Incredible Goa September 2017 Vol 2 Issue 12 by Incredible Goa

Price ` 100 VOL 2 ISSUE 12 PANAJI GOA, RNI: GOAENG/2017/66434

SEPTEMBER 2017

POSTAL LICENSE NO : G-2/RNP/GOA/28/2016-18

GOAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ONLY SOCIETY MAGAZINE

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IN FOCUS Drugs Menace In Goa HOT PICKS Pocket Friendly Bites in Panaji GOAN CUISINE Goan Traditional Khatkhate BUSINESS GOA Viraj Hede, Turning Passion into The Business

COVER STORY

NILESH CABRAL ELEVATING THE STANDARD OF TOURISM IN GOA TREND SETTER

GOAN TALENT

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

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CONTENTS SEPTEMBER 2017

RNI : GOAENG/2016/66434 POSTAL LICENSE NO : G-2/RNP/GOA/28/2016-18

12 NILESH CABRAL – ELEVATING THE STANDARD OF TOURISM IN GOA FROM EDITOR’S DESK

IN FOCUS 18 DRUGS MENACE IN GOA

BUSINESS GOA VIRAJ HEDE

Instances abound when one's passion turns into a business and it results into a very successful venture. Be it an invention ...

Drugs have been a malaise in the tourism industry of the State since the Hippie era. Foreigners and the domestic tourists...

GOAN TALENT BIPIN KHEDKAR

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT 22 TARA KERKAR

There are several instances wherein you nd engineers and doctors nding their calling in the creative eld of art. The famous Marathi lm actor,...

There are many people who turn to social work due to various reasons. Some become a social worker to gain some political mileage while ...

GOAN CUISINE TREND SETTER FARHEEN SAYYED

26 28

Everyone has a dream to succeed at a very young age but all do not become successful because there is a very thin line between ...

HOT PICKS

EVENT

FEATURE

GOA BUZZ

YOUNG GOA ABHINAV WADEKAR

Every phase in one's life plays a signicant role in their growth. When one enters their twenties, it is considered to be...

TALK OF TOWN

Publisher's Note:– Error is Human, although we take all due care while publishing the magazine to make sure that it is free from all the errors. Any omissions and erroneousness are entirely unintentional. Please do bring to our notice in case if you nd any such things / items published incorrectly and any photography erroneously published, needed to be given credits. We also believe in publishing something which catches our attention and made available for the purpose of information to our readers. We also believe that people will take it sportingly and help us to make this publication even better and useful for our reader. Printed, Published & Owned by Rajesh Ghadge and printed at Printek Printers and published at 608, Unitech City Centre, M G Road, Panaji – Goa. 403001 India. Editor : Rajesh Ghadge

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CREDITS Editor & Publisher Rajesh Ghadge Finance Rajeshree Ghadge Layouts & Design Rajesh Ghadge Manasi Kavthankar Visualizer Photography Aakash Ghadge Help Desk Ranjana Chauhan Content Writers Zahuda Khan Yutheeka Borkar

Cover Page Credit Goa Tourism © All rights are reserved. Reprinting, publishing whole or part without obtaining the express written permission of editor and publisher is strictly prohibited. All the images unless otherwise indicated are used for illustration purpose only. In case you feel that any image/s or content/s should not be there / needs due credits / having copyrights, you may please immediately inform the same to editor / publisher in written format, the needful will be done in the following issue.

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FROM EDITOR’S DESK

THE DEVELOPMENT ALWAYS COMES WITH THE STRINGS ATTACHED TO IT THE EFFORTS OF THE GTDC HAS TAKEN THE TOURISM TO NEXT LEVEL

RAJESH GHADGE Editor, Incredible Goa rajeshghadge@gmail.com rajghadgegoa @goaprismmag rajeshghadge

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Goa is Incredible, the more we explore, the more we discover. Goa, that was considered as laid back, years ago, is no more the way it used to be. As people change with time, so is Goa. The moment development becomes rampant, the after effects of the same starts taking its toll on the region. As Goa started developing, people from all over the world began migrating to this tiny, beautiful state for the purpose of business and pleasure, and due to this, the population showed a spurt in growth in a relatively short span of time. The infrastructure developing and the property prices started escalating in the State. Development does not bring only the people who come to the business in the State. But with it comes along the inevitable cons. That is how normally development occurs in any place. Earlier tourists used to visit the State only for a short time. But slowly the holidayers realized this place is not only meant for vacation but there is a huge potential of generating the revenue. This way many new businesses have been setup in the State. The places that were selling tender coconut water earlier had started selling energy drinks. The development became rapid in North Goa compared to South Goa and the reason behind this is the easy accessibility to the casinos and nightlife. All the major nightclubs are based in North Goa and so are the casinos. The entry of EDM was another development that made Goa to become the drug haven in a very

short span of time. It is not that the drugs were not available in the State prior to the entry of EDM but after EDM entered in Goa it become more commercialised. The Indian tourists from Bengaluru and Mumbai starred flying down to Goa especially for the drugs. The Tourism Development boosted in the last few years in the State was due to the change in the Government. The BJP government under the able leadership of Manohar Parrikar helped Goa's tourism industry flourish and the inflow of the tourists went up to 6 million from 2 million. The sudden boost in the tourism also led to increase in the infrastructure such as constructions of new resorts, food outlets and other services. Nilesh Cabral, the Chairman of GTDC has to be largely credited in the development of the tourism in the State. His constant efforts towards the development of the tourism in Goa paid well. The dying GTDC was resurrected by Cabral during his tenure, and the cover story of this issue will give our discerning readers a complete insight into this. The menace of drugs is featured in the In Focus section of the magazine, that will enlighten you on the kind of drug trade happening in the state and who is responsible for this. We have added one more section “Hot Picks” with this edition and I am sure that you would love it. Our next issue being our anniversary edition promises to spring up a few surprises. While you put down this issue after a read and re-read, your wait will soon end. Until next time, time happy reading...

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COVER STORY

NILESH CABRAL ELEVATING THE STANDARD OF TOURISM IN GOA TEXT RAJESH GHADGE

The tourism industry of Goa is a major source of income for a large majority of the stakeholders of the industry in the State. Most Goans are some way or the other connected with the industry. Right from the hoteliers to the taxi drivers, all are considered to be the stakeholders of the tourism industry in Goa. Several hurdles notwithstanding, that the tourism industry has faced recently, the overall progress indicates only towards the elevation of the standards of the industry. Nilesh Cabral, Chairman, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) is the major force behind the tourism development in Goa and his efforts have elevated the standards of the tourism sector in the State.

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Nilesh Cabral, who is also the MLA of Curchorem, is holding the position of the Chairman of GTDC for the second term. And his reappointment is a justiﬁcation that he is a person of deliverance at his position, which is one of the Goa's top tourism entities in the State. After taking over GTDC, Cabral started implementing the various developmental modules to revive the sinking GTDC and within a short span of time he managed to achieve this goal. Under the leaderships of Cabral, GTDC has gained a new lease of life. The resorts and residencies that were on the verge of closing down have been revived. Bookings have also shown a voluminous increase. According to Cabral only hard work can change the future. “The future of all this is based on hard work. It is all the work and effort over a period time put in by the people working here. We have been trying to turn Goa into a “365 Day” Holiday Destination. If you consider and compare the reports from eight years back with the current reports, you will notice that there is no offseason anymore here in Goa,” stated Cabral. Although GTDC had gained a very good momentum under Cabral's able leadership, he is not content with this achievement. He understands that only consistency in work and efforts will ensure to keep up what his team has done under his stead. “The real job now is to maintain this standard,” said Cabral giving the example of big

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brands like Coke and Pepsi. “Coca-Cola and Pepsi are successful drinks in the market and have been in existence for a long period of time. But, still they have to advertise, and show that they do exist in the market. That, according to me, is a

work out for anyone. We are lowering the prices of our rooms to cater to everyone out there who want to come in and stay in Goa. We need to see how we can take the tourism to a new level,” the GTDC Chairman maintained.

that area. It has not been completed yet. I myself was trying to ﬂoat the concept of turning the area into a theme park but no one came forward. I have made the budget provision for this project which is 18-20 crores (approx.) and has

CALANGUTE RESIDENCY & RESTAURANT

good publicity. They spend a lot of money into that area, and that is a part of their strategy of marketing and business. Hence, we too have to keep creating workable and resourceful strategies for the growth of the tourism sector here in Goa. Today, we get all types tourists coming here, and the hotel sector has a segment of rooms catering for everyone. When there is demand, the pricing will a u t o m a t i c a l l y v a r y. Thereby, we will have a quality crowd of tourists coming in. The rooms are available, but if the people do not come in it does not

Goa Tourism Development Corporation has witnessed many developmental projects under the chairmanship of Cabral. Taking an exception was the Mayem Lake beatiﬁcation which did not take off. When Incredible Goa, questioned Cabral how he could attribute the negligence behind the Mayem Lke project, this was what he had to say. “The work has not stopped but is only delayed due to various reasons and one of the major reasons behind that was the lack of interest of the promoters. The work of development is still on in

been granted by the Centre. We will be allotting the same for the work of beatiﬁcation and setting up of a theme park at Mayem. It will be developed and the operational model will also be set up and supervised,” revealed Cabral. S p e a k i n g f u r t h e r, t h e GTDC Chairman stated that in today's age, no one does anything without proﬁts, whereas the Government is the only body that does social service. “The areas that is good for business has already seen investment by individuals. Places like Anjuna, Brittona and

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COVER STORY

MAYEM LAKE BEAUTIFICATION

Miramar to be speciﬁc. Whereas places like Mayem, Farmagudi and Quepem had been ignored by the investors. All the GTDC resorts and residencies have restaurants run by private bodies. For Mayem to become a theme park, it has to be looked upon with interest by the people and investors. There is so much potential in that area but no one seems to notice it.” Cabral said. He added that they are now waiting for the Centre to release the funds and that the State will also provide its support on the same. He also stated that later on they would decide as to whether the operation can be taken up by someone or not.

