An amusing memoir.... an affectionate rambling account - In the Times of India Crest Edition

on Short Takes Long Memories

http://www.timescrest.com/culture/gallery/quick-review-5904

See also: http://mangomood.blogspot.com/2011/10/short-takes-long-memories-on-goas.html

A fascinating first-person account of Goa's history - Short Takes Long Memories review in Paperback Pickings in The Telegraph, Calcutta July 29, 2011

An account of Goa's history by someone closely associated with the centers of powers, both in Portugal and in India

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110729/jsp/opinion/story_14295938.jsp

"There is something particularly pleasing and sweet in an authentic narration of vignettes.."

In the Bookworm in Herald july 24, 2011, a review of Short Takes Long Memories.

Some highlights:

- Sharing of the experiences
- An appropriately designed cover
- Peppers his stories with funny anecdotes
- Excellent contents

There's the lingering feeling that the ethos of the Goemkar has remained

says the Afternoon Despatch and Courier after reading the review of Short Takes Long Memories

A ringside view of Goa before and after Liberation: Review of Short Takes in Navhind Times, Goa, June 22, 2011

Two Prisoners - one Jailer - a ringside seat in both cases

"It falls on but a few, to put it quite immodestly, to be on hand for the release of two prisoners, shackled by the same jailer, on opposite sides of the globe," as Short Takes Long Memories grabs a ringside seat first at the Liberation of Goa in 1961 and then, 13 years later, at the Carnation Revolution in Portugal as a colony and its coloniser are freed from the same jailer - the dictatorial Salazarist regime of Portugal, on opposite sides of the globe

Short Takes Long Memories by Prabhakar Kamat and Sharmila Kamat

http://www.rupapublications.co.in/client/Book/Short-Takes-Long-Memories.aspx


A ringside view of an eventful period in Goa’s history – its transition from being a Portuguese colony to becoming Indian, this is a tale of a land caught between the irresistible pull of India and the immovable object that was the inflexible colonial regime. The book is based on the reminiscences of I.A.S. officer and diplomat Prabhakar Kamat. In the late 1940s, Prabhakar Kamat abandons the somnolence of Goa to travel by sea to Europe for higher studies. In Lisbon, his adventures navigating the minefield of culture shocks are tempered by encounters with revolutionaries from the larger Portuguese Empire. He returns to a Goa still under colonial rule, but with India’s patience wearing thin. A blink-and-you-missed-it Army action in 1961 lets Goa join India and plunge into its hectic, colourful democracy. Goa’s date with self-rule galvanises Portugal to follow suit. With sharp insight and witty anecdotes, the book showcases life as it was (and in some ways, still is) in Goa.

About Author

	Prabhakar Kamat No. of books available: 1
	Prabhakar Kamat is a retired I.A.S officer and diplomat from Goa. He has held very senior positions in the administration of Portuguese Goa and India. He has worked for the Ministry of Finance of Portugal and has been Director of Economic Services before the Liberation of Goa. He was Director in the office of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Counsellor in the Indian Embassy in Lisbon. He retired as chairman, Mormugão Port Trust. Write-up Endorsements
	Sharmila Kamat
	Sharmila Kamat is an astrophysicist who is also an established writer and author. She has a PhD from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and is a recipient of a University Fellowship by Columbia University in New York. Her research studies the constitution of the Universe, particularly what makes up the hidden mass we call dark matter. She was Faculty in Physics in a Goan college before proceeding to the US.