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"Freddy Fernandes" <[email protected]> World Goa Day In Dubai World Goa Day In Dubai The First World Goa Day in Dubai, which was celebrated on Friday, 7th August 2009 at the Renaissance Hotel, saw a full house, not a seat vacant and even though it was a holiday season and a lot of Goans gone out on holidays, still a good number of Goans had to go back disappointed as tickets were all sold out. Hats off to Cynthia and company, for putting up the show at such a short notice, and a job very well done, considering it was her first venture, to get UAE Goans under one roof. I was happy to see a lot of crowd from the length and breadth of Goa assemble and enjoy themselves, the traditional Goan way. It does go to show that, if we set our minds collectively we can achieve, it's the unity factor that we have to protect and preserve to achieve success and in doing so preserve the essence of Goan culture, identity and our heritage. An occasion like this is an opportunity for Goans to revitalize the Goanness in us and expose the younger generation to the nostalgia that we once experienced, so that Goa lives through them. In this pseudo-spartan life style that some of us are used to, in this present surrounding, we do tend to forget our roots and this is, as good a time and chance as any, to rekindle the essence of Goa in us and in our surroundings. The saxophonist brought back a lot of old memories with ever so soothing music, it's a pity that this art of music is dying an agonising death in Goa, the Konkanni songs did take us back in time and the music by the one man band added to the flavour and expressed our love for music, the folk songs and dances brought out our colourful culture and traditions. Arwin in his speech showed that it's not all fun and games that we are interested in and stressed that we should protect and preserve our Goan Identity and culture which is under threat. The live Band swung us to the nostalgic beats of both old and modern, Konkanni , English and Hindi songs. The ambience was ecstatic, the floor was never empty, all shaking their young and not so young legs, keeping the Goan spirit alive and kicking and that was important. The cuisine was excellent as I was told except for the misplaced label of "sorpatel" which did not look or taste anything like our traditional "sorpatel", all the rest was prefect, all in all, an evening well spent. Keep it up Goans. Thank you Cynthia and may Goa bless you. However good the show might be there is always room for improvement and hence here are a few suggestions to make WGD more interesting and meaningful: I think, the first thing that has to be addressed is our knowledge of Goa hence a questioner to each entrant with 15 to 20 questions and the most right answers to get a good prize, question pertaining to history, culture, flag, state animal or bird, geography (rivers, lakes, peaks or range), beaches, islands, languages, dresses, modes of transports, national highways, airport, locations of places, constituencies, MLA's, Ministers, CM, Governor, parties, educational institutions, cultural foundations, Churches, Temples, Mosques, Forts, Goa's entry into the Indian union, our neighbours, our borders, agricultural produce, traditions and customs, festivals, electricity, water supply, dams, mines, wild life sanctuaries, Panchayats, so on and so forth, that will test and enhance knowledge of Goa. Meeting Goans in Dubai I have realised a lot of Goans are ignorant of what's going on in Goa, they are too busy to go through the papers or just don't care, so awareness is a must, and a video presentation of the highs and the low of Goa along with the achievements and loses, devastation of our hills and forests and water bodies, major on going projects and projects in the pipe line and the pros and cons of it all. Laws passed and affect on Goans, as to where we are in the field of education, poverty eradication and the health care policy. A suggestion box for "tomorrow's Goa" or "Goa we want to see" at the end should also be tried, the questioner and the suggestion box will generate interest in Goa's past, present and future. And if we can generate that interest, we do have our essence of World Goa Day right there. Competition of group folk dances will enhance more participation and involve more youth, diverse culture will be on display, a short quiz for the youth or the audience, an award for Goan personality of the year in the UAE, we should have a few contenders like, Cynthia for her yeomen service to Goans in distress, or Benedict for projecting Goa through Goamag or Radio Goa or Arwin for that matter or even the football organisers like Bonnie or the leader of the Goan Sodelity, it will surely be an incentive for others who want to project Goa. If at all we want to invite a chief guest, he should be apolitical, a Scholar, Academician, literary figure or a very good social worker with no links to politics, we have to keep WGD a neutral venue, should in no way be a political boxing ring. I am sure a lot more suggestions can be expected form other people as well and the more practical and valid ones should be looked into. To end, just a bit "konglish" humor as it happened at the WGD in Dubai. I am very particular about what I eat, because I have a very sensitive midriff, if it's upset with what I shove in, it either goes into a reverse or a fast forward mode and believe me either way it's very unpleasant, so whenever I am at a buffet, even at the Goan weddings I only help myself to salads and here, there were plenty of them, one look at the dish labeled "sorpatel" told me not to mess with it, it did contain pretty big lumps of flesh to be called "sorpatel" and so I moved on and returned to my table to enjoy my leafy cold meal, once satisfied I thought of having a look at the deserts, there were many and colourful as well, to heck with the "sanjivini" pushing my blood sugar high was the thought and followed it up with half a plate of colourful dressings, turned around and made my way back to my table at that time my cousins son came right behind holding his dinner plate and bursting into a laughter, I asked him what was so funny and swiftly my one hand went straight for my zipper, had I left it open to be the cause of the laughter, no it was shut and this is what he narrated : Two girls standing before him at the buffet table, looking at the salads, one said, whow ! Salad mugo, I just love saldas ahm, salads are borim for health, after helping themselves to the salads came the best part, "sorpatel" Oh my God, hem kitem ? This "sorpatel" go ? Big big goole mugo !!! saiba bogos !! I just could not help but share it with you'll Freddy Agnelo Fernandes -------------------------------------------------------- rene barreto =================== WORLD GOA DAY - 20.8.2009 A day set aside to CELEBRATE our Goan Cultural Heritage, a day to promise to help the less fortunate in our Goan community: ==========================================