There is absolutely no doubt that the tourism industry has seen a big boom in the BJP tenure and Goa's Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has always been supportive of the various stakeholders of the tourism industry including the casinos, which undoubtedly attracts huge number of tourists to the State. There was also a contribution of the EDM festivals that ﬂourished during this time which also helped boost the tourism in the State. Goa being the major tourism destination in the country, the person sitting at the helm of this industry is mainly responsible for the development of the sector and undoubtedly,

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t h e G o a To u r i s m Development Corporation had played its role very well. Being the major marketing body of the Department of Tourism, G T D C h a s b e e n responsible for the development of the industry in the State. Owing to which, all the promotional activities had been entrusted to this autonomous body by the Government. There were many projects that were designed and implemented during the tenure of Parrikar but few remained pending due to his exit from the State Cabinet. When Incredible Goa asked Cabral about the projects that have remained pending and

would be taken up now, he said that tourism is an endless process and people from across the world come down to Goa for its natural beauty. “Tourism is something that is endless. Goa has tourists coming in for its natural beauty, but at the same time the concepts of tourism are also changing and evolving. We have youngsters who look out for adventure sports here. What we can afford to give is heritage and beaches, as these are two areas that we do not have to develop much. They already attract a lot of crowd. But these d e ﬁ n i t e l y n e e d maintenance from time and then,” he ascertained. Despite of all the efforts of

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the GTDC to carry out the developmental work in the various sectors of the tourism industry in the State, the ﬁnancial crunch is always been haunting the Corporation and the reason behind this is the squeezing of the budgets b y t h e F i n a n c e Department. With the lack of funds nothing can move and the same is applicable for Goa's topmost tourism entity. Cabral agreed that his organization had faced a setback on many occasions due to the lack of

the work together. This is the reason we have achieved Goa a worthy sobriquet of a “365 Days” Destination. This would not have been possible without everyone's efforts. Now all that is left for us is to see how the new working allotment goes under the new ministry,” says Cabral. Earlier, GTDC had worked very smart by getting the job outsourced with the PPP (Public Private Partnership) model as then it had all the powers to make the decision on the

“The system is such that there is a starting point at a resident place but the destination point varies accordingly to the wind velocity and all such factors. This is the same way all around the world. People should understand this. We make sure that the landing is safe and that we always maintain our safety standards. There is no crash landing. As for the Parking Lot that was developed, the tender was taken up in the previous Government. The development was

individuals. The Hot Air Balloons, where one b a l l o o n c o s t s ro u g h l y around a Crore of rupees, are also handled by a different party operating under Goa Tourism. It is not entirely a situation where we are dependent on the Department for ﬁnancial matters, and when it comes to work or assignment of duties, we are capable of sourcing and handling our own projects,” maintained Cabral. Cabral is also working for the setting up of the soft

SUNDAY MONSOON TREKKING

funds but that was something which always remained out of his control. But now, with the BJP regaining the powers in the State, Cabral feels very positive about the future endeavours with him at the helm. “With the new ministry c o m i n g i n , t h e e n t i re structure for things here has changed. The working methods will no doubt surely be affected and there might be small hiccups in and around. Prior to this, the tourism department would always handle the marketing and

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marketing strategy for the tourism department. But in a recent development, the newly appointed Tourism Minister has taken away that authority away from GTDC and allotted it back to the Department of Tourism. Although there is no clue as why the minister had done this, the sudden decision nevertheless came as a shock for the wellequipped marketing department of GTDC. For anything to be done there has to be a political will. The project of Hot Air Balloon Rides that GTDC have is going smoothly.

combined with the new Jetty and the parking lot opposite to it. The design was to be done as per our a p p ro v a l a n d n o t t h e developers' choice. The Tender for the parking lot is now re-ﬂoated,” Cabral divulged. When this writer asked the Chairman about the same and what are the consequences attached to it he stated “People feel t h a t t h e To u r i s m Department spends a lot of money. Today, we have the Double Decker “Hop on…Hop off” buses operating through private

skills training program for the employees of the GTDC and this decision has been taken by the Chairman for the improvement of the professional level of the senior employees of GTDC who mainly handle the hotels and resorts spread all across the State. Mainly the existing environment is of the Government setup which sometimes makes them to take things easily. To ensure this does not happen, Cabral is planning to bring a h i g h l e v e l o f professionalism amongst

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COVER STORY

WHITE WATER RAFTING

them by implementing the soft skill program thereby enabling the employees to improve their work efﬁciency to match with the existing corporate standard. “With regards to the Soft Skill Training, I have got in touch with all the General Managers of our resorts and hotels, and our associates to handle the same. Our existing work module is based on a Government setup, but our employees and workers should not necessarily feel that it is a Government setup. They are paid a Government stipend but we expect them to contribute to this organization at a professional level and with efﬁciency. That is why we

are looking to focus on our working skills and how we can improve upon it. As a matter of fact, I am aiming to incentivize the working within our hotels and resorts. We are enlisting the idea of professionalism into our working and making sure it works out for everyone,” Cabral stated further stated. Keeping in mind all the development done by the GTDC to elevate the tourism standard in the State, stays a vexed issue relating to the tourist taxis in Goa. The issue of tourist taxis has become a controversy with the taxi maﬁa ruling the State and not allowing the entry of APP based cabs. Meanwhile, the Chairman

had also promised the formulation of the system similar to the APP based taxi service in the State. Cabral in response to a query said that they are working on the idea which will be implemented soon. “The idea has been already formulated but I cannot proceed without the permission for go ahead with it. The code of conduct was on, and with all this we need to understand certain procedures. With the help of a software partner, we will be starting our very o w n c o n c e p t o f “ Ta x i Services” in Goa and the department for tourism will be in-charge of this entire project. The local manpower will be utilized but for this to happen, the

D e p a r t m e n t o f Transportation and the Chief Minister will have to play a pivotal role. The interest and the future of tourism lie in this project very essentially,” Cabral matter-a-factly said. One cannot deny the fact that Cabral is doing his best to elevate the standard of the tourism in the State by implementing all the possible strategies. With support of the common man, stakeholders and powers-that-be, there is no doubt that under his guidance, GTDC will continue to ﬂourish and the Tourism Sector of Goa will realize many developmental changes.

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IN FOCUS

DRUGS MENACE IN GOA WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS? TEXT RAJESH GHADGE

Drugs have been a malaise in the tourism industry of the State since the Hippie era. Foreigners and the domestic tourists, as well look upon Goa as a drug haven. The drug mafia-police nexus is not a fictional story. But despite of having full cognizance of these blotches on our economy, firm and immediate steps by the State Government to crush the evil has been blatantly ignored. There have been several instances wherein consumption of drugs by youth have been caught red-handed in schools and colleges in the State. The question arises, from where do these drugs come from? Who is responsible for this? No one seems to know or prefer to act unaware.

The recent crackdowns of the Goa Police on two of the State's popular night spots, Curlies and Club N y e x h a v e s e n t shockwaves through the length and breadth of the State. It is not that people were not aware of such activities happening in the aforementioned places along the coastal belt. But the reason for the resulting shock was the muchdelayed action by the menin-uniform which came as a bolt out from the blue. Or is this delay indicative that the police were not aware about the drug peddling going on in gay abandon along the coastal belts of Goa? It came to the news arising

from the deaths of two students which prompted the Goa Police to spring to action and raid the shacks and nightclubs in Anjuna. In the ensuing raids, they w e re a b l e t o n a b t h e perpetrators immediately

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as well. According to reports published by Goa Prism on an August 16 post, following the death of two youth from Kerala during a rave party and arising from an overdose of a drug called Ecstacy, the

Anjuna police were prompted to to arrest the owner of Curlies, Edwin Nunes and operator of Club Nyex, Rohan Shetty under the NDPS Act. The drugs were recovered from the possession of customers and waiters of the shack and nightclub but as per the rules the police they had to arrest the owner and operator of these units. Not many would forget the case of Scarlett Keeling, who hit international headlines due to overdose of the drug that led to her death with her body found lying on the Anjuna beach. This time though the case was different as the drugs were recovered from within

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the premises of the club and shack respectively. The death of the two youth, kept the entire police force vigilant. This was at the time of the by-poll elections which were to take place in the State at t w o N o r t h G o a constituencies. The people of the State were extremely upset when they came to know about these deaths. More so, as it brought the menace called drugs back into focus thereby harming the credence of the State. SP North Chandan Choudhary had kept the police on their toes until t h e c u l p r i t s w e re n o t arrested. The North Goa SP Chandan Chaudhary has been on the forefront of

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this operation, and within 48 hours, Anjuna police, under the guidance of Chaudhary, rounded up ďŹ ve youth from the famous beach shack, Curlies. They had also arrested the operator of Club Nyex, Rohan Shetty under the NPDS Act. But the arrests did not last for long and the owner of Curlies was released on bail within 24 hours of being taken into custody. It was also not unexpected. The people of Goa were aware that the police will not be able to keep them in for long. But during the ensuing period, another case of drug trade came into the light. The police out of the blue raided a

small kiosk in Mapusa and arrested two sisters for selling drugs on their kiosk. This news came in as another shocker as the reports mentioned that this drug peddling was going on for several years. The reports said that in the raids conducted, the Mapusa police recovered a whopping Rs. 16 lakhs w o r t h d r u g s f ro m t h e possession of the two sisters. According to the ANC (Anti Narcotics Cell) of Goa Police, this was the biggest consignment of drugs recovered by them till date. But the question that remains unanswered is how two girls in their twenties, sitting at their kiosk were peddling drugs

to alarming proportions. Coming back to the arrest and the release of the owner of Curlies and the waiters, the bail was granted by JMFC Mapusa to them within 24 hours of the owner's arrest on the grounds that the quantity of the drugs that was recovered from the shack in the possession of the waiters was in a very small quantity and was suitable only for personal consumption. A c c o rd i n g t o re p o r t s , Edwin Nunes, owner of Curlies beach shack, was granted bail along with the waiter who had been arrested by the Anjuna Police recently on the grounds of having narcotics

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IN FOCUS substance in their possession. The decision of the court came as a shock to many people. This was due to the fact that as per the law, narcotics substances in possession are a punishable crime with rigorous imprisonment. So there are loopholes in existence. In future, the quantum of drugs notwithstanding that essay its role in drug peddling should be put to notice as cases to follow hereafter may follow the same pattern. The issue here is not entirely about the quantity of the drugs, but the abuse of it. People do not carry huge amount to consume nor the sellers carry the bags laden with narcotics on their back and go on selling drugs

bails to Nunes and Manjunath Anverikar (waiter) and argued that they wanted both the accused in the police custody to interrogate for information on who else is involved in this drug trade. However, the court granted bail to the duo, as the

wholesale in the marketplace. The fault lies in the new development. Anybody caught with the permissible quaintly of drugs will be set scot free under the existing provisions. Police strongly opposed

quantity of narcotics seized from Anverikar was classiﬁed as 'minor' and thus, technically qualiﬁed for a bail. Drugs seized are c a t e g o r i z e d a s m i n o r, variable and commercial quantity and persons with possession of drugs in the

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minor category are granted bail. There are many places in North Goa which are under the so-called radar of the police department's Anti Narcotics Cell but not many are swooped upon. And when the raids do occur, the accused come out on bail 24 hours from their arrest. The court while granting bail to Nunes and the waiter, Anverikar of Pernem, asked them to report to Anjuna police station for three days. It may be recalled that the Anjuna police on a Sunday night had raided Curlies Beach Shack and found Anverikar in possession of 7.3gm of charas worth Rs. 7,500 and the charge had been framed against Nunes for allegedly allowing the waiter to push drugs in the premises owned by him. Goa has been plagued with alcohol and drugs that just keeps growing day by day. It has gradually become a breeding ground for dealers who would stoop to any level to ensure their business stays intact. The arrest of Curlies' owner and Club Nyex' operator came as a ray of hope that the drug menace could be eradicated. But

unfortunately, they were set free thereby showing the green signal to these drug lords that can resume their illegalities. The drug menace will not get over in Goa until and unless the concerned authorities decide to take really stringent against the perpetrators. The nexus of police, politicians and drug maﬁa has already been established long ago but no one has been punished till date. Who will save our future generations when our own godfathers are here to ﬁnish it? Do you think that the clampdown of EDM festivals will reduce the use of drugs in Goa? Or do you feel that the peddlers are selling drugs once in a year only during the EDM festivals and rest of the time they hibernate? The answers are obvious and everyone knows it. Yet no one is willing to talk about it. Who is responsible for the Drug Menace in Goa? This remains a vexed question that needs urgent addressal to salvage the image of a one clean and pristine Goa.

