HELLO Wendell, why is everybody being so funny about this? Why are they referring to you in the third person, as if youu2019re not in the room? Youu2019re always going to be with us, you know, continuing your work, completing your half- sentences, carrying on about the cutting of trees and the loss of traditions. We are never going to be away from you, through the Goa you loved.
I was on vacation in California when I got the news around 4 am. They say itu2019s the best time for the Universe to help you skip town. When I shared this with my friend Annie Barker, she did not say a word. Comfort and condolences seemed so frivolous. So, Annie did what she does best.
The next day, another friend had a trip planned to the Getty Villa, where I learnt that Zeus and Mnemosyne ( Memory) had together made nine daughters. These nine daughters are called Muses, the root of the word Museum. Your Museum MODA GOA came back to me and my brilliant nephew Siddharth gave me the list of the nine Muses, daughters of Memory and Zeus. Enterpe ( Lyric), Erato ( Music), Thalsia ( Comedy), Malpomene ( Tragedy), Clio ( History), Urania ( Astronomy), Terpischore ( Dance), Polyhymnia ( Hymns) and Calliopa ( Heroic).
You wrote beautifully and spoke like a poet. There was always something to learn from Wendell Rodricks. The last time I heard you speak, I learnt that, u201c Everybody will make a demand on your timeu2026 set your priorities right. Treat your time like you would a gold coinu201d. Both Jerome and you loved music. We met you at concerts, we touched hands and we let you be. In all the seriousness of environmental and heritage conservation, belting out against the powers that be on their insensitivity to Goau2019s natural and manmade heritage, you kept an eye out for the funny side of things. You joked about womenu2019s shapes, sizes and body types. If it had been anyone else, we would have been offended. Only, you could get away with it.
So, when and how did I first meet you? We were holding our first Goa Heritage Festival in Panaji, Goa and I wanted you to come and speak.
u201c Oh, I donu2019t know anything about Goan heritage,u201d you had said then. I had heard you talk about the cutting of trees, the lack of interest in preserving our houses and, most loudly of all, about the Gas Cylinder.
Yes, the oil company that had sponsored a traffic island on the vantage point of our spectacular river Mandovi had had the temerity to put a giant cooking gas cylinder in the traffic island. u201c Talk about the Gas Cylinder, Wendell.u201d And, you did.
And, I had converted a Christian! You never stopped talking. You never stopped becoming a champion of heritage conservation, folk traditions, environmental protection, its forests, rivers and gardens, its heritage homes and a hundred other things that helped us keep Goa as we know it and as we want it.
The loss of our traditional crafts such as the weaving of the kunbi sarees, painting on glass, jewellery, copper, brass and iron craftsmanship is one of our biggest tragedies.
Your creation of Moda Goa, a museum as a crucible for the research and education about what we have lost, what we can revive and what we do with memory and history will itself go down in history.
You loved to dance and swung with every guest at your parties. You made us all feel special. Your work with the church in Goa and the LGBTQ community is a hymn in posterity.
Your whole lifeu2019s story has been nothing short of that a Hero of our times. Every breath you took, Wendell, we were watching you.
Heta Pandit is an independent writer and researcher on Goan heritage.
Wendell Rodricksu2019s Goa home that is being turned into a museum; ( right) Wendell Rodricks Everyone says they love Goa, but only Wendell showed how A Goan friend of the designer writes about how he championed the tiny stateu2019s heritage, folk traditions and environment among other things as he embraced its culture and its people Heta Pandit TRIBUTE Wendell Week @ mid- day u2018 Everybody will make a demand on your timeu2026 set your priorities right. Treat your time like you would a gold coinu2019 Wendellu2019s last words that Heta Pandit remembers
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
