Golden Goa

Jo-Anne Mary Benson, the former book review columnist for Ottawa Parent
magazine, is an Ottawa-based freelance editor and writer.

Grant Buday, a novelist and short-story writer, ventures into the travel
genre in a book that details his five visits to India over a 20-year
period. In 1981, Buday’s interest in sailors’ voyages from Portugal
to India in the 16th century inspired him to travel to India in order to
learn more about the Portuguese influence. Buday discovered Luis de
Camoens’s epic poem The Lusiads, and it was his fascination with
Portuguese India and Camoens that became the premise of this book.

Buday’s journey takes readers from Delhi in the north, to Cochin in
the south, with particular emphasis on the ex-Portuguese colonies of
Goa, Daman, and Diu on the west coast. He recounts the history of the
areas he visits, reflects frequently on the life of Luis de Camoens, and
offers touches of humor and interesting anecdotes. An inconsistent
delivery and a failure to sustain momentum make Golden Goa a book that
informs more than it entertains.