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WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

TARA KERKAR FIGHTING AGAINST THE INJUSTICE ON WOMEN IN SOCIETY TEXT RAJESH GHADGE

There are many people who turn to social work due to various reasons. Some become a social worker to gain some political mileage while others take up this line to serve the oppressed people in society with their endeavours. But there are also people who take this ďŹ eld because they have themselves suffered from the same pain and they do not want to see any injustice happening to others. In this wake, we bring forth the story of an unassuming wonder woman in Tara Kerkar who has fully devoted her life towards women empowerment in the State.

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Life is not on level terms for every individual. Those who endure hardships in their lives understand the value of it very well. Kerkar who belongs to a middleclass family had done her initial studies in Marathi medium. She was unable to pursue her studies beyond SSC as she had to support her family after her father p a s s e d a w a y. “ I h a v e studied until Std. X, but that was in the Marathi medium. When I was eightyears old, my father had expired, and I had seven siblings. My mother was a Government servant and supporting all of us was way difficult for her. As such, I did not take much interest to pursue further studies and started taking up various jobs to support myself,” said Kerkar. As stated earlier, every step we take in our life has some reason attached to it, and Kerkar's step into the field of social service also had a very strong reason behind it. She has seen the injustice happening to the women in the society at a very early age and that was the time she decided to fight back. “My dad had left very little funds behind and although my mother used to work for the Government department but she was not literate and the officer who was the in-charge of the payments used to swindle her hard-earned money but by the time my mother realized the same it was too late, and she was in a deep shock. This made me realize that whatever happened with her was not right and at that time I decided to fight against the injustice prevailing in the society against the stricken

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women, and besides this my father was also a freedom fighter and he taught us to always fight against the injustice in the society,” said Kerkar. Whenever someone fights against the odds in society, he or she needs to have tremendous energy and Kerkar had lots of energy in her due to her connection with sports right from her childhood. “Right from my school days, I used to take part in various sports activities such as athletics, kabaddi and that developed a sort of strength inside me to fight against any kind of injustice,” stated Kerkar. Normally there are a series of events that makes a person either weak or very strong. In the case of Kerkar it was the latter one. All the adversities she encountered in her life made her a very strong woman. She had seen injustice happening to her near and dear ones. Kerkar divulged that her elder sister had committed suicide due to the harassment of her husband. “I would tell her that leaving him would be in her best interest. But she did not have guts to leave his house and one day she ended her life by consuming poison. This affected me a lot because at that time I was barely 13 or 14 years old,” stated Kerkar. Kerkar stated that she had observed that most of the husbands used to physically harass their wives due to some or the other re a s o n a n d w h e n s h e started social work, many women came to her with similar cases. “Every

woman that came to me was suffering with the problem of being beaten up by their husbands, harassed by their in-laws, and so on. One day, I confronted one of the victims' husbands, and spoke to him about the treatment he was meting out to his wife and made him realize that he was d o i n g w r o n g . To m y surprise it worked and he apologized for his mistake and promised that he would not do any such thing in the future,” she narrated. This was the turning point in the life of Kerkar. She realized that whatever she

was doing for the beneﬁt of women was working. “I realized that I could actually help and support women and their issues if I put my heart and soul into it. Today when I come across all these people that I had helped, they recognize and tell me how my work has helped get their families back together. This gave me courage, and I knew that I could keep doing this for years to come. It is the support of the people that has instilled conﬁdence within me,” said Kerkar matter-a-factly. While Kerkar may have gone out of her way to help others to sort out their

SEPTEMBER 2017 \ INCREDIBLE GOA \ 23

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

issues in the bargain she lost peace with her own family. “Due to the type of social work I was doing, it used to make me spend more time for the cause of stricken women outside the house. It was not that I did not help with domestic work at home. I did everything from cooking to looking after the children. But there were instances where my husband would not like or perhaps the male ego came in between me and my career,” said Kerkar. In due course of time, Kerkar's work started gaining recognition and people from political p a r t i e s s t a r t e d approaching her with the proposal for contesting an election at the Municipality level to start with. In 1995, Tara became an active member of Congress who was in power then. She also got the ticket to contest the seat for MMC from Baina that was a red light area of Goa at that time. The election was a new game for Tara that she contested, won and thereby became

the councillor at MMC. As Tara started working for the people of the red light area, she understood the problems the sex workers faced and here she decided to form an NGO in the name of “Savera”. Lot of women who were oppressed by the society joined Savera. In a short span of time, Tara became the messiah of stricken women of Baina. “I personally faced a lot of humiliation and harassment from the people for supporting and ﬁghting for the plight of the sex workers. It was tough at times, but never did I let this get to my head and let it demotivate me. I realized that I should not be afraid of anyone. I started educating the sex workers about the precautions from AIDS, and Dr. Wilfred de Souza, the ex- chief minister of Goa has supported me greatly in this move. He instructed me to teach the people about AIDS and practice of safe sex. Due to this move, the sex workers of the area rallied against the idea of

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unsafe sex. I received support for this in large numbers,” recounted Kerkar. Tara had to face lot of hardships while working in this field. She has also received many threatening calls from people who did not like her noble work. She revealed to this magazine that one of the supporters of a former South Goa MLA also threatened her when she took up a case against him. But Tara is not the one who would get intimidated by such kind of threats and she continued her work undaunted. Kerkar disclosed that Savera as an NGO does not raise any funds. When it comes to money, her NGO is way different from the other existing NGOs in the State. In her words, the NGO runs only to provide a voice to the plight of women. “We do not find the need for money. It is a myth that without money one cannot survive. But I beg to differ. I believe that if the basic necessities of life are met then there is no need of anything else. If people give something to us by their own goodwill, it is a blessing for us. We do not go asking for money. This is the reason our NGO today is the most successful body in Goa,” said Kerkar Kerkaralso has a dream of building an Old Age home with the help of donations she has received from people. “People have donated money to us, and we have a small reserve fund but we do not find the need to use it as our working is very basic and simple. The plan is to use this money to build the Old Age foundation that we

have planned since the beginning. This would be a re a l i t y w h e n w e h a v e people coming forward and lending their support in our noble cause,” she said. Kerkar feels that the reason behind all problems is the misunderstanding that develops between the couples and that leads to domestic violence. “People fall in love, and get married, then comes the children, and there comes a time when there are bound t o b e s o m e misunderstandings. People ﬁght a lot. And I personally believe that this should not happen as it spoils the essence of what a family is supposed to be. Women put a lot of efforts into the family and help raising it. No gender is at fault here, but it is no reason to end a relationship. I am not telling anyone to endure the hardship or go through the pains just because they have to. Taking matters l i g h t l y w h e n t h e y a re serious is a risky job. We do not want to promote divorce but at the same time I want to let everyone know that taking their own life is not the right call in matters of stress arising from hardships. Things will work out if they are meant to, but nobody should face any form of injustice,” stated Kerkar. Tara Kerkar genuinely works for the cause of the deprived and distressed women in the State and her work is selﬂess. She leads a very simple life with very limited needs thus keeping her demands low. If you would like to help espouse for her cause, you may drop i n a n e m a i l a t incrediblegoan@gmail.com

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GOAN CUISINE

GOAN STYLE TRADITIONAL KHATKHATE By Rajeshree Ghadge

INGREDIENTS FOR XACUTI PASTE:

F F F F F F F

1/2 kg Chickpeas 200 grams pumpkin 200 grams Carrot 200 grams Beetroot 200 grams Breadfruit 200 grams Potatoes 200 grams Ridge gourd

COCONUT PASTE:

F 1 big coconut

OTHER INGREDIENTS:

F F F F F F F F F F

2 tablespoons Garam masala 6 green chillies 5 tomatoes 1 bowl curry leaves 1 pinch asafoetida 1 spoon mustard seeds Salt to taste 2 cups of water 1 tablespoon of red chilli powder 1 tablespoon of turmeric powder

METHOD Boil all the vegetables and Chickpeas together.Then take a big utensil and add a small bowl of oil . Add the mustard seeds, asafoetida,curry leaves , green chillies and tomatoes and temper them. Add the coconut paste and garam masala. Then add a tablespoon of red chilli powder and turmeric powder. Then add the boiled vegetables and Chickpeas. Add salt to taste. Then added 2 cups of water and cook the khatkhate for 5 minutes If you wish to be a part of the Goan Cusine Section, Please send us your recipe at incrediblegoan@gmail.com and we will publish the same here in this section with credits to you. The best recipe will be rewarded with a Gift Voucher / Free Subscription of Incredible Goa Magazine.

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TREND SETTERS

FARHEEN SAYYED AIMING HIGH, AND THE ONLY LIMIT IS A SKY TEXT RAJESH GHADGE

Everyone has a dream to succeed at a very young age. But all do not become successful. This is because there is a very marginal line between tasting success and experiencing failure. And as such, the unsuccessful individuals do not realize when they have failed. You may wonder what we are talking about. But this would make sense to you upon reading this story of a young achiever who crossed all the hurdles of her life, and achieved what she always dreamt of. Farheen Sayyed, who is a founder of Goa's billion dollar creative touch idea called “Brushﬂicks" that also won the ﬁrst place in the Chief Minister's Startup Challenge in Goa features as our trend setter this month.

