Culture Vultures literally


Traditionally), Goans have watched from the sidelines as the political class that ruled Goa for decades provided the people with a fair dose of entertainment on the streets, over the frequent horse trading, their sons sometimes participating in this entertainment. This is apart from entertaining themselves with expensive dinners, travels across the country and abroad. Perhaps only the tip of the iceberg has been covered in this column. And then, I discovered recently there is money to be made in conning you into believing they are going to give you a Central Library, to make you more knowledgeable than you are. Now, you are being conned into thinking there is a cultural side to you. Or, is it them? The question, whose cultural side is for you to figure out. But let me give you a hint and say, it's fairly clear, whose. Till now, you probably thought there was money to be made only in the Public Works Department and Transport Department. Think again. There's a bundle to be made in the Directorate of Art and Culture. And its done with little sophistication and elegance, an irony, because art and culture, by definition, have both attributes. Here's how it is possibly done:


Expenditure for various schemes, events & festivals:

Rs 1,52,500 was spent under the head Indian classical dance in 2003-04. Strangely no one thought of propagating this art in later years. Beginning with 2003-04 and up to 2006-07 Rs 1,23,500, Rs 1,46,000, Rs 1,46,500, and Rs 1,60,000 was spent on a scheme called Ghumat Vadan workshop. On Ganeshotsav Rs 54,301 was spent in 2003-04, Rs 1,08,000 in 2006-07 and Rs 1,13,100 in 2007-08. Rs 80,000 was spent on Natyotsav in 2003-04, Rs 83,327 in 2004-05, Rs 95,805 in 2005-06 and Rs 1,36,800 in 2007-08. Also, Rs 69,892 was incurred to send a Goan cultural troupe to Himachal Pradesh in 2003-04, Rs 91,066 to send a troupe to New Delhi in 2003-04, Rs 1,71,900 was spent again the same year on another junket, and Rs 61,250 again in 2007-08. In 2003-04 Rs 17,418 was spent on Balotsav and Rs 61,250 in 2007-08.

Rs 2,50,000 was spent separately in 2003-04 and 2004-05 and Rs 4,00,000 in 2005-06 to organize a South classical dance & music festival. Between 2003-04 and 2007-08 Rs 5,00,000, Rs 7,69,444, Rs 7,36,415, Rs 6,16,118 and Rs 9,54,990 was spent on Lokotsav. In 2004-05 Rs 1,33,823 was spent to hold a lecture dance demonstration, Rs 1,44,056 in 2005-06, and Rs 1,54,000 in 2006-07. On Shigmotsav Rs 51,791 was spent in 2004-05, Rs 60,000 in 2005-06 and Rs 1,15,000 in 2007-08. In 2005-06 Rs 65,600 and Rs 9700 was spent on a fabric painting and glass painting workshops. In the same year Rs 88,250 was spent on a mehndi workshop.

Thereafter it appears holding workshops took centre stage because in 2006-07 Rs 2,11,000 was spent on a bajani (sic - bhajan or is it bandhini?) workshop, while Rs 9,74,424 was spent in 2006-07 on the Margao festival and Rs 6,65,000 the following year. Rs 59,000 was spent on a tailoring and embroidery workshop in 2006-07, while Rs 1,56,000 was incurred to send a Goan cultural troupe to Tamil Nadu.

In 2007-08 it was back to organizing mainly workshops: Rs 3,86,161, Rs 24,505 on a Hindustani classical workshop and Rs 20,329 on a bajani (sic - bhajan or bandhani?) workshop, Rs 55,415 on a wood and thermocole carving workshop Rs 71,606 on a tabla workshop, Rs 44,687 on a chikankari workshop, and Rs 1,50,939 on a Hindustani classical music and dance festival at Jaipur, Rs 1,23,145 on a Hindustani classical music natyageet festival, and Rs 40,141 on Yuva Pratibha Puraskar. Phew.

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