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Om Books International along with Tamasha, Mumbai celebrated the launch of Poskem: Goans in the Shadows by Wendell Rodricks on 12th July, 2017. The elegant book on Goa’s best-kept secret, was launched by Chief Guest, Lisa Ray.
On the occasion author Wendell Rodricks shared his experience of putting together the book, with Lisa Ray and the gathering.
Also present at the launch were publisher, Ajay Mago, Maria Goretti, Bachi Karkaria, Namita Devidayal, Sheetal Malhar, Shamita Singha, Zulfi Sayed, Sathya Saran.
About the Book
Goans are presently experiencing the last generation of Poskim—young children taken in by wealthy families and retained most often as servants. In a narrative that spans Portuguese Goa to post the liberation of India’s golden state, Poskem: Goans in the Shadows takes the reader to locales from Bombay to Lyon, Pune to Paris, and into the world of the Poskim people and Goan recipes. Through happiness and hope, despair and delusion, Rodricks writes of an unspoken, unheard of and shamefully silenced world of the last generation of a people that would soon be forgotten but for this book preserving their story for posterity
About the Author
Mumbai-born WENDELL RODRICKS studied Fashion Designing in the USA and France. His first collection from Goa earned him the title ‘Guru of Minimalism’ and his next collection pioneered the concept of ‘Resort Wear’ and ‘Eco-friendly’ garments.
He was the first Indian designer to be invited to present his unique garments, inspired by Goa and India, at the World’s largest garment fair, IGEDO, in Germany (1995), Dubai Fashion Week (2001), Malaysia Fashion Week (2002), the Paris Prêt-à-Porter Salon (2007) and the BioFach in Nuremberg, Germany (2012).
In 2007, the Confederation of Indian Industries invited him to present two fashion shows in Bryant Park, New York to celebrate the 60th year of India’s Independence. Wendell has also presented his designs at the Festival
of India (1993) in Beijing and Shanghai in China, and in Sri Lanka.
Instrumental in planning the first ever Lakmé India Fashion Week (LFW) in 2000, Wendell guided it in an advisory capacity during its formative years.
In 2012, Wendell turned author with Moda Goa: History and Style, and his memoirs, The Green Room.
In 2014, Wendell was awarded India’s fourth highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri for Art (Fashion Design), honoured by the All India Konkani Parishad, and conferred the distinction of Chevalier de l’Ordre National des Arts et Lettres (Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters) by the Ministry of Culture and Communication, France.
Lisa Ray Actor, Writer, Cancer Activist: With Poskem, Wendell invokes the shadowy history of a Goan tradition through a kaleidoscopic narrative which marries magic realism with culinary description. A literary feast, a sensory explosion and a triumph of marrying imagination with dark fiction in the original style of
one of India’s original creatives.
Ashok Ferrey Author, The Ceaseless Chatter of Demons: Like a magician, Wendell Rodricks conjures up with a flourish a world we are unfamiliar with, an India we do not recognise: fascinating and horrifying in equal measure – as dark and as delicious as the Goan recipes with which he lines every other page.
Shakun Batra Award-winning Director of Kapoor & Sons: Wendell proves yet again that his talent goes beyond being a maestro designer. He tailors and styles his words like an experienced storyteller. A book so visual and cinematic that you cannot put it down!
Floyd Cardoz Winner Top Chef Masters, USA, Season 3; Chef/Owner, Paowalla, NYC; Culinary Director/Founder, The Bombay Canteen: Artfully weaving stories of Goan life with cuisine, Poskem keeps you living in the story, and like every Goan, shows you how important food is to us. Wendell is a superb storyteller. I could not stop being engaged.
Ajay Mago, Publisher, Om Books International: I had no doubt in my mind about publishing Poskem: Goans in the Shadows. It would be a very small but significant way to spread the word, raise awareness on the larger issue of children being deprived of their childhood, their dignity and their station in life—in Goa, in India, in the world.
I thank Wendell for this literary journey into a heart of darkness so far removed from our worlds. And for keeping his promise to Rosa.
Mr. Priyank Sukhija, Owner, Tamasha, Mumbai: We at Tamasha are thrilled to host the launch of Wendell Rodrick’s book that presents unheard of realities that exist in Goa. Tamasha is known to host such unique genres of events and we look forward to celebrating contemporary literature in future too.
About Om Books International
One of the largest English language trade publishers in the Indian subcontinent, Om Books International has been a name to reckon with for over five decades in the Indian publishing and retail industry. Headquartered in Noida, OBI has a diverse publishing list including cinema, biography, memoir, mind-body-spirit, photo essay, art, architecture, lifestyle, fiction — commercial and literary. It counts amongst its notable authors Khalid Mohamed, Mushtaq Shiekh, Bharathi S Pradhan, Nasreen Munni Kabir, Rauf Ahmed, Kamala Das, William Dalrymple, Vir Sanghvi, Christopher C Doyle and Abhay Vaidya.
Om Books International has a stellar line-up of Gourmand World Cookbook Award Winners: Vikas Khanna, Maria Goretti, Michael Swamy, Shazia Khan, Aditya Mehendale and Saransh Goila.
OBI has an equally strong and varied children’s publishing programme under its imprint, OmKidz.