To start any venture is very easy, as ideas do not have any limitations. What is more important here is the implementation of those ideas. Bringing them into reality is the most difﬁcult task and here 90% of the people usually fail. The journey of Sayyed to success was not easy either. She had to go through lots of hardships to reach where she has today. Sayyed is a software engineer by profession and she had pursued her studies from Padre Conceicao College of Engineering, Verna. “I am a s o f t w a re e n g i n e e r b y profession and I completed my engineering in 2015. When I completed my

academics, I had no funds whatsoever with me. But my father gave me a sum of Rs. 5000/- and told me to do what I would want with it. I decided to start my ﬁrst project with the amount I had with me and then I booked a domain with the n a m e www.canvasmirage.com," said Sayyed. Although Sayyed started with an idea of Canvas Mirage, that was not her ultimate plan. She went ahead with it, since she wanted to start somewhere. With the small initial funding of Rs. 5000 she could only do that much. “In fact, I had the concept of “Brushﬂicks” always in the back of my

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mind since the beginning, but I had no financial strength at that point of time. I went to almost every incubation centre around Goa, but I knew it was not an easy task as people do not believe in your idea for the sake of it. People like an idea that works and generates instant revenue. It was still the same situation. In the year 2014, I had won a Start-up challenge, which was organized by Padre Conceicao College of Engineering, Verna, and the idea that won this challenge was Brushflicks. This first victory gave me courage to take up my dream project and I started working on it from that

point onwards. Though I had no team of my own, I managed to work on it by myself,” she added. The journey of Sayyed that began with a project called “Canvas Mirage”, the concept that would sell the Art Print Collections on her site had miserly failed within no time and here she had to face her ﬁrst failure. “I lost the entire investment of my ﬁrst business and now I had nothing in hand and was unsure where to go. At this juncture, I started to think a little about the future of my work. I realized that in India, if something works it is always in the name of God. As a result of which, I started selling something

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called as Bhagwan or God Prints on my site and it clicked. It surprisingly started doing really well as people were actually buying them. I went door to door with this concept. My parents were not quite happy with my work because I was a graduate in Computer Engineering and what I was doing was way out of my field,” narrated Sayyed. F a i l u re i n b u s i n e s s i s inevitable, and everyone sometime or the other fails. But Sayyed had failed miserably and her parents started asking her to take up some job in a highpaying multinational firm, as with her qualification, she could have got a job in any IT firm easily. But, Sayyed had completely different plans. “I continued pursuing what I was good at, and that eventually ended up saving some capital for the endeavour of “Brushflicks”. I constructed and set up Brushflicks on my own without any support or team backing,” she said. At this juncture, Sayyed was not ready to put all her eggs into the one basket. And thus, she decided to implement multiple ideas which she had. She started implementing an idea of converting the plastic waste into artistic items. But just like every endeavour has its own shortcomings, the new venture of Sayyed sought more funds to setup the manufacturing project. “That was the time I needed more investment, but I was really low on cash. I then convinced my father to help me out with another loan and after consistent

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perseverance my father agreed to invest into my project, and this time he gave me Rs. 50,000/- but God was still testing my ability and this time as well I failed. My entire investment was lost to a developer who duped me as I could not deliver what I wanted and once again I was completely broke,” related Sayyed. This time Sayyed had the courage to go back to her dad to tell him about this big loss. But then, she had

to put it right also. There is a s a y i n g t h a t “entrepreneurs are born, not made” and it was entirely true in the case of Sayyed. Any other person would have given up after failing twice, Sayyed did not give up, she was steely resolved to bring fruition to her dreams. She then started selling mangoes to generate revenue for her project. “I came up with an idea of selling mangoes which I would procure from

Ratnagiri. That was not an easy task as I was not welcomed into the wholesaler's market and there were already established players in the marketplace selling the similar product. I came up with the idea of selling the mangoes through the retail channels like Big Bazaar or Magsons in Goa. In this process, I cracked a deal of Rs. 7 lakh due to a huge demand for mangoes in Goa. I sold all the mangos in the period of 30 days

SEPTEMBER 2017 \ INCREDIBLE GOA \ 29

TREND SETTERS with the help of retail chains and managed to raise the funds for my dream project “Brushflicks”, the enterprising young woman revealed. This way Sayyed started her manufacturing unit. But selling mangoes after acquiring a computer engineer was not an easy task for her. She had to endure a lot of backlash from her friends. But this did not deter her. She firmly believed that no job or work is small, and as such there is nothing to be ashamed of. It is only because of this Sayyed had the capacity to start “Brushflicks" and without

which she would not have had the resources to do it. “Brushflicks” is a billion dollar idea which won the first place in a Chief Minister's Startup Challenge. “Brushflicks” is a 3D Social Networking Platform, and Sayyed and her team is working on it day and night. “We are coming up with the world's first 3D social networking platform. It is going to be launched soon, and it will entirely be a native app. Speaking of Brushflicks, it is a social network for all creative people such as photographers, artists, musicians, bloggers and so on. The reason we started

30 \ INCREDIBLE GOA \ SEPTEMBER 2017

this is because out of the 1.2 billion population density we have in our country, almost 43 million people belong to the field of arts and creativity. And to date, they have no platform to showcase their work. They find it difficult to make ends meet. I could connect and sympathize with these people because I come from a family which has a background in arts for generations. I have seen this right from my childhood and it has been my dream to help and assist such a group in their work and business by giving them a platform,” stated Sayyed. According to Sayyed since our State does not have an environment and infrastructure to nurture software development, she has decided to shift her operations to Bengaluru. “The plan of shifting to Bengaluru is only for software operations. All the software operations taking place here shall be shifted to Bengaluru as we will be setting up a new team there,” she said. Meanwhile her Acrylic production unit will remain in Goa itself. “This year we are aiming to clear up to 175 tons of the Acrylic plastic waste generated by turning it into some useful product. So we are doing our level best of reusing waste materials and turning it into something useful for the society,” she added. Now that Sayyed successful in her endeavours, she feels very positive about her future. When Incredible Goa asked her what she would have done if she kept failing, Sayyed had a ready reply. “I knew that I

would have never given up. That was nowhere a choice for me. I believe myself to be a crazily optimistic person, in the sense that I always see there to be a way ahead for things to work out,” she affirmed. Farheen Sayyed is a perfect example of a winner, who never says no, whatsoever be the situation. According to Sayyed, she had received an offer of an investment of 1 million US dollars from Flipkart but she has rejected it as she is aiming for something really big, within the next five years. Sayyed envisions Brushflicks to be a world's first and biggest 3D Social Network. According to Sayyed, the concept and idea of entrepreneurship should be applied in order to make a change for the society and not to make money alone. “If only the survival is your focus then mediocrity will only become the outcome. I believe that money should never be the goal, but in fact it is the reward of entrepreneurship. A lot of people have come to me asking to mentor them. When I asked them about entrepreneurship, the first thing they would say was that being a boss of oneself was their goal and earning money was the second, and I always tell them that this is one of the biggest myths in this field. There are a lot of h a r d s h i p s t h a t entrepreneurs has to face, sometimes it is so drastic that one would feel a 9 to 5 job would be better. Even in my case, when the money began coming in, I started to question myself how was I being a support to the society.”

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BUSINESS GOA

VIRA J HEDE WHEN YOUR BUSINESS IS YOUR PASSION TEXT RAJESH GHADGE

Instances abound when one's passion turns into a business and it results into a very successful venture. Be it an invention of the personal computer by Steve Jobs or the creation of a certain social media network by Mark Zuckerberg, it began as a passion which eventually led into a business. Turning your dream into a reality is the name of the game. We are not relating to you the amazing success of the aforementioned individuals, but that of a Goan entrepreneur, Viraj Hede, the founder of “Toffee Doodle” who turned his passion into a successful business venture.

That being said, Viraj knows he has still lot to achieve and he is aware that by the passing day he is slowly but surely reaching the dream he has set out for. The “ To f f e e D o o d l e ” i s a desert, which is available

across Goa, and in some parts of Maharashtra, at leading superstores. So w h a t i s t h e “ To f f e e Doodle” all about? Let us have a look. Viraj opines that the “Toffee Doodle” is not a

32 \ INCREDIBLE GOA \ SEPTEMBER 2017

company or brand. “Actually I would not say that “Toffee Doodle” is a company or brand, for us it is more of a concept or more speciﬁcally a method of preparing desserts with a f u s i o n o f t o ff e e , ” t h e

enterprising businessman stated. According to him, it all started with having a set of toffee ﬂavours such as Strawberry Toffee, Kiwi Toffee, and a recently launched Butterscotch Toffee. In all there are seven types of Toffees that they have launched till date. The Serradurra is the ﬁrst dessert that was launched by Viraj along with his sister Aradhana who he acknowledges as his major moral support behind his venture. “Serradurra is an authentic Goan pudding made of fresh whipped cream and condensed milk topped with biscuits or cookie crumbs. Simply to put it, it would be Marie biscuit crumbs and whipped cream,” explained Viraj who had been working on this project for the last ten years. “I graduated from IHM and I specialized in Food

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BUSINESS GOA

Production. There I used to create recipes of my Desserts, and I always had more interest in confectionaries and desserts. I wanted to create something with a twist in the original authentic recipe. My sister Aradhana always stood by me in every decision I undertook. There is no packaged dessert like ours at the moment in the market that is widely accepted by the consumer,” revealed Viraj. Conceptualizing ideas is not a formula for accomplishing success in a business. When proper marketing and distribution strategy are cohesively working together with a dedicated team in place, t h e re o n i t l e a d s t o a completion of a success story. The case was no different with Viraj too. When Viraj went to the market place with his product, he realized there were many desserts already WWW.INCREDIBLEGOA.IN

available on the shelves of retailers and restaurants. But his endeavour did bear fruition with the forthcoming response he received from the outlets he had approached. “All the places to where we supply and keep our product have been very supportive and welcoming, be it retailers or restaurants,” said Viraj. The USP of his venture was that when he approached the retailers, they never had a similar dessert to which he had produced. “There were not many competitors for gourmet desserts like ours, and they were mainly keeping the ice creams for desserts. As such, we are getting a very warm response from everyone with regards to our product,” he ascertained. He went on to state that with a marketing team that has taken on to social media; the promotion of Toffee Doodle has taken off

pretty well. The product also has an ofﬂine marketing tool in the form of boards. According to Viraj, the Toffee Doodle has been widely accepted by consumers. “It is marketed a Premium product with a Non-Premium pricing. Our product is sold across retail stores in Goa. The segment that we have launched this product for is where we want the customer to have an option between an ice c re a m a n d a g o u r m e t dessert,” stated the entrepreneur. While Viraj may be reveling in the gradual growth of his lone product, plans are on the anvil to launch more after their expansion to bigger premises. “We are in process of building a much bigger space, and we are aiming at a greater output as compared to now. As of today, we have e i g h t p ro d u c t s i n o u r portfolio. We are going to

be launching a new product by early September and another by year end. This way we have something introduced and launched periodically,” revealed Viraj. Incidentally, the “Toffee Doodle” was first introduced in Margao by t h e c o m p a n y. Ta s t i n g instant success, they decided to spread out to the rest of the State. “We first started marketing our product at Borkar's Supermarket outlets in and around Margao. It came to our realization that “Toffee Doodle” catered to buyers ranging from a five-yearo l d t o a 6 0 - y e a r- o l d . Everyone loves a nice dessert which is healthy. Parents have a preference of giving their children our dessert over an ice cream.” Viraj besides being a Food Specialist also holds a degree in marketing. He has done his Post G r a d u a t i o n f ro m G o a Institute of Management (GIM) following his Food Processing course from the Institute of Hotel Management (IHM). He has also created a business model to move ahead in the market with his product but which depends on the market. With a background of having worked in a marketing consultant firm for four years, it would come as no surprise why Viraj has realized early success in his subsequent business endeavour as he moves gradually upwards. “I have studied the retail markets of Bengaluru, Mumbai and Belgaum. In a way, you can say that this entire premise is a test market or a pilot project for

