By Rajan Narayan
AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when the Serendipity multi-cultural events, start off from December 15, 2024 at multiple venues in Panaji. For a Saturday following the week when Sanjit Rodrigues offered the residents of Panaji song and dance and of course fenny and sanna and sorpotel to compensate them for the terrible state of the roads. For a Saturday following the week when mystery over the allegations of sextortion was raised by the very respectable Aldona MLA Carlos Alvaris Ferreira. For a Saturday following the week when the traditional candle sellers at SFX exposition in Old Goa expressed their woes.
AND a few stray thoughts on the The Serendipity Arts Festival 2024, a multi-cultural and multidisciplinary event, starts on December 15, 2024, at multiple venues across Panaji. Serendipity Arts Festival is unique in that it stimulates all the sensory organs. You can feast your eyes on the most thought-provoking paintings and art installations. Indeed, the festival kicks off with an expansive exhibition of renowned artist, the late Bhupen Khakar, curated by his friend, the eminent painter, poet and art critic Gulammohammed Sheikh, two of the stalwarts of the Baroda School of Art at the Directorate of Accounts building. Over the years, the installations have been very innovative, including various soundscapes that immerse you in different locations and times, both futuristic and nostalgic, like a sound box in a previous edition where one could hear the sound of waves. Then, there is the best of theatre curated by Sankar Venkateswaran and Quasar Thakore Padamsee, the latter of whom has inherited the genes of his father, Indian theatre personality and ad-film maker Alyque Padamsee. Alyque is the man who produced ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and ‘Evita’, among other plays. Serendipity Arts Festival is a feast of Goan, Indo-Western and fusion music. This year, there are the best ethnic Indian dance forms such as Odissi which is unique to Odisha, in the project ‘Tribute to the Masters: Legends, Legacy, and Continuum – Kelucharan Mohapatra’, curated by Dance discipline co-curator Geeta Chandran, Founder-President of Natya-Vriksha, an organisation devoted to promoting Bharatanatyam. In every one of the events, the focus is on innovation and cultural fusion, which is essential in a continent like India, which has so many diverse artistic forms. There is The Food Lab where you are exposed to the most exciting developments in the culinary world and where you can literally taste exotic food from seaweed to insects and also innovative versions of traditional Goan cuisine. The festival, which will delight Goans and introduce them to the best in the performance, culinary and visual arts, lasts for eight days, from December 15 to December 22, 2024. It will be held in multiple venues ranging from the Old GMC Complex to the Azad Maidan to the Kala Academy and the Art Park. There has been a recent addition to the outdoor venues for the musical projects in the form of the Arena at the Nagali Hills. The festival is free, with only a few ticketed events due to limited seating at the respective venues. This includes The Food Lab, and the tickets are very modestly priced at less than Rs 300.
Serendipity Arts Festival is the most important event in the social-cultural life of Goa. It is a must-attend for Generation Z in particular, due to the wide variety of cultural experiences they can enjoy. Unfortunately, young Goans live like frogs in the well and are now exposed to the richness and the diversity of the wide cultural expanse of India, Southeast Asia and the world. In a sense, Serendipity Arts Festival is a finishing school for Goans of all ages.
Unfortunately, the event is not publicized adequately. Part of the problem is that it is to defuse trying to cater to many groups that may be mutually exclusive. To give an example, those interested in Indian classical music may not be interested in Western classical and light music. Similarly, fanatic foodies may not be interested in experimental and innovative theatre. Ideally, the Serendipity Arts Festival should be marketed at targeted segments such as music lovers of art, theatre etc. Even those who would be very interested are not made aware of the annual feast of the senses. Perhaps, the Serendipity organizers could advise a daily schedule so that the largest number of locals could benefit. Serendipity Arts Festival should take a leaf out of IFFI’s book, as they have a tabloid paper called ‘The Peacock’ which provides the schedule for the day. The good part is that anyone can register as a delegate for Serendipity Arts Festival, and all you need is a valid government ID. The flip side is that everything is online, the registration the reservation of seats for individual events, and even the identity card issued to those who registered.
SANJIT’S SONG AND DANCE
AND a few stray thoughts when Sanjit Rodrigues offered the residents of Panaji song and dance and of course feni and sanna and sorpotel to compensate for the terrible state of the roads in so called smart city. Smart City along with the CCP is organizing a Goa festival of traditional music, dance and of course Goan food, at Patto, amidst the mangrove walkways and spaces. The two-day festival is being held over the weekend of December 14-15 and is the venue is adjacent to Squares building at Patto, which houses the offices of Smart City.
