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FROM EDITOR’S DESK
A walk into the past
O
The 450 years of Portuguese rule left its deep impact on the custom and culture of Goa, by converting it into one of the western society. RAJESH GHADGE Editor, Incredible Goa rajeshghadge@gmail.com rajghadgegoa @goaprismmag rajeshghadge
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ur first issue has received incredible response from the readers, it does not only refers to the sale of the first issue or the commercials that we received but the personal feedback that I have received from our readers, by way of phone calls, text messages, WhatsApp and social media, I really felt that whatever hard work that I had put into it, was worth doing. It gave me more pleasure than that of the financial gains. My idea of bringing Incredible Goa has turned out to be successful. I know that, the journey has just begun, and I have the long way to go, but I assure our reader that, I will put my heart and soul into this, to give you the best product which will be valued for your money. It is not that I received only appreciation for my work, some of my friends and well-wishers also brought to my notice the errors which occurred in the previous issue, which include, the typographic as well grammatical mistakes, and for which I take complete responsibility, and I seek your pardon for the same. I assure to all of you that this issue will be an error free and better than the previous one, and I also assure that it will keep getting better and better with the time. Incredible Goa, every month, will take you through the journey of Goa which has much more gems than you ever thought of. The reason behind the Goa recognized as paradise on the earth, is due to its rich cultural and historical heritage. The 450 years of Portuguese rule left its deep impact on the custom and culture of Goa, by converting it into one of the western society. The deep impression of Portuguese reign can be seen all over the Goa, but in some places it is more. The cover story of this issue will take your through the roller coaster ride of one such place in Goa where Portuguese has left their deepest impact and till date this place looks like a part of a Mediterranean region. This place is visited by only selected foreigners, especially from Portugal and Spain since this place reassembles the Latin Quarter. You have surely seen this place many times if you belong to Goa and at least once if you are a tourist, but do you know why the structure of this place is so unplanned? Surely you must be thinking now, go ahead and read it, I am sure this article will take you beyond your imagination. This issue also brings to you all our regular columns such as Trendsetter, Fashion, Heritage, Culture and the updates on Goa. Please do not forget to leave your comments and suggestions on this issue. You can write to us on rajeshghadge@gmail.com or you can also leave your comments on our facebook page. Please let us know as what do you want to read in our next issues, I assure you that, we will leave no stone unturned to bring that information to you. Till next time happy reading….
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COVER STORY \ Fontainhas
Fontainhas, Goa's renowned Latin Quarter, through the window of history Goa is known for being under Portuguese rule for the longest period of time that any other state of India ever been under the rule of single empire. Four hundred and ďŹ fty years, that is to be precise to give the depth of the time that Goa had Portuguese ruling the state. Many Goans never wanted Portuguese to leave this state but with the efforts of few revolutionary minds and timely intervene of the Indian army had paved the way of freedom to Goa. The reason behind telling this story is to give little prologue of the background of Goa which will make it easy to understand the following content.
