Ghozali - April 2008

MELGOANS

VOLUME 4,

ISSUE 4

APRIL 2008

News of Goan relevance for Goans in Melbourne www.melgoans.com

Our Mission “To provide Goans and their friends an enjoyable and a relaxing time without the need for formal membership. In doing so, we will showcase our cultural activities and also learn to integrate with the multicultural society of Melbourne”.

From the editor’s desk…

Mogal Goencarano, The school holidays are just over, and many a parent must have heaved a sigh of relief! Not that they do not want their kids at home, but for many it does cost. Cost by way of leave to be at home, or by way of carers etc. And talking of costs, well, things do seem to be getting difficult by the day what with the rising rates of interest, petrol and commodities. Our income is one thing that seems to be stable always, while everything else goes up. I remember petrol prices at the turn of the millennium. I could fill up the good old Ford Falcon for about thirty bucks while today it is about seventy! Many people have to think twice about having holidays and time out with the family, as they jiggle their budgets so that the home loan can be looked after. Some of you who have heard about the May Queen Ball being hosted by Melgoans this year, will wonder about the change of the traditional venue from Moorabbin, to St. Kilda. Let me begin with an old Goan saying: “Vyait ieta boreak” We loved the Moorabbin hall—at least I did. But recently the hall management have drawn a draculean rule which says that those using the hall, have to use all the facilities too. And that includes their own caterer and bar. Which is ridiculous. Imagine a Goan function without the traditional Goan food! So the quest for an alternate spot began, and the choice finally settled on to the St. Kilda Town Hall. They say seeing is believing, and I hear that those blokes have spent around 21 million dollars to refurbish the hall and its surrounds! Need I say more? If you have not yet managed to book your tickets, you better hurry up because you are now already late. Oscar may still have a few tickets left, so give him a call and try your luck. I can assure you, it would definitely be worth the try and trouble. This is going to be the best Goan function to date, at the best function centre in town! Met some Goans over the weekend and they gave us news that the Goan Overseas Association will be hosting World Goa Day this year. Well that is good news indeed. My friend Oscar has always been saying that he would be only too happy for that to happen when the two associations in Melbourne get together and bury the past. Which means that it looks like there is something in the air. I am excited and have my fingers crossed. That would be a great day for us Goans here in Melbourne, and I just hope that day comes soon. That day will herald the start of a great new sense of unity among us Goans. Let love prevail, mog assundi!!!

Salus Correia

From the rambling ‘Reddo’…! Saiba bhogos! Padrik mar podlo!! What’s happening in Quepem? They beat up the priest and I just wonder what or who next!!! In the good old days, we always respected our Padre Vigar and Padre Cur. We would never ever even think of assaulting them with words, and now we have just heard about the poor priest getting a beating. Poor fellow who has dedicated his life and manhood for the sake of others, this is his reward. May God forgive those ill advised people who are responsible for this irresponsible behaviour. And the good old pollies are back at their tricks. Just heard that the ever ‘popular’ [for totally the wrong reasons!!!] Babush Monseratte is getting a cabinet berth. The games are just beginning, and poor Goans—you are paying the price. I remember the time where there were just three ministers in the Goan cabinet, and look where we are now! And they need still more spots or vacancies or chairs for the never ending list of aspiring ministers. I just wonder if it may come to head with all forty odd members of the legislature becoming a minister of some sort. Another opportunity for entry into the Guinness Book of World Records!! I am just back from visiting my friend and fellow Goan Salus who is always after me to ‘boroi re baba’. At his place there were a few others and guess what? The Goan Associations—G.O.A. and A.G.A. are apparently planning a merger! Isn't that fantastic news? As for me, I am pumped. With all Goans united in Melbourne, we can have great programs with everybody having a good time. I am just waiting for that day, and am fervently praying and hoping that it may come soon. It will be so good to have all the ’fence sitters’ and others who have been staying away from Goan functions, come back into the fold of mainstream Goans. And that would mean that we Goans would have strength. We will be a force to reckon with. We will have respect and have the attention of other communities for what we are, and not for what we are not. Goans have made their mark as hospitable and friendly people who love to sing and dance. Let us show our Aussie friends what it means to be a Goan, and let us do it with pride. Let us cast aside all our differences remembering that we are thousands of kilometres away from our sunny beaches, and let us just be one great community. Wouldn’t that be just so nice and good??? Fingers crossed - I am waiting, and well, I am very patient. As usual, before I run out of space, let me wish GOA, my Goa and all you Goans here in Australia and elsewhere, all the very best. Recad sogleank!

Bostião Xavier

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From our Konkani corner He doesn't go to church

To Igôrje Vochonam

TOM: Ana, do you go to Mass on Sunday?

Ana, tum aitarachem misak vetai?

ANA: Yes, I do. Why do you ask me?

Ôi, anv vetam. Kiteak tum mhaka vichartai?

TOM: And your children go to Mass?

Ani tujim bhurgim misak veta?

ANA: Yes, they go with their friends.

Ôi, tim vetat tanchea ixttam bhôrim

TOM: I have a problem with my son.

