s any topic that interests/ concerns you and you think should be read by the people of Goa, do send in your write-ups at streets@goastreets.com.

This week, we start with Ginza George (Twitter handle: @GOAgaga) and her piece on romance and Goa’s monsoon. Enjoy!

Duh-Off-Season!

Wet, wet, wet. I take my suitcase and bag out of the Rajdhani Express and into the silver rain. Still heady from the bliss of devouring Tar Baby on the train and the light-headedness of a runaway mom, I surprise myself when I wink at the winsome rain. The ‘off-season’ in Goa during the monsoon strikes a dreary note with bleak, rain-filled days clouding the senses. But I look up and smile at the fierce drops slicing their way right to my feet.

It’s just difficult to get anything done in the rain. And I had so much to do! But the unsullied delight of the overwhelming surrounding green tipped me off balance. It was not just the landscape that pinched my bottom, but the romance trapped in the air bewitched me with its unfailing poetry. You need to be here to experience it. And you really need this hog-wild weather and broken rules to feed your soul. The good weather can wait.

‘Off-season’ is an underrated term for Goa’s monsoon. It’s definitely the best time and the best place to be sipping hot chai and munching poi from the local stall. You can’t but enjoy the land touched by the rain and bred to copious green fertility. You can’t but unleash the latent romance in you in those busty cold winds. The roads are so uncluttered and the pavements scream

for some action. (Two-wheelers for those who love to rain-dance and four-wheelers for those who want their cottons unruffled.)

While many favourite eat-outs remain closed, you will be sweetly surprised at how many hidden nuggets you manage to unearth.

There are the upscale bars to swing your polished hips in and the rustic shacks to stumble out swaggering in the chilly night air, the heat of alcohol nipping its way through your body.

I enjoyed licking the masala in the Prawn Chilly at Crazy Crabs in its dingy light. I equally loved the sophistication of Malts n Wines and digging into steaks and warm camaraderie at the House of Llyods or The Backyard!

So you see, there’s good food, wine and seduction happening in the soggy air, unlike the ‘season’ when you’re gutted by a chockfull of options and breathless planning. The rains provide you a trance of calm and restfulness to soothe your frayed nerves.

I traipsed the lush fields one fine drizzly morning. It was cold.

Soulful. Fluorescent green. Just lovely. Trust me, you would get as besotted with Goa as I was, with the gushing rains ripping open the skies ruthlessly! Photographs by Ananda Krishna

GCCI Media Awards 2013 The Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry organised its first ever GCCI Media Awards for journalists in Goa on August 1.Lambert Mascarenhas was given lifetime achievement award.The other awardees included: Guilherme Almeida (best English journalist), Suhasini Prabhugaonkar (best vernacular journalist), Pramod Acharya (best electronic media journalist) and Raju Nayak (best editor)

Feature 19

Thursday, August 8, 2013

By Pedro Menezes

E

ver since the allegedly booming underground sex industry in Goa made it to the cover of India Today a few years ago in a sensational story headlined ‘Sex and Drugs on Cocaine Coast’, things haven’t really been the same in Goa. There’s no denying it: the sex industry in Goa is flourishing, even though it’s largely invisible.

Talking to Streets recently, Mathew Kurian, founder of an NGO which works with HIV+ people and displaced street children, said that a large number of migrant women are involved in the trade.

“There must be at least 3,000 prostitutes in Goa,” he said.

A casual Google search for ‘sex in Goa’ throws up dozens of websites which offer all kinds of women - Indian, Goan, and foreign. All you have to do is send them an email or call them, and they’re yours. Besides this, there are dozens of advertisements which appear in the local newspapers offering ‘massage services’ at your doorstep, and of course, plenty of ‘massage parlours’, especially in the coastal tourism belt of Calangute-Candolim which is frequented by thousands of tourists every day. (In Goa a good number of the so-called ‘Ayurvedic massage parlours’ are a front for prostitution, bringing a bad name to the few genuine Ayurvedic centres.)

Then there are the dance bars. Last Saturday Calangute MLA Michael Lobo held a press conference to report that recently shut down ‘dance bars’ serving as fronts for prostitution were trying to reopen with the new season fast approaching. And that’s not counting the street-walkers who can be found in towns and cities like Panjim and Margao.

The action, though, is concentrated in the North Goa coastal belt. In the last

Hidden But Thriving year and a half, the Calangute police alone have conducted 20 raids and ‘rescued’ around 50 women. Some of the raids were on massage parlours, a few in ‘dance bars’, while other prostitution rings were exposed using decoy customers.