RAJESH GHADGE
Fontainhas Latin Quarter
12 \ INCREDIBLE GOA \ OCTOBER 2015
217A Dando Candolim, Sinquerim, Fort Aguada Road , Bardez, Goa - India 403 515 Tel: +91 832 2489239 Web: www.castlegoa.com Email: care@castlethehiddentreasure.com
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Welcome to
GCWTOA Convener Advocate Suhas Naik
Sanqulim Municipal Council Chairperson Dharmesh Saglani
After completing his high school studies he left the village in a search of his career, because according to him, one thing he was sure that, if he wants to fulfill his dream of changing the system then it cannot be done without the strong financial support. “I did my preliminary studies at St. John’s School in Sanuelim and right from my school days I was always the class leader, I was the first to start the flood light tournament at the school level and when I reached in 12th grade at the Shantadurga Higher Secondary School in Bicholim, I became GS (General Secretary). I also represented the National Students Union of India which was just before my drop from the educational line to enter into the business world” His journey was not easy and he knew it well, after dropping from the college in his second year, he joined one of the well-known timeshare resorts in Goa as Sales Executive, where he used to sell the timeshare to the tourist coming to Goa, but his growth was very swift, selling the timeshare was not his cup of tea and that made him take up the bigger challenges. He got hold of the hotels in Goa which were looking for the selling of their room nights. This was way back in the year 1997 when there were the bunch of people in Goa who used take up such kind of initiatives. Sensing the need of the market and providing the solution is the best business of all time. He sensed the need of time and started working towards it. He started getting the rooms for the people who land in Goa without the prior booking and this really worked with him. This was the pure example of making the money without any
investment. He developed the good rapport with hoteliers as well as the taxi drivers making it win - win situation for all. “I used to distribute the party flyers for the Tittos in the evening time and I was also instrumental in starting of commissioning business with various showrooms and taxi operators in Goa”, He narrated. According to him “I use to provide what tourist wants such as sightseeing, bikes, shopping, Restaurants. I used to provide the full information of Goa “just like guide” and always made sure that they had a memorable stay in Goa”. According to him that was the secret of his success, “people used to recommend me and that’s how I made my money”. He said with the shine in his eyes. Here I am telling you the real life story of none other than the present Sanquelim Municipal Council Chairperson Shri. Dharmesh Saglani. This story is not just restricted to his success in the business but his journey to the chair of the sanquelim municipality. And let me tell you the story is very interesting and inspiring. Dharmesh has set the trend in the business and politics by doing the work which others have not thought of. Now, coming back to our story, as time passed Dharmesh sensed the change in tourism trend, he saw that a good tourist crowd started moving to Palolem beach due to huge saturation in North Goa beach belt and he turned his attention to Palolem, first thing he did was, filling up of an application for a Shack at Palolem, during those days getting a shack was not that difficult as there were limited stakeholders. Dharmesh did not
lose this opportunity and he grabbed the first shack in a private property at Palolem beach in the year 1999 and named it as Cuba. After this first success there was no looking back for him, he worked hard and opened total 12 places across the Goa in 18 years time. That was indeed the tremendous achievement. Today Dharmesh is the president of the Private Property Shack Owners association in Goa. In fact the Private property Shack owners association, was the brainchild of Dharmesh, to take up the grievances of the Private Shack owners to the government level and also to encourage the local youth to earn money, today the Shacks / Huts owners association having more than 500 shacks under the association Till here Dharmesh apparently achieved what he wanted into the business to a major extent and now it was time for him to turn his focus into the social work. Though Sanquelim is not his “Janmabhoomi” (A birth place) but it surely became his “Karmabhoomi” (a workplace), now it was time to give back what he took from this society. It was time to give back to the people of his village and Dharmesh did exactly the same. “Though I was not born in Goa, but my forefathers are here for the four generations,” he said. “I left Sanquelim in the year 1997, to take up the challenge into the business world and as you know by now, I attained success to quite an extent so that I could now go back to my village and do something for the people of sanuqelim, which I had decided before leaving the place”. While he was talking, I could see that he got very OCTOBER 2015 \ INCREDIBLE GOA \ 29
