My love hate affair with the Elixir of the Gods, as Cecil so rightly put it, started during my very young days, when I use to be amused to see mom light fire to this very strong smelling liquid for a while then put it off, add a little sugar to it and give me a spoonful to drink whenever I had a bad cold and cough and more often than not it would help, but at that tender age I just hated it, the burning sensation in the mouth and while I unwillingly swallowed it, it felt like live coals going down my elementary canal to the pit of my stomach and I just could not bear the strong smell too. Apart from Mom's occasional medicinal dose I never ever touched liquor, not even beer but things changed in College in Bombay.
Being good in sports was always advantageous in school and college, hence I was one of those guys with lots of friends from both sexes, especially the rich, and like most rich kid, my friends too use to party a lot even in the mid and late seventies, it was then I started sipping beer but never graduated to the stronger elixirs. I was just recovering from a bad accident, a few months after my twentieth birthday, when I was mobile, the guys and girls from the college football, hockey and basketball teams gave me a "treat" at one of our friends place at Malabar Hill, his parents were out of the country and I was surprised to note that all the drinks and food was only Goan, later I was told that they had got the food and the drinks from an aunty from Sonapur, at whose joint one our guy was a frequent visitor, a "Sindhi", he was an adherent fan of feni ! The party started with a glass of feni in my hand, though I hated the idea, I went along with it and after all the pleasantries of being reminded by one and all that I had crossed the threshold of manhood and into the second decade on life and that they were happy that I was recuperating well and still standing, even though with the help of a clutch, all the ahh's and the ooss started ! as the guys and the girls tasted feni most of them for the first time, some had watery eyes, some made funny faces, some coughed and puffed but after the first hit, rest was smooth sailing, I on the other hand stood with a clutch in one hand and the feni glass in the other, dreading the idea of swallowing live coals but all of a sudden some one yelled "sala ! he Goechi ma ka pau feni pita nahim hai kya ?" Then the count down started 10,9,8 ...1 go, it was bottoms up ! I had closed my eyes, knowing the effect and it was coals again hitting my stomach, but slowly as the evening progressed, I started enjoying the feni, it was good stuff, thanks to the "Sindhi" here on stated my love for feni. I am not a habitual drinker, I drink occasionally, when I have company, parties, picnics or if I have had a rough day, a couple of pegs before dinner and I am relaxed, there are just two drinks that I prefer one is Cashew feni and the Coconut dudxiri, and I prefer these to any other drinks in the world and I have never ever have had a hangover or a bad taste in my mouth. I was also involved with Cashew tenders for a decade, it was good business then and cashew feni was looked up at and revered because of it's unadulterated and genuine quality. During that time when I had visitors, outstation and overseas I would proudly give them a couple of bottles of my Feni and dudxiri and some of them use to write back to me thanking me for the joy that this unparallel drink gave then. I was indeed proud of my feni ! Today when I read the hogwash that this damned Majumdar had to say about our feni, it hurt, but thinking it over I have realized, he may have been a victim of adulteration like so many others, which we cannot deny, today the feni both Cashew and Coconut, that we get all over Goa with the exception of a few, is certainly not genuine. One of the main reasons that the credibility of our feni is questioned today is because every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to distill feni without the know how nor do they have a good storage facility and the wholesalers to make more money adulterate the feni, it's a real pity that for the sake of money the authenticity and the credibility of our Goan feni is at stake, so much so, that a drink that we Goans were once so proud of, is being ridiculed by guys like Majumdar just because they don't know where to get the genuine in a market that is flooded with made in China. I would like to inform Mr. Majumdar that I visit Goa mostly in April-May and would be more than happy to let him taste the "Elixir of the Gods" from my cabinet and indeed prove that all in not lost for the Goan feni and that it is still one of the most soothing and relaxing of drinks and is certainly among the very best drinks in the world. Cheers !! Freddy Agnelo Fernandes ##################################################################################### The content of this electronic communication is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and any others who are specifically authorized to receive it. It may contain confidential or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or otherwise placing reliance on the contents of this information is prohibited and may be unlawful in certain legal jurisdictions. If you have received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately by responding to this email and then delete it from your system. #####################################################################################