Mhaka ek 'problem' asa mhojea puta thaim.

ANA: What's the problem, may I ask?

Koslem 'problem', mhojean vicharieta?

TOM: My son doesn't go to church.

Mhozo put igôrjê vochonam.

ANA: How old is he then?

Tôr kitlim vorsam taka asa?

TOM: He is only 16 years old.

Taka fokot 16 vorsam asat.

ANA: And what is the reason he gives?

Ani koslem razanv to dita?

TOM: That none of his friends go to church.

Tache konnuch ixtt igorje vochonant.

ANA: That's not very surprising.

Tem chôdd ojeap xem disonam.

TOM: You think many children don't go?

Tuka dista zaitim bhurgim vochonant?

ANA: I think most Goan children go.

Mhaka dista chôdd Goemkar-bhurgim vetat.

TOM: But my son has English friends.

Punn mhojea put-ak Inglêz ixtt asat.

ANA: Not going to church is an European trend.

Igôrjê vochonank, aiz êk Eropi sovoim.

TOM: But in Goa it is different.

Punn Goeam tem dusrench.

ANA: Goa's churches are filled with young people.

Goemcheô igôrzô bhorttat tornatteannim.

TOM: Therefore, our seminaries are full.

Tachê pasun amcheô seminari bhorttat.

ANA: And we export priests to Europe.

Ani ami padrink Eropa-k daddtam.

TOM: If young people stop going to church....

Tornatte igôrjê vochonam zalear....

ANA: Priestly vocations will decline.

Padriponn-appounnem unnem zatelem.

TOM: You said it right.

Tuvem sarkem mhunntleim.

ANA: Seminaries in Europe have few students.

Seminarint Eropak thodde xikpi asat.

TOM: In Europe there is shortage of priests.

Eropak padri unne zaun asat.

ANA: Even in a country like Ireland.

Irland-achea ganvant pasun.

TOM: That's unbelievable.

Tem soth disona.

ANA: Yes, it was a strong Catholic country.

Ôi, to aslo êk ghôt Katolk dês.

Our sincere thanks to the ‘evergreen’ Basilio Magno who has been our faithful and diligent sub-editor looking after “KONKANI KONSO” Please send your feedback to: [email protected]

Very few seats left! Hurry with your bookings to avoid disappointment!!!

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Devotees pour oil on the Statue of Our Lady of Milagres, Mapusa. What a great show of unity and love among the Hindu and Catholic communities in Goa. Mapusa: At a time when thousands perish in the flames of religious hatred, an old tradition observed in Mapusa brings cheer to the human heart. tomorrow, in some old Hindu households of Mapusa, womenfolk will prepare delicacies to celebrate the annual catholic feast of our lady of Milagres scheduled for Monday. The custom is steeped in folklore that is quite fantastic. but Hindu worshippers making offerings oil and paying their obeisance to our lady of Milagres in the Mapusa church is equally fantastic. and consoling too. especially, in the background of the recent Godhra carnage where hundreds perished for the same reason; religion. this year’s theme for the feast is appropriate. speaking to the Navhind Times, the vicar of the Mapusa church, Fr. Amandio Valladares, said that throughout the devotion of the novenas, “we want to create in our parishioners, the spirit of brotherhood, fellowship and mutual respect irrespective of religion”. on the feast day, morning masses are scheduled at 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 a.m. the feast high mass, to be celebrated by Rev. Fr Kyriel D'Souza, Episcopal Vicar for religious (Pilar Fathers), will be held at 10 a.m. evening masses will also be held at 4 and 5 p.m. the theme for the homilies during the novenas, held from April 6 to April 14 was ‘the church as a family’. Fr. Saluzinho Fernandes of the Pilar fathers and Fr. Ubaldo fernandes, parish priest of Anjuna delivered the homilies. a 3day fete organised by Mapusa parishioners follows the feast where all, especially children participate. events in various categories are planned; fancy dress, solo singing, group singing (dekhnis, mandos) and dances (Indian, Western). It is learnt that other than soft drinks, no alcoholic beverages will be served in the stalls. all that and more can be had at the annual traditional Milagres feast dance organised by the Mapusa municipal council at 9 p.m. on the feast night at the municipal gardens. Besides the crowning of the Milagres queen and prizes for the 1st 20 couples, a slew of other prizes and surprises are planned.

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GOAN RECIPES By Joyce SAUSAGE MEAT 1

Kg. fatty pork without bones

2

handsful salt

1

teaspoon saltpetre

Grind in vinegar: 60

dry red chillies

1

teaspoonful cummin seeds

30

peppercorns

25

cloves.