but to go with it,” he said. The story does not end here; Dharmesh was the first person to start the Garbage helpline in Goa or may be may be perhaps in India at Municipality level. “It is the India’s first Garbage helpline”, claimed Dharmesh with complete confidence. “I have never heard that anyone started a help line for the garbage and streetlights, just text on the number and all your garbage & street lights problems be sorted out within just 24 hours”, he added. Dharmesh wants to do many things but he feels helpless as the government do not support him in anything “If electricity department don’t provide the lineman I can’t do anything, because my labor can’t climb on the electricity polls, same way if municipality doesn't provide me equipment I can’t do the work. This is the work of municipality and if I get the chief officer to act in the interest of people, which is not happening, I can fix most of the thing in Sanquelim”, claimed Dharmesh. According to Dharmesh, there were more than 7 chief officers had been transferred in last 2 years. “I want the work of Sanquelim people to be done within the timeframe which is not happening due to the lack of funds. No funds have been given by the ruling government to our municipality for past two years,” he added. According to Dharmesh, the municipality is not dependent on government at all, they manage to get their own funding from the revenue collection “Government is giving money to the people of Sanquelim through the schemes like Grahalaxmi and etc., to keep them happy and under control, government is also
funding the mining dependant and openly threatening them if they speak against the government, their funding will stop, that is why nobody wants to come out and speak openly against the government though they are not happy from within about the entire issue” narrated Dharmesh. Dharmesh has a vision for his village and he wants to set up an example for the others who think that they can only survive if they elect the candidates from the ruling government. He wants to make the municipality an independent entity which does not stay at the mercy of the ruling or opposition parties. He is doing everything that is possible. He is not interested in becoming the politician but yes, he wants to help people of Sanquelim and to do that he would do anything “If people want me to contest the election, will surely do”, he said. “I am not here to make money, I have my business and that is more than sufficient for me, for most of the people politics is a business but not for me”, He added. Dharmesh has started the office to help the needy people where he provides the services like filling up of forms, arrangement of documents, preparation of affidavit, all free of cost, he says “I have set up the office to help people; I am paying the staff from my pocket”. Dharmesh is working on the new venture in which he wants to provide all basic services, “I have left 2 and half year to complete my term in the office, but before going from here I want to make sure that, people do not need to visit the municipality to get the most basic services and that will be made available online, I don’t
care if government helps me in this or not, I will do it from my own money”, he claimed. “After the closure of mining business the free bus services provided under the CSR scheme were stopped plying but the one stared by me is still running. I have started the citizens charted of the municipality whereby one can find out the list of the documents required and within how many days you get and what the fees are. I had also stated the free computer education services in association with Vedanta foundation whereby people from all the age group can get the computer education at SMC (Sanquelim Municipal) building,” He narrated. “I promise only what I do and I always keep my promise”, were the concluding words of Dharmesh Saglani. Dharmesh is doing more than expected and that is setting an example for the others in the state. He is a trendsetter, who has proved that one does not need the political support or godfather to bring the change in the society. People need to change their mindsets. They need to raise their voice against the injustice. Dharmesh had started his journey alone and slowly people started joining him in his journey and today he has a fleet of supporters who are ready to take up any challenge. If Dharmesh can do it, everybody else can. You only need that spark within you to change the situation around you. G
OCTOBER 2015 \ INCREDIBLE GOA \ 31
TV MOVIE GOA \ Just Imagine
Paresh's 'Just Imagine' e Logic beyond Imagination Most of you must be familiar with this name Paresh Parab, but if you are those, who don’t watch the local channels on your television, then let me introduce you to this multi-talented personality of Goa's television world. Paresh Parab
36 \ INCREDIBLE GOA \ OCTOBER 2015
Paresh is the face of the famous TV program in Goa ‘Just Imagine’. Now some of you may recollect little but that is fine as the following story anyways going to tell you everything about this fascinating character featured on the cable network channel in Goa. Paresh was born in 1980 in Mala, Panaji, his father was a government servant and his mother was a teacher. “I spent most of my life in Bhatulem area in government quarters. Those days the atmosphere was different with less access to the modern gadgets most of the people used to spend their time talking to each other, which has become rare nowadays”, Paresh started narrating his story. According to Paresh, the only entertainment was there on those days was the DD channel with very limited time entertainment. “We did not have a TV” Paresh pointed out, “I used to go to the neighbor's place to listen to the music as he had big Sony stereo system. This is place I first had a brush with the comedy when I heard the Sudesh Bhosle and Johnny Leaver doing the mimicry, I was highly impressed with the voice modulation of Sudesh Bhosle and
