CONVERSATIONS
Please join us for the book launch of Dadu Mandrekar’s Untouchable Goa, translated by Nikhil Baisane, on Friday, 2 May 2025, at 6 pm at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim. Nikhil Baisane, Kaustubh Naik and Amita Kanekar will be in conversation with Yogesh Maitreya.
Nikhil Baisane
Translator, Untouchable Goa
Kaustubh Naik
PhD candidate, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Amita Kanekar
Independent researcher, Goa
in conversation with
Yogesh Maitreya
Publisher, Panther’s Paw Publication
Friday, 2 May 2025 | 6 pm
Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim, Goa
Please join us for tea at 5:30 pm.
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Untouchable Goa
Dadu Mandrekar
To say that Goa has never been studied from a sociological perspective is not entirely far-fetched. This absence is more pronounced—and far more glaring—when it comes to the down-trodden and the Dalits. No work of fiction—whether long or short—has attempted to capture their day-to-day life, culture, traditions, myths, legends, folklore, or psyche. None have dared to explore the tumultuous undercurrents of love and desire coursing through their bodies. No book has painted a picture of their gradual erosion—of self-worth, self-respect, and, ultimately, their true ‘Self ’—a consequence of millennia-old injustices, marked by the unabashed violence of the Savarna and yet, sometimes punctuated by the rare, but searing, flames of rebellion. Could a creative mind take up this task and set right these wrongs? I do not know.
The storm called ‘Ambedkarvaad’—the ideology of Ambedkar—swept into my mind when I was still young, barely in my mid-twenties. It became the fertile ground from which countless ideas have taken root and flourished over the years. It allowed me to see everything and everyone through an unwaveringly critical lens. Most importantly, it gave me a foundation upon which I could cultivate creativity, justice, change, and my people—ideas that have never left me. Sometimes, when the right forces align and hand me adequate aid, these ideas transform into reality. Ambedkarvaad keeps me grounded in other ways too, preventing me from wasting words on empty criticism or frivolous gossip. Instead, it helps me channel my energy toward sharpening my abilities and using them to uplift others.
An excerpt from:
Mandrekar, Dadu. Untouchable Goa. Translated by Nikhil Baisane. Nagpur: Panther’s Paw Publication, 2025.
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Dadu Mandrekar was a poet, writer, journalist, and photographer. He was a towering figure of Ambedkarite Movement in Goa. He died in 2020 at the age of 63.
Nikhil Baisane juggles writing, translating, and occasionally pretending to be an artist with his camera. Fluent in three languages and an alum of Sangam House, he’s currently wrangling his first novel while exploring identity, art, and everything else that catches his curiosity.
Kaustubh Naik is a researcher, writer, and Ph.D. candidate in South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. His work explores caste, regional politics, performance, and cultural history. He writes for outlets like The Caravan and worked on performance projects that have performed in India and abroad. Kaustubh is a recipient of prestigious fellowships and has been working towards inclusivity in education and the arts.
Amita Kanekar works in the field of architectural history, and also writes novels and newspaper columns.
Yogesh Maitreya is a poet, writer, and publisher at Panther’s Paw Publication. He firmly holds the conviction that books which are written in pursuit of justice, love, and equality change the world in a way the world should suppose to be changed.
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Xavier Centre of Historical Research
B B Borkar Road, Porvorim, Goa 403521, India
xchr.in |
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