---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Antonio Menezes <[email protected]> Date: Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 8:45 AM Subject: Africa/Goa - na To: [email protected]
Most of us in East Africa who worked for Govt. Depts. were entitled after 4 to 5 years of continuous service to what was called long leave of about 4 to 5 months which we normally spent in Goa or India. Cabin class passages on board of passenger ships like Karanja. Kampala and Amra which plied between Bombay/Mormugao and Mombasa/Dar es Salaam were also part of the benefit package. We looked forward to these 12 or 14 days at sea for these ships had Goan catering crew . In addition to these tasty meals , we ( who were of modest means) tried all sorts of duty free drinks like beer (Amstel, St Paulis, Carlsberg ) and whisky ( Johny Walker, Black and White, White Horse ).At the end of the journey we finally landed , somewhat depressed, in Bombay or Mormugao. A passenger ship would not dock in Mormugao harbour during the monsoon season so we had to travel to Bombay to catch the ship on our way back to E.Africa. It was in early sixties when I went to Bombay in the month of July for I had to resume duty in August next. I think I stayed in a Goan hotel in Dhobitalao which was a very modest hotel. There I met a fellow Africanist who was on his way back to Nairobi. The owner ofthe hotel himself was dining room attendant. We enjoyed our meals, And one evening we decided to attend a late night movie show at Metro cinema which was close by. But it rained cats and dogs so we decided to stay put in hotel. My friend who was a graduate in economics decided to talk about Nehru and his socialist policies which he looked with disfavour but the manager of the hotel joined us and vehemently defended Nehru's policies.My Nairobi friend had enought of it , so he politely asked him why he was so much in favour of Nehru. Pat came the reply:: Well! Nehru belongs to my caste.
