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REMO SIGNS OF PUBLIC CONCERT AT 73!
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REMO SIGNS OF PUBLIC CONCERT AT 73!

Aug 08- Aug 14, 2026, Stray Thoughts August 7, 2026 , by

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when on when Goa’s own rock star Remo Fernandes signed off with a sit-down concert in London. For a Saturday following the week when the ongoing hunger strike by Rama Kankonkar. For a Saturday following the week when the protests by Panjim citizens against issues affecting the capital city. For Saturday following the week the protests by Panjim citizens against issues affecting the capital city.
AND a few stray thoughts on when Goa’s own rockstar Remo Fernandes signed off with a sit-down concert in London. Remo Fernandes, who is an architect by training, started off his singing career in the early 80s. Remo was versatile and could play many musical instruments including the flute, apart from the guitar. Remo also made up his own satirical songs.
 I first heard Remo way back in 1987 during the centenary celebrations of the Mormugoa Port Trust in Vasco da Gama. The late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was the chief guest. Remo sang a song requesting “Dear Rajiv Gandhi, please come again and again, only then the roads will get repaired…” etcetera. The then editor of “The Navhind Times” Bikram Vohra pulled up Remo publicly claiming he lacked basic courtesy and respect for the prime minister. I defended his remarks. Remo wrote to Rajiv Gandhi who assured him he had enjoyed his concert including the song addressed to him.
I had a subsequent close encounter with Remo when he held a free concert at the Campal grounds to mark his 50th birthday. This was the time when there were fears of a swine flu epidemic. With the help of Shamir Diniz I had prepared a small video film on precautions to be taken to avoid contracting swine flu. This was way back in 2023 when Manohar Parrikar was the chief minister and Rina Ray was the health secretary. I suggested to Rina Ray that we should screen the video during the Remo concert.
To my shock Remo demanded Rs4lakh. I conveyed this to Rina Ray who managed to persuade Manohar Parrikar to part with the funds. Remo allowed the video to be screened in the presence of the then Goa Medical College & Hospital Dean Dr Vinay N Jindal and other health officials. Rina Ray was happy with the bargain and said “paisa vasool” as Remo also highlighted other concerns like AIDS and drug abuse. Indeed, Remo’s song “Pack the Smack” became the anthem of the anti-drug abuse movement.
I caught up with Remo for a third time at Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazill in 2006. This was during the BRICS summit to which I had accompanied the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh along with a media group. Remo was invited by the Indian embassy in Brazil to participate in a concert at the dinner hosted by the then Brazil President Lula for the visiting Indian prime minister and his team.
In 2016, a decade ago, Remo, who had dual citizenship with a Portuguese passport, migrated to Portugal. Remo had a serious brain injury about two years ago during a concert in New York. Though he recovered his energy levels were diminished and he could not waltz around the stage with his guitar as he normally does.
Remo’s farewell concert was at a Goan community-organized event in Swindon in London a suburb of London on Tuesday, Aug 3. Swindon which has a mayor of Goan origin and a very rich Goan community which takes pride in hosting Goan VIPs ranging from Viresh Borkar, the RGP MLA from St Andre to Vijai Sardessai, the Goa Forward chief. More recently, the Goan Cardinal Felip Neri was invited by London-based Goans.

RAMA ON HUNGER STRIKE
AND a few stray thoughts on the ongoing new hunger strike by Rama Kankonkar. This time around Rama is protesting to have the notorious Section 39-A of the Town & Country Planning Act scrapped. The hunger fast which is supposed to culminate on Aug 15 on Independence Day has not attracted much attention from either print or electronic media. There are just about 100 or 200 odd people at the protest site at Azad maidan.
 Obviously the police are very nervous about protests at the Azad maidan which is just outside the Police Headquarters. The police were quick to demolish a temporary tent put up at Azad maidan to provide protection against the rain. Though Rama Kankonkar claims to be protesting on behalf of the Enough to Enough movement, none of the leaders have bothered to extend their support to him. The Enough to Enough movement representatives headed by Claude Alvares paid another visit to the Chief Town & Country Planner and have served a fresh ultimatum to the TCP and its minister Vishwajit Rane, to scrap 30A by August15. The TCP continues to issue notifications for conversion of agricultural and orchard and into settlements.
The founder of the Enough to Enough movement Justice Ferdino Rebello is reportedly on a long holiday and will return to Goa on Aug 12. Goa Foundation has also filed a case against the fresh lease signed with a Bengaluru party on the Mandovi riverfront land popularly known as Quarterdeck. It has been alleged that the fresh lease violates CRZ rules and that the private party from Bengaluru has encroached on the river bank.

