With Clyde D’Souza’s new book celebrating ‘The Goan Art of Contentment’, a few pointers
It seems that all roads have led to Goa during the pandemic, what with holidayers from around the country squeezing in anything from an overnighter to several months in the sunshine state. Therefore the timing of Clyde D’Souza’s Susegad: The Goan Art of Contentment couldn’t have been better. In his book, the Goanprogramming head at a television company in Mumbai covers history and culture, includes colourful Konkani phrases, and asks famous Goans to spill their susegad secrets. After all, if ikigai and hygge, the Japanese and Danish concepts respectively, have been easily adopted as a lifestyle and design trend, why not susegad (from the Portuguese word sossagado, meaning quiet). D’Souza explains in his book that when irritated, Goans will often say in Konkani ‘Maka suseg di’ (give me peace or quiet). Explaining that his is not a self-help book, he continues, “Globally, we’ve all been through an unprecedented thing. This has resulted in a lot of people thinking about their lives very consciously. Whether it’s ikigai, hygge, or susegad, broadly all of these concepts are about increasing your awareness and being more conscious of what you do.”
The purpose of his book? “It is for those visitors who want to go beyond the beaches and the bars, and explore those little village ways that still exist. The other aspect is to look at some of the ways you can bring susegad elements into your life. For example, by taking a siesta.”
According to the locals
Vijaydatta Lotlikar, National Award-winning coconut craftsman
For me, susegad has two meanings. One meaning is a person who is only idle and relaxing. The second meaning is one who is satisfied with his own hard work.
Vasco Silveira, founder and chef, Horseshoe Restaurant, Panjim
For me, Susegad is not running behind money. The more you run after money, the more money runs away from you. You should work for the pleasure of working. Owe no one and let no one owe you. For example, at Horseshoe, I don’t run anything on credit.
Thought for the day
The book has a tidy selection of Konkani proverbs to test drive
Try: ‘Nachunk kollana, angonn vankddem’. It means: ‘If you can’t dance, the floor is crooked.’
The lesson: Do not blame external factors for your own weakness.
São João festival
The São João festival is a tribute to St John the Baptist. For Goans, it also marks the beginning of the monsoons and begins with a prayer for a good rainy season, which is important for the crops. Then comes the susegad element: Across the state, Goans can be seen leaping into wells, rivers and now, even swimming pools.
Meanwhile…
In December last year, Goa Forward Party leader and former BJP ally Vijai Sardesai promised that if elected Chief Minister in the 2022 Assembly elections, he would make siesta between 2 pm and 4 pm compulsory. “An afternoon nap is an integral part of susegad,” he had added.
Published by Penguin Random House and priced at ₹399
The coffee table style book, an initiative by nonprofit CRY, has been put together by author Sathya Saran
A new book, Anything Can Be: Words of Wisdom & Love for our Children, goes where few venture these days: reviving the tradition of writing letters.
Within its pages are missives written by 34 contributors, many of them well-known personalities — attorney Zia Mody, sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, actors Hema Malini, Boman Irani, Sameera Reddy Varde, Diana Hayden and the like — to their children and grandchildren about their dreams for them and a blueprint for the future. Intimate family photos work as cheerful companions to each letter.
Anything Can Be is an initiative by CRY, so many of the letters have also been written by mothers of children supported by the nonprofit. Proceeds from the hardbound, coffee table style book will go to CRY’s 1,000 Day Campaign to support maternal and infant health through the critical period of conception to 24 months.
Legacies and lessons
Put together by author Sathya Saran, the letters are woven with tales of family legacies and life lessons, brimming with ideals of gender equality, tolerance and compassion.
Khan, for example, writes to his grandchildren, Abeer and Zohaan, about their long gharana tradition and how they are born into a family that “belongs to the world of sound”. He adds, “Sound and music have connected the world. I hope you continue the tradition when your time comes to do so.” Mody’s letter prods her grandchildren to “champion a specific cause as you grow up and spend time and money to make the necessary change happen”.
