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Coonoor calling

May 28, 2025

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Konkani Poetry

Yesterday I gave a PPT on the topic 'Glimpses of Contemporary Goan Poetry in English and Konkani' for students of a college. The request was made by a student of mine who I had taught around 20 years back in the college I am teaching in now. She still remembers, she said as she introduced me, me teaching Wordsworth's 'Tintern Abbey' in class. I tried to remember but the memories escaped me. There were a goodly number of students, around 40, who took time off from their hectic 'Fun Week' which seems to be the rage these days, to hear a poet read his lines. The deafening music outside the lecture hall soon mellowed into the cadence of poetry. For me this was a learning experience since I had never handled Goan poetry in Konkani and English on the same platform. But I realize that using Konkani, can have many benefits to leverage English in L2 classrooms. True enough, the students which were mostly from the Konkani department (The talk was jointly o...

Brand Baboi

Signboard outside Baboi's place at Agassaim. Goan sausages basking in the sun. Fredy weighs the sausages. Fredy holding on to his lifeline. - Brian Mendonca I did not intend to land up here. After all, I was told there were no Goan sausages to be had. In a conversation I had on the way here at Verna, I was asked 'Have you ordered your sausages?' I replied in the negative lamely. Because of the Exposition at Old Goa (today was the last day) the demand was high, was the explanation offered.* The person then asked from where I was coming. I found that odd. Intrigued by the question I decided to take a chance and see for myself if I could salvage some sausages. The matter was urgent as there were guests expected for dinner tomorrow. I knew there was a shop selling sausages in Agassaim but I did not know exactly where. Today, being Saturday, I decided to find out. Queenie had shared the Google location of Baboi and I followed the d...

Paatal Lok and the dogs

-Brian Mendonca It may be difficult to imagine but the last word in the gripping web series Paatal Lok (2020) on amazon Prime is by a dog - or bitch if you prefer. The series is a debut venture produced by actor-producer Anushka Sharma and her production house, Clean Slate Films. The last episode - the ninth - provides an allegory from the Mahabharata to wrap up the series and tie up all the loose ends. The scene in the Mahabharata is a famous one. The Pandavas are on their journey heavenward. Yudhisthira is the only one left. As he is about to enter heaven Lord Indra objects to the dog that is accompanying him. Yudhisthira, the righteous one, demurs saying, 'If the dog cannot enter heaven, I find no use for heaven. After all, when all my 'friends' left me, it was this dog who never left my side.' Lord Indra says he was only testing Yudhisthira.* The dog becomes more and more important when Sanjeev Mehra's wife Dolly turns to rearing a bitch and her pups to compens...

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