told to myself that, one day I am going to be like him”. It's not that, Paresh entered into the field of mimicry or comedy based on the impression of the other artists, but he seems to have an inborn talent in him which took him to the height where he is today. “I always liked watching television and I used to observe each and every character in the movie or program as how they talk how they speak and I used to grasp whatever possible. Later I started observing the people around in the locality; we had people from diverse culture staying the colony. I used to observe each person, how he talks, walks and dresses up. Obviously every individual has the different style but some people have very typical kind of features and that was my target. I used to imitate those people in front of my friends and observed that everybody liked it and that made me realize that I have a special talent in me”, he took a long pause and started again “this was followed by the support of my neighbor who helped me by providing the tape recorder to listen to the performances of Johnny Lever and Sudesh Bhosle which in turn inspired me and
gave the spark to my hidden talent”. Paresh started to learn mimicry after listening to it on the tape recorder, “I used to stand in front of the mirror for hours and imitate the voice of various characters”, Paresh said with a spark in his eyes, “I also started mimicking the voice of Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha and started getting very good comments, this again raised my confidence level”, he added. After completing his studies in the high school, Paresh did his course in food and beverages at government authorized institute and then joined one of the renowned resort in Goa, but his destiny was not written into any other industry but the entertainment industry alone. According to Paresh, although he has been fascinated with the talent of Johnny Leaver but Sudesh Bhosle apparently left a deeper impression on him. “I always had this at the back of my mind that, spreading smiles across into the world is the best job one can do and I did the same, I always felt contented when I made people laugh on my humorous acts. Although today Paresh has become the comedy king of Goa but the road to this success was not easy at all. According to him, “I used to practice for hours to learn the proper mimicry, after listening to my favorite stars on the audio set I used to memorize the dialogues and replicate them in front of the mirror after coming home, I used to get these opportunities every day when my parents were at work. At that time I was the judge of my acts but once I made sure that I am perfect in my act I decided to try in front of some
selected friends of mine, whom I could trust and was sure that they will never misguide me and will give the genuine feedback”, he took little pause and the continued “After the approval of my friends I decided to perform in front of people and soon my first opportunity knocked on my door, I received the invitation from my native village “Bicholim” to perform in one of the annual function at the village temple of our deity. This was followed by another performance at the college during the teacher's day and then one private program at the Vidyaniketan Hall in Margao. All three programs had received tremendous response from the audience and that made one thing sure that 'I can perform well', here I came to know that people like what I do and that I am on the right track”, he added. It was the year 1997, and till now whatever programs done by Paresh was just to check his talent and no remuneration was involved, but this could not be going on forever and then one opportunity came on his way “I was invited by one of the clubs from Lotoulim Goa to perform as standup comedian into the Orchestra and as usual I rocked the show and this was the first time I was given my first remuneration of Rs. 500/-, let me tell you that in those days 500 rupees was the big amount, it was my first earning and I handed it over to my mother and she was very proud of me on that day”, he explained. But as normally one do not achieve anything till the destiny grants it, same things happened with Paresh, the small-time entertainment which started in 1997 had came to an end in 2003, as with the time the
Orchestra culture started dying and so the demand for the standup comedian. The new age was caught up with the satellite network which was spreading its tentacles across the state, “When I started performing the Orchestra culture started dying, Not because of me,” he concluded and the way he said, I could not hold myself from bursting into laughter. I realized that his sense of humor is very strong. The downfall of stage performances slowed his career down and then he has no option than to take up any type of job to generated the revenue and he started working in different positions in the diverse field “I could not stick to any job for longer period as my heart and soul was always dwelled into the entertainment world, perhaps that was my destiny and the opportunity came very soon as I applied at the upcoming cable network channel 'Prudent Media' and was immediately got selected for the post of subeditor”, he explained. The new start with the media house was the turning point in this career and it resulted in changing of his destiny. “while working at Prudent media I started using my humor to entertain my co-workers, I used to imitate my seniors, their style of communication and their speech modulation, I started mimicking and this only paved the way towards my new avenues in the comic world which was yet to open” he continued “While watching the live assembly session in the studio to get the news points, I started to minutely observing each character of Goan Legislative Assembly and this perhaps was the beginning OCTOBER 2015 \ INCREDIBLE GOA \ 37
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