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PANAJI: The connoisseurs of alcohol who shun Fenny from their menu for its strong odour may soon have a reason to raise a toast as researchers are not only burning the midnight oil to produce the quintessential Goan brew sans smell but also to grant it an exotic status.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), a Union government initiative, has been working closely with the Fenny producers here to prepare a new odourless concoction which could find more social acceptability than its present avatar.

Fenny, which is usually brewed from cashew or coconut, has already attained Geographical Indication (GI) status following a protracted struggle by its ardent supporters.

The high grade fenny has 42 per cent alcohol content.

ICAR Director Narendra Pratap Singh said the scientists have been working methods to make this drink more socially acceptable, without tempering with its originality.

“We are not touching its flavour. We want to make it more acceptable,” he said.

Senior ICAR scientists S B Barbuddhe and A R Desai are studying the entire process of manufacturing the brew, which has given them required clues to remove strong smell from this country-made liquor.

While Fenny sans odour may not augur well for die-hard freaks, the experts feel that this scientific innovation will certainly help the drink get more acceptance amongst tourists.

ICAR team has discerned that Fenny types depend upon the technique employed for distillation and natural flora which causes its fermentation.

The research has also suggested that the method of extracting juice from Cashew Apple is unhygienic, which needs to be standardised.

“Use of tin or iron containers for storing the juice during fermentation process causes blackening of the juice which may affect the flavor of the finished product,” a senior scientist said.

Mechanisation of juice extract has also been proposed as one of the ways to do away with the strong odour.

As per state estimates, there are nearly 2000 Fenny-makers involved in this seasonal business across the state.

In 1947 when India became independent, Portugal had control of a handful of enclaves on the subcontinent. Lisbon’s Estado da India consisted of Goa, Daman, Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
It covered an area of around 4,000 square km. The population inhabiting the area was 637,591 in 1947. Religious distribution was 61 per cent Hindu, 36.7 per cent Christian and 2.2 per cent Muslim.
Resistance to Portuguese rule in Goa was pioneered by Tristão de Bragança Cunha, a French educated Goan engineer who founded the Goa Congress Committee in 1928. Da Cunha released a booklet called ‘Four hundred years of Foreign Rule’ and a pamphlet, ‘Denationalisation of Goa’. Eventually Da Cunha would become the first president of the Goa Congress, affiliated to the Indian National Congress.

