www.headlinesofmylife.today

Hey Silu, I just want to thank you for gifting me the book entitled "Stars Next Door". You may not believe it but I scanned and read it from cover to cover. As you know I never lived in East Africa except for a brief visit with Birdie before I migrated to Canada. However, as I turned the pages of the book, I was intrigued by the number of people that I knew who were highlighted in the memoir. Some who are really good friends.  Some, sadly have passed away. Of course, on page 113 your exploits on the hockey field are well documented as they have been many times before. My brother-in-law, Charlie DeSouza, is also featured in an earlier chapter. Charlie was a standout cricketer for Uganda. Of the many accomplishments in your life, your participation at the Rome, Tokyo, and Mexico Olympics, will surely figure as some of your greatest achievements. I was delighted to read about people such as Auggie and Angela, Astrid, Zulema, Metalia, Hilary and Elsie, my good fri...

Having reviewed Ben Antao's article in light of the objections raised, I do not find anything defamatory nor of malafide intent on part of the writer. The role of writing and indeed literature must be to provoke thought. It must address issues of memory, of perspective, of truth, of collective responsibility, and everything else which advances the cause of humanity. This has been its role since time immemorial. This will be its role for all time.  Ben Antao's article deals with memory: how it is shaped, how it is lost, how it is contrived, and how it is recorded in literature. It is an important discussion given that we do not have another community analogous with that of East African Goans.  We have to be willing to introspect when points are raised. Introspection is key to maturity and growth. Without introspection and discussion, what we have is fascism, dictatorships, fundamentalism and all the worst excesses humanity has had to bear. As a writer myself, I cannot su...

I apologise Maladies of diaspora Goans: Goans, like anyone else in the world, don’t have the time to waste on the nonsense created by Ben Antao in his criticism of me and my humble efforts as a an author and Goans in the diaspora. They have better things to do with their time … like family, friends, new experiences, work, religion, and the myriad things that created the home truth that a mother’s job is never done … especially when some of us are dealing with serious illnesses, emergencies or other matters of grave concern. Ben, the editors of the blog he used as a vehicle for his attack,  for disturbing the peace of Goan households around the world but especially in Canada, and I, for having the readers (and friends) of my two books and nearly 58 years in journalism rush to my defence owe you all an apology. You guys have better things to do. You should not have to deal with this kind of useless crap. I hope to bring this nonsense to end shortly. Peace Cypri...

The unkind cut Roland Francis: I fully agree with what Francis Noronha of Lethbridge Alberta has written in reply to Ben Antao’s unnecessarily harsh and critical analysis of Cyprian’s books.  Being neither from East Africa nor a resident in Goa except during Summer Holidays, I support the need any Goan may have to write about his life experiences. These are precious because that human ecology exists no more. I enjoyed Cyprian’s two books immensely while I found Ben Antao’s books extremely shallow. I am not attempting a comparison here, but will go so far as to say that one who plays in the wet mud of a village is bound to find it meaningless to look up to a magnificent setting sun, let alone enjoy it. Braz Menezes, Cyprian Fernandes and to a certain extent Selma Carvalho have made a huge contribution to my understanding of the Goan African experience. Roland Francis Vivian A. D’Souza: Ben's remarks were totally un-called for and betray an underlying jea...

A rather silly waste of trees I had not planned to respond to the pathos of the excerpt below, however, the attendant clinical examination of the story in question by Francis Noronha is, in my view, quite brilliant (even if I say so myself) and should be shared with fair-minded thinkers everywherw An excerpt from a piece by Ben Antao:   Maladies of diaspora Goans   I find it astonishing that so many of the Canadian Goans who immigrated to Canada from East Africa in the 1960s and 1970s still hearken back to the good times of the so-called paradise they basked under   the British colonial sun. The term ‘paradise’ to describe life in East Africa comes from Cyprian Fernandes, a journalist born and raised in Kenya who, like most of his generation, was forced to abandon the paradise following the end of colonial rule, and the introduction of Africanisation policies by the newly independent countries of Uganda, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania. In his memoir Yesterday in ...

Apologies: I have no idea where I got this: Goans at Lamu 1800-2000 : A story of bandsmen, sailors, clerks and tailors. Towards the later part of the nineteenth century the Germans and the British were politically active in the Lamu area. The Germans finally placed the settlement of Witu under German protection, thereby making it independent of the Sultan of Zanzibar. However German aspirations had spread from Witu to nearby Lamu where they established a post office. In 1886 the Germans and British worked out a deal which gave Lamu to the Sultan of Zanzibar who ceded it to the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC) who sent an agent to Lamu in 1888. Germany finally abandoned her claim to Witu in 1890 by the terms of the Anglo-German Treaty. As part of an ongoing issue with the Sultan of Witu several Royal Navy ships were sent to Lamu in October 1890 including the Boadica , Cossack and Brisk to instate British supremacy on behalf of the Sultan of Zanzibar. In all the Wit...

Another Matata winner for Menezes Among The Jacaranda A novel based on true events Braz Menezes Available on Amazon and most E-book platforms Review by Cyprian Fernandes ( Yesterday in Paradise, Stars Next Door ) Among the Jacaranda is the third in the Matata series: Just Matata (reissued as an expanded edition as Beyond the Cape 1920-1950) and More Matata (1951-1963) by the Kenya born author Braz Menezes, a former award-winning architect. The first three books quickly established a large fan base for Menezes who quickly became recognised for imbuing the hero of the books, Lando, with wit, humour, a sense of adventure as well paying homage to Kenya and especially Nairobi. No doubt Among The Jacaranda is already assured of a following; probably more in E-books than the printed variety, both are easily available. I am finding reviewing this exceptional trip down nostalgia road a tough gig. Not only because I get a left-handed compliment but because, like Mene...