BY ARTI DAS
Dr Hubert Gomes, from Benaulim, is a dentist by profession, but at heart he is a true son of the soil, who wants to contribute to society in the best possible way.

The first step he has taken in this direction is penning down his maiden book titled, ‘My Village, My Responsibility’ that will be released shortly. He took this plunge because he wanted to express himself to the public and make people aware about their rights and responsibilities.
As the title suggests this book is a work of non-fiction that delves into the social issues through the author’s perspective.
“This book is a compilation of my experiences with the people I met when I was involved in a movement called ‘Goans First’ a few years ago. It was a silent movement that taught people about their rights and, most importantly, responsibilities. However, we closed down after the formation of GBA (Goa Bachao Abhiyaan) as they were more vocal and were working towards the same cause. We didn’t want to have a parallel movement,” explains Dr Gomes.
He further adds that today’s society has indeed become self-centred unlike the society during the times of our forefathers. “Our forefathers were community centred and we had a system called gaonkar system that was later termed as communidade during the Portuguese times. But now we don’t think beyond our compound wall,” laments Dr Gomes.
He believes that his book could become a tool to inspire people to bring in some positive social change. “You really can’t preach to others but you can definitely inspire. Through my book I am telling people to look after our village and protect it for our future generations,” remarks Dr Gomes.
To prove his point further, he is penning his thoughts in two volumes. “The first part, which I am releasing in June, will talk about lessons I learnt when I was part of the Goans First movement. The second part of the book will be on the issues we face and how to solve it.”
“Writing the book has been both a pleasure and pain,” says Dr Hubert.  Pleasure because it is his first book and pain because, “What I have shared in the book disturbs me as a concerned citizen of Goa.”
However Dr Gomes does not want to restrict his responsibilities to writing only. He plans on taking a bigger step. “I am contributing towards my village and intend to fight socially and politically as I am planning to join politics,” confirms Dr Gomes.
He further mentioned that the people of his village - Benaulim - want him to join politics. “For the past three years people have been asking me to contest the elections. I believe that we just can’t go on blaming politicians but we should take the initiative. You can make a significant difference only when you have power in your hands. But, sadly we have given power into wrong hands,” concludes Dr Gomes who expresses his desire to contest the coming state elections.