Accidents do happen. We have all met with one, if not more. But it is our overall conduct at the site of the accident that matters by our care, empathy and compassion for the accident victim.
This is where the famed Pop star and Padma Shri Remo Fernandes miserably failed on the afternoon of December 1st after that speeding car rashly driven by his son Jonah Fernandes knocked down grievously injuring at Gurim near Mapusa the 17 year old Helan D’Souza who had come walking all the way from Malvan on a pilgrimage and was on her way to attend the feast of St Francis Xavier at Old Goa.
Remo Fernandes may claim that he loves and cares for Goa but we need to know his contribution if any to the State. One even cannot recollect a single charity show that he has ever organized for any Goan cause.
Would have never known about that 1st December accident if it was not for Rev. Fr Savio Barreto, the Director of Basilica of Bom Jesus at Old Goa who on 18th December narrated to me the sordid events. The Mapusa Police have a lot to answer for not having dealt with this accident as they do in every other accident case. The law did not take its own course in this celebrity mishap.
Remo Fernandes’s puffed up egoistic arrogance is very disturbing and reprehensible. His conduct at all times needed to be exemplary more so that he has been holding the very high title of Padma Shri conferred on him by the President of India. He ought to have by his conduct been a role model to us all. But like the dog’s tail may never straighten.
The 18th September 2000 mishap at Kanpur in which four of his very own band mates were crushed to death was also an accident. But Remo Fernandes’s conduct after that tragic accident was also even more heartbreaking. Goa lost three budding musicians Selwyn Pereira, Victor Alvares, Dharmendra Hirve besides Sunil Redker who was the band’s liaison person. The families of the deceased musicians were witness and to date are living with those heartrending memories of that horrific and uncaring conduct displayed by Remo Fernandes towards his very own team of musicians after that fatal accident.
One of the musicians Selwyn Pereira was a jewel, our Ribandar lost so early, at a very tender age of just 29. Selwyn Pereira had started his own band when he was just 10 years old and named it “Civilians”. He later played for one of Goa’s top bands the “Big City Band”. He moved on to join as a keyboardist playing for Remo Fernandes’s “The Microwave Papadams”.
Selwyn Pereira may have learnt a lot of music from Remo Fernandes but if Remo Fernandes had only cared to be inspired by Selwyn’s care and compassion for others the Pop Star may have never ever landed on the wrong side of the law. For Remo Fernandes it was a missed opportunity which may never return.
Today on Christmas, remembering the always ever so cheerful, warm hearted and very jovial Selwyn Pereira who was always ready to help one and all. Extremely civil in his conduct, the very down to earth with no ego, Selwyn was always ever so humble. Besides being a very budding musician, he was an outstanding human being always caring and who never stopped smiling. 15 years down the road, and Ribandar has not seen another Selwyn. And thankfully we have also not been witness to another Remo Fernandes. 