It’s been a year since dad
passed away and as is customary I recently went to Goa to attend his first
death anniversary mass and blessing of the grave, which was held on 12th
October 2013 in Galgibaga our little virgin
village on the south/west end of Goa.
Below are a few recollections
with pictures of the 6 days I spent in Goa.
11th Oct. 2013
Early morning touch down at
Dabolim Airport by Jet Airways from Kuwait via Mumbai. Although not practical due to the change of
aircraft and airport, it was the only option I had as Air India direct flight
to Goa was fully booked. In any case
choosing between both these airlines is like choosing between the devil and the
deep blue sea. The weather was pleasant
in Goa with the airport a little wet from overnight October showers, but as
most tropical places, very humid. Straight
from the airport Mandy (my daughter) who joined me on the Jet flight from
Mumbai and I attended the first death anniversary mass of Placido (Polas)
Fernandes a wonderful person and our cousin from Navelim who like dad had also
lived a long and fruitful life. It was
nice attending the service at 8:15am at the jam packed Our Lady of Rosary
Church, and thereafter a visit to the really well kept cemetery to pay our
respects.
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| The well maintained Navelim cemetery |
I have some great and
nostalgic memories of Navelim where I
did my early schooling at the Perpetual Succor Girls Convent as a young boarder
and would spend pleasant weekends at
Uncle Polas’s house with my cousin Luiza
Maria who took good care of me. The ties
between our Navelim Cousins and us have gotten only stronger after my brother
Marcel married Julia her sister’s daughter.
My sister Gina also flew in
from Abu Dhabi for dad’s mass and that evening the first of our guests
arrived. Mum with the help of our cousins
and neighbors had prepared a sumptuous meal which everyone enjoyed. I had carried a bottle of Cockburn Special Reserve port wine which the
ladies shared while we men stuck to our good old scotch and soda. If you ever want to buy a good bottle of port
wine, try this brand, you will not regret your choice. It’s available at most
duty free shops including Mumbai.
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| Cockburn and sumptuous dinner |
Our guests that evening
included my uncle Francis Barretto (mum’s bro) who is like the God-father of
our whole clan and gets VIP treatment especially from mum, Fr. Peter Gama a
close family friend who has been to Galgabiga on many earlier occasions along
with first time visitors the great Fr. Concessao who is currently the parish priest
of Taligao church and a gentleman by the name of Celso who is a retired Gulfie
but much into the service of the community and church.
Highlight of mum’s dinner were
of course her sannas which were walloped with the sorpatel and aad-mass she had
prepared of our own pig who was sacrificed to satisfy us.
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| Traditional Goan sannas with toddy prepared by mum |
12th Oct 2013
Everyone was up early as Dad’s
mass was at 8:00am, and Marcel (my bro) and his wife Julia visited the cemetery
early morning to ensure everything was in order. It was nice that our village priest, the calm
and soothing Fr. Simon Fernandes had requested the villagers not to deck the
graves with too many flowers and candles as they are basically wasted and
environmentally unfriendly. Just a single
bouquet is what we ordered and it made sense.
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| Dad's grave |
The mass was celebrated by Fr.
Concessaio along with Fr. Peter Gama, Fr. Mariano Goes (our ex-village priest)
and our very own Fr. Simon Fernandes. The highlight of course was the beautiful
choir led by my cousin August and his wife Cheryl Cardoz along with Sylvia
Monteiro and Erryl Alvares on the keyboard. Really regret not video graphing the mass, if
not for anything else but the Goosebumps the choir game me and the short but
powerful and to the point sermon of Fr.
Concessao. When I first met Fr. Concessao
the previous evening, I had no idea of his public addressing skills although I
have heard a lot about his powerful sermons and healing touch. But, yes the man is really good and I am
grateful to my uncle Francis for sharing him with us and our village.
Again mum arranged a feast for
lunch, although part of the food was ordered through our cousin Romaldin from
Loliem, who has successfully started her own catering service. Her food is like home cooked and judging from
the orders she has been receiving, the sky is the limit for her. It’s so nice to see someone like Romaldin who
is just a housewife, making a profitable enterprise of her culinary skills.
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Romaldin catered the lunch
Our Navelim family, my Aunt
Pauline and her husband, my cousin Sylvia and her husband Rui, my great brother
in law Darryl Nunes, and Zinia’s family, our
cousins August & Cheryl, Assis, Remiz, our mother’s side Barretto family
and our neighbors all attended the lunch and enjoyed the desserts prepared by
my sister Gina. It was also a pleasant
surprise to see my friend Joe Boy, along with other Kuwaitkar friends including Gasper Almeida, Tony DÇosta, Michael Fernandes Duarte Ferrao and his dad, who were
visiting Galgibaga for the first time. Die hard promoter of Galgabaga that I am,
I proudly took them around showing our beautiful virgin village and the
beach. Were they impressed? … I believe they were.
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That same evening I attended
the wedding of my friend the dashing Alwin Dçunha (bro of Goan soccer star
Alvito DÇunha) from Sanvordem. The
wedding was at the Royal Paradise hall in Curtorim and was well attended by
over 600 hundred guests. Alwin married
the daughter of famous Goan tiatrist Anthony San and I spend the evening trying
to recognize the many well known Konkani stage artistes who attended the
celebration. My good friend Jose Rod who
much to our despair has kept himself out of the limelight proposed the toast
and also sang the traditional Saud. It
was a nice evening spend in the company of Duarte and his parents. I only wish guests in Goa would arrive in
time for weddings and not leave immediately after the buffet is served.