Other letters speak of small and big struggles of families striving to afford a home and a decent education to ensure a better life for the next generation. Contributor Seema Ramesh Nirmal, the mother of a child supported by CRY who found it difficult to adjust to the bustle of city life when her family moved to a chawl in Mumbai from her village, shares in her letter to her children, Niraj and Dheeraj, wise words of advice. “City life is different; here one loses touch with roots with family. Distances and the demands of everyday life make every one of us isolated individuals. And I am worried it could do this to you. So my sons, remember the times and learnings you have had from your elders, your grandparents… Remember the visits to our village in Pratapgarh Zilla, and what you saw and learnt there.”
Universal theme
Though the letters have an intimate feel to them, they speak to an audience united by similar concerns for their children. Saran says it was a curious idea to curate a book full of letters at a time when “WhatsApp and abbreviations have taken over our lives”. While letters, unlike phone messages, last and can be read and reread… most people have forgotten the art of writing one, she states in her introduction to the book, adding, “Letters imply… a certain need to communicate, to reveal true feelings, and to say things that will stand the test of time and the scrutiny of others perhaps, besides the person the letter is written for.”
The contributors, too, felt charmed by the romance of writing a letter to be part of a bigger, noble theme. “I agreed to do it in a heartbeat — it was such a novel and thoughtful idea,” says Mandira Bedi, whose letter to her son, Vir, offers him a road map, by way of gratitude and love. “Normally I am a WhatsApp, short and sweet kind of person. But this was an opportunity to express my feelings and what life has taught me in detail. It is something that will stay with my kids over time.”
For the actor Irani, who writes letters regularly, it was an unusual experience to address one to his young grandchildren, Ziaan and Sysha. “It was unusual simply because one does not normally write to grandchildren who don’t read or write. So the letter, in many ways, is going to be retrospective when they finally get to read it. It was an emotional little moment. I do write letters very often to loved ones, to my sons, to my wife, to friends, but when this came up, it made me extremely emotional. I am grateful for this opportunity [to write a letter] that my grandchildren can read some years from now,” he concludes.
Published by Penguin India, Anything Can Be: Words of Wisdom & Love for our Children is available at ₹699.
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Put together by author Sathya Saran, ‘Anything Can Be: Words of Wisdom & Love for our Children’, is an initiative by nonprofit CRY
A new book, Anything Can Be: Words of Wisdom & Love for our Children, goes where few venture these days: reviving the tradition of writing letters.
Within its pages are missives written by 34 contributors, many of them well-known personalities — attorney Zia Mody, sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, actors Hema Malini, Boman Irani, Sameera Reddy Varde, Diana Hayden and the like — to their children and grandchildren about their dreams for them and a blueprint for the future. Intimate family photos work as cheerful companions to each letter.
Anything Can Be is an initiative by CRY, so many of the letters have also been written by mothers of children supported by the nonprofit. Proceeds from the hardbound, coffee table style book will go to CRY’s 1,000 Day Campaign to support maternal and infant health through the critical period of conception to 24 months.
Legacies and lessons
Put together by author Sathya Saran, the letters are woven with tales of family legacies and life lessons, brimming with ideals of gender equality, tolerance and compassion.
Khan, for example, writes to his grandchildren, Abeer and Zohaan, about their long gharana tradition and how they are born into a family that “belongs to the world of sound”. He adds, “Sound and music have connected the world. I hope you continue the tradition when your time comes to do so.” Mody’s letter prods her grandchildren to “champion a specific cause as you grow up and spend time and money to make the necessary change happen”.
Other letters speak of small and big struggles of families striving to afford a home and a decent education to ensure a better life for the next generation. Contributor Seema Ramesh Nirmal, the mother of a child supported by CRY who found it difficult to adjust to the bustle of city life when her family moved to a chawl in Mumbai from her village, shares in her letter to her children, Niraj and Dheeraj, wise words of advice. “City life is different; here one loses touch with roots with family. Distances and the demands of everyday life make sdrfz your elders, your grandparents… Remember the visits to our village in Pratapgarh Zilla, and what you saw and learnt there.”
