Fiction
By Riddhima Basiya
Issue no 25
I decided to travel solo this time, yearning to get acquainted with the character of a place and its people rather than instant gratification in a grandiose resort stuffed with superficial objects, but lacking in soul. The web advertisement for mansão de Babolim or Babolim Mansion could not have appeared at a better time. Showing impressive pictures of the mansion’s facades surrounded by lush trees and trimmed hedges, the advert described the place as a ‘heritage homestay with complimentary breakfast and free wi-fi’.
By Epitacio Pais
Translated by Paul Melo e Castro
Issue no 24
Conceição had been happy once, but nothing in this world could bring that feeling back. What did return were her memories, of João’s savage kisses, his strange way of loving, animal-like but gentle, harsh but tender, veering between the platonism of words and the basest passion, his magic touch that brought either pain or maddening ecstasy, she was never quite sure which. His velvety words and jealous Cyclopean rages. His blazing eyes and tears of feeble subservience.
non-Fiction
By Heta Pandit
Why do we call it a book release, Rochelle? In fact, isn’t it just the reverse of release? Holding, reading, and experiencing a book is an inhalation, a holding in of your breath, a waiting for a revelation. That is exactly how I felt when I began reading Coins in Rivers. I wonder why the perpetrators of all the atrocities described against women are men. You write as a feminist; you see and understand scars. Even the ones under the skin. And yet, I see a soft gentle touch, not the caustic, harsh, and scarred perspective of a hard-core man-hater.
By Selma Carvalho
My anecdotal observations suggested that Goans were leaving Goa for a better life. At the same time, many others from across the country were moving to Goa for a better life too. Hence when I moved to Goa during the pandemic, I grappled with fundamental questions about modern migration, indigenous cultures, and identity: Where is home? Where do I belong? What is culture? How do I connect with my culture and community?
By Selma Carvalho
Longlisted for the Asian Prize for Fiction 2023, Mrinalini Harchandrai discusses her book. This story was inspired by my mother’s childhood experiences in 1961 Goa. So quite a fair bit of the details of life then have been reaped or borrowed from family stories itself. I myself spent my childhood summers visiting my grandmother’s home in Goa, so perhaps some facility with the tongue and an understanding of mindset nuances seeped into me over the years.
poetry
By Salil Chaturvedi
Issue no 25
Sure enough
four petals a touch of orange in the stem
knee-high
That’s Farsetia.
This is the only place you will find it
On top of a hill, green in August
A short-lived trick
Then, a return to bare and rocky.
By Ritoshree Chatterjee
Issue no 25
maman, i died by the shore tonight.
the sea wept a soft lavender afterthought
and sand snuck in my heart till
a peanut-seller’s pockets spilled out the evening
maman, i died by the shore tonight
the waves lapped up my little girl’s body
By Sabah Al-Ahmed
Issue no 25
1989 –
Emperor Jehangir’s awestruck lines
from a houseboat on Dal lake
had now started to melt,
‘Gar Firdaus ruhe zamin ast,
hamin asto, hamin asto, hamin ast’
It wasn’t the paradise on earth,
book reviews & excerpts
By Augusto Pinto
Issue no 26
Raktachandan by Sanjiv Verenkar is the latest Konkani book to win the Sahitya Akademi award. It is the eighth collection of poetry of this veteran journalist and writer of books on contemporary Goan history. The title Raktachandan refers to the tree species pterocarpus santalinus (red sandalwood in English) that has many medicinal qualities. Among other uses, in the days before modern balms and ointments invaded our pharmacies it was used as a pain-killer for a variety of aches, wounds and swellings.
By Glenis M. Mendonca
Issue no 25
When the world went into lockdown, the Margao Book Club (MBC), based in South Goa-India, met over Zoom to have interesting book discussions. In a quirky moment, the members thought of trying their hand at writing verse. The eight Rasas of Bharata’s Natyashastra, were decided as a frame for inspiration. Sixteen MBC members found respite in setting their imagination go riot in verse, and a couple of months later the curator of the Club, Savia Viegas (author, artist and art curator) selected the best to create this blissful panacea to the trapped minds and christened it ‘Viral Verse’.
Review by Selma Carvalho
Issue no 24
There are so many familiar and acclaimed names the reader will recognise: Salil Chaturvedi, Anita Pinto, Jessica Faleiro, Yvonne Vaz Ezdani, Nathaniel da Costa, Veena Gomes-Patwardhan, Bina Datwani, Pantaleao Fernandes, Edith Melo Furtado, Sheela Jaywant, Jeanne Hromnik, Bina Nayak, Kornelia C. Rebello, Alisa Souza, and Alexyz Fernandes, who all have work included in the anthology…
Banner image of Goa is by Chelsea Marques and downloaded from unsplash.com
The views expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the Joao Roque Literary Journal. They are here in the spirit of free speech to evoke discussion. Free speech is the pillar of a free society. You can write to lescarvalhos@yahoo.com if you wish to lodge a complaint.
By Selma Carvalho
The Friday they leave for a weekend in Belgium, Anju discovers Freddo is cheating on her. She doesn’t share her knowledge with him. What she should have said was, ‘Freddo, I’m tired of this shit. This time, I’m leaving.’
Her heart feels like it is going to stop breathing all on its own, distinct from the rest of her. The pain is so intense, she realises it is possible for the rest of her body to survive the carnage, while her heart, expelled from her being like a refugee, would simply die.