“As a professor of design, the last thing I thought I wouldbe doing with my life was recording audio books,” recounts Professor WilfredEusebio Goes, popularly known as Willy.
Willy’s work began with his first publication titled‘Kotrin’. The book is a gripping tale of the plight of a woman named Catarina,who loses her mind after the love of her life (a freedom fighter) dies in battle,and how she is taunted and re-baptised Kotrin. Dedicating most of his life toteaching in the Department of Applied Art at the Goa College of Art ensuredthat writing and reciting his work was put on the back burner. Until one day,when Willy found himself reading an excerpt from several volumes to anaudience, one of whom commended him on his work before suggesting converting itinto audio. “A friend of mine came up to me and said that the amount ofexpression I used was perfect to capture the essence of the tale, and that itwould nice if the entire book could be recounted in the same manner,” saysWilly.
Soon after, he found himself recording his book titled‘Altoddi ani Poltoddi’, a project that never saw the light of day due totechnical difficulties. Not put off by the setback, he started afresh withanother of his volumes, titled ‘Khand’.
With ‘Khand’ having been recorded, the question then aroseof how to get it across to the public. “Frederick Noronha was a huge help. Hetook the matter and posted it on ‘archive.com’. Within a span of three months,the file was downloaded 360 times,” he says.
It is not just Goa that is listening to the audio bookthough. The book has been widely accepted overseas by people of all ages.Walter Paes, 76 years old and almost completely blind says, “Though I may havelost almost all of my eyesight, my hearing is sharp. Having left Goa, I do notcome across Konkani very often. This audio book was a strong link to my pastand brought back memories of my youth.”
With the success of his audio book, Willy plans on buildingon his latest work. Starting with the completion of ‘Altoddi ani Poltoddi’, hewill attempt to have all his books converted into audio, so that they may reachpeople across the globe. People like Walter Paes, who may otherwise never havegotten to experience his work.
