Hi, I paid one of my now-a-days rare visits to Panjim today. It was sixish when I was coming home. Near Ferry Wharf, I suddenly remembered that the creme de la creme of Goa's Journos hangs around the unofficial Press Club - Cafe Prashant.
I had heard about "CP", as the Presswallahs casually call Cafe Prashant in their stilted telephone calls on expensive looking mobiles, through rave notices given by Rico on Goanet. As I was in the vicinity, I decided to check out the scene. CP is a hole in the wall kind of affair. Just a single door and window fronts the road, adjacent to Bhate Book Stall. But once inside, the restaurant is cavernous. The walls are a faded cream. The tables are the standard Formica tables you could see in any one of a hundred restaurants in Goa. The bench seats, also Formica topped are meant to hold three. So I sauntered up to CP and stood at the door. I could see a number of guys hunched around a table in animated discussion. These guys kept slapping one another on the back. Every now and then someone would get up from his place, and another would take his place. After a minute or two, since my presence did not evoke any response, I edged closer to the table which was the centre of activity. Suddenly I was met with a host of challenging eyes. Before I could say anything, Rico who recognized me and said, "Hello, Tony, come in and sit" There was a flurry of shaking hands and introductions around and I was offered a special chai. There was Rico and Soter, and Ashley do Rosario and Mayabushan Nagvenkar and Miguel Braganza and a few other guys whose names I didn't quite get. The din around the place could have done a whole flock of banshees proud. In spite of this, the guys seemed to be relaxed and having a whale of a time, joined in from time to time by the benign proprietor. The quarter of an hour or so that I spent with the journos was very interesting and enjoyable and an education to boot. Wish you guys power to your pens and may they prick those who matter. Hope to see you again in person the next time I pass CP Tony -- Tony de Sa Ph: +91 832 2470148 E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] M: +91 9975 162 897 ----------------------------------------------------------- Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one's levels of aspiration and expectation. - Jack Nicklaus ------------------------------------------------------------
