WE LOVE BOOKS!
DOING GOOD: The Out-of-Context Book Club hosted a book discussion on the DH Lawrence novel “Sons and Lovers” on October 14, 2023 at the Broadway Book Store, Panjim. Published in 1913, this semi-autobiographical novel is one of the seminal works of English writer DH Lawrence. The protagonist Paul Morel is a budding artist born in a middle class English family. A drunken father early on in life, rallies the rest of the family around Gertrude, the mother. Paul is especially attached. The loss of an elder son, however changes the emotional equation between Gertrude and Paul adversely. Paul is forever torn between an emotionally demanding mother and two very different women whom he desires. As a result Paul is unable to form healthy relationships with women of his age. Absolutely sensitively written and offering more than a glimpse of the industrial British countryside of old. `Sons and Lovers’ explores the Oedipus complex (after the mythological Greek character Oedipus, where a child is sexually attracted to a parent of the opposite gender. NEXT READING: Out-of-Context Book Club invites you for a book discussion on the all-time classic `Animal Farm’ by George Orwell on Wednesday, November 22, 2023 at 6pm at Broadway Book Shop, Panjim. We have to go back to reading books and especially the classics to be grateful for the life we enjoy today! The folk in the picture above are book lovers all…Aaron, Eric, Shailesh, Archana, JJ, BK, Kanchan, Ankur, Anindita, Artie and others.
FRIENDSHIP IS OUR STRENGTH!
WHEN our innings in this are over we will not be judged by wealth and property we have amassed, but by our acts and deeds. That is why we are encouraged to do good work. I have been enormously blessed with an armoury of outstanding friends worldwide.
Even our detractors should not be considered our foes as they awaken us when we err. True friends may sometimes be hard to find because they are rare and one of a kind. They lift you up when no one else has even noticed that you were down.
Making friends is great but keeping in touch with these soul mates is a bigger challenge. Within our time constraints and with the help of social media, we must endeavour to keep in touch with them because we must care for every friend, and even more be also concerned for those on the other page.
Cultivating friendship may be an easy task but harnessing that bonding and making sure it endures is a bigger challenge. Friendship isn’t always about whom you’ve known the longest. It is about who walked into your life and said, I’m here for you and proved it. A friend in need is truly a friend in deed. While identifying and nurturing friends, age or the social strata should never be a hindrance. It is their experience and wealth of knowledge that helps and guides us.
We live in a tough world where no man is an island. We are dependent on each other and reliant on true friendship to enhance our trust, peace, harmony, and co-operation to safely co-exist with each other.
— Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
GOVERNMENT SEEKS DILUTION OF COMMUNIDADE LAWS
CHIEF Minister Pramod Sawant has again reiterated saying that the reason why the government wants to bring an amendment to the Communidade laws in the state is to protect houses of native Goans, not to regularise slums in Goa. All that is fine but why is he in so much hurry to bring an amendment to the Communidade laws and that too during the fast-approaching Lok Sabha elections?
Has anyone demanded or put pressure on the chief minister of Goa? It looks like the government is engaged in vote-bank politics by providing a window of hope to illegal migrant encroachers on Comunidade lands by bringing appropriate amendments. Because it is counting not just Goan encroachers but also migrants by considering them as Goans under the domicile clause after bringing in the new amendment to Communidade lands in Goa.
The government should be more clear and clarify to the people what it really wants to do with this amendment to the Comunidade laws in Goa. Whether it really wants to protect houses of Goans (as being claimed through the media) or allow all migrant encroachers on Comunidade land to become automatic beneficiaries to protect their illegal houses? This is what such an amendment will do in Goa, make illegalities legal for electoral gains.
— Jerry Fernandes, Saligao
CURB SYCOPHANT JOURNALISM!
FREEDOM of the media is an inviolable and fundamental right for journalists which they should exercise in an articulate manner to report facts and situations without fear or favour. The Press is the pillar of dissemination of information and the conscience keeper of the people.
Journalists should refrain from being sycophants. Try to be fair and analyse news justly with along with relevant criticism, which should be constructive, this is the cornerstone in any bona fide journalism.
Keep in mind that we are nearing general elections anew and the media is required to be unbiased, it should protect the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of the country. In the run up to the elections, freedom of the press should be used both as a weapon to curb corruption, cronyism and sycophancy, as well as show other countries that the pen is mightier than the sword in India!
— Elvidio Miranda, Panaji