Good Day Everyone ! As all of you are aware some of us netters met up at Club Vasco de Gama yesterday (21st Dec) at Ernesto's (Run by Ernesto s/o the Great Late Roberto Alvares - my good friend who I used to meet up mostly at the Red n Black dance at Panjim - I understand that now he is the King Momo at the Carnival Parades in Heaven).
It was a beautiful afternoon with about 20 of us meeting up (didnt count the exact number) and putting a face to the picture of persons we had made up only in our minds. Following are the few goa netters that i met up with : Frederick Noronha - Ever Smiling 'Fred' was the quiet 'Master of Ceremonies' and introduced everyone to everyone. He did not seem to be the 'biased' moderator that I thought he was. A very down to earth man smiling always. Fred as to your question about why I am not on the Catholics Mailing List - will reply some other time. Cecil Pinto - The guy who wanted to advertise his 'florist' business on goacom. Very Jovial Character who missed Aires (????) so much at the meet-up (pl read Fred's post this morning about Cecil's calls to Aires). Eddie Verdes of SA - if you are reading this - I met up with Cecil first time. Tony Correia Afonso - The 'Big Shot' from Zuari Agro Chemicals Ltd that I knew of as a student of MES College was there with his wife Marina. He used to be the Chief Guest at our college functions on several occassions. Silviano Barboza - 'Babush' as we know him is also a regular Chatter on Goacom chat. A very unassuming man - talented that he is. He released his book "The Sixth Night" at the meet-up and was kind enough to autograph a complementary copy for me in exchange of which I have promised him a couple of CDs of Mangalorean Konkani Hits. Babush and me goa long way and have interacted a lot on goanet as well as on chat and it was a great pleasure meeting him in person. Babush is a great lover of Konkani Music and has also produced a konkani music album called "Classic Goa" (if i got the name right) which also included songs sung by Lorna. Vivek Menezes - aka VM was there too - a lookalike of Sabeer Bhatia (the Hotmail guy). VM is a Hot Male too. He declined to be photographed - dunno why ! Desmond Nazareth - Originally from Mangalore - he is into film making and told me he makes documentaries and films (not the commercial bollywood ones). Quiet guy with a half Sai Baba hairdo. Melinda Powell - We all thought she was married to an Englishman (Lord Baden Powell) or an American (Colin Powell) - actually she is married to a south indian who is a Master Mariner and presently sailing with a Hong Kong based Company. I have a special affinity for anyone who is in the same business as me (Shipping). I expected Melinda to be this snooty, pouting woman (she is an ