`ABOLIANCHEM FEST’ ON MARCH 4

THE Nirmala Institute of Education “Abolianchem Fest” is back this year, after an absence of two years, at its wonderful garden campus up at Altinho grounds in Panaji on March 4. This is one of the most delightful and rewarding, much looked forward to festivals of capital city Panaji. Speaking to media people on February 17 various faculty members assured that this time around there would be the usual as well as new add-on programs – the Abolianchem Fest is named after the pretty abolim (popularly called “crossandra” for Crosandra infundibuliformis or firecracker flowers) flowers which women like to ornament their hair-do in Goa and other Konkan coastal states.
The festival has become part of their Goa Day at the Nirmala Institute of Education since 2001 with the objective of exposing their teacher trainees to the rich cultural heritage of Goa. The festival encompasses diverse aspects of Goa’s cultural heritage which includes music, dance, tiatr (maand or open-air style), architecture and other specific which a part of the varnishing landscape like communidade or balcao…the objective of the festival is to revive age old Goan socio-cultural ethos through celebrations of all things enriching and to move towards sustainable ways of living in peace and harmony.
This year the theme of the festival is “Udok” or “Water, The Elixir of life” and there would be a focus on how vital this natural resource is for all life on earth although is it is fast varnishing from our earth. “70% of earth is water,” reminded Principal Dr Rita Paes, and we have only 0.3% of potable water in our rivers, lakes, ponds, wells…much of it is pretty much unfit for drinking purposes now. In fact, we have less than 1% of water fit for human needs. Shortage of potable water is growing and human beings need to make better choices on how to use the earth’s most precious resource or all life on earth will be in jeopardy!
The March 4 Abolianchem Festival which is open to the public will have many treats inn store to delight the senses and palate. Their student strength of 300 doing BEd and DEd and faculty will be present, special invitations have gone out to ex-alumni students of the Nirmala Institute of Education to come and spend the day with the students! The festival which is being held in collaboration with the Directorate of Art & Culture, Government of Goa, will feature a host of traditional skills, games stalls, there will be food stalls to introduce visitors to local recipes and much more. If you want to learn how to drum the Goan “ghumott” or to weave a matt out of coconut fronds come early and someone will teach you! Not to be missed, this charming Abolianchem Fest at the NIE Grounds at Altinho-Panjim on March 4 from 10 am to 5pm.

MASTERS OF PRIVACY!

RESIDENTS of no other country in the world other than the UK keep their public and private lives apart. In the case of India, the wives, sons, nephews the nieces all get VIP treatment. This is in sharp contrast to the wife of Prime Minister of UK  Rishi Sonak,  Akshata Murthy, daughter of Infosys founders Narayan and Sudha Murthy, who enjoyed a brief private holiday down south Goa on  Benaulim beach earlier this week. Only after she left Goa on Tuesday after a four day holiday did the news get around that Akshata  Sonak was here in Goa and had departed happily. The news was released courtesy  Taj Exotica’s impeccably correct public relations naturally. Moral of the story if we may call it that is that if you’re seeking an absolute private holiday – trust the Taj Group of Hotels far and near The Taj protects its famous VIPs and VVIPs from the glare of unwanted and perhaps rude publicity! Privacy sacrosanct for the rich and famous and beautiful people of the world who holiday around the world including Goa.   

SEARCHING FOR A SHOE!

IN sharp contrast the entire South Central railway force spent more than a week investigating the disappearance of some fancy footwear belonging to a senior railway official. The anti-climax was that it was discovered that it was not a case of theft but a misunderstanding, some other passenger had slipped on the footwear accidentally and not deliberately! But what a ruckus it created.  

BBC UK RAIDED

STRANGE are the ways of government. The Mumbai and Delhi offices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) were paid a visit by the Income-Tax department officials without any permission or advance notice given to the British Embassy or the British government. BBC is an independent autonomous organisation which is outside the purview of India’s bosses.

The raids on the BBC premises were in  retaliation for the recent BBC documentaries confirming that Narendra Modi, one time chief minister of Gujarat and now prime minister of India, was involved in the post-Godhra incident massacre in 2002.  So far only Indian electronic and print media were targeted by the government surveillance agencies but now it looks like Modi & Gangsters are attacking foreign agencies and councils too.

PORVORIM BYPASS

THE proposal for creating a bypass in the overcrowded Porvorim constituency had to be given up. A government team which went to inspect the land found that the area was full of houses, residential complexes and bungalows. The state government has now proposed the construction of a renovated road to ease the regular traffic jam nuisance here.  

SPEAKER STILL SUPREME!

THE Supreme Court in its order on Wednesday (Feb 15) ruled that the Speaker of the assembly should deal with disqualification issues first on a priority basis. The court cannot issue any directives to the Speaker in the LA. The court can only confirm if the rules regarding disqualification have been followed.  Under the Constitution, the legislature and the judiciary are separate bodies and cannot interfere with each other. Parliament is the only place where any MLAs, MPs or ministers may give any number of gaali, even to Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi.  Statements made in parliament by MPs do not fall outside the jurisdiction of the courts.

RAMDEV YOGA SESSION

THE Directorate of Education has issued a circular asking all government-aided and unaided primary, secondary, higher secondary and special schools to depute all their teachers to attend the grand yoga event on February 20, 2023 at Miramar beach. The Directorate of Education claims that yoga is an important tool for the self-development of the child and children must learn yoga. Teachers should be able to teach them yoga. Which in itself is not a bad idea but past experience tells us that anything forced or made compulsory does not necessarily work in the direction desirable!