It is part of the Serendipity festival except that this event is focused on Goan artists and Goan cuisines. A Shigmo parade and a live music concert is featured along with several other events, catch up with this end of the year merriment with Christmas waltzing in the air.
Yes, the main venue will boast of a food court and several bar counters. Maybe Sanjit Rodrigues will level out and really smarten up the road routes to and at the venue so that residents of Panaji will know that is a Smart City initiative. The best thing of course is that entry is free and citizens may walk at without registration or payments.
Sanjit has a lot of experience organizing song and dance events starting from the musical events he used to hold at the Panaji Municipal garden when he was promoting the waste management program in Panaji city. Sanjit is also the master of ceremonies at the IFFI events as the CEO of the Entertainment Society of Goa.
SEXTORTION ALLEGATIONS
The curious part is that Carlos admits that over a period of time, he has paid Rs5 lakh to Rauta. Carlos also admits to having known Rauta for the last five years or more. Carlos claims that the blackmailer was demanding Rs5 crore.
The new hit man of the Bharatiya Janata Party Giriraj Pai Vernekar has raised some important issues. Vernekar asks, “Where is Carlos who is a former advocate general? Is it the case of sextortion or a relationship turning sour? If it is a case of sextortion and there is no truth to the video why did Carlos pay Rs5 lakh to Rauta? How many believe that the face that was morphed was not that of Carlos.” I feel that the Aldona MLA Carlos owes an explanation to the people of Goa on what exactly happened. The sextortion claim comes as a shock as Carlos is a very highly respected lawyer.
CANDLE SELLERS’ WOES
AND a few stray thoughts on the woes of the traditional candle sellers at the ongoing St Francis Xavier Exposition in Old Goa. Historically, in Catholic tradition those who have health problems offer candles in the shape of the body part afflicted and they pray for the healing of the ailment.
A group of candle makers have been selling the special candles to pilgrims visiting the exposition. This year the church stopped the traditional candle and flower vendors from entering the exposition area claiming that they were concern about breach in security. In any case, the church does not permit the lighting of candles near the casket in which the relics of St Francis Xavier are kept. Even in normal times, no one is allowed to light candles at the permanent home at the relics at the Bom Jesus Basilica.
As an alternative, the church authority has kept baskets for pilgrims to place the unlit candles as an offering to St Francis Xavier. The candle makers get the wax from a factory in South Goa for Rs1,000 per kg and they mould the wax into the shape of various bodily parts, limbs, etc, for pilgrims who offer these to the saint by way of appeals for healing miracles.
Some of my friends have been persuading me to offer the good saint a candle shaped like a spine (for mine has been destroyed by TB bugs). The unique body part candles are priced at Rs50 to Rs200. Interestingly, the traditional candle sellers are all Hindus and not Catholics. The dispute over the presence of the traditional candle sellers and flower vendors was solved only on the intervention of Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant.
But the candle makers have lost out a lot of money since they were not able to sell their candles till December 2006 and missed out on bumper sales on the feast day. Sundari Kerker, who has been selling candles for over 70 years, during the Goencho Saib feast day, is very upset that they were not allowed to earn a living during the current exposition. We wonder if the church stopped the vendors because they are not Catholic.
PANAJI FEAST
AND a few stray thoughts on the feast of our Lady of Immaculate Church in Panaji and the feast in Margao. The very popular Panaji feast was celebrated on Monday, December 9 at the magnificent Panaji Church which is perched up a flight of stairways close to the Municipal Garden Square. The Panaji church is one of the historic monuments in Goa and over 400 years old.
On feast day the statue of Mother Mary is taken out in possession around the heart of Panaji. This year the auxiliary bishop is the main celebrant at the Panaji Church feast. Traditionally “The Navhind Times” offers the 5 pm mass at the Panaji church on the feast day. There is normally a bid for stalls at the fair which takes place in the area, these offer traditional Goan delicacies including roasted gram, groundnuts, green peas as well as such favorites as khaje and quaint sweets like “kadio badio”; there are also clothes and furniture, household and kitchen utensils, pottery, furniture, home linen and other odds and ends, even furniture.
But this year because it is also the decennial SFX exposition, not many vendors put up stalls at Panaji ferry. Normally after the feast day at Old Goa, the vendors shift to Panaji and then subsequently to Margao for the church feast at Grace church. There are much fewer stalls this year than in previous years, causing a major loss for the CCP.