SEPTEMBER 2017 \ INCREDIBLE GOA \ 33

BUSINESS GOA our product. This is not our main factory but only a building stage. The next place that we have will be our ﬁrst stage of expansion, divulged an ambitious Viraj. He also revealed to say that he plans to shortly extend his geographical reach to Pune in neighbouring Maharashtra t h e re b y d o u b l i n g t h e capacity. “Presently we make around 600 cups a day which will more than double once we shift into our bigger premises with 1500 cups per day,” he added. The new unit will have the machinery to make the entire process of production automated. “The new premise will get built by early November. We aim to increase our customer based prior to Christmas. As of now, we supply to 34 retail outlets all over Goa including restaurants. Margao, Panjim, Vasco, Calangute, Candolim and Ponda are just places where retail outlets are supplying our “Toffee Doodle,” revealed Viraj. With any venture, comes hurdles and apart from funding, Viraj claimed he faced no other issues. “The hurdles have only come in the form of funding from the business point of view. Every entrepreneur faces this problem in the initial stage. The current recipe that we have did not come to me in one attempt. It was a method which took around 35 tries. It was a trial and error method. As I said before, I always wanted to start a restaurant of my own. But later, I decided to learn more about business from where I got into the

ﬁeld. Technically speaking, I had garnered knowledge about food and business by the time I started the company,” Viraj matter-afactly stated. Viraj used to make the products and take it to his college canteen to elicit feedback. He disclosed that he had also studied the food eating habits of the people when options were made available. This way, he had formed a good base of market research which immensely proved helpful in his startup. “This was very critical for me and it w a s n o t e a s y. A f t e r completing MBA, I took to the idea of starting “Toffee Doodle”. I pitched in my concept to a couple of

investors from Hyderabad, but it did not click as I was on my own without any support. And realistically so as to state, at the time of starting, the idea was big to begin at a small scale. So I decided that it would be viable an option to work for a couple of years, save enough money to start out something on my own. And this would also help me gain enough knowledge and experience,” he recounted. As mentioned earlier, his sister, Anuradha has been his major source of inspiration in this novel venture and the entrepreneur gives wholesome credit to her. Anuradha had helped in

the initial stage of his startup, when people were not aware of his dessert. “She used to stand with me in the Superstore to p r o m o t e t h e “ To f f e e Doodle” dessert, says a reﬂective Viraj. Although a dentist by profession, Anuradha is presently devoting her time in helping her sibling in his dream project. The story of Viraj Hede can be a source of inspiration for many new generation e n t re p re n e u r s . I t i s a perfect example to learn from and arise stronger that it is not failures which weigh you down, but is the ﬁrst step you tread on as you towards the stairwell of a successful career.

The name “Toffee Doodle” plainly means Toffee infused Art, hence the name. Our brand's idea is to create a fusion of toffee based desserts. Ÿ We provide every retailer with our speciﬁc refrigerator that we ourselves came up with. There would be many misconceptions about our product either being a yogurt or an ice-cream. In order to end the misconception we took to branding ourselves differently. Ÿ

34 \ INCREDIBLE GOA \ SEPTEMBER 2017

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GOAN TALENT

BIPIN KHEDEKAR BELIEVES IN DOING IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME TEXT RAJESH GHADGE

There are several instances wherein you find engineers and doctors finding their calling in the creative field of art. The famous Marathi film actor, Shriram Lagoo was a doctor by profession and the world famous author, Chetan Bhagat was an engineer but destiny had other plans for them. As the popular adage goes, “an artist is born and not made.” The story we bring forth is very apt to this quote. Bipin Khedekar, is one such upcoming Goan talent who despite holding an Engineering degree decided to plunge into art and creativity. Incidentally, Khedekar belongs to a family of artistes. His father was a drama artiste who used to direct dramas for almost 32 years. “My entire family is into the field of Arts. My father would direct dramas, which he had done for almost 32 years. So I believe I got it from there. We would accompany him to all his dramas and plays. In Goa, there is this ideology that academics and passion are two different things, and we cannot straightaway make this our mainstream profession. Hence, keeping in mind this fact we all completed our studies on one side and also pursued

our passion at the same time on the other,” stated Khedekar. According to Khedekar, acting is like a co-curricular activity and pursuing

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education was main stream. “Studying would always be the main focus. My elder brother is also from the ﬁeld of acting. Right from our childhood,

we had a very healthy creative atmosphere where we would enjoy watching movies and debating on them. My brother always had a passion towards

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GOAN TALENT acting, whereas I never noticed this initially in myself back then,” disclosed Khedekar. Khedekar was aware that he was destined to enter the field of art and creativity. But until the time taken to reach there, he desired to have a steady income which would arise from academics. “Education always helps and it does not mean that just because you are going to become a director or actor you need not study. But in fact the study which you do always helps you in whatever you pursue in the future,” he explained. Khedekar had decided to pursue his passion alongside his academics in order to generate revenue for himself. He started with forming a team of youngsters and then setting up a production company called Antarang and thereby taking up his first project which was a short film titled Shalya. “We took up projects as youngsters, where the competency was less but willingness was more, and that helped, as we transformed ourselves working as a team. My debut film which I directed was “Shalya”. We had no money for it back then. It was tough to convince people to invest money into a short film as compared to commercial movies where the screening would be much larger, and there would also be a support of the Government. And we eventually ended up contributing towards the making of this film from our end,” revealed an enterprising Khedekar.

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Any endeavour is not complete without the support of a mentor and it was not any different in the c a s e o f K h e d e k a r. H e credits senior actor Anil Raikar helped him a lot in his first project. “Anil Raikar supported us greatly and deeply by giving us enough confidence to go on ahead as he liked our script and the idea behind our film and most importantly he had faith in me,” said a proud Khedekar. Not everybody is successful in their first attempt. In the case of Khedekar, his first project itself was highly successful and it received wide acclaim from the audience and jury members alike. “We have received around 17 awards for Shalya. People loved the movie. I have received the award for th e b est c o nc e p t and direction of the film as many as on seven occasions. After the movie got released, we registered our production house,” said Khedekar. In fact, upon the release of the movie

former Fatorda MLA and BJP candidate Damu Naik, who also held the position of Chairman at ESG had purchased the rights of the movie from Khedekar. “The funds that were raised from the sale of a movie to Damu Naik were used by us for making the movie better,” Khedekar added. The first project of Khedekar was an art film and it was for a restricted audience. At the time, he had no funds to produce commercial movies. Shalya was a sort of pilot project to test the market and it became successful. “There are two aspects to it, you either learn from experiences or from academics. We always wanted to start learning with short films and then get into feature films, which I feel the time has come now. The script is ready and the story is written by me. It will be based on the educational system prevalent in Goa. I have made around eight Ad films, commercial Ad Films. I have got a good response.

A documentary that I had done with Mukesh Ghatwal was shown at the BRICS Summit 2016. People really loved and appreciated it,” Khedekar revealed. In fact, Khedekar himself is the start material but he was always more inclined towards direction and production. “Right from the beginning, I felt more connected towards direction. When it comes to acting, I would not classify it based on looks or charm. It is also the ability of the person to grasp the character at the same time. Character artistes have more mileage here. There is always the notion that when someone does something new people do not quite accept it. That happened when I started with Shalya, but after it came out people realized the gravity of it,” he said. When this writer asked Khedekar about the scope and future of TV serials in Goa he said that it is quite possible that it could start someday in Goa too. According to Khedekar,

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GOAN TALENT Goa lacks in ideas and a dedicated team. “The thing is that when you plan such ideas, there has to be some sort of supportive backing towards the idea, you need a dedicated team among other things. There are many other factors that come into the picture that also have to be considered. My brother (Aryan) and I are currently working on something on the theme of “Houses of Goa,” he stated. Khedekar feels that it will take some time for TV serials production to start and become popular with the viewers as most of the Goa channels show only news. Furthermore, there is no satellite news channel in the State at the moment which makes the viewership limited. “I honestly feel that there is no specific film industry here in Goa. Even with respect to things such as music and cinematography, sometimes I feel that they do not convey the message properly. Things that are supposed to convey messages to the art should complement each other. It is that simple. Every character portrayed should also connect with the person watching the film. Character building and portrayal is very important. When it comes to TV media in Goa, they need to increase their production value,” informed Khedekar. Bipin Khedekar believes in the concept of paradigm and that is how he understands and interprets the things around him. “As humans, we are very different from each other because we all have a different way of thinking.

And all this depends on the upbringing of each individual, and this is what I mainly believe in. Every person should be aware about themselves. It is a plain and simple selfa w a r e n e s s . Yo u r imagination power is something you have that no one else can take away from you. These are gifts given to us for a reason. Creativity should flow into a person. Letting the mind wander is very important rather than constraining it. The youngsters should also be dedicated and have a good understanding of the r i g h t o r w ro n g , ” s a y s Khedekar. Khedekar feels that the new generation aspirants should start with producing short films to test their talent. “There are two things that stop anyone from getting into this field – finance and patience. According to me starting

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with short films is the perfect way for youngsters to test their talent and have patience as getting finance is the most difficult part when it comes to new projects. Nothing comes easily in life, and everyone understands this part,” he advised. “As far as Films are concerned, Nacho-ia Kumpasar is a good standard for films in Goa. It is something I have looked up to. This standard could have been achieved years ago, but the filmmakers or producers here, just hurry through things. This way things may be achieved, for some limelight and fame. But in its wake, the film industry takes a hit. People have a prejudice towards the movie industry churning out bad art. All this can be tackled with the help of good preparation. As far as filmmakers in Goa are concerned, they should

concentrate majorly on the post-production of the film. There should not be any hurry in starting and ending production. It goes out for all formats and not just feature films. This is where we lack in Goa. We hurry up things just to meet set deadlines. And I feel this should stop. A benchmark set by certain standards should be followed if things should go ahead. There is no need to create or build structures for the same. Any such auditorium in Goa can be utilized to serve the purpose. And lastly, I believe that politics and arts should not mix as this is something that is ruining the Goan film industry,” Khedekar conclusively stated.