30

large flakes garlic

4

one inch pieces turmeric

6

one inch pieces cinnamon

4

two inch pieces ginger

1½

cups vinegar

6

tablespoons palm fern

Wash the pork well. Remove the skin completely, cut into small cubes, apply one handful of salt and keep under-weight for 4 hours. Drain out all the water that collects around the meat, apply another handful of salt and saltpetre and keep underweight for 24 hours or preferably 48 hours, turning the meat after 12 hours and sprinkling a little salt before keeping the weight over the meat. Then drain out any water that might be let, wipe the meat pieces with a clean, dry cloth and keep it in a large, dry vessel. Mix in the ground masala well into the meat adding the palm feni a little at a time. Add vinegar if left, including the quantity with which the stone is washed. Store the meat in an air-tight jar. Will remain for days together. Using a clean, dry spoon, remove just enough sausage meat that is required at a time. Cook the meat in a little water and fry in its own fat for a while. Please Note: (1) No water should be used when grinding the masala. Even the stone should be washed in a little vinegar and saved for use later. (2) The best way to drain out the water from the salted meat is to keep it in a clean basket or bamboo sieve. Cover with a thali and keep very heavy weight over it.

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Israelis Warned to Avoid Goa, a Longtime Favorite Tourist Destination for Young Travelers ANJUNA, India, — A favoured destination of young Israelis seeking respite from the frazzle and stress of home, the tourist haven of Goa got a rude reminder of reality this week. Based on information gleaned by its counterterrorism agency, the Israeli government issued a rare terrorism alert on Thursday warning of a planned attack by Al Qaeda on tourists during the New Year’s holiday season. The advisory described the information as “a concrete threat” but gave no further detail. The Israeli Embassy urged its citizens to visit another time or, if they must be in the state of Goa, to stay away from crowded places. “We advise them to be alert and to take this threat very seriously,” the embassy spokesman, Lior Weintraub, said Friday by telephone from New Delhi, the capital. In Anjuna, on Goa’s northern coast, where Internet cafes cater to Israelis checking e-mail messages from home and where restaurants serve schnitzel for lunch, the news of Al Qaeda’s suspected designs was greeted with a mixture of apprehension and aplomb. “Now we feel at home,” Yossi Damti, 23, fresh out of the Israeli Army, said with a shrug on Friday afternoon. “We got used to it,” said his friend, Orif Tordjman, 21, who had also just completed her military service. “We’re not going to leave because of this alert.” Goa is among India’s most coveted tourist destinations. For Israelis, it is also a common stop on the post-military-service tourist circuit. The embassy in New Delhi estimated that around 35,000 Israelis come to Goa each year, crowding into a handful of coastal villages like this one. Alerts like this latest one, which was unusual for its level of specificity, are particularly vexing for the Indian government, which has long maintained that Al Qaeda does not operate on Indian soil. In August, in the days leading up to India’s Independence Day, the United States Embassy said it had received information that foreign terrorists, including Al Qaeda, planned to carry out a series of bombings in and around New Delhi and Mumbai. Indian officials dismissed the alert as a routine advisory. India has cultivated warmer relations with Israel and the United States, making it, according to some security analysts, more vulnerable to Qaeda attacks. Local news outlets on Friday quoted the chief minister of Goa, Pratapsing Rane, as saying that his state remained safe for tourists. Tourism is among the state’s principal sources of revenue. At an Internet cafe on Anjuna’s main strip, Shai Zimon, 23, who had been traveling across India for the past 6 weeks, said he was hunting for a ticket to fly to Thailand for New Year’s Eve, but not because of the terrorism threat. “You can’t base your trip on what the government says,” he said. If you did, piped in a Swiss woman, Gitta Klee, also checking e-mail messages, no one would ever go anywhere. Ms. Klee, 53, who has lived in Goa for more than 27 years, theorized that the terrorism alert was the brainchild of anxious parents not wanting their children to party in Goa. “Me, I don’t think this place is interesting enough for terrorists,” she said. Word seemed not to have spread yet to the non-Israeli tourists who crowd into some of the same cheap guesthouses here. A pair of German tourists waiting for a bus to the beach were oblivious to the alert. A British tourist, Mustapha Dari, 24, said he had heard only something vague from a friend who had watched the news the night before on Indian television. His friend, Raffi Israelion, 20, a Parisian, confessed that he was particularly worried because local residents often took him to be Israeli. At a Jewish community house on Friday afternoon, the news had seeped in, and the visit of a foreign journalist was enough to spark fear and hostility. At first, two women sitting on the porch of the house, where preparations were under way for a service to mark the first night of Hanukkah, said they knew of three friends who had canceled their New Year’s Eve plans for Goa. They said friends and family in Israel had already called them and urged them to return home. They weren’t sure what they would do. One of the women, who gave her name only as Adi, said she did not want Al Qaeda to “ruin our plans.” Nor, it turned out, did she want to say any more to a stranger. The conversation quickly turned tense. Why are you asking for our names, they demanded. Why do you want to know when the first candle would be lit on the menorah this evening? Why are you asking if we will stay here for the New Year’s holiday? “All this situation, I don’t know,” Adi said nervously, and quickly disappeared into the house.

Printed and Published by Oscar Lobo for Melgoans Pty Ltd., who are not responsible for the opinion or views of the contributors. This monthly read is distributed free of charge. Contributions for publication are most welcome, and will be included in the next issue subject to clearance by the editorial board. Editor: Salus Correia Email: [email protected]

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