Universal theme
Though the letters have an intimate feel to them, they speak to an audience united by similar concerns for their children. Saran says it was a curious idea to curate a book full of letters at a time when “WhatsApp and abbreviations have taken over our lives”. While letters, unlike phone messages, last and can be read and reread… most people have forgotten the art of writing one, she states in her introduction to the book, adding, “Letters imply… a certain need to communicate, to reveal true feelings, and to say things that will stand the test of time and the scrutiny of others perhaps, besides the person the letter is written for.”
The contributors, too, felt charmed by the romance of writing a letter to be part of a bigger, noble theme. “I agreed to do it in a heartbeat — it was such a novel and thoughtful idea,” says Mandira Bedi, whose letter to her son, Vir, offers him a road map, by way of gratitude and love. “Normally I am a WhatsApp, short and sweet kind of person. But this was an opportunity to express my feelings and what life has taught me in detail. It is something that will stay with my kids over time.”
For the actor Irani, who writes letters regularly, it was an unusual experience to address one to his young grandchildren, Ziaan and Sysha. “It was unusual simply because one does not normally write to grandchildren who don’t read or write. So the letter, in many ways, is going to be retrospective when they finally get to read it. It was an emotional little moment. I do write letters very often to loved ones, to my sons, to my wife, to friends, but when this came up, it made me extremely emotional. I am grateful for this opportunity [to write a letter] that my grandchildren can read some years from now,” he concludes.
Published by Penguin India, Anything Can Be: Words of Wisdom & Love for our Children is available at ₹699.
You have reached your limit for free articles this month.
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A new book, titled Vajpayee: The Years that Changed India is all set to hit the stands on 25th December to mark the birth anniversary of veteran BJP leader, and former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The book charts the course of Vajpayee’s prime ministership and tries to give the readers a glimpse into Vajpayee’s thought process and political philosophy.
Written by Shakti Sinha, who had worked very closely with Vajpayee during his tenure as the prime minister, and is currently the honorary director of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Policy Research and International Studies, at MS University, in Vadodara, this book outlines in details many highlights of Vajpayee’s career, including the series of nuclear tests that the prime minister conducted in Pokhran. In the book, the author writes that although initially the decision to go nuclear caused domestic euphoria, and silenced the opposition, as more tests were conducted Vajpayee faced international criticism, with the then US President, Bill Clinton, calling it a ‘terrible mistake.’ The book states:
“After the initial domestic euphoria, which forced the Opposition to keep mum, domestic criticism (of the Pokhran Nuclear Test) gained force. The left parties criticized the Vajpayee government for deciding to change national policies unilaterally. They felt that the other political parties should have been consulted. The Congress was confused as to how they ought to react. Should the tests be celebrated as a programme begun by Indira Gandhi, which received a major fillip during Rajiv Gandhi’s regime? Or would such a stand make Vajpayee look good, hinting at the Congress’s implicit acceptance that this was the right thing to do? Their initial reaction was, ‘Why now?’ Essentially, the Opposition did not know how to react, as was soon illustrated by I.K. Gujral. His remedy was that India should sign the CTBT, like France and China did after conducting tests.
This ignored the fact that both these countries were recognized nuclear weapons states under the NPT, and the CTBT allowed them to test if they felt that their national security was imperilled, a luxury denied to India. Another Opposition leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, had a simpler criticism—that the tests should have been kept a secret.
Even as reactions to the initial tests, conducted on 13 May, were coming in, two days later, India conducted two more tests. These ‘were required to demonstrate our capacity to miniaturise, at sub-kilo yields, and with that India concluded its planned series of tests’, as the media was informed by the government. The next step taken was possibly the best thing to have been done as a follow-up to the tests, though it received a lot of flak at that time.
This was to write to world leaders explaining the circumstances which had made testing a compulsion for India. Unlike normal diplomatic correspondence, which is all sweet and cloying, this one was direct but polite. A great deal of effort went into the writing of these letters.
