Margaret Mascarenhas: fashion and fools I went for the fashion show at Ingo's Saturday night market last weekend, and I hope no one takes this personally, but it was the most entertaining fashion event I've attended in the past couple of years. The beachwear was hep, the clothes eminently practical for the Goan climate, and all the pants and trousers for woman were designed to fit their bodies. I don't know why most Indian designers can't seem to get the crotch thing down, but they can' t, and there it is. My personal favourite was a label known as Skinners, which had a kind of rap or bebop jersey and leather look. Their clothes are available at the Anjuna flea market and at a place called Ambrosia, which I plan to hit as soon as I figure out where it is. After the fashion show, my friend Raji discovered a stall selling beaded hats that give you a kind of Cleopatra look. We bought a bunch them and plan to start a fashion trend.
Another pleasant surprise was the food stalls, which are really very good. I recommend the suchi. Also, the stall known as Janet and John's (or is it the other way around? anyway, you get the picture) serves very good Mediterranean fare. There is always live music at the Saturday night market. They should definitely dispense with the fire shows, though. These are dangerous and result in the audience being splattered, and occasionally drenched, in kerosene, which is no one's perfume of choice. Ingo's market is located in Arpora at what was formerly known as the Haystack, and is not to be confused with the Baga one which is a narrow and crowded strip that makes your head spin. At some point, I found myself standing with a group of people I know vaguely. One of them prides himself on his anecdotes. "Heh, heh," he sniggered mincingly, while I groaned inwardly because I knew this was the cue. "I know a guy who met his life partner on these very grounds, when it was still called the Haystack," he said. The others leaned forward in anticipation, and I was simply stricken with awe at their terrifying gullibility, because I knew that this story was headed for the same place all his other stories were headed, which is straight up his rear end. "The man was fair and the woman was dark," the freakshow continued, "and I congratulated him for being the first man to find a nigger in a Haystack." He laughed uproariously at his own joke, which in fact, I had heard before from the actual author of the joke (not him), and then he petted his own empty head in a congratulatory sort of way. Probably he is someone who goes to Church regularly and even practices Lent. If wonder if he knows that Christ was not a white man? I excused myself and moved away, feeling as sick to my stomach as the first time I'd heard this story. The next morning I spoke with a woman who informed me that there are educated people (by this I guess she means that they basically know the alphabet) around who say that there was never any slave trade in Goa. "I won 't name names," said the informant, but she wanted me to know that whoever "they" are, they express their opinion on this subject with the thunderous righteousness that many use to camouflage their ignorance. I was bored, and didn't have the patience to give a history lesson over the phone. "Let them go to the Archives and look up the lists of slaves bought and sold in the Praca de Leilao," I said impatiently. "Let them go to the Central Library for the first time in their lives and read about their own history." Or not. If people want to wallow around in their ignorance and expose themselves for what they are, why should I get my knickers in a twist? It's a free country. I gave up trying to change the world shortly after college, which is when I took my first reality byte. My father tells me that his family had a slave called Valente, who died long before I myself was born. Valente's main claim to fame was that he once served tea to the then Governor of Goa. He did this dressed in a dinner jacket and a kashti. Margaret Mascarenhas =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Help support non-commercial projects in Goa by advertizing!! * * * * Your ad here !!