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HOT PICKS

6 POCKET FRIENDLY BITES IN PANJIM TEXT YUTHEEKA BORKAR Fill up your belly till the brim, without emptying your wallet with this guide to the best cheapest places to grab yourself a bite. Here, we have a list of our

favourite places, that are deﬁnitely worth every rupee. To entice your taste buds in 100 rupees, we have included a little bit of everything; right from

shawarmas, to kebabs, to authentic pav bhaji, to burgers, milkshakes and so much more. So, the next time you ﬁnd yourself with just 100 bucks, you will not

see the need to resort to patties and samosas. Also, this list is written taking into consideration the ﬁtness freaks, vegetarians and halal certiﬁcation.

1. LUCKY'S KEBABS

2. GUJARAT LODGE

3. MUM'S SNACKS

Oh! the laziz kebabs, tikkas, rolls and much more. Lucky is the only benchmark for skewered kebabs for under Rs.100/- in Panjim. The kebabs hang from smoking stalls like sizzling curtains. It's been just around for 9 months now, that grills the most tender chicken seekh kebabs in the city.

This joint started way back in 1935, by Damodar Zaveri. And has come a long way. Their authentic Gujarati food; theplas, dhoklas, chaats; especially their bhel puri is something always ﬁlled with a new surprise each time, though it might not seem much of a place to dwell around.

As mentioned earlier, we have written this article keeping in mind to cater to everybody's needs. Here we have Mum's Snacks, the vibe of the place is so homely and warm, straight out of the pan and pots. They make sure you do not leave half empty with their generous amount of food.

This place is a must try on a bustling day when you just want to feel how it was, in the olden days.

Their chicken burgers are a sweet deal of Rs. 60/- and their chow is something that will deﬁnitely get you to eat till your brim. Mum's Snacks is run by Ezilda, who treats every person coming in, like her own.

Crisp on the outside and melting in the middle, the ﬂavours are both delightful and leave you craving for more. A deﬁnite steal for all under 100 rupees, their healthy amount of biryani is something you must try too.

Shaikh Abdul Hamid Mob : 9822132154 Add: Opp. Municipal Garden, Cunna Rivara Road, Panaji-Goa. 40 \ INCREDIBLE GOA \ SEPTEMBER 2017

Rohan Zaveri Mob: 094230 56557 Add: House No.19, 18th June Road, Panaji-Goa.

Pierre Fernandes Mob: 975782847 Ezilda Mob: 9881887395 Add: Shop No. G-14, Opp. Don Bosco High School, Panaji-Goa. WWW.INCREDIBLEGOA.IN

HOT PICKS 4. RILASSI

4. BHAIYYA'S PAV-BHAJI

6. HOT SPOT

In the heart of Pato, you will ﬁnd a small cafe that has much more to offer. The owner, Mr Raymond Fernandes, a one man army, handling the outlet on his own and this tiny joint in Pato, that serves burgers at the size of which will make you feel frail and slight.

Just opposite Bosco's, Bhaiyaa's Pav Bhaji is particularized in making you lick your ﬁngers and ﬁlling your stomach in a jiffy. Mutter “Pav bhaji” to any passersby and they will point you in the right direction.

The name says it all! What more do we need to explain here?! You name it and they have it! A tidbit secret that you must know is that they are the only outlet that serves Arabic shawarmas in the afternoon for lunch time snackers, who crave for something, other than the usual.

They are well known for their club sandwiches. Oh, and their thick avocado shakes are like nothing you have tasted before, an absolute must try. A perfect place to bring in your fam or pals for brunch, or for an evening escapade to ﬁll your stomach.

Raymond Fernandes Tel: 663 2822 Add: 213, Corte de Oitero,31st January Road, Corte De iteiro, Altinho, Panaji-Goa.

Two metal plates arrive within minutes: one containing thick vegetable masala straddled by a slab of butter, the other with pav so well buttered. Your arteries will tighten at the sight of it, but your stomach will thank you. Squeeze some lemon on the top and dig in with your ﬁngers. I bet you, you will not taste something so authentic and just YUM, straight outta the 80's, with their price still the same, just a difference of 5 rupees.

Revappa Arsid Mob : 9823427772 Add: G-29, Alfran Plaza, Panaji-Goa.

The owner Mr Riyaz Thayal , a chai fanatic as well. They serve the best grilled cheese sandwiches, juices and pizzas.

Riyaz Thayal Mob : 8698412436 Add: Shop No. 2, Atmaram Borkar Complex, A. B. Road, Panaji-Goa.

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EVENT

CELEBRATING PATOLLEONCHEM FEST TEXT YUTHEEKA BORKAR Patolleo or patoleo; that's pronounced as pathayo, an indigenous sweet dish of Goa, which is prepared in the month of July and August, for the famous feast of 'Assumption Of Mary'; a unique festival of celebrating this traditional sweet dish called, 'patolleo', which is also celebrated on the independence day (15th a u g u s t ) i n t h e architecturally sublime church grounds of Socorro village, Bardez, at 10 am and goes on till 3 pm. This feast was first celebrated in 2009, and it has become a part of the Goan culture very quickly since then; this feast is an alcohol-free event, it shows the tourists that; Goan culture is not just about the booze, partying and chilling. The Goan delicacy; Patolleo is a sweet made of jaggery and rice encased in a turmeric leaf. Goa, the most vivid and joyful state celebrates 'Patolleanchem Fest', a unique festival honoring the dish Patolleo. It is made and distributed in the honor of 'Assumption

Of Mary', the tradition of making patolleos has been passed onto one generation to the next; and is proudly cherished and celebrated. You may have missed this feast or maybe did not know, such a feast even existed, fear not because our team has c o v e r e d ' T h e patolloanchem fest'; for the first time in Goa was covered by one of our partnered channels Goa Prism, where our anchor Ranjana Chauhan,

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accompanied by our Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Rajesh Ghadge; both gave everybody joining an insight into what was happening. The links are provided down below; do check them out to experience this ecstatic event. Like every year, this year they had a theme, and this year's theme was Ghumat. Ghumat is a percussion instrument of an earthen vessel having both sides open; on the bigger

opening, a leather (drum membrane) of monitor lizard is mounted. G e n e r a l l y, G h u m a t i s accompanied by 'samel', another traditional instrument with wooden drum and goat leather mount. The Ghumat has a pleasant sound and you might even wonder is it a dying art?â&#x20AC;? No, it is not. The makers still continue to make it, and the demand is not just regionally, but widespread internationally even.

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EVENT

The grounds of the church were decorated with handcrafted pots made by the talented and passionate locals. Traditionally speaking, this festival is about preparing and distributing the patolleos amongst the villagers. This festival is a proof that sometimes, â&#x20AC;&#x153;the more, the betterâ&#x20AC;? and so, the spectators are treated to various performances by both; locals and artists from WWW.INCREDIBLEGOA.IN

different nooks of Goa; Goa Tourism department has been promoting this 'alcohol-free' lively feast; , the festival is a 'must-visit' for tourists and is a commercial-free event. The aroma of the food and the feet tapping to the various beats, can surely entice anybody's mind and enlighten the spirit of Goenkarpon. You don't need to be well-versed with the language and the

songs, nor will you find any difficulty in communication; the locals are exceptionally kind and love welcoming whoever wants to be part of their feast; it can be to learn about the traditional instruments, food, music, dance; basically anything that includes in the culture. There are various stalls put up for display, an endless variety of handicrafts and wares. And how can we

dare forget the various bands that gather to play the favorite catchy tunes in Konkani? Any kind of festivals isn't complete without singing and dancing along these songs. So, set the date right now before you overwhelm yourself with more of the festivities that we will be keeping you updated with! Feel free to give us feedback.

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EVENT

CHOWGULEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S PHOTOGRAPHY EVENT TEXT YUTHEEKA BORKAR The Incredible Goa Team had visited the Chowgules campus, that held an exhibition of their photography club members,to celebrate 'Photography Day' the

Chowgule College, 'Click Club' in association with the Tigers Studio & CCAPS, the professors that hosted this event were Mr. Aakash Nair and Presley Fernandes. The pictures displayed were by the

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students and a separate section of teachers, as well. The raw budding talents have been encouraged and are being polished, by their mentors. We also had a chance to have a conversation with one of

the winners Miss Nameera Usman. It was a splendid s i g h t , b e c a u s e photography as an art is said to be elusive, and you could see through some of the photographs, a story being depicted.

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EVENT

FIRST EDITION OF INCREDIBLE GOA'S THE FACEBOOK PHOTO CONTEST The ﬁrst edition of Incredible Goa's “The Facebook Photo Contest” concluded with the felicitation of the winners of the contest at Paryatan Bhavan in Patto, Panaji. The prizes to the winners were handed over by Mr. Dattaram Sawant (GM Finance, GTDC) and Mr. Tapas De (GM Marketing of Hotel Fidalgo) in presence of, Deepak Narvekar (SR. Manager mkt. & Pro GTDC), Laxmikant Vaigankar (GM Admin), Prasad Kavalekar (Asst. Manager marketing) & Rajesh Ghadge (Editor & Publisher ) of Incredible Goa.

L to R : Mr. Deepak Narvekar, Mr. Rajesh Ghadge, Mr. Nilesh Cabral, Mr. Gavin Dias

L to R : Mr. Prasad Kavalekar, Mr. Laxmikant Vaigankar, Mr. Dattaram Sawant, Mr. Nikhil Shirodkar, Mr. Shane Cardozo, Mr. Tapas De, Mr. Deepak Narvekar, Mr. Rajesh Ghadge.

The ﬁrst edition of Incredible Goa's “The Facebook Photo Contest” was organised by the Goa's

leading society magazine “INCREDIBLE GOA” in association with Goa Tourism and Hotel Fidalgo,

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the contest was also cosponsored by the Goa Prism and Time Mail news lines.

