Taking Indian Culture Portugal

Sergio Mascarenhas de Almeida, the Delegate of
Fundacao Oriente in India has been continuing with the
efforts to strengthen ties between India and Portugal
through cultural, literary and social activities.
Speaking to Ramnath N Pai Raikar, he reviews the work
carried out by Fundacao Oriente in India, during the
past decade as well as discusses future plans of the
Portugal-based organisation


Why did Fundacao Oriente reduce/stop its major
projects in Goa, like say, restoration of heritage
structures during the past two years?

This has been mainly done to review our past works
from this point; though there are quite a few other
reasons too. Besides revaluation of our major works
undertaken during 1998-2001, we also found that a
pause was needed for such projects since they were
demanding too much of our financial and management
resources. Fundacao Oriente is not a heritage
conservation organisation and we felt that adequate
assistance should also be provided to other fields. In
fact, we have 134 projects in hand for this year, as
compared to 101 in 2002 and 81 in 2001, if our
heritage conservation projects are not taken into
consideration. The budget for our activities is also
more this year. However, I should add that we have
definitely contributed towards spreading an awareness
about preservation of heritage in Goa.


You seemed to have concentrated more on publication of
books and musical programmes, of late. Any special
reason?

It’s just that we have diversified our activities and
tried to get involved in performing art, visual art,
conferences, book publications, etc we are also
sponsoring many research projects.


Tell us something about Fundacao Oriente’s National
Fine Art contest and exhibition. How did the idea
emerge?

In the past, we had held two art exhibitions,
‘Imagine’ for young Goan artists and ‘Fado’ for
contemporary Goan artists which was held in Mumbai. As
you would know, our organisation works throughout
India and hence the recent National Fine Art contest
was an effort to reach out of Goa, at the all India
level and bring together Indian artists, especially
young artists.


The scholarship scheme run by Fundacao Oriente, for
long as well as short terms, seems to receive less
response of late, as compared to the past...

Again its the economics. We are dependent on the state
of economy, at large. When it reduces, well... There
are always very good proposals from the applicants
though. We also try to distribute the scholarships
equally, all over Asia.


What about the visiting Portuguese scholars and
researchers who used to visit Goa and stay at the
Fundacao Oriente premises for 2-3 months, during their
research activities?

Interestingly, we don’t have long-term scholarships
for Portugal. There, we award short-term scholarships
so that we can involve more applicants. Such
researchers are still visiting Goa. However, I should
add that it all depends on their personal interest.


Have your activities outside Goa, in the rest of
India, especially Daman and Diu also slowed down,
during the past few years?

We cannot go everywhere. So we have identified our
centres of activity for the time being, namely Daman,
Diu, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Our activities are
growing; especially in Mumbai, we are organising
performing art and music programmes. Speaking about
Daman and Diu, we are always having some ongoing
activities, but they do need the active involvement of
local people. However, we are in no hurry. We don’t
want to do things just to announce that we have done
something.


Do you think that the activities for strengthening
Indo-Portuguese ties in various fields like language,
culture, art, music, literature, etc which had started
with lot of vigour, some years ago, with the active
participation of Fundacao Oriente, Portuguese
Consulate and Goa based organisations have died a slow
death?

May be. I would rather prefer to wait and watch.
Things have to be seen in their correct context. The
period from 1961 to 1970s saw no contact between India
and Portugal. From the mid-1970s to the end of 1980s,
though there were settlement of political issues,
Portugal was not able to turn its attention to India
for its own political and financial reasons. When the
time for real interaction between the two countries
arrived in 1990s, there was lot of enthusiasm in the
initial period, but then it died down, which was a
natural thing. Whenever enthusiasm slows down, it
structures into more permanent things. The issues, the
ties between the two countries will now be of more
consolidated nature.


The Goa University was on the verge of closing its
Portuguese department due to lack of response from the
students. Why this situation existed?

I know its surprising. In New Delhi, there are two
universities having Portuguese department and more
importantly students studying in them. Calcutta also
has an university offering Portuguese language course.
In fact, we have cordial relations with Goa University
and have been working with it fruitfully. I am sure,
the Department of Portuguese at Goa University would
mature and develop in coming years.


Fundacao Oriente has recently come out with its Report
of Activities 2002 and Plan of Activities 2003. Any
new schemes for India?

There are things we are discussing with various
parties. I would not like to talk about them at this
premature stage. However, I would like to mention that
Fundacao Oriente will develop some activities like art
competitions and music festivals. We would also
cultivate strong relations with local organisation,
through funding of their activities. We don’t want
ourselves to be visible in the forefront; we would
only contribute from the background. I hope, we would
be able to show lot of achievements in the coming
years. Things go both ways; we have been trying to
take Indian culture to Portugal and vice-versa. We,
for sure, know that the response from the Portuguese
public is very strong.
(courtesy: www.navhindtimes.com)

- Forwarded by www.goa-world.com


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