-Brian Mendonca
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| Budding researchers. |
It is always nice when students come up with research topics which veer away from the trodden path. It is even more refreshing when the topic has a Goa dimension. This year some students chose to work on ecocritical perspectives in selected short stories from Goa. This opened up the field in terms of both form and content. In terms of form they examined the short story. In terms of content they used an ecocritical theoretical frame of reference.
What is heartening is the broad canvas of stories which came under their purview. They spoke of stories seldom talked about, hidden stories from the Goan heartland. Even when they considered stories by prominent Goan writers they chose those with an ecocritical dimension - thus staying faithful to the theme. The study is even more pertinent when Goa is going through the throes of development, much of which alienates Goans from their roots.
In gathering all these stories - a labour of love - students nimbly accessed both online and offline sources. They brought to light exciting new writing on Goa being published online in journals like the Joao Roque Literary Journal or JLR. It is heartening to note that Goan writing now has moved into the digital space and Gen Y is pretty clued into it.
The stories chosen include Prakash Paryekar's 'Mahabali' (1996); Susan Marie Rebello's 'Root' (2020); Anjali Dar Sengupta's 'Turtles and Thieves' (2014), and two stories by Damodar Mauzo, viz. 'Minguel's Kin' (2007) and 'For Death Does Not Come.' (2014)*
The next set of stories were were all published online by JLR in 2019. They included reflections of survival in 'Lizards and Butterflies' by Krupa Manerkar; 'Birds' nestled in the island of Chorao by Cordelia B. Francis and Sheela Jaywant's 'The Trees Have Been Here Before Us' about Sheena's Home catering to tourists in Goa in the 1990's and onwards. The very titles tug at one's heart strings, specially when one sees tall trees ripped apart and laid asunder while plotting the elevated corridor. The human cost can never be put into words.
The inquiry is supported by a special issue on Goan literature put out by the literary e-journal Muse India. Muse India, Issue 50 (2013) is curated by Dr. Brian Mendonca - when the writer returned to Goa searching for his roots. It includes rare primary sources in several genres of Goan writing including drama, novel, poetry, reminiscences, interviews, book reviews and critical articles.
Emerging out of two years of COVID the students did remarkably well to meld creative writing on Goa with the contemporary predicament of the backlash of development in Goa. One hopes these voices of sanity - which represent Goa's future - will be heard.
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Pic of researchers (Left to right) Larissa, Lauren, Aveny, Khushi, and Carmen taken on 23/6/22. Updated 25/6/22.
*These Are My Children (Katha, 2007), Teresa's Man (Rupa, 2014); Coconut Fronds (Fundacao Oriente, 2014); Balcao Tales (Fundacao Oriente, 2020)
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