The lucky draws for the winners were held on the 8th August 2017 at Paryatan Bhavan, in the WWW.INCREDIBLEGOA.IN

EVENT distinguished presence of the Chairman of GTDC ( G o a To u r i s m Development Corporation) and other officials and dignitaries. The other people present on the occasion were, Mr Deepak Narvekar (PRO, GTDC), Gavin Dias (GM, GTDC) and Rajesh Ghadge (Editor & Publisher Incredible Goa). The first edition of Incredible Goa's “The Facebook Photo Contest” was kick started on the 1st July 2017 and concluded on the 31st August 2017. The theme of the contest was “GOA'S MONSOON” for which attracted several hundreds of entries, from across Goa, and rest of the India. We had participants from all over Goa, who uploaded their pictures, the contestants had to simply like the page and upload the picture under the h a s h t a g o f #IncredibleGoaContest and the pictures had to be uploaded during the period of 1st July to 31st July 2017. People from various places in India who love Goa, sent their entries for the photo contest and best 36 entries were selected for the final round, out of which three winners came out at the end.

THE WINNERS OF INCREDIBLE GOA’S “THE FACEBOOK PHOTO CONTEST”

L to R : Mr. Prasad Kavalekar, Mr. Laxmikant Vaigankar, Mr. Dattaram Sawant, Mr. Nikhil Shirodkar, Mr. Deepak Narvekar, Mr. Tapas De, Mr. Rajesh Ghadge.

FIRST PRIZE WINNER Nikhil N Shirodkar from Goa - Won 3 Nights 4 Days Stay at GTDC's Residencies in Goa

L to R : Mr. Prasad Kavalekar, Mr. Laxmikant Vaigankar, Mr. Dattaram Sawant, Mr. Shane Cardozo, Mr. Tapas De, Mr. Deepak Narvekar, Mr. Rajesh Ghadge.

SECOND PRIZE WINNER Shane Cardozo from Goa - Won a Food Voucher for Two from “Chilli N Spice” Hotel Fidalgo, Goa. THIRD PRIZE WINNER Bhagwat S Ranawat from Rajasthan - Won Goodies from Time Mail News Media Portal.

The ﬁrst prize winner, Nikhil Shirodkar is a student of Goa's leading photography Institute Stenodac, and following his achievements, the Institute director Mr Alirio Saldana had felicitated him, and made an announcement that Nikhil has been appointed as the ofﬁcial photographer for a social organisation, besides getting a photography assignment of a major hotel.

This was the ﬁrst such event that was organised by the Incredible Goa in association with Goa Tourism and Fidalgo and it was highly successful, very soon we are announcing more such events, so please like our page https://www.facebook.com/ofﬁcialincrediblegoa/ and stay tuned for the future announcements.

GOA PRISM The Transparent & Fearless News Weekly

Coming Soon....

FEATURE

'FREEDOM RIDE' THE SECOND EDITION OF 'FREEDOM RIDE' RALLY A GRAND SUCCESS TEXT YUTHEEKA BORKAR

Goa is one of the very well known places for sports enthusiastic, such as football, cycling, swimming etc, but Goa has been a prominent place for bike riders. Year after year, hundreds of bikers ride on the roads of Goa, making a startling impact on the passersby. It is psychologically proven that, riding releases endorphins that make people happy (of course, not all have the same genetics) and there is sense of positive energy ﬁlled in the person who has a passion for it. Gratitude and savouring often go hand in hand. It's hard to savour without feeling grateful. Gratitude also makes us happy. Sometimes the things we feel on a bike can be sublime. One who loves and has a deep passion for riding knows that nothing will ever cheer him/her up like riding would. Goan roads are full of curves and gradients but are very well maintained. The thrill and excitement on this road is unimaginable.

Riding the bike offers those magniﬁcent quality time with oneself, that ﬁll us with awe and gratitude. It does not matter where the place is, it could be one of the

most famous peak or just a valley, that is laid back and quiet, it can happen just as easily on a suburban street as the sun rises, the day begins,that feeling of

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riding on the bike as though everything is right with the world – even when it's not. And for that moment while we are on two wheels, we feel happy. Hence 'Freedom Ride' rally last year, held the second edition of the Freedom B i k e r a l l y. t h a t w a s organised by Wild Trek Outdoors, on August 15th in Goa, in association with Goa Tourism. The rally had been an opportunity for every individual interested, to explore and discover places. The main purpose of this event was to see the

Goa, that it is really; the hidden treasures, packed with churches, extravagant architecture, beaches, backwaters, rivers, the oldest temples, the villages that have capture a different essence of Goa, and so much more. Freedom Ride was an exclusive event, for the travel junkies to experience an adventure ﬁlled ride, to maneuver their machines through the enthralling routes chalked out for the rally. The response was overwhelming, with over 85 bikers exploring Goa's hidden treasures. The

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FEATURE

freedom ride rally made its way through various locales of Goa, giving the participants picturesque glimpses of Goa's churches, water bodies, beaches, temples, villages and much more. The rally covered locations like Hutatma Smarak, Patradevi and Mayem Lake. The rally was ďŹ&#x201A;agged off by Mr. D.B. Sawant, General Manager, Finance, GTDC in the presence of Mr. Gavin Dias, General Manager, Mktg and Hotels, Mr. Laxmikant V a i n g a n k a r, G e n e r a l Manager, Admin and Mr. Deepak Narvekar, Senior Manager &amp; PRO, GTDC. Huge crowd assembled to witness the bikes zoom by and cheered the participants at several key locations. Mr. Sawant

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FEATURE expressed delight over the grand success of this event. Mr. Gavin Dias also said “GTDC has been associating with this event which is the second edition in a bid to give adventure loving bikers an opportunity to explore the diverse facets of Goa and give locals an experience of a fun ﬁlled activity. This year's edition was a grand success with a huge participation of bikers”. Mr. Deepak Narvekar also spoke on the occasion. The experience was very exclusive and an adventure ﬁlled ride. An interesting quiz competition was also held, renowned historian Sanjeev Sardesai guided the bikers and gave insights into Goa's history, culture and traditions during the rally, people discovered new places and had a different insight of what Goan history had to offer. The rally made them feel, that they were part of something muvh bigger and the excitement kept them amazed, of what would come next. Special prizes were given to those who were dressed up in traditional costumes. Medical assistance was given by Homoeobliss and Redkar hospital.

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GOA BUZZ

MUMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S KITCHEN CELEBRATED THE WORLD BREAST FEEDING WEEK Mumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kitchen along with Eve-o-Lution launched the Eve-O-lution anthem followed by a talk on nutrition and a traditional Goan cuisine dinner at the mummy-baby party, in honour

of celebrating the Breastfeeding week 2017 in association with WABA ( Wo r l d A l l i a n c e f o r Breastfeeding Action). The brand ambassador of the Eve-O-lution anthem was Ms. Zuleika Antao and the consultant nutritionist Luana Mascarenhas spoke on the importance of nutrition for mothers and children. The panel consisted of the brand ambassador for the anthem, Ms. Zuleika Antao, the directors of Mum's Kitchen Mr. Rony and Mrs. Suzette Martins along with the consultant nutritionist Ms. Luana Mascarenhas.

GOA BUZZ

TOURIST FROM BIHAR SPOILING GOA'S BEAUTIFUL BEACHES

Goa's garbage is completely out of control. It is defacing the state's natural beauty and destroying the tourism. It is also diminishing our quality of life. The tourists litter and leave behind a pile of trash for us to clean. One such activity has been spotted on the goa's famous miramar beach. To understand the gravity of Goa's garbage problem, it's necessary to look outside the state – to all the places on the planet where there are NO piles of trash lining the roads, where drivers and bus passengers do not toss their litter out of the window, where once pristine countryside has NOT been transformed into a massive waste bin. And now imagine yourself as a potential visitor trying to ﬁgure out where best to

spend your hard-earned holiday. Do you choose a place like the ones described above, or do you choose the one major beach destination that's allowed itself to become an unsightly rubbish dump? On Saturday a tourist bus f ro m B i h a r a r r i v e d a t Miramar, with around 10-20 families halted and sheltered near the beach side. Obviously, they were not here to contribute to the tourism or Goan economy but rather add to our garbage problem. They carried all the food supplies, along with their own cylinders and stoves. Setting this up opposite Sharda Mandir School in Miramar they created utter mess and litter. When a concerned local informed the police, they arrived at the spot and asked the

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tourists to move aside from the road area and left. No action was taken; this caused the local to approach higher authorities. One of the locals tried calling CCP and also the Chief Minister, but none of them actively provided any help. The question here

remains how these people cross the check posts without being held for transporting LPG cylinders. Also, how are they not being held and ﬁned for littering the public places? Neither CCP nor the Chief Minister's ofﬁce was available for comment.

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GOA BUZZ

NOW YOU CAN PAY YOUR ELECTRICITY BILL RIGHT FROM YOUR SMARTPHONE

Online transactions are more popular and secure than ever before, thanks to advancements in digital p a y m e n t s t e c h n o l o g y, demographic shifts, and the evolving cyber- security landscape. State government has now taken advantage of the technology and launched an app to make paying electricity bills easier. As the times have changed from dial based phones to touch screens, so has the hectic procedure of going all the way to pay your electricity bills. Now it is just a click away, as the state government on monday launched an app, 'ged connect', especially for this purpose. So far, bills could only be paid in person or online. The app is likely to make life

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easier for the state's 6.17 lakh electricity consumers, 1 lakh of whom have registered online with the electricity department. The app, which can be d o w n l o a d e d f ro m t h e department's ofﬁcial w e b s i t e , www.goaelectricity.gov.in, promises to be a one-stop destination for all billrelated information, including the history of bills, bill details, payment history, and grievance redressal. Manohar parrikar, after launching the app, said that the government is looking forward to possibilities of introducing the app for apple's ios platform as well. Once downloaded, the app will ask users for their mobile number. Then, the app will generate a one-

time password (otp) and send it to the mobile number via sms. Entering this number back into the app will complete the registration process. Apart from the six icons on the app's main screen — my account, bill payment, notiﬁcation status, energy conservation, contact us, and about us — the app will also provide names and contact numbers of relevant electricity department ofﬁcials. The app not only lets consumers pay their own bills, but they can pay for others as well, like a family member or a friend. A customer who has multiple electricity connections would also be able to pay bills through the same app. The electricity department has also been asked to set

up assistance centers in all electricity department ofﬁces so that people who come to pay the bill can get ﬁrst-hand information on how to use it. Parrikar said that as of the present, 4.2% of consumers pay their bills online, and account for 24% of revenue. Parrikar on monday said that in six months, 'smart meters' would be installed in areas like panaji. With this, bills would directly be sent to customers via mobile or email. Once installed, parrikar said meter readers won't require visiting individual houses to get the reading. Around 70,000 such smart meters will be installed, he said, at a cost of rs 60 crore.