REMOVE CASINOS!
AND a few stray thoughts on the protests by Panjim citizens against issues affecting the capital city. Panjim citizens held a public meeting at the Menezes Braganza Institute hall to demand the removal of the casinos from the Mandovi River. In the interim they have asked for a strict enforcement on the ban on admission of minors into the casinos. The child rights group CRG has also protested against minors being allowed into the offshore and onshore based casinos.
 Panjim citizens are also agitated over the proposal to redevelop the iconic Junta House which will house a casino and a rooftop restaurant when it is re-developed into a 16 storied monster building.
It is curious that nobody has demanded that the name of Junta House should be changed. The name Junta House is a hangover from the Portuguese Colonial regime of Salazar. It was originally built for the benefit of senior officers of the Portuguese regime. Even after Liberation it was used for housing senior officials including heads of departments of the Goa Medical College & Hospital. I remember visiting the then HOD of Medicine Dr NGK Sharma at his 4-bedroom spacious flat at Junta House.
The protestors, who basically comprised senior and super senior citizens, also flagged the collapse of the drainage system of Panjim. It may be recalled that 18 June road and large parts of Patto were flooded following a brief spell of heavy rain, recently. It is a little sad that generation Z is not bothered about the state of Panjim city. There were very few members of gen Z at the rally to raise the concerns of Panjim city.
The irony is that Panjim or Panaji was part of the Narendra Modi smart city projects. The Smart City Projects comprehensively damaged the Panjim city’s sewage system. It may be some consolation to the citizens that Surat, another of Modi’s smart cities, also showed up with major damage during the recent rains. There are videos circulating of Narendra Modi talking about crores spent on the underground sewage system against images of flooded roads in the “Diamond City” of Gujarat. Incidentally, Surat was the first city in India to have a revolving tower restaurant.

CONGRESS & PAPER LEAKS
AND a few stray thoughts on the double standards of the Congress party with respect to paper leaks. Apparently, the exam paper for the recruitment of police constables across Karnataka leaked. A large group of protesters including the two lakh people who applied for the job of police constable staged a major protest outside the Secretariat in Karnataka.
The Home Minister Priyanka Kharge sarcastically remarked, “Let them first fast for 25 days. Thereafter we will do a lathi charge on them. And then I will resign.” This was a reference to the delay in Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan delaying his resignation for 25 days in response to the Janta Mantar protests in Delhi. Kharge, incidentally, is the son of Congress president. Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have also been criticized for not condemning the corruption in the public service exams in Congress ruled Jharkhand. Exam paper leaks have become endemic in India with reports coming in from Maharashtra, UP, Telangana and Bihar. There have been no paper leaks in Goa as of now although the NEET paper leaks also affected the sons and daughters of Goa.

PRIVATE LIFE OF POLITICIANS
AND a final stray thought on the outrage in Tamil Nadu over remarks of the former deputy chief minister Udayanidhi Stalin who is the leader of the Opposition . At a public meeting in Tanjore Udayanidhi made some very crass remarks against Trishna Krishnan, a film star who is reportedly to be very close to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay. The chief minister’s response was immediate. Early the next morning at around 6am the police barged into his Chennai bungalow and started hunting for him despite his wife’s protests that he was still in the washroom. The police bundled Stalin and took him to Tanjore where the incident of the abuse of the actress friend of the chief minister happened.
The actress is being blamed for the chief minister’s divorce from his wife of over 25 years. Vijay’s wife is a very well to do Tamil citizen of Sri Lankan origin settled in London. As an ardent fan she had visited the then actor Vijay, in Tamil Nadu and subsequently got married to him. The actress Trisha attended the swearing in ceremony of Chief Minister Vijay while his estranged wife and children boycotted it. Udhayanidhi Stalin was released on bail after spending eight hours at the police station in Tanjore. Among those who condemned the remarks of Stalin was Khusboo Sunder, a senior actor in Tamil Nadu.

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