Feast of St Joseph Vaz

Goa celebrates the feast of its very own homegrown saint, St Joseph Vaz, on January 16 every year at Sancoale. While the feast was previously celebrated at the shrine of Blessed Joseph Vaz, the venue was shifted to the Church of Our Lady of Health, Sancoale, after his canonization.

Joseph Vaz (Konkani: San Zuze Vaza; Portuguese: São José Vaz; Kannada: ಪವಿತ್ರಾ ಯೋಸೆಫ್ ವಾಸ್ ಸಂತರು Pavitra Yoseph Vaz Santaru; Tamil: புனித யோசேப் வாஸ் முனிவர் Punitha Sūsai Munivar; Sinhala: ශාන්ත ජුසේ වාස් මුනිතුමා, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අපෝස්තුළුවරයාණන් Santha Juse Vas Munithuma, Sri Lankawe Aposthuluvaraya), who passed away on 16 January 1711, was an Oratorian priest and missionary in Sri Lanka (Ceylon), originally from Sancoale in Portuguese India.

Vaz arrived in Ceylon during the Dutch occupation, when the Dutch were imposing Calvinism as the as the official religion after taking over from the Portuguese Empire. He travelled throughout the island bringing the Eucharist and the Sacraments to clandestine groups of crypto-Catholics. Later in his mission, he found shelter in the Kingdom of Kandy where he was able to work freely. By the time of his death, Vaz had managed to rebuild the Catholic Church on the island.

As a result of his labours, Vaz is known as the Apostle of Ceylon. On 21 January 1995, he was beautified by Pope John Paul II in Colombo. He was canonized on 14 January 2015 by Pope Francis in an open-air Mass ceremony at the Galle Face Green in Colombo.

Kumar Asan Death Anniversary

 

Kumaran Asan, who passed away on 16 January 1924, was an Indian social reformer, philosopher and poet of Malayalam literature. He is known to have initiated a revolution in Malayalam poetry in the first quarter of the 20th century, transforming it from the metaphysical to the lyrical and his poetry is characterised by its moral and spiritual content, poetic concentration and dramatic contextualisation. He is one of the modern triumvirate poets of Kerala and a disciple of Sree Narayana Guru. He was awarded the prefix "Mahakavi" in 1922 by the Madras university which means "great poet".

O P Nayyar Birth Anniversary

 

Omkar Prasad Nayyar, better known as O P Nayyar, born on 16 January 1926, in Lahore, was an Indian film music composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician. He is considered to be one of the most rhythmic and melodious music directors of the Hindi film industry.

Nayyar made his debut in the Hindi cinema, with 1949 movie 'Kaneez' and in 1952 as music director in 'Aasmaan'.

Nayyar worked closely with renowned singers of the era - Mohammed Rafi, Geeta Dutt and Asha Bhosle. Nayyar played a main role in Asha’s singing career. It was also speculated that Asha and Nayyar were in a relationship in the late 1950s. The two ended their professional collaboration in 1972, after which Asha went on to work with another legendary music composer, RD Burman.

After a disagreement with Mohammed Rafi, Nayyar began working with singer Mahendra Kapoor. Kapoor performed Nayyar’s songs 'Badal Jaaye Agar Maali' and 'Chaman Hotaa Nahi Khaali' in 'Bahaaren Phir Bhi Aayengi'.

Nayyar also worked with developing lyricists such as Jan Nisar Akhtar, Qamar Jalalabadi, S. H. Bihari and Ahmed Wasi.

He began the tradition of assigning full, three-minute songs to comedians. Om Prakash sang Nayyar’s 'Churi Bane Kanta Bane' in 'Jaali Note', and Jonny Walker sang 'Jaane Kahan Mera Jigar Gaya Jee' in 'Mr. & Mrs. 55'.

It was Nayyar who wrote 'Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawaanonkaa' for 'Naya Daur', the song that earned him the 1958 Filmfare Best Music Director Award.

Nayyar was more active during the 1960s than he was in the following decade, and did not compose music for younger actors such as Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan.

His films included Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Guru Dutt, Dharmendra, Shammi Kapoor, Asha Parekh, Mumtaz, Sharmila Tagore, Madhubala and Rekha. He made a brief comeback during the 1990s with 'Mangni' and 'Nishchay' in 1992 and 'Zid' in 1994.

 

Sarat Chandra Chatterji Death Anniversary

 

Sarat Chandra Chatterji, who passed away on 16 January 1938, was a Bengali novelist and short story writer. He is arguably the most popular novelist in the Bengali language. Most of his works deal with the lifestyle, tragedy and struggle of the village people and the contemporary social practices that prevailed in Bengal. He remains the most popular, translated, adapted, and plagiarized Indian author of all time.

Around 50 films have been made on his works in several Indian languages. From Bengali and Hindi to Telugu, approximately 16 versions were made of the ‘Devdas’ novel alone. Even the movie ‘Parineeta’ was also made twice. The film Sabyasachi, released in 1977, was based on his work ‘Pather Dabi.’

The themes he used in his novels were influenced by the writings of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. His works and life are still being showcased in ‘Sarat Mela’, an annual week-long fair that is held in late January every year in Howrah, West Bengal

 

Major Works

Sarat Chandra Chatterji built strong female characters in his stories.

The novel ‘Swami’ was also a reflection of his feminism. The story describes an ambitious and bright girl named Saudamini who is doubtful about her emotions towards her husband, Ghanshyam and her lover, Narendra.

‘Devdas’, his most famous work, was not critically acclaimed. But it was indeed his most remembered work. ‘Devdas’, published in 1917, was a love story. It was adapted more than seven times in numerous versions on the screen.

In 1914, Parineeta, a Bengali language novel of social protest, explored themes of caste and religion, which were prevalent at that time.

‘Iti Srikanta’ was a four-part novel that was published in 1916, 1918, 1927, and 1933 respectively. It is acclaimed as Sarat Chandra's 'masterpiece'. The narrator, Srikanta, is an aimless drifter in the novel. Through his dynamic characters, Sarat Chandra Chatterji brought alive nineteenth-century Bengal. Society at that time was prejudice-ridden that needed to be radically changed.

‘Choritrohin’ which was published in 1917, was a tale of four women. They were wronged by society.