IT'S FINALLY COME TO THIS

"It’s finally come to this"
- by Almeida Gaspar


I laughed when I saw the headline "Authors Giving
Themselves Good Reviews." The article originated from
the New York Times News (wire) Service. This means
folks all over the world now know there are quite a
few writers "pseudonymously" touting their own books
in the reader reviews section of Internet bookseller
Amazon.

Well, we have known over the years, there is a
similarity here too, among our very vibrant community.
This does reflect on some Goans. We have plenty of
them among our midst, some innocently genuine, some
laughing away with innocence, with a mischeivous grin.
Last year a well scripted and directed tiatr had good
reviews. Recently Cecil Pinto's observations - a lot
of tiatr oddities have vanished - are indeed true.
But, although some of these oddities are dead, there
are some new ones 'cultivated' and they like weeds are
'sowing' the seeds of defamation and abuse.

Recently (accidentally) one such individual who is
also a member of an association which promote art and
stage artistes, faxed an item from a defense
consulting office. This opened the whole 'pandora's
box' without an iota of doubt, leaving the person
defenceless. Who said only IP addresses can be
located? Fax IDs and like as in the 90's the famous
IBM typewriter's fonts could be traced from a Shuwaikh
garage to the newspaper's editors office.

Self glorifying as well as showering praises (as if
one is about to be nominated for an Oscar for NOTHING)
on others is the work of the bald, confused and the
bearded. Some are cowards who proclaim self
discipline, openness and like-minded, are also in the
fray. We all know well who these characters are. Like
the Konkani saying goes thus: "Padricho sermao vonneak
nhoi". At an appropriate time, we will get these
individuals exposed, the head of our 'investigating
team' concluded.

Coming to the few writers "pseudonymously" making
themselves heard or gain popularity, some people do
not like this practice, believing that it is, as one
writer said, "a rhetorical war," where authors—and, in
some cases, their friends and family— write good
reviews to rebut the bad ones, which may or may not
come from the writers’ enemies.

While people who legitimately read the book or go for
a tiatr, or a football final, ostensibly write reviews
both positive and negative, the idea that a writer
would pen his own praise is somewhat
distasteful—mostly to those who don’t know how tough
the business is.

A few like-minded fellows, we have observed, are among
us on the forums. They praise themselves as well as
their buddies after even a 'condolence meeting' in
their reports. This is a very frightening trend to the
average Goan who 'once in a while' read such postings
on the Goan internet forums.

Going back to my opening paragraph above..... Which is
what struck me funny about the article’s headline. My
first thought upon reading it was, "It’s finally come
to this."

It’s no surprise that writers have to use such
seemingly sneaky tactics to get their names and
devilish ideas out there. It’s part of the evolution
of the modern world. Those who do win the veritable
lottery of acquiring an agent, then a publisher, then
a couple dozen hardback copies are also required to be
marketing geniuses when publishers don’t have adequate
funds to publicize the work. So, while authors
reluctantly take on self-promotion as a necessary
marketing technique, others think they’re blowing
their own horns for the sake of popularity. Yet, we
in the biz know that these Amazon infiltrators really
aren’t any different from job hunters that puff up
their résumés.

And now....... having written a mystery novel "To
Kiteak Nachlo Nam?" in amchi maim bhas Konkani for
which I am seeking a publisher, I wonder if I will
eventually get that "reader in Candolim" who
anonymously submits a good review or the LRNB
"dusreanchea nanvant fax/email dadpi" from Quepem,
Bardez, Ilhas,...... oh, the list ends at Salcette!
I doubt it, may be these are "Migrated Goans" ? I’ll
probably just get my colleagues or the several heads
of the Goan organizations in the Gulf region to do
it...... if such trend becomes the 'in thing' for
everyone.


Almeida Gaspar
www.goa-world.com


LRNB = Lippon Raupi Nettar Boroupi