A sex worker who we called Sara spoke to Streets some time ago, and gave some unique insights into the life of a prostitute in Goa. She explained how she got into the trade as a young woman after being approached by a lady who took her to an apartment full of men. She thinks she may have been drugged as she found herself in bed the next morning with a strange man without remembering what had happened.

Still, the mother of four said, “I am grateful to the woman who got me into this line … Sometimes, I wonder how I would have made ends meet by toiling as a construction labourer, a vegetable seller, or a house maid.”

“Look, I charge Rs 150 for five minutes.

The deal is clear; if he doesn’t come in five minutes, he has to pay me another Rs 150 and I will try again. And, never without a condom,” Sara said matter-of-

factly.

AIDS, of course, is a huge issue for prostitutes in Goa. Out of the 467 HIV cases detected in 2012 in Goa, a whopping 440 were transmitted by unsafe sex, according the Goa AIDS Control Society. Sex-workers fall in a particularly high-risk group.

Talking to Streets, Calangute police inspector Nilesh Rane agrees there is a booming sex industry, but says it’s impossible to close down the sex rackets completely for various reasons. “There are three types of sex workers,” he says.

“There are the upper class women who do it for the money and perhaps the pleasure also. They charge huge amounts as fees, sometimes in lakhs, and are very glamorous. They do this for the money which they need to maintain their expensive lifestyles. It is very difficult for the police to catch these women because they operate on the five-star level through a very confidential network.

“Then there are the middle-class women who do it for the extra money.

They may not do it regularly. After which there are trafficked women who are usually kept by the pimps at a fixed place

and used to entertain clients.”

Currently, women involved in the industry are ‘rescued’ in the presence of an NGO and then sent to a protective home in Merces for their rehabilitation.

The law considers these women to be victims, not criminals. But, say the police, most of the women do this of their own volition. Despite what Rane said about trafficked women, the number of such cases in Goa is not high, unlike, say, the red-light area of Kamathipura in Mumbai.

When the Calangute police ‘rescued’ 18 women last month, the protective home in Merces had trouble accommodating all of them because of lack of space. So after a while, usually a few days or weeks, the women were released into the care of a relative.

Dilip Parulekar, the Minister for Child and Women Welfare, who oversees the functioning of the protective home, says that most of the women “are not interested in being rehabilitated.”

Once the women are picked up, the NGOs and the police find out who their closest relatives are and get in touch with them. Most are from neighbouring states like Karnataka and Maharashtra, though many are from distant states like West Bengal, Odisha and increasingly from the northeastern states.

But many of these women have no homes to go back to, or their relatives don’t want them back. So when they are released from the protective home, and put on a train or bus to their native place, they simply get down after crossing the Goa border and come back to again ply their trade. And so it goes on.

The only real red-light area in Goa, which was at Baina Beach in Vasco, was razed to the ground back in 2004, displacing hundreds of women sex workers who then spread out all over Goa (much to the chagrin of NGOs who were no longer able to keep track of them).

Much of the discussion over prostitution in Goa has centred on government efforts to ‘rehabilitate’ female sex workers – something that has borne little or no fruit. As in the rest of India, few talk of the possibility of legalising prostitution, as many nations around the world have done in an effort to regulate the trade and ensure its participants remain safe and disease-free.

Not all would-be Johns come to Goa for women sex workers. There are those who come seeking male prostitutes as well, in addition to paedophiles in search of young boys. Though these cases seldom come to public attention, those who study the issue say there is a flourishing racket in the supply of young boys who are usually children of the migrant class. According to an estimate

by Child Relief and You (CRY) over 10,000 paedophiles visit Goa every year. Another assessment by Children’s Rights in Goa says that at any given point there are at least 100 paedophiles on the prowl in Goa. According to field data collected by national and international child rights organisations, a paedophile in Goa sexually exploits at least 20 children during his or her visit.

20 Hot Streets

Too old to be a Virgin?

Dear Acaricia May, I love my girlfriend very much, but really want to have a threesome with her and a female friend of hers. I haven’t told my girlfriend anything yet, because I’m scared she’ll get upset over it and leave me. What should I do?

Sajeet, Vasco Dear Sajeet, Try floating a trial balloon. Talk about threesomes in the third person – you know, about some other people who’ve engaged in it – and see how she reacts. If she finds the thought disgusting, sick and demented, then take that as as a sign not to proceed. If, on the other hand, she expresses interest or curiosity, then you could ask, “would you ever do anything like that?” Chances are at this point she might ask you to state your position on the matter first. And yes, if you blurt out the truth you do risk a slap in the face. So keep finessing it until she reveals her true feeling. Maybe say, “I’m not really sure if I’d do it. I guess it all depends on whether you’d do it with me.” (Granted, even that could elicit a face slap!) What I’m saying Sajeet, is that there are ways to explore this through something of a verbal dance. Be prepared for a red stop light at the outset though. And in this case, if you truly love her you will accept that a threesome is not to be.