Several leaders of the Indian Independence movement like Rajendra Prasad, Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose expressed solidarity with the Goan people’s craving for independence.
On June 18, 1946, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia along with Da Cunha and Dr Juliao Menezes, a nationalist leader who had founded in Bombay the Gomantak Praja Mandal and edited the weekly newspaper, Gomantak, held a protest in Panjim against the suspension of civil liberties. The Portuguese government brokenup the protest and arrested the leaders. Intermittent mass demonstrations were reported from June to November.
Post-1947, armed groups such as the Azad Gomantak Dal (The Free Goa Party) and the United Front of Goans became active. The Indian government supported these groups and gave them financial, logistic and armament support. The armed groups acted from bases situated in Indian territory.
Commenting on the armed resistance, Portuguese army officer, Captain Carlos Azaredo ( who later retired as General) stationed in Goa said in an interview to Portuguese newspaper O Expresso: “To the contrary to what is being said, the most evolved guerilla warfare which our armed forces encountered was in Goa. I know what I’m talking about, because I also fought in Angola and in Guiné. In 1961 alone, until December, around 80 policemen died. The major part of the terrorists of Azad Gomantak Dal were not Goans. Many had fought in the British Army under General Montgomery against the Germans.”
In 1950 when India asked Portugal to open negotiations about the future of Portuguese colonies in India, Lisbon rebuffed it, saying that its territory on the Indian subcontinent was not a colony but part of metropolitan Portugal and hence its transfer was non-negotiable. In protest, India withdrew its diplomatic mission from Lisbon in 1953.
By 1954, New Delhi instituted visa restrictions on travel from Goa to India which paralysed transportation between Goa and other enclaves like Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The Indian union of dockers also instituted a boycott on shipping to Portuguese India.
Between July 22 and August 2, 1954, armed activists attacked and forced the surrender of Portuguese forces stationed in Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
On August 15, 1955, about 5000 Indian activists attempted to enter Goa at six locations and were repulsed by Portuguese police. About 30 people were killed. The news galvanised public opinion in India against the Portuguese rule in Goa and on September 1, 1955, India shut its consul office in Goa.
Portugal’s prime minister, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, alarmed by the possibility of armed Indian action, first asked London to mediate, then protested through Brazil and eventually asked the UN Security Council to intervene. Meanwhile, Krishna Menon, India’s defence minister and head of India’s UN delegation, stated in no uncertain terms that India had not “abjured the use of force” in Goa.
On 24 November 1961, the Sabarmati, a passenger boat passing between the Portuguese-held island of Anjidiv and the Indian port of Kochi, was fired upon by Portuguese ground troops, resulting in injuries to the chief engineer of the boat, as well as the death of a passenger. That gave Nehru the immediate alibi for armed intervention.
Eventually, on December 10, 1961, Nehru stated to the press that “Continuance of Goa under Portuguese rule is an impossibility”.
After the government asked the armed forces to get ready, India’s Southern Command fielded the 17th Infantry Division and the 50th Parachute Brigade. The assault on Daman was assigned to the 1st Maratha Light Infantry while the operations in Diu were assigned to the 20th Rajput and 4th Madras battalions. Air resources for the assault on Goa were concentrated in the bases at Pune and Sambra.
Operation Vijay saw the Indian Navy deploy two warships — INS Rajput, an ‘R’ Class destroyer, and INS Kirpan, a Blackwood class frigate, off the coast of Goa. The actual naval assault was assigned to four task groups – a surface action Group comprising five ships (Mysore, Trishul, Betwa, Beas and Cauvery), a carrier group of five ships (Delhi, Kuthar, Kirpan, Khukri and Rajput centred around carrier Vikrant), a mine Sweeping Group and a support group.
Salazar, disregarding other officials and military officers, asked the Portuguese authorities in Goa and there would be no surrender and that Portugal should fight till the last man. He asked the Portuguese forces to at least hold out for eight days which he thought was enough time to garner international support against ‘Indian invasion’.