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YOUNG GOA

ABHINAV WADEKAR THE ACE OF ONE AND JACK OF ALL TEXT ZAHUDA KHAN

Every phase in one's life plays a significant role in their growth. When one enters their twenties, it is considered to be the most crucial time in their lives. It is a stage when you decide what you want to do and where you want to go. However, not everyone has a set of goals and ambitions. It is a rarity to find a youth today embarking on a careerdefining journey towards achieving a goal. Abhinav Wadekar, is a young athlete on a selfdetermined journey to be an 'Ironman'. He has not only accomplished the limits, but has also represented the State at the National level. It is quite something to marvel as to how one can master different sports from being a marathoner, to a swimmer, to a cyclist, b a s k e t b a l l p l a y e r, footballer to excelling in squash and badminton as well. And there is a reason why he refers to himself as “Ace of one, Jack of all” which reflects in his aweinspiring story. “I was not that good at studies where I would just manage to pass. But when it came to sports, I would represent my school and college and also get marks for the same. So being good at something, and being rewarded for the same always felt good” divulged Wadekar. He schooled at Regina Mundi

High School, shifted to a boarding school for a while and later passed out from

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Regina Mundi High School itself. He later graduated from Don Bosco College,

Panjim and got a degree in BBA. He found his way into

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YOUNG GOA sports at a very young age. ''I was always into physical activities. I was a big fan of football as it is a huge sport in Goa. I have played for the U-14 team of Vasco Sports Club and U-16 of my school, but since I am not a Goan, I had to leave the team. I had joined Don Bosco's, Thivim in the Std VI where I was in a boarding school. It was here that Fr. Andrew taught me how to play basketball. I was not really good at it, so when my family shifted back to Goa, I joined Regina Mundi where I started to work on my basketball skills. I always remember admiring the senior basketball players and I would try to replicate their styles. But then I moved into athleticsâ&#x20AC;?, Wadekar revealed. Being a sportsman came naturally to him as his dad was an avid player of badminton, squash and tennis. Wadekar was always an all-rounder. But what

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pushed him to be a triathlete, was the lack of facilities and encouragement for sports in Goa that he faced sometimes. He also said that he was stuck at a point

where he could not grow because of inadequate training, but above all this, he represented Goa and w o n t h re e F e d e r a t i o n Cups. Wadekar focused on what

came natural to him and that was running. He trains himself for hours together; running miles that led him to become a good marathoner. He would also h a v e s w i m m i n g competitions with his friends on a regular basis. This eventually shaped his swimming skills. Relating on how he became a good cyclist, he recounted that back in his school days his dad bought for him a cycle as a means of transport to school that eventually polished his riding skills. He said everything that he did on a daily basis drew connectivity to his sporting disciplines which moulded him into what he is today. Wadekar has entered is name into a lot of sport events such as swimathon, duathlon, triathlon and Devil's Circuit. He has a number of achievements against his name. In the top draw, he enlists securing

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YOUNG GOA

the second place at the Goa Triathlon 2014 which was his very ﬁrst attempt in the same. He also completed a 21 km Goa River Marathon coming a respectable third and was placed at a commendable 10th in All India Satara Hill Marathon. He has also represented Goa in basketball at the national level thrice and once for Federation Cup. He has the pride of completing Devil's Circuit which is India's biggest obstacle run. At 22, Wadekar has achieved a lot for someone his age. His workout regime is truly inspiring as he refuses to give up on himself and constantly pushes himself to the limits in his endeavour to further excellence. He is currently undergoing rigorous training with zeal and

passion in his tryst for the title of Ironman, for which he has to travel abroad. It is a triathlon that would comprise of 1.8km swimming, 90km cycling, and 21km of running. He has no professional help in training for such events but is supported by Dinish Heda, an ultra marathon runner and Pramod from Navy Children's School. Everyone refers to him as the 'Natural Marathon Man' and he says that he is deeply inspired from the great Milkha Singh. Talking about his upcoming challenge he reveals that it is the Ultra Hill Marathon in Leh-Ladakh. “The Ladakh Marathon is amongst the toughest marathons. Of the four races in this event, the Khardungla Challenge (5370 m) is the World's Highest Ultra Marathon.

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Covering a distance of 72km, this race tests the limit of human endurance. You are running at 3500m above sea level, which is why I need to be in Leh for at least one week, to acclimatize for the race day” divulged the talented athlete. Unlike people his age who go for 9-5 jobs, he wants to safe-guard the interests of h i s c o u n t r y. “ W i t h everything that I have been doing and have worked my way up to, I have one main goal in my life and that is to join the Indian Army and become an Ofﬁcer. With the traits inculcated in me it will help me go a long way. My main aim is to join the paramilitary force. While I believe that sports is not my main career, it has led me to garner tremendous experience which can be

put into good effect in the Indian Army and the paramilitary forces,” Wadekar added. On questioning him as to why he still chooses to serve the country despite a bright future in sports, the proud Indian stated, “Honestly speaking, it is my dream and passion to join the Indian Army. It has always been a childhood dream. I come from Lonavla, and there used to be a military base there. I would notice the ofﬁcers. They were not rich people but still earned so much of respect, and it was then I took a decision that I wanted to be someone like that. I believe I can also re p re s e n t m y c o u n t r y through the army.”

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TALK OF TOWN

GTDC STAFF WELFARE ASSOCIATION FELICITATES CHILDREN

Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) Staff We l f a re A s s o c i a t i o n organized a function on July 4, at Paryatan Bhavan to felicitate children of GTDC employees who excelled in examinations conducted by Goa University and Goa Board (HSSC and SSC) for the academic year 2016-17. The Staff Welfare Association also felicitated Ms. Manuella Vaz, Dy. GM and Ms. Sulekha Bute, UDC, GTDC who superannuated from service last month. The function was presided over by Mr. Nilesh Cabral, Chairman of GTDC, Mr. Nikhil Desai, Managing Director of GTDC, Mr. Pramod Badami, Chief Engineer, SPV Cell, GTDC, Mr. Sachin Gore , General Manager, GTDC and Mr. L a x m i k a n t Va i g a n k a r, General Manager, GTDC & WWW.INCREDIBLEGOA.IN

President of the Staff Welfare Association, Mr. Deepak Narvekar, PRO & Secretary, Staff Welfare Association, Ms. Thelma Moses, Vice-President, Staff Welfare Association and Ms. Ninfa Silva, Treasurer, Staff Welfare Association. Meritorious students were felicitated with certiﬁcates and awards. On felicitating the meritorious students, Mr. Nilesh Cabral said “it is a proud moment for the GTDC to see the wards of its employees achieving academic excellence. Children are the future and nurturing them with good education and seeing them excel is a dream of every parent. On behalf of GTDC, I congratulate the parents and their children for their good performance in the academic year 2016-17 and wish them the very best

and success in their future endeavors.” Mr. Nikhil Desai, MD, GTDC also spoke on the occasion wherein he appreciated the efforts of the Staff Welfare Association for organsing such encouraging programmes. He advised students to achieve academic excellence in their future studies. Also, Mr. Cabral thanked Ms. Manuella Vaz and Ms. Sulekha Bute for their contribution to GTDC during their services. Mr. C a b r a l a n d M r. D e s a i felicitated them with a shawl and a bouquet. The retired ofﬁcials also spoke on the occasion thanking the management for their support and cooperation during their services with the Tourism Department and Corporation. M r. D e e p a k N a r v e k a r,

Senior Manager (Public Relations) & Secretary, Staff We l f a re A s s o c i a t i o n highlighted the activities of the association and compèred the function. Ms. Thelma Moses, VicePresident, SWA and Ms. Ninfa Silva, Treasurer, SWA co-ordinated the felicitation programme. The meritorious students of GTDC employees who w e re f e l i c i t a t e d w e re Rashmi Purshottam Desai, Sonaria Fernandes, Shailashri Bharat H a r m a l k a r, K a p i l Purshottam Dessai, Diviya Devidas Gauns Dessai, Sinkika Devu KunkalIkar, Sailesh Bharat Harmalkar, Siddhanth Siddarth Dessai, Siddarth V. Gauns Dessai, R u c h i k a S h e t Ve re k a r, Anurag Ashok Gawas, Prachi Prakash Manjrekar, Anisha Raghunath Chodankar.

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TALK OF TOWN

GOA GOES GREEN: WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF ECO GREEN BUSES

The environment has been suffering for a long time n o w, a n d t h e c l i m a t e change is a proof that, the situation is only getting worse. To combat the climate changes, our Goa Government has launched Eco Green buses, that can majorly help us, you will be familiar with how much polluted smoke is released from the other buses, it is one of major reasons why our environment is harmed. Goa is the second state in India, after Maharashtra, to introduce green buses as a public transportation, with two ethanol buses and one biogas bus launched on the state's roads on August 15th. The buses are part of a three-month pilot project on sustainable transport solutions by the Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) in association with

Scania India, the domestic company of a Swedish multinational. The shuttle has three routes for now, (Panaji-Margao), (Panaji-Vasco), (PanajiCanacona). And the good news about these buses are that, they are not charging extra fare. Fully air-conditioned with automatic doors and meeting the Euro standards, the 32-seater buses have Nirbhaya CCTV camera to keep an eye on passengers. They are lowlevel vehicles and, therefore, friendly to senior citizens and the physically challenged. The buses can b e t i l t e d t o w a rd s t h e boarding side for wheelchairs to go on board. Governor Mridula Sinha ﬂagged off the eco-friendly b u s e s f ro m A d i l S h a h Palace, old Secretariat. She

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proudly stated that the green fuel vehicles tie in with the cleanliness drive initiated by the present government, as the buses meet the dual purpose of managing waste as well as curbing environmental pollution. The Governor, along with ofﬁcials from KTC and Scania India, travelled in one of the buses from the old

Secretariat building to the Raj Bhavan. Several drivers from KTC travelled in the second bus to get a ﬁrst hand feel of it. Managing director of KTC Derick P Neto said that Goa has always been known as a tourist destination and now is time to preserve the natural beauty of the state by switching to nonpolluting transport fuel. He said that the pilot project was in the ofﬁng for about four months and a d d e d t h a t t h e government wants to utilise the biogas generated from the Saligao waste treatment plant. Currently ethanol will be sourced from Mumbai and biogas from Kolhapur. Drivers from Scania India will steer the buses while the conductors will be from KTC. Scania India will also be supplying the fuel during the pilot project phase but would be taking the fare collected on the ro u t e s i n l i e u o f f u e l charges.

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