PANAJI
Sharbelle Aguiar Fernandez’s book ‘Romance On The Airwaves... a twentieth century true love story’ crafts the story of how her Hubli-based mother fell in love with her father, after hearing his voice on the airwaves.
Released at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research on Friday, this is not just a love story of Antonio Rodrigo Aguiar and Marjorie Valerie Lobbo, but also gives hints and insights into the realities of the Goa of the 1950s and 1960s.
Sharbelle Fernandez, the author of the book, explained how she tracked “the story that formed in my mind, as I kept reading the letters”. She said the letters were “hidden somewhere in a shoe-box” and she had spent five years piecing together the story.
Noted short story writer and civil servant Tino de Sa said the book had ‘three authors’. “Writers of fiction struggle to use this device – telling a story through letters. But here, Sharbelle found this treasure trove of letters between her parents, she saved them (though many got eaten by white ants). She’s told this entire story through letters, though she’s then also had to fill in the blanks,” de Sa, speaking at the function, noted.
Frederick Noronha, journalist and publisher, said the book touches a range of issues – the immensely popular Emissora de Goa radio station, life in Hubli, the Railways, the Anglo-Indians, radio announcers, the struggles of being a journalist in the 1950s, the English-speaking community in Portuguese-ruled Goa, life within the Goan diaspora, and more.
Velma Fernandes looked at how broadcast conditions have changed over the years, and outlined the history of the growth of the medium in Goa over the years.