No sooner had Vajpayee’s letter reached the White House than it appeared in the New York Times. This caused considerable embarrassment for us, since we had pointed to the ‘China factor’ as the primary reason for our decision to test. It was said that the compulsion to go nuclear was driven by, to quote from the letter, ‘. . . overt nuclear tests on our borders, [conducted by] a state which committed armed aggression against India in 1962, [and] although relations had improved in the last decade or so, an atmosphere of distrust prevails mainly due to unresolved border problem. That country has materially helped another neighbour of ours to become a covert nuclear weapons state, [due to which, we] have suffered aggression from that neighbour, [making us] victim of relentless terrorism and militancy.’
Factually, the statement was correct, but all hell broke loose. The Chinese were livid and made their outrage known. Domestically, too, a lot of people criticized the government for having spoilt relations with China; Chinese perfidy in supplying nuclear and missile technology to Pakistan which undermined India’s security was conveniently ignored.
The international reaction to Vajpayee’s letter was subdued, almost bordering on disbelief. The American analysts only picked up the 1962 part, ignoring the rather nuanced reference to India–China relations in the letter. I remember reading an American comment that India could not expect to be taken seriously if it used the 1962 war as justification for the tests. Clearly, the commentator either did not read the statement, or if he did, its meaning escaped him.”
The author Shakti Sinha pointed out that the criticism against conducting the tests grew louder as the series of nuclear tests continued and it wasn’t just America, but United Nations, as well as Nelson Mandela, who condemned them. During such circumstances, Vajpayee got an unexpected supporter in Dalai Lama, who was primarily against nuclear armament of any kind but, more importantly, did not like the ‘undemocratic’ way in which countries were accessing the dangerous weapon, with some having more right and access to it, than other. In the book, Sinha writes,
“The international reaction after the second series of tests and the letters was several degrees ‘hotter’ than what had followed the initial tests of 11 May. And yet, there were some realistic voices who singly agreed with India’s need to move ahead but in groupspeak went along with condemnatory statements. Clinton said that India had made a terrible mistake. He even moved on removing the hurdle of the Pressler Amendment so that arms sanctions on Pakistan could be lifted. Nelson Mandela condemned the tests. The United Nations Security Council expressed its dismay. On the other hand, France said that sanctions made no sense.
They were joined by the UK and Russia, who also said that they would not impose sanctions. Within the US itself, different voices now started speaking up. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said that Clinton was being one-sided, blind to China’s doings, and was in fact selling nuclear technology to them, which was adding to India’s security concerns and making the latter more worried about China than about Pakistan. Congressman Frank Pallone, co-founder of the India Caucus (a group within Congress, sympathetic towards India), opposed the tests but asked Clinton to consider the situation India was in and put it in perspective.
India had a long and contested border with China and faced a large PLA presence on its border. The Chinese presence in Burma was of concern to India as well, and there was Chinese support for hostile groups operating against the Indian state. Pallone’s recommendation was that the US should take the threat India faces from China more seriously and consequently work in closer coordination with India. A few years later, as India’s position as a rising but responsible power was being recognized, Henry Kissinger backed the tests. Despite his long ties with the Chinese regime and old history of rubbing India the wrong way, he conceded that India had a case for a deterrent against China. Like many others, he felt that the American sanctions were probably a mistake.
The Dalai Lama sent a personal letter to Vajpayee, in effect supporting the decision to test by alluding to the point that the possession of nuclear weapons would deter any offensive actions and would therefore ensure peace. Vajpayee was very touched when he read the letter. Later, the Dalai Lama went on record saying that India should not be pressured into giving up nuclear weapons; it should have the same rights as developed countries. His basic point was that he thought ‘nuclear weapons are too dangerous. Therefore we should make every effort for the elimination of nuclear weapons.’ However, he disagreed with the assumption that it was all right for a few nations to possess nuclear weapons when the rest of the world did not; it was undemocratic.”
The following excerpts have been published with permission from Penguin Publishers.
