UK Goan Festival 2017 Well fellow Goykars, the Goan Festival London 2017 is over, the ground is cleared and the videos are out! Appears to be well organised with litter under control seperate entrance for foot patrons and one for vehicles these being main collection gatepoints for revenue. The catering stalls looked neat and professional. Personally I was expecting to see thousands of youngsters wearing string vests, showing off muscles and watches as big as their palms jumping up and down with Bad Blood flowing through their veins. Instead, at one point, part of a video captured only one dancing who appeared to be the announcements lady on stage to a captive still audience, was she trying to encourage the crowd to enjoy the music and dance? See clip below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3CXYrj5iaE Being an armchair participant, as in previous years, of this event, my thanks go out to Joaquim Carvalho, Armchair Goa, Francisco Souza, Socorro Gonsalves, Ricky Sousa, Goencho Balcao and others for taking the time and trouble in recording and sharing their experience on U-tube, a sight and sound observation from which I am compiling this note for the record. One of the notable absentees providing excellent video coverage with commentary in the past was Bab Menino Fernandes of Niz Goenkar and his camera crew. Hope they are all well we look forward to videos from them in the future. This year, I couldn’t help thinking how the landscape of this event has changed over ten years. It was once a family friendly fest where different generations of Goykars met under one sky in a happy atmosphere with Goan food, music and heritage dances manned by volunteers. Happy Days 1992 on the Grounds of the Goan Association UK Clubhouse Ravensbourne (Photo Credit GOA Archives) In the days past, the crowd was mostly made of Goykars from East Africa. Today it is quite different, very difficult to spot many of these East African Goans at this fest, could it be they see the “common” in sense and like me prefer to walk with my feet to do better things with time and money. The majority of the crowd in front of the stage were men who looked like new arrivals other than from Goa their mannerisms were polished. Nearly all had job lot blue sneakers with white soles. I wonder if they were from Goa in the first place as nearby Wembley has a large population from Diu, also a coach from Leicester with folks from Daman might have joined in. Leicester has a very small Goan population and a larger one from Daman. The Goan Product sells. Most self-respecting Indian Restaurants normally have a Goan Dish on their menu to pull in customers only a Niz Goenkar (Proper Goan) can confirm its authenticity. My observations of the festival 2017 expressed below are personal and should not be taken as any authority. 1. Goan Voice UK Advertised the GOA UK Festival – The G.O.A. UK is a dormant company. 2. Serially numbered yellow wristbands in the name of Goan Association were issued to all paying customers there is singing in the chorus that Ten thousand people attended based on a report by Prasun Sonwalker in the Hindustan Times of 7th August 2017. Also Tens of Thousands from all over the United Kingdom as announced at Solemn mass by Mr Ravi Vaz. There is a report that patrons on Goan Stretched Time (GST) arrived very late and were charged the full price. I am offering a double your money back for the highest serial number wristband, this must be audited and verified to tally with revenue income. Your claim must be received by 30th September 2017 contact [email protected] mailto:[email protected] we can then lay to rest that Goans never tell the right story. If you have thrown away your wrist band never mind I can save my money. All is not lost as you may have saved your money if caterers disposed of perishable items at giveaway prices or even free. Long done are the days of graceful Lancers and Colourful Kunbi dances watching the shaking of Hips and Boobs at Samba Bonka 2016 this year the fest has moved onto India Bonka 2017 with some people jumping up and down in their street credibility Red Shoes to the music of Bad Blood from Bombay. Thankfully the stage had other events that kept to the Goan theme and Spirit of the festival. The Goan Association UK flyer blanked out the Goan Clergy and the Goan Chaplaincy. The patriotic Goan is obliged to Fr Patrick, Fr Lucas from Pilar Fathers, along with Fr Urbano, Fr Britto, Fr Matthew and Fr Nelson who jointly concelebrated mass with Bishop Patrick Lynch who also supports Friends of the Venerable Fr Agnelo based in London. The choir from Ealing and Southall with full wind and string instruments was a delight and will have made Goa and its musicians proud. It was disappointing to see so many empty seats for the service as the earlier mass in /nearby St Anslems, Southall was reportedly full to the brim with Goan parishioners going home the other way. After all religion is the very fabric of our family structure and the tapestry of our Goan community. I was surprised to note the unlisted collaboration of Goan organisations almost allowed the President and his PR to sort out the Sunday Mass arrangements. The question is did the village organisations have a say at all? Village organisations are more connected with Goa and strive to provide excellent value for money at their social events. Padre Agnelo’s Stall at all festivals has survived over thirty years through the sheer dedication of volunteers. This year’s stall above photo credit Jassen Lee. During Mass, Pinocchio One and Pinocchio Two, my pet names for these two individuals, took prime positions to ensure they remained in the public eye. Pinocchio One, who handles the Rudder of the lifeboat known as Goan Welfare Society (GWS), would not let go of the bidding prayers normally reserved for children, is it any wonder that our young people including graduates are not involved in the management of the Association. There were no videos seen of unlicensed Fund raising appeals or Bucket Collections by Goan Welfare Society for the new business in Coffin Funding at this event. Were any appeals made? Rumours are circulating that a recent collection of money to transport deceased Portuguese Passport Holders to their loved ones in Goa attracted little support. Unless the strategy is now to develop sob stories and extract money from Raffle and basket collections at Goan socials by tapping the goodwill of our people throughout the year for revenue which in my opinion will remain unaccountable? Pinocchio Two, is part of the mopping up crew of the Good Ship GOA trading as Goan Association UK. In my opinion, the Good Ship GOA UK was hijacked over ten years ago with its rules and constitution thrown overboard, its membership decimated with little or no recruitment drives in evidence, and asset stripping in operation as no one is bothered. Brexit is the new porn word for immigrant, it excites the illiterate through the selected media including the Crossed eyed and Cross nosed Coconut Goan, Brown on the Outside and White on the inside. Brexit was a referendum, it is not binding the current state of affairs, it is like jumping out of an aeroplane without a parachute. Responsible Government action is to build a parachute before jumping hence all these negotiations we hear about and spoon-fed daily. My step Grandmother was ninety this month, Bless her, I can still recall the day over fifty years ago when my uncle Paul rode his blue Kawasaki motorbike with myself into Malindi town to get a gunia (bag) of rice. We got back home with the bag half empty as a hole left a trial of rice along the roadside a serious scolding and hiding awaited us. Over the last ten or fifteen years, bank handling charges is one of the clear indications of the leakage of Revenue of the Goan Association from gate to the Bank even though the accounts are unaudited. It is not the evil that is destroying our community but all of us acting as spectators and doing nothing about it as we all have better things to do rather than striving to do things better. Even the Goan festival this year appeared to be phasing out the Goan. Looks like Portuguese Passport holders from Daman and Diu saved the day. Until the next dance. In our flush and forget society -Who Cares, well sadly I do. Perhaps the Management can produce a pie chart to show how all revenue including rental income from the two flats is spent on the development of our Goan community and the Association in the United Kingdom. This will give us all something to celebrate about. Melvyn Fernandes Thornton Heath Surrey England 16 August 2017
