The decision by Goanet-admin to block sender's name and email had drastic consequences on me and my elder son Joshua.
In the evenings, Fridays and holidays, when I am unable to access my company provided email, I surf the Goanet archives. It's an addiction which have glued me to the keyboard and brought my outdoor activities to a grinding halt. I have been waiting patiently for Sachin Phadte's reply regarding the controversial VCD on Goa's freedom struggle. Looks like Sachin did take a closer look and saw the evil side of the disgusting VCD. Joshua has taken a keen interest in computers. He knows how to access his favorite car games and his concentration to race all the cars is amazing. I only wished if he had shown half the interest in his studies. Last month as I was reading Goanet archives, Joshua screamed from behind. The sudden scream startled me and I stared back at him to see what the commotion was all about. He blurted out "Dad! I saw your name on the screen. No! Scroll up! ". It's not easy to control an over excited eight years old. I grudgingly showed him my name and he ran towards the bedroom calling his mother. She stopped whatever she was doing and followed him to where I was with my PC. She casually saw the archives and asked Joshua "Where is your Arabic note book?" The excitement which was building exited like a deflated balloon. Joshua was grumbling, but his eyes never left the screen. I clicked on the Author and sorted out the list. He counted twelve and his thrill had no bounds. Today as usual I was going through the Goanet archives. I can safely say that I am hooked to Goanet, just like drug addicts are hooked to hashish. I felt Joshua's presence behind me. He was straining and throwing all his weight on my shoulder. He looked at the bottom part of the list and asked me. "Who is this Goanet? Where are the other names? What happened to my favorites names Cecil, Jose, Alfred and ..." These are the names of Joshua's friends in school and Salmiya chapel. I told him they have replaced all the names with Goanet. He looked at me angrily and said "I don't like to see the same name every where, it's kind of boring. I was looking forward to see my name. I know that my name is not common in Goa. But we have quite a few Goan boys in Kuwait with the name Joshua". I looked back and there was no sign of Joshua. I saw him scribbling furiously with a marker on his rough book. I took a closer look to see what he was up to. He had written in bold letters "WHATEVER HOPE I HAD OF SEEING MY NAME ON GOANET HAS VANISHED, THIS IS A VERY SAD DAY" I hugged him and whispered "That makes two of us..." Avelino Bastora/Kuwait
