If you have read Rajan Narayan's stray thoughts in his weekly dated 28th February. Below is my clarification to his stray comments.
============================ Dear Rajan, Your comments regarding me in your Stray thoughts column of the Goan Observer dated 28th February have truly strayed from reality. We have had to contend with stray dogs, stray cattle and now with the stray personality that led you astray with some misleading and mischievous stray information. Ordinarily I would have thrashed it instead of wasting my time clarifying but for the high esteem I have for you and the Goan Observer. It is one of the papers I would never use as toilet paper. You have stated that I with a huge group of friends and cha-mchas gate-crashed into the Red and Black dance. This is factually wrong. When we arrived at the venue there were just a few souls around so where was the question of gate crashing. We entered with our paid tickets ( no torn notes) and were ushered in by no other than our friend Mr. Francisco Martins. You may not know that I only gate crash into the temples of justice. So who was that stray person who led you astray with that stray gossip? For your information I have never ever gone to any show on a free pass. Any free passes I receive I have always passed on to good friends and well wishers like you who could make best use of the freebies. Mr. Francisco Martins will bear testimony that on many occasions he has offered to give me free passes for his functions which I have very politely but firmly declined. Yes, I went with my friends and there is no question of chamchas as I am not one and neither do I have or need any. My spine is still very much intact and has not yet gone astray. You also say that I did not dare complain to the police as long as Babush Monserrate was present at the dance. You are absolutely wrong. I would have done whatever I had to do even if it was the President of India around. And for your information while we were getting ready to leave my friend of many years Mr. Monserrate ( whom I have dared criticise on may occasions after he became Minister ) was just entering in. So you got all your facts wrong. You better take your sources to task as journalism should never distort facts and it would be unfortunate if your sources were intoxicated. Your only comment pertaining to me that is right is that I and my friends had a good time. Yes indeed. It was Carnival and we rock and rolled. We paid for the tickets and for every drink we gulped and we were within our rights to have our money's worth. Nothing could lead us astray. We were concerned about the injustice and upset that on 20th January this year Ribandar had a centenary celebrations village dance which the police did not hesitate to abruptly stop once we had crossed the permissible hour. Perhaps if we had asked the Minister who was our Chief Guest to stay on till the end of the show, we might have been able to dance on. The enforcement of the Madhya Pradesh Sound Act in Goa has become farcical. Arrange a function, have a Minister if not the CM, as your chief guest and you can play music till dawn. However, when the sound system is operational it would be a good idea to arrest the Minister for being a guest in his official capacity witnessing and patronising amplified music at late hours, against the law. We have and will always patronise Clube Nacional and all the good shows put up by our dear friend and fellow Ribandrite Mr. Francisco Martins but this does not forfeit our inherent right to question the authorities as to why the same yardstick is not consistently followed while enforcing the law. We are nobody's chamcha and one should have the courage to speak out against any injustice, inequality or something we believe is not right. You have always professed it in your editorials in the Herald and I think we should stand by it. One has to practice what one preaches in words and through script. By the way, thanks for calling me a self styled crusader. I thought I was only a lawyer. I now feel elated, hope you are not leading me astray. MOG ASSUM - DEV BOREM KORUM Aires Rodrigues Ribandar ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
