While I was unfortunate not meeting Nanavati, Roland was lucky. I never met John Lobo as I, like Roland, was young. But I did met CJV Miranda after he retired as he was involved in some organization. Similarly, I met Julio Ribeiro a couple of times and once did an exclusive interview with him in Toronto when he dropped into the city after or before going for a conference in the USA regarding piracy of Indian films. He was then in charge of anti-piracy win of the Indian Film Producers Association. Then there was Ronnie Mendonca became Commissioner of Police a couple of years before I migrated to Canada. Then I knew the police inspector, Alex Fialho, who caught Mumbai's serial killer Raman Raghav during the Ganesh festival just by chance. I also knew Roque Menezes ( Ihope I got the name correctly) who was either addtional police commissioner or assistant police commissioner. He once travelled secretly to Canada to check on the terrorist activities in the Sikh community during the height of the Khalistan movement. There was a rumour that Nanavati was given the pardon on the assurance that he would leave the country as the case would come up often when high-profile persons sentenced to prison may ask for pardon. If I remember correctly, I think Nanavati fired a shot at the wall after or before killing Ahuja and then went to the police to surrender himself. Had Nanavati remained in the Navy he would have ended his career as Vice-Admiral of the Indian Navy. Yes Roland, my career in Mumbai did give me a chance to meet many outstanding Goans. It was great to be in Bombay those days. I went to Bombay recently and could not stay more than three days because of the crowd and pollution. However, as Kushwant Singh once wrote that if one has lived in Bombay the sounds and smells never leave you no matter where one goes outside the city. Same with me, as much as I love Bombay I shudder to think that I am beginning to hate it. But no matter what, my heart always beats for Bombay and Bombay it will remain not Mumbai. Some of the books on Bombay I remember reading are: Maximum City by US-based Suketu Mehta, Bombay and Goa (small book) by Olga Valladares, City of Gold by Gilliian Tindall, Bombay by Dom Moraes (as Time series on great cities of the world), and The Origin of Bombay by the great Goan historian Joseph Gerson Da Cunha.
Eugene