Portuguese ground defences consisted of 3,995 men, including infantry troops and 810 Goan soldiers. In addition, there were about 1,040 police officers and 400 border guards divided among the three Portuguese enclaves in India. The strategy employed to resist Indian invasion was centred around the Plano Sentinela which divided Goa into four sectors, with forces assigned to each sector and tasked with slowing the progression of an invading force. These plans were however unviable because of the desperate shortage of ammunition and communication equipment.
One Portuguese Navy ship, Afonso de Albuquerque, was present in Goa at the time of invasion. The vessel was armed with four 120 mm guns capable of two shots per minute and four automatic rapid firing guns. There were five merchant navy ships in Goa and three light patrol boats, each armed with a 20mm Oerlikon gun.
Commenting on the Plano Sentinela, Captain Azaredo told Portuguese newspaper O Expresso in 2001, “It was a totally unrealistic and unachievable plan which was quite incomplete.”
On December 18, Indian Air Force Canberras pounded the Dabolim Airfield, rendering the runway invalid but causing no damage to infrastructure and facilities. Another raid by Hawker Hunters neutralised a wireless station at Bambolim.
On December 18, under covering fire from INS Trishul and INS Mysore, Indian troops landed on the island of Anjidiv and engaged the Portuguese defenders. The Portuguese ceased fire and raised a white flag, thus luring the Indian soldiers out of their cover before opening fire again, killing seven and wounding 19. The Portuguese defences were eventually overrun after fierce shelling from the Indian ships offshore. The island was secured by Indian troops by December 19.
On the morning of 18 December, Afonso de Albuquerque was anchored off Mormugao harbour. Three Indian frigates led by the INS Betwa took up position off the harbour at 9 in the morning. At 11 AM, Indian planes raided the harbour and at 12.00 pm, INS Betwa, accompanied by INS Beas, entered the harbour and opened fire on the Portuguese ships with their 4.5-inch guns while transmitting requests to surrender in between shots in morse code. In response, Afonso de Albuquerque lifted anchor, headed out towards the enemy and returned fire with its 120 mm guns.
A few minutes into the exchange of fire, the Afonso took a direct hit in its control tower, injuring its weapons officer. At 12.25 pm, an anti-personnel shrapnel bomb fired from an Indian vessel exploded directly over the ship, killing its radio officer and severely injuring its commander, Captain António da Cunha Aragão, after which First Officer Pinto da Cruz took command of the vessel. The ships propulsion system was also badly damaged in this attack.
At 12.35 pm, Afonso de Albuquerque swerved 180 degrees and was run aground against Bambolim beach.
Eventually at 12.50 pm, after having fired nearly 400 rounds at the Indians, hitting two of the Indian vessels, and having taken severe damage, order was given to abandon the ship. In all, Afonso de Albuquerque lost 5 men and 13 were wounded in the battle.
The 50 Para Brigade moving in from the north and the northeast on December 18 was the first to reach Panjim on December 19. The Aguada fort was run over and Portuguese forces were overrun and many surrendered.
Meanwhile from the east, the 63rd Infantry Brigade marched on Margao. On the way fell Ponda, Candeapur and Darbondara. They then continued till Dabolim Airport and Mormugai harbour.
By the evening, most of Goa had fallen to advancing Indian troops and the Portuguese had gathered around 2,000 soldiers at the entrance to Vasco da Gama to make their last stand.
The instruction from Salazar was to hold out at the harbour till naval reinforcements arrived from Lisbon. But Goa’s Portuguese Governor General Manuel António Vassalo e Silva took stock of the numerical superiority of the Indian troops, as well as the food and ammunition supplies available to his forces and took the decision to surrender. He later described his orders to destroy Goa before losing as “um sacrifício inútil” (a useless sacrifice).
In a communication to all Portuguese forces under his command, he stated, “Having considered the defence of the Peninsula of Mormugao… from aerial, naval and ground fire of the enemy and … having considered the difference between the forces and the resources… the situation does not allow myself to proceed with the fight without great sacrifice of the lives of the inhabitants of Vasco da Gama, I have decided with … my patriotism well present, to get in touch with the enemy … I order all my forces to cease-fire.”
The official Portuguese surrender was conducted in a formal ceremony held at 2030 pm on December 19 when Governor General Manuel António Vassalo e Silva signed the instrument of surrender bringing to an end 451 years of Portuguese Rule in Goa. In all, 4668 personnel were taken prisoner by the Indians – a figure which included military and civilian personnel, Portuguese, Africans and Indians (Goans). Of these, 3412 prisoners were taken in Goa, 853 in Daman and 403 in Diu.

