WORLD GOA DAY CELEBRATIONS IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA.
As people around the world and few states in Australia prepare for their annual celebration; those who are associated with Melgoans (www.melgoans.com) are getting ready for the much talked about annual event the "World Goa Day" that will be celebrated on Saturday 22 August 2009 at the spacious Springvale City Hall, Springvale. This is the 7th year that Melbourne Goans and their friends will meet up and enjoy an evening with family and friends keeping aside differences if any among Goans at least for a day! The Goan night will be entertained by an 8 piece band named Soul Mates and they have promised an evening of great music and songs, Of course we will be serving a mouth watering buffet which will include Goan dishes (not available in restaurants in Melbourne) along with other activities planned for the night including a few Konkani songs sung by our very own Goan - Mr. Joe Fernandes. During the 7 years tenure that Melgoans has existed, we have built a large network of friends and admirers who enjoy coming for our events and to whom we are grateful. We are happy to gain many Goans who abstained from belonging to any particular Goan Organizations for reasons best known to them and this is the greatest achievement that we Melgoans are proud of! A real sense of achievement vis-à-vis our Mission statement. On a different vein Melgoans were the first organization to train our young Goans to perform the Goan dances which was done under the leadership of Mrs. Lydia Martins. As a ready reference here is a link that shows our young Goan performers in Melbourne in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R446BFnCFw Another group of young people was the "Corrindinho Dance" presented in 2004 under the leadership of Mr. Newton Marques. It would be amiss of me if I did not mention the name of Mr. Salus Correia and his family who have supported everything Goan when he assisted Melgoans few years ago and even now when we request his assistance. We are priviledged to be associated with many blue blooded Goankars and we converse with one another in Konkani. The language is very much alive with the Goans associated with us. We do not feel shy to talk our dudachee bhas or we do not believe the saying "lingua de criadas"! We believe like many other leaders; the future of Goan identity rests with our youth and we should empower them to be the future leaders and abstain from controlling Goan organisations that may have leaders from the dinosaurs' age. To add to the flavour of the 7th World Goa Day in Melbourne and as Goa is a part ofIndia, the newly formed Indian Banking Division of The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has sponsored a Bollywood show for the night. Yes, we will have a "Jai Ho World Goa Day 2009!! Some members of both the organisations - Australian Goan Association Inc and Goan overseas Association Inc., have booked their seats for the night. It will be a night to make new friends and catch up with many others whom we may not have seen during the course of the year or years. We have had instances in the past when long lost friends were found in these special gatherings at World Goa Day. As we all know Goa, is a tiny emerald on the west coast of India, with its natural scenic beauty, abundant greenery, attractive beaches, temples and churches with distinctive style of architecture colourful and lively feasts and festivals, tropical climate and, above all hospitable people with rich cultural milieu which has an ideal tourist profile. Some of the many comments made by people who have witnessed our previous World Goa Day celebrations in Melbourne (posted on our website www.melgoans.com) are: - "Being in Melbourne for the past 4 years, the World Goa Day would certainly be a remembrance for me and my family for a long time. This is the first well organised Goan function we have attended in couple of years. I want to take this opportunity to thank you and your team for showcasing such a wonderful show. I hope my email encourages you to organize more shows in future". - "You certainly do things in style and are doing a fantastic job in promoting and fostering the wonderful Goan community and its rich culture in this great country of ours. I am proud to know you personally and am impressed in your efforts and genuine enthusiasm with which you endeavour to inculcate the Goan spirit in a fun environment to the young generation. Keep up the great work and thank you!" VIVA GOA AMCHEM GOYAM AMCAM ZAHEM - TUMCHEEM GHARAN ANI BHATTAM GOENKARAK VIKAT - POISHANG LAGON DUSRIANK IKINAKAT ANI BADIAK DINAKAN!
