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* G * O * A * N * E * T **** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S *
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There is no better, value for money, guest house.
Confirm your bookings early or miss-out
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See essay below submitted for the GOA SUDHAROP GOAN SENIORS E-book. Please send
your submission to
[EMAIL PROTECTED], there is no deadline.
Thank you for your support.
Goa Sudharop
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THE WIND BENEATH MY WINGS - A tribute to my dad
By Patricia-Ann Alvares
Sometimes we recognise in the lives of others our own finest impulses and
dreams. To my torch
bearer, my dad, George D. Alvares, who celebrates his 76th birthday this year,
this is my tribute.
As a little girl I admired his toil, his creativity and sensitivity. Being on
foreign shores, his
stories of Goa, Bombay, grandparents and life back then made interesting and
lasting memories for
us.
His formative years were influenced and moulded by the German priests at the
Sacred Heart School,
Mhau. While as boarders, all the young Georges of his days at school indulged
in Tarzan pranks,
imitation of William Tells archery skills and other action heroes of their
time, a well grounded
education by the Germans is what gave them the discipline and direction of
their lives. From
there on to Sr. Cambridge at the University of Bombay. Still in his teens
then, he ventured out
to Kuwait to work at the Kuwait Oil Company, Ahmadi- a daunting and challenging
task, but to a
young lad it was also an adventure.
The advent of a wife and five kids brought on more responsibilities, but as
dad reminisces, those
were some of the best days of his life. He made time to teach us our favourite
sport, swimming,
at the Company Club pool and we kids in turn helped him scrub his car till the
paint almost wore
off. Evenings were time for his very imaginative hilarious stories and till
date we all cry with
him when we watch sad movies. In fact as all young men dreamt
he hoped to make
it big in
Hollywood one day! It was his love of books and movies that have become my
forte too, but most of
all he taught us the virtue of hard work.
Yet in all this melee, Dad made time to pursue his favourite hobby Painting.
I sit amazed at
times just to watch him at his craft as his paint brush moves with seeming
continuity to the
confluence of thought, will and creativity from the hand that guides it and the
picture bursts
into life. His artistic tapestry reveals paintings, sketches, portraits on
canvas, cloth, wood,
glass and even the old abandoned LP record brought to life by charcoals,
crayons, oil, acrylic and
water colours. But his talents dont stop short here. As a hockey player he
won medals for the
Kuwait Oil Company hockey team, is an avid philatelist and an accomplished
mouth organist.
Residing at St. Inez, Panjim, Goa and into his 76th year he continues to Paint
and in fact has
participated in a couple of art festivals and an exhibition for the Senior
Citizens Guild is
coming up in October.
I am winded from the life he had led, because he never had it easy. He started
working at a young
age, supported his parents and when he returned with a young family to Goa he
worked well past his
60s to give us a good education, but his persistence and interest in life has
made his
achievements that much sweeter. Yet he has been a reluctant hero, reticent and
unassuming as
always, never one to bask in the limelight but content to work in the wings.
My inspiration from
him is to work as hard and to achieve as much to enrich the quality of my life
rather than the
coffers in my bank.
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