John B. Monteiro
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji

Panaji, Sep 28: 'Veni, Vidi…Goa', a travellers’ Views of Goa, by Luis S R Vas was launched here on Tuesday September 27 by Lambert Mascarenhas, a veteran journalist.

The book is sponsored and published by Vaikunthrao Dempo Centre for Indo-Portuguese Studies. In the absence of the author, his sister, Isabel Santa Rita Vas, a prominent theatre personality of Goa, made a presentation on the book.

Mascarenhas said that tourists come to Goa because there is still a little bit of Portugal (in terms of culture) left in this region.
 
The president of the Centro de Estudos Indo-Portugueses Voicuntrao Dempo, Shrinivas Dempo in his welcome address said that the centre supports research and uses Portuguese language as a bridge between two rich cultures - that of India and Portugal. "The Centre was looking for a research-based book on Indo-Portuguese studies and we think this is the exactly the kind of book we were looking for. We are glad to have sponsored and published it. It will be useful for for present and future scholars", he added.

The book is distributed by Broadway Book Centre, Caculo Circle, Panjim 403 001; pp 355; at Rs 295.

Luis Santa Rita Vas has had a decades-long career in publishing (Jaico), corporate communications (L&T) and free-lance feature writing. He is the author of over a score of books, most recently 'Abbe Faria' and 'Let Your Brain Be Your Doctor'. One of his earlier books, on Osama Bin Laden, perhaps the first on the subject, brought demonstrators to the streets in Mumbai, where he lives with his wife, Anita, a much sought-after translator from Portuguese to English and vice-versa and also co-author with her husband of 'Solve Your Problems the Birbal Way', 'Leadership Lessons the Panchatantra Way' and 'Decision–Making for Managers the Jataka Way'.