The Power of Confidence

Since media has the power to reach numerous sections of a society, it becomes an ideal tool for putting images into the minds of people. Owing to the advantage that television and other forms of media have, people can leverage it to improve lives. While people come to Goa to have a good time, do they ponder upon the individuals who are responsible for giving tourists memories to cherish?

Goa has an abundance of talent that has the potential to take Goa to heights. Pravin Ramesh Ajgaonkar from the village of Molca in Merces is an excellent example of this. Dyslexia and Dysgraphia didn’t prevent him from starting a family restaurant called ‘Foody Goan’s’

A glimpse of the restaurant 'Foody Goan's'
 

The supportive environment that Pravin had when he grew up, played a crucial role in building his confidence. He was always given equal opportunities in society, and the freedom to make his choices. He encountered difficulties in reading and writing, since the words of the notes he took didn’t make sense to him.

Pravin Ramesh Ajgaonkar

Throughout his childhood numerous people supported him. For example, his classmates shared their notes with him, his teachers arranged a reader and a writer for him. He studied from 1st to 10th Std at Our Lady of Merces High School. Although he had an intention of launching a business, he was in the process of making up his mind regarding the specific establishment.

Pravin's well wishers

Hence, he chose the stream of commerce in the 11th Std at K.B Hedgewar High School in Cujira, Bambolim. He proceeded to do a Diploma in Food and Beverage Service from Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition (IHM) Porvorim, as he discovered his love for cooking.

The results of Pravin's passion

His dream become a reality on 2nd January 2018 with ‘The Goan Novice’. Since he is a person with learning disabilities, the plans he had for his future included setting up a restaurant where the staff were differently abled. During the initial year when the restaurant was founded, several strategies to promote the business were explored like finding suitable candidates.

Well-wishers of Pravin at 'The Goan Novice'

The pandemic affected Pravin’s profession in numerous ways. At times Pravin had to cook and serve the customers due to the shortage of staff. Paying the rent became a difficult task when there were no customers. Due to such difficulties, they had to close the business for 8 months. Although Pravin felt de-motivated during such periods, he never thought about shutting down his business permanently.

Despite these circumstances Pravin never lost in his prayers, he began catering to online audiences. Eventually a new venture was launched called ‘The Foody Goan’s’. It continues to serve customers without compromising on its quality. The restaurant consists of 4 staff including a person with intellectual disability. 

This restaurant serves Goan, Indian and Chinese Cuisine. The Goan section is overseen by his mother who also helps Pravin out in different routines. ‘The Foody Goan’s can be contacted through email at thefoodygoans@gmail.com. They also exist on Facebook as ‘The Foody Goans’ and Instagram as ‘@the_foody_goan’.

The route to 'The Foody Goan's'

The experiences the people have are responsible for shaping them. While problems have always existed in societies, the penetration rate of diverse forms of media can amplify the despair that people feel. While the rest of the globe was busy with Christmas festivities, the statue of infant Jesus was damaged at St Mary’s Church in Piriyapatna town of Karnataka’s Mysuru district.   

Alas, this is not the only headlines that showcase the trend of a few extremists weaponizing God. One such example is Pragya Thakur, a BJP MP advising people to keep weapons at home, and advising people against sending their children to institutions run  by missionaries. The situations that cause people to feel heartbroken and frustrated, can also build them up. Instead of being destroyed by anger, let us use it as a fuel to promote positivity.

Developing The Vision

Throughout their life people are always taught about the significance of having a vision. Since a majority of the population travels to different cities and countries, the remainder of the population typically associates terms like ‘thinking big’ with moving to different places.  How do people develop the vision they require to transform lives around them? 

Umbelina Menezes e Da Costa, a person who hails from Loutolim, born and raised in Panjim, and married in Curtorim, is an example of a person who has a vision. When her aunt Inês Maria Do Carmo Costa became a widower, she came up with an idea to support her family. Thus 'Bolache Nezita’ or biscuits and cakes. After Umbelina’s marriage in 1989 she thought of carrying forward the business.

Umbelina in action

Since Umbelina’s husband didn’t want her to work, he suggested that she could take over her aunt’s business. Although she changed the name to ‘Nezita’, she wanted to continue with the same concept and brand. Following in her aunt’s footsteps, Umbelina took up this initiative for supporting her family, and funding the education of her children.

