Author: Frank Simoes
Publisher: Roli Books
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 336
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8174363467
Description
On a storm-swept September afternoon in Goa, Frank Simoes Finally found what he had been searching for so many years: that perfect acre by the sea. And there he began to build his dream house, Rockheart.
This book began as the story of his labours, but eventually became one Goan’s discovery of his idyllic native land. It is peopled by a colourful cast of characters, ranging from Leopold da Gama Rose, who saved himself from a fate worse than death by hiding beneath his mother’s skirts to Remo, the famous rock musician; from Felix Xavier Fernando, the confident of cobras to Barty and Bostao, surely the world’s only feni-fuelled car-washing experts.
This is more than just a travel book. Thanks to Frank Simoes’ perceptive eye and abiding love for all things Goan, it is a delightful, finely-etched portrait of a people and their way of life.
REVIEW
I had just one ambition in life, to retire to Goa and write a book on it. Now Mr Frank Simoes has beaten me to it.
-Busybee
Contents
A CAUTIOUS INTRODUCTION
PROLOGUE: LIBERATION
GOA
PART I: ALL IN THE FAMILY
Blue Genes
Radhika’s Genealogy Class
Grandfather’s Green Worms
PART II: HEART AND HOME
God’s Chosen Acre
You Can Go Home Again
The Cobra that Nearly Never Was
Romancing the Rains
PART III: BOON COMPANIONS
A Few Wayward Goan Worlds
The Sea Wolves Take a Bath
Bernie Finklebaum Jr Learns a New Word
Peace, War and True Grit
Three Thunder-Boxes and a Mandolin
Grandfather’s Silver Rupee
PART IV: BOA FESTAS! FOOD, FENI AND FUN
Who’s Afraid of a Little Cholesterol
Use Your Loaf
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Feni But Were too Drunk to Ask
Boa Festas!
EPILOGUE
ALBA AND SIMPLICIO
Alba and Simplicio