Dear goanet readers As seen courtesy of Goan Voice UK (thanks to Eddie Fernandes), comes the above Herald Review titled "The Swindon Syndrome". What I knew was three almost entire villages that have moved from Goa to the United Kingdom comes hot off the press that it is now nearly six villages. Our community who have moved to the United Kingdom are eager to "keep the connection" with Goa and "their roots alive" and the good news is this should be possible, Goa's Chief Minister has recently announced he is going back on Facebook.
Now comes a real opportunity, the six villages of Goa Velha, Agacaim, Batim, Siridao, Marivel and Santa Cruz have become so much quieter that they now present an ideal holiday destination for our community worldwide who are looking for a peaceful "susegade" holiday. The photograph of a street with no people shown in the article is a far cry from the street I had to cross everyday in Candolim in January this year, it took me nearly twenty minutes to find a gap between traffic to run across to the other side at break neck speed as they is no duty of care either by drivers, pedestrians or the local authority. A pedestrian or zebra crossing would be considered decorations by the locals as the highway code is yet to be understood. Luzen Da Cunha living in Reading (west of Heathrow) is a woman after my own heart, she says "If there is a wedding in the UK, the Goan bride and groom follow traditional ceremonies like the ross". Such new arrivals should be welcomed as they bring with them our real culture from Goa which should be embraced and possibly re-distributed to our community around the world through World Goa Day organisers. In my mid-thirties (living in the United Kingdom), the daughter of a close family friend was getting married and we received an invitation for Ross which was quickly and politely declined. Not knowing what Ross meant, I questioned one of my family members who replied "it is when they bathe the bride in coconut juice before her wedding, some of our community still do it" (in Goan terms this meant that our family did not). After this very brief exchange of words this is what I imagined Ross to be - a bath being put in the garden, filled up with coconut juice for the bride to bathe in (a bit like how an Egyptian Queen bathed in milk). Three years ago I flew into Goa for a wedding and arrived the night before Ross. The next day the whole household was busy preparing Goan hors d'oeuvres, baskets with a vegetable filling, chutney sandwiches, etc, imagine the scene busy as bees. (Incidentally in Mombasa, Kenya we never made chutney sandwiches for our parties, we made "ribbon" sandwiches (not of ribbon) the fillings representing the colours of red, green and yellow between slices of bread and then cut down to dainty pieces displaying the three colours. Chutney sandwiches were made for picnics on Bamburi beach). Ribbon sandwiches are not like the American Club sandwiches where many slices of bread and filling are held together with a yard long toothpick and take some time to eat. All the while helping out, my eye was on the garden awaiting the arrival of the bath. This is what Ross turned out to be, the bride and maid of honour sitting on plastic chairs in the garden, all the guests taking in turn a cupful from a container of coconut juice, pouring it over them. This was followed by sing songs and a party till the early hours of the morning with all family members present. Apparently the "some" in our community who did not do Ross viewed it as a primitive custom but I am not sure which part of this custom is supposed to be primitive. The English do much the same, they would classify Ross a "hen" night with men or a "stag" night with women with getting drunk and silly being the operative words. When we got married, Melvyn and I we missed out on Ross so we will have to do Ross if we get to our 25th wedding anniversary. After coconut juice in the garden, we will slip into the bath together with a shot of feni and ......... a ribbon sandwich to share. This brings me to the question, how many of our enjoyable and fun loving traditions which include the entire family are disappearing into the sands of our beaches? All answers will be read on my return from tanning my big toe in the sun while sipping tiny, tiny mouthfuls of Sangria from my beaker (not in the United Kingdom, I hasten to add, the only tan anyone is going to get here will be a false one from an electric sunbed!). Rose Fernandes Thornton Heath, Surrey, United Kingdom 12 June 2013