The visiting card of 'Nezita'

Initially she started with bebincas, and slowly began preparing other sweets like Chana Doce, Batica, Bolinha, Dodol and others. Currently she bakes seven products. When she took over her aunt’s business, she also thought about how other women can easily bake the sweets at home but choose to buy it from shops instead. 

Umbelina preparing her kitchen for baking sweets

Apart from focusing solely on her business, she went out of her way to teach other women also to bake these goods. She thus created a method for the neighbouring women to do something on their own, rather than relying on their husbands. Umbelina’s motivation has gone a long way in helping the neighboourhood to enjoy the goods they bake.

Just like companies face challenges throughout their career, so did Umbelina face difficulties which she had to overcome. During the course of this venture she hadn’t imagined she would have to bake more than 100 bebincas, which she had to do so for an order by a bakery in Goa called ‘Monginis’. 

Although she used to supply her products to Monginis for a while, she had to discontinue the same due to a minor accident. While this is an example of the challenge that she faced, there are others too which she overcomes with the support of her family, and the people working under her. Her family helps her in aspects like packaging, sealing, etc. 

A vision not only helps individuals, but countries too. Many politicians today are busy in playing politics rather than developing a vision. Vladmir Putin is a famous example in current times, but not the only one who has a destructive vision.

India can slowly star building its vision through movies like ‘Jhund’ and ‘Pink’ from Bollywood. Certain people can be detrimental to India’s vision. An example of this is the debate regarding the movies from south India vs Bollywood. I recently wanted a dubbed version of ‘Raatchasi’ titled ‘Madam Geeta Rani’.

Apart from movies, it’s high time for Indians to look at the educational qualifications of the ministers. As my readers read this article, I want them to constantly seek diverse methods to develop a vision for their states, societies and countries. This is mandatory because of people who say India is the mother of all democracies, and are involved in defections  

Choices That Define

In a world that induces despair regularly, individuals counter a dark world by bringing light into it. In the current generation there is no shortage of tools that individuals can utilise to send a message that resonates with audiences. People face a choice of either focusing solely on themselves or being a beacon of inspiration for others.

Dr. Oscar Braganca Demelo is a person with credentials like ‘Fellow of Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of India’, Company Secretary from the ‘Institute of Company Secretaries of India’, a graduate of degrees like ‘Masters Diploma of Business Administration’ from Symbiosis Institute, Pune. He has also completed Master of Commerce (M.Com), Master of Philosophy (M.Phil), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), and Master of Science (MSC).

Dr Oscar Braganca Demelo

He is presently employed as a lecturer at St Xavier’s College, Mapusa, Goa, h has been teaching Cost Accounting to the students for the past 27 years. Despite helping students complete their syllabus, he also goes out of his way to inspire people with his motivational series through a YouTube channel under his name. 

    

Dr Oscar

Delivering messages that resonates with others is the objective behind Dr. Oscar’s YouTube channel. He makes sure that each episode is effective by dedicating adequate time to craft the script of each episode. He carries forward with each episode inspite of the costs associated with it, like the video editing and the photography expenditures.

Dr. Oscar's YouTube channel

Finding topics that strike a chord with viewers is one of the biggest challenges that Dr. Oscar faces. Others include selecting appropriate locations, anticipating the weather, writing scripts and recording the same every week. It is inevitable that such tasks introduce people to new routines. Dr Oscar has sacrificed the free time he gets after his lectures for activities such as reading, writing and recording scripts. He spends approximately 3 hours for reading and writing scripts

Dr Oscar rising above challenges

Fuelled by his self-belief, Dr Oscar goes above and beyond to navigate through these challenges. Although he plays a major role in building the future of his pupils, he firmly believes that if teachers restrict themselves to completing the syllabus, they leave students ill-equipped to deal with diverse challenges in their path. 

He thus plays a crucial role in quenching the thirst that students have for strategies that prepare them to deal with various obstacles, a plan for being successful in their respective fields and lessons that can be learnt from the experiences that people have. Apart from the weekly inspirations by Dr. Oscar, it is evident by reading about him in the paragraphs above that he is a man of ethics.

From Russia’s famous butcher called Vladmir Putin to the incident of poorly preserved platelets that resulted in a Dengue patient’s death in U.P, there are numerous instances of a lack of morals around the globe. Educational institutions and family play a huge role in building a future generation filled with people of ethics. 

In an era where entities like RSS exist that demands action on Global Hunger Index surveyors, morals are an underrated solution which educators and the masterminds behind inspirational videos are responsible for giving. People who don’t cultivate good values in their children run the risk of creating terrors like Vladmir Putin.