------------------------------------------------------------------------
* G * O * A * N * E * T **** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S *
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enjoy your holiday in Goa. Stay at THE GARCA BRANCA from November to May
There is no better, value for money, guest house.
Confirm your bookings early or miss-out
Visit http://www.garcabranca.com for details/booking/confirmation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roland Francis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "goanet" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2006 7:40 PM
Subject: spam: [Goanet] Goodbye Raleigh
>I have just heard of the passing away of my good friend Raleigh Colaco of
>
> She also told me that Raleigh and Valmiki
> Faleiro were seminarians together somewhere ago in the mists of time and
> that they never forgot their friendship.
Dear Roland,
Unfortunately, I did not have the privilege of knowing Raleigh. You, and
perhaps
Corrine, have mistaken me for another, and far more famous, Valmiki: the
Rev. Fr. Valmiki DIAS GONSALVES (yes, he established and runs "Daddy's
Home," a school for special children in Margao.) You are NOT the first though
to
do that: Goa's famous man of music, Remo, thanked "Rev. Fr. Valmiki Faleiro"
at the end of a stage show at GVN-Margao in the '70s -- he was, of course,
referring to his friend, Fr. Valmiki, who had helped organise the show. A few
other Goanetters also have, over time. I have often been the unmerited
recipient of
private mails meant for my reverend friend.
See what a name does? The blithe Bard said it could smell just as sweet.
Mine has been a peculiar combination, yielding to myriad mistaken identities.
Valmiki+Faleiro. Hindu? "No siree!" is my usual retort, "Valmiki, who wrote
the Ramayana, was not Hindu -- he was Indian (as I am.)" Then you have the
'reverential' mix up. But just BTW, out of sheer curiosity, I once did a search
for "Valmikis" in the CD version of the Goa Telephone directory -- only one
of the thirteen was Hindu, the rest, reckoning family names, were Catholics.
I searched, in the community, and discovered the reason why Hindu parents
will not name sons after that great Indian epic writer. It's a long story --
ask me
privately if you're interested knowing why, I won't bore fellow Goanetters with
pure history! But for the record, the first 'Valmiki' to be so named was son of
Dr. Constancio Roque Monteiro, of Nagoa-Verna (in Salcete.) The guy became
an angel while still an infant. His wife was my mother's first cousin. So when
I was born a few months later, they named me similarly -- and ended with a
devil. Not a "seminarian" as many including you mistakenly think, and certainly
not a "born again" christian!
I had mentioned the combination (+family name.) But this is getting too far and
I have things to catch. Names like Eduardo and Luizinho may ring a bell? I had
to write my personal family genealogy in a recent Goa 'Herald' column to dispel
connections in the minds of my readers!
(If I bump into Fr. Valmiki any time soon, I'll pass on your sentiments.)
Regards, Valmiki
_______________________________________________
Goanet mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