Love, Acaricia May

Dear Acaricia May, I’m 25 years old and I’m still a virgin. I have a really active social life and there are lots of girls I really like. I’m the only one of my friends who still hasn’t done it, and at times I feel like the only virgin in the world. My friends always talk about their exploits, and it’s starting to make me feel uncomfortable. My closest friends know that I haven’t done it yet, and they sometimes joke about it, which makes me feel even more weird. There have been quite a few times I could have had sex, but for whatever reason I didn’t go through with it. Maybe it wasn’t the right time, or the right person. Maybe it has something to do with my religion or my upbringing. Do you think I’m too old to be a virgin?

Signed, Rajiv, Mumbai Dear Rajiv, No I do not think you’re too old. You will know when the time is right, and that time is different for all of us. Live your life as you see fit. Worry not what others think. Eventually you will find the right time and the right person. And when you do, I know you will savour the joy of love.

Love, Acaricia May

Feature 21 Photograph by Ananda Krishna

Thursday, August 8, 2013

An Interview with a Good One

T

raffic cops are the most feared and cursed lot among the many authorities that govern us. Our shutterbugs in the media are infatuated with clicking them in awkward and embarrassing moments.

Commuters see them as cheats and bullies who just want to burn holes in our pockets. But we often forget that these folks have a duty to keep us alive.

The truth is there are a lot of good traffic cops out there, despite the existence of some who don’t adhere to the discipline of their uniform. In an informal chat with journalist Jonathan Rodrigues, Inspector Sanjeet Desai, Assistant Director of Transport, Enforcement, South Goa, reveals the hurdles and challenges good cops face and the motivation that keeps them going despite all the negative labelling.

JR: The media are known to hound the cops always on the lookout for faults and mistakes. Does this negativity de-motivate or anger the personnel? How do you normally react to it?

SD: In India it has become a trend to blame the authorities when anything bad happens. It has been a regular phenomenon and something that we have to live with. Over the years the personnel have grown to not get demoralised or de-motivated, but rather have gone about judicially performing their duties irrespective of such negative criticism.

JR: It is a common allegation that the RTO is the best place to mint money. What are the different provisional remedies taken by the department to prevent corruption?

SD: Allegations are easy to make but difficult to substantiate. However any such allegations made with proper evidence is dealt with an iron hand.

We do have measures in place to keep a check on corrupt officials and are determined to keep it clean.

JR: People sometimes tend to connect the RTO to the Police Force. To what extent is the RTO associated with the Police.

SD: RT0 and the Police are two separate departments and their work is different. The basic difference to identify them is their attire. (RTO-Kaki & Police-White & Blue uniform).The main duty of RTO is registration of vehicles, issuing of driving licences, permits for different classes of vehicles and also supplementing the monitoring and control of traffic.

JR: If a commuter gets fined for breaking traffic rules; the first thing he says is ‘These vultures just need some pocket money for their evening tea’. Comment on why are your officers always misunderstood.

SD: First of all offenders are booked only if they violate any rules and regulations. Offenders with a negative mindset who repeatedly do not want to observe the traffic rules would make such statements and our officers are duty bound to book these offenders. Thus, this vicious circle of breaking law and getting fined continues and eventually the offenders develop a negative attitude towards the RTO. JR: How difficult is it to maintain a balance between life in a uniform (on

duty) and a life without it (at home). Is it difficult to be a normal person with family and friends, considering all the public scrutiny around?

SD: Life in uniform demands lot of hard work and prolonged working hours of dedication; many a times even during holidays. It does affect the quantity of quality time we spend at home. We cannot afford the affection of/to the family all the time. However, work is worship, and as such our family members have understood us and the importance of our work. This support has helped us counter the problem and give priority to work over family.

JR: How do you propose to make the RTO more people friendly? Is it even possible? What are some of the things you would want people to understand and what feedback would you like in return?

SD: Almost all work in the RTO has been computerised and with the adaption of E-governance, the RTO has become public friendly whereby even

What do you do if you break the law by speeding? Break it again by bribing.

the registration of new vehicles can be done online. It is expected that the public recognises and appreciates the good work and sometime defend the same whenever there is any negative criticism.

Also, when the public approach the RTO for any work they are expected to wait for their turn and also apply for driving licence only after acquiring adequate knowledge and skills.

JR: What is the importance of the road safety week and what you plan to achieve in this initiative?