13th Nov 2013
Today was a relaxing day in
Galgibaga after all the hectic activities of the previous day and I decided to take
my sister Gina and Mandy to visit the Chapoli dam in Canacona. The dam is situated in the hills close to the
Chapoli tribal village and one of the most serene and beautiful spots in Goa. Not many people know of this place (thank
God) , as it gives you a sense of calm and belonging. After a few photos, we decided to have dinner
in Palolem at my favorite joint Baba Italy.
Baba Italy uses a wood oven and the piping hot 4 cheese pizza is
something to die for along with their cheese garlic stuffed naans.
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| Simple villagers tending their cattle in the hills of Chapoli |
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| Mandy & Gina at the beautiful Chapoli Dam (Location: not to be disclosed) |
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| Wood baked oven fresh - piping hot pizza at Baba Italy (Palolem) |
14th Nov 2013
Got up at 4:00am and left for
the airport to drop Mandy who had to be at work in Mumbai at 9:00am. With the convenience of air travel, one can
be in Goa one day and the next in Mumbai, just like that. Took Gina and Mum along with me as it was
also the ‘Fama’ in Colva and having heard so much about it, we decided that we
could not skip it, especially since we had special prayer request to Infant
Jesus for the good health of my bro in law Ignatius Rebello who was not keeping
too well in Mumbai.
The fama is an amazing
experience with thousands of devotees in their feast best standing in long
queues to venerate the image of Infant Jesus. After standing approximately for one and half
hour in the well organized and orderly queue and making our offerings, we
proceeded to the fair to buy grams. Was
lucky to pick a kulne (clay pot) used for making traditional Goan curry from
the fair which I carried to Kuwait with me.
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| Devotees venerating the statue of Infant Jesus at Colva Fama |
After a nice breakfast at Longunihos
one of the oldest Goan icon restaurant in the heart of Margao where you must
try their sausage roll and prawn patties, we drove to Rachol to visit
an old friend. Lunch was at Sharda
Classic in Fatorda. Sharda Classic is a
wonderful place for traditional Goan fish curry rice and if you are ever in
Margao you should try it. It can get
quite crowded during lunch hours but still worth the wait. The exact location is close to Fatorda
Stadium, just behind Chowgule Maruti Service Center.
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| Who can ever forget the Longuinhos symbol? |
Since it was over a year since
mum had been out of the house, I decided to take her and Gina to see
a Konkani Drama at the Pai Hall in Margao.
Rosefern’s ‘Que Sera Sera’ was being staged at 3:30pm and we
enjoyed it very much. Roseferns , king
of centuries as he is fondly know, has kept the tradition of the Goan tiatr alive and kudos to him and the many others who entertain the Goans day in and day out.
15th Nov 2013
While checking my Indian
Driver’s license, I realized that it had expired in July 2013 and immediately
visited the Government office in Canacona. Renewal of your license is easy in Canacona,
provided you take a local agent who will charge you anything between Rs.500 to
Rs.750, you can get your renewed license by 3pm in the evening. If you try on your own, you might take a
little longer. So I opted for the agent
and he filled in my application and after a visit to the local doctor to
confirm I am of sound health and vision my license was delivered to my house at
4:00pm by the agent. Who says our
Government is not efficient?
That same afternoon I drove to
Panjim for my mandatory visit to my In-laws and we decided to do lunch at ‘Casa
Bhonsle’ the new restaurant opened just above Café Bhonsle by the same
owners. Here’s my short review (score
out of 5) for those who would like to visit this place in future:-
Location - 3 out of 5
(Parking can be a real problem during lunch hours)
Ambience – 3 out of 5 (café
atmosphere, with lots of noise)
Décor – 3 (not too bad)
Food – 3 out of 5 (Their speciality is the thali which costs
Rs.150/- but I have eaten better)
Price – 2 out of 5 (pretty
steep)
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| Casa Bhonsle thali Rs.150/- (excluding VAT 12.5% & Govt S. Tax 4.94%) |
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| Kingfish Masala fry Rs.350/- (excluding taxes) |
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| Squids butter garlic Rs.250/- (excluding taxes) |
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| chonak Rava Fry Rs.350/- (excluding taxes) |
We were four of us for lunch,
including my bro-in-law Darryl, his wife Cherry & my sister-in-law Quintina .
We ordered 3 thalis and a plate of butter garlic squids, a plate of Chonak rawa fried, Kingfish masala fried, 1 fresh lime soda, a soft drink and one large old
monk and the bill was Rs.1790/-
What really shocked me as the
VAT on the drinks. Can you believe that
a peg of old monk was actually more than the price of a full bottle? And we paid a total of Rs.279.54 on taxes
alone. The despair of Goans and the slowly building discomfort with the Parikar
Government is quite evident when you see the type of taxes the Government of
Goa has decided to impose on those who can afford it. The below bill will give you a fair idea of
how much we paid for alcohol, which I believe is daylight robbery.
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| Casa Bhonsle bill...check out the VAT 22% and VAT 20% & Govt Tax 4.94% |
16th Nov 2013
And the day finally arrived
when I had to pack my bags and leave for Kuwait with a heavy heart. Mum had prepared a Chibud bakri (Goan mash
melon) and it came out wonderful. Don’t
know how she does it, but I feel even if we learned the recipe, which I noted
down incidentally, we will never get the perfection in the bakri she prepared.
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| Chibud Bakri baked overnite on charcoal embers on top and bottom |
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this is now - Salad, dessert, and decent containers
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This is one year back - ugly shapeless disposable with one yogurt and chocolate bar
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The flight by Jet Airways was
uneventful although I must confess their in-flight dinner menu has improved considerably. I can pat myself for that as last year I had sent
a written complaint to them on the poor food quality, presentation and
disposables used in their flight and had received a response that they would
look into it.
All in all a good trip!!!!
Julio Cardoso
