On a storm-swept September afternoon in Goa, Frank Simoes finally found what he had been searching for so many years: that perfect acre by the sea. And there he began to build his dream house, Rockheart.
This book began as the story of his labours, but eventually became one on a Goan's discovery of his idyllic native land.
It is peopled by a colourful cast of characters, ranging from Leopold da Gama Rose, who saved himself from a fate worse than death by hiding beneath his mother's skirts to Remo, the famous rock musician; from Felix Xavier Fernando, the confidant of cobras toBarty and Bostao, surely the world's only feni-fuelled car-washing experts.
This is more than just a travel book. Thanks to Frank Simoes' perceptive eye and abiding love for all things Goan, it is a delightful, finely-etched portrait of a people and their way of life.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Frank Simoes was born in Mumbai at 7 a.m. on 7 March, on the seventh day of the week, in 1937. At the age of eighteen, he decamped from hearth and home for a 'working passage' on a cargo ship, a polite euphemism for six months' hard labour. Having splurged his wages on Bacchanalian revelry at various ports of call, he signed off in Genoa with two pounds fifty pence and all his worldly belongings in a backpack.
His experience in Europe over the next year: reluctant sailor, dharma bum, journeyman, writer, employee in pursuits as ecletic as those of a dishwasher, a porter, an erratic typist and a general dogsbody, provided a winning curriculum vitae for a career in advertising and a second career as a writer.
He was elected to the Hall of Fame of both the Communication Arts Guild and the Advertising Club, authored over three hundred articles and two books, Glad Seasons in Goa (now reissued as Frank Simoes' Goa) and Fare Forward Voyager.
A collection of his work was published posthumously in 2003 as Frank Unedited. He attributed much of his success to the lack of a formal education. Frank Simoes passed away in 2002 in Mumbai, survived by his wife, daughter and countless friends and admirers around the world.