SD: Goa is the only state which is observing its own State Road safety week besides the National Road Safety week.

This is the initiative taken by RTO taking into consideration the seriousness and alarming number of deaths due to road accidents by educating and conducting safety awareness programmes in schools, colleges, bus stands and corporate sector.

In doing this, we have managed to bring down the number of deaths due to road accident from around 327 to 285 (per year). Our target is to bring it down to less than 200 within the shortest possible time and ultimately to the most desiring number.

JR: At the end of the day, do you enjoy job satisfaction?

SD: Yes .ultimately after achieving the desired goal of educating, enforcing and serving you gives us immense satisfaction. The RTO expects a reciprocating approach from the general public by adhering to the traffic rules and regulation and also to be our collaborators and messengers of road safety. _____

This week, you might not see many traffic cops around. That’s because they are taking a week off to educate the young and reckless, so that they don’t have to correct and penalise them later. Precaution is better than cure, they believe.

22 Give Back Photograph by Ananda Krishna

By Puja Roy @AriAsher

C

an you imagine what it might be like to travel 28,000 kilometres of Indian territory with only Rs 927 in your bank account? I can’t. But West Bengal’s Ujjal Pal has been doing just that for the past one-and-a-half years. An agriculture scientist by training, this MBA in Marketing & Finance quit his corporate job in 2011 and has been cycling through the highways, bylanes and dirt-tracks of India with a single mission in mind: to raise awareness on the need to plant trees. He says, “My message is very simple. Plant at least one tree in your entire life and nourish it for two-three years.”

38-year-old Ujjal started his extraordinary journey on December 11, 2011, from the wetlands of the Royal Bengal Tiger Reserve in the Sunderbans. Since then, he has biked almost 15,000 kilometres on his Firefox bicycle, covering the northern and western parts of India, including West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. He is currently passing through Goa from where his bicycle will take him to Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, the Northeastern states and finally the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. He aims to complete this ambitious itinerary by April 2014.

He doesn’t spend more than two-three days at any place. He usually drops by as many schools as he can (ones that fall on his bike path) to speak to kids, especially in the 11-14 age group, on the importance of planting trees. He wants

to educate as many young people as he can on the urgency to focus on our environment.

No organisation – government or corporate – has offered to fund Ujjal since he began his journey. He says, “Initially, I spoke to the West Bengal Youth Affairs Department, but they didn’t show any interest and sent my file to the Forest Department. I didn’t receive any response from anyone. And big corporates are not ready to help a single person. It is not good advertising for them.”

I ask him if he ever feels disheartened by the lack of interest shown by people.

“No”, he says, “because good people everywhere are helping me. I usually stay at police stations, mandirs, masjids, gurudwaras & dhabas and sometimes visit forest officials (the only government officials he still approaches) to learn about the local flora and fauna.”

Of course, it’s not as if people have not noticed this self-proclaimed globetrotter’s efforts at raising environmental awareness. He has gathered quite the fan following in

different parts of India. One of the highest honours he received was at Munabao, a village at the Indo-Pak border where the Indian Army’s 7 Maratha Regiment is posted. He says, “Of all the places I have been to, I felt most welcome at Munabao. I was the first civilian to stay at an Artillery Division. Only the President of India is allowed that.” Ujjal recalls the incident with fondness, describing how an Army Officer came to receive him on his Shaktimaan truck and made him say a few words to the jawans. “That was a great thing for me, to say something to inspire the soldiers of the Indian Army, that too at the border! I felt truly honoured.” Also, every once in a while, he receives phone calls from strangers he’s met randomly while travelling who want to just check on him. “Those phone calls are my reward…”

After his India travels, Ujjal plans to take his green message to a wider audience by biking around the world, covering an eye-popping 500,000 kilometres! Starting from Pakistan, he intends to cover Afghanistan, Iran and

Iraq and cross over to Africa via Egypt.

Next will be Europe and then North America. I ask him how he plans to cross the Atlantic Ocean on his bike. He smiles and says, “By ship, with my cycle. I will work odd jobs on the ship to manage my expenses.” From North America, he will bike across to Latin America and from there to Australia and Japan (by ship, again) and finally enter Russia, China and Myanmar. He estimates that this mammoth trip will take at least 9-10 years to complete.

What next for Ujjal then? He says, “I’m 38+ now. By the time I finish my world tour, I will be touching 50. I will retire from biking. I want to do farming and teach children from underprivileged backgrounds, maybe street children.” He has been maintaining a diary in Bengali from the day his journey began.

I hope he writes a book someday. For more information on Ujjal and his travels, visit: www.greenonwheel.com You can also drop him an email at globetrotterujjal@gmail.com