MUMBAI: The spiraling rupee is resulting in a windfall for builders around the country who were struggling for more than a year to sell new homes.

In a three-day property show in Dubai last weekend, Indian builders were able to generate bookings for homes valued at over $50 million (around Rs 250 crore), which has prompted them to hop to other cities with large Indian population like London, New York and Singapore.

Ever since the rupee started depreciating there has been increased activity by the non resident Indian ( NRI) buyers as they pay in dollars. The benefits of the rupee depreciation, if added to the discounts being offered by developers, makes new homes in India cheaper by almost 30% in dollar terms. At the Dubai show, 70 companies including Unitech, Hiranandani Group, Vatika, Nirmal Lifestyle, Ansal Housing and Ireo showcased their 200 projects from Mumbai, Pune, Gurgaon and Ahmedabad.

“International real estate investment destinations, especially Europe and the Middle East are increasingly becoming uncertain. This, along with sharp depreciation in rupee, is attracting more NRIs towards Indian property markets,” said Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director of Hiranandani group.

Since August, the Indian currency has weakened nearly 20% against the US dollar. This, in addition to developer and project specific discounts has provided benefit of 25-30% to NRIs who are considering this as a good bargain. “Dirham, the currency of United Arab Emirates, being fixed to the US dollar is also helping Indian property market receive more attention from investors and buyers from the region,” Hiranandani added.

He expects the NRIs contribution in company’s revenue to jump over 8% in the ongoing financial year, as against 3-4% earlier. “In three days most of the buyers have shown interest in paying the entire amount upfront to get the benefit of current currency rate. Of these, 53% people have booked these properties for own use while rest have bought with investment objective,” said Sunil Jaiswal, chief executive of Sumansa Exhibitions, which organised the Dubai show.

The Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI), the representative body of developers from Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, is planning to organize a property exhibition in Dubai between January 12-14. And developers, who are witnessing fall in sales volume from local homebuyers, are hopeful of a strong rebound from there.

The MCHI exhibition in Dubai will showcase around 300 properties developed by around 35 developers. “Prospects of sales to NRIs are bright this year, and therefore we are going to Dubai, London, Singapore, Doha and Hong Kong,” said Zubin Mehta, CEO at MCHI. He expects the Dubai show to generate 15-20% higher bookings than last year’s exhibition that saw bookings around Rs 70 crore and housing finance companies business at Rs 107 crore.
While Sumansa Exhibitions is also looking at organising more property exhibitions in international cities with Indian population many developers are also looking to enter into a tie up or set up their sales and marketing offices abroad.

The Upside

Rupee depreciation has made new homes in India cheaper by almost 30% in dollar terms. Builders sold homes worth $50 billion in a property show organised in Dubai recently. Increased interest by NRIs has prompted builders to organise such exhibitions in other cities with large Indian population

by SWATI DAFTUAR

A peek at how Mario Miranda’s trademark style evolved.

He is one of India’s best known cartoonists and social chroniclers. And now comes a book that shows us how he got there. The Life of Mario: 1951, published by Architecture Autonomous, is a graphic diary of images and cartoons from Mario Miranda’s life. More than 50 years old, it is a collection of his rib-tickling, tongue-in-cheek art work edited by Gerard Da Cunha. The year 1951 marked a turning point in Mario’s artistic development and in Goa’s own history.

In 1951, Mario De Miranda had just finished university in Mumbai and was on a sabbatical. Born in 1926 in the Portuguese enclave of Daman, Mario belonged to a Goan Roman Catholic family of Saraswat Brahmin origin. His father was the Administrator of Daman and his family a part of the local aristocracy. Consequently, Mario managed to imbibe the best of both Portuguese as well as Goan cultures. This multi-cultural understanding and empathy is clearly manifested in his work.

It is impossible to have read newspapers and magazines in India and not come across examples of Mario’s works. His influences are everywhere, in books, poetry and social commentary. But this book provides us with a peek into his personal life. Included in this volume are scenes from his daily life, which he was in the habit of drawing.

There are gossiping aunties, solemn priests, dances and birthday parties, favourite bars that allowed credit; everything from those years of Mario’s life that would later chart out the path towards his career. These images also show the cartoonist’s trademark style taking shape; the exaggerated line of the bosom and the rosy noses, the strut and bug eyes that would later become his signature style. Flipping through the pages of Mario’s life, you see the artist evolve and find himself within his own work.

All of 25 and free spirited, Mario’s sabbatical in Goa was filled with old friends and cousins out to have fun. They organised clandestine parties and picnics, visited their favourite haunts and hardly had a dull moment. Mario recreates this world, introducing us to hoards of charming and lovable characters.

A keen observer of village politics and human nature, he transforms this book, with his notes, dialogues and vignettes that pepper the images, from a simple chronicle of his life to a richly humorous social satire.

Many have wondered how Mario, with no formal training in art, could draw so spontaneously. Manohar Malgaonkar, whose book Goa was illustrated by Mario, seemed to have hit upon the answer when he said that Mario ‘did not become a cartoonist. He was born a cartoonist.’

The Life of Mario: 1951; edited by Gerard da Cunha, Architecture Autonomous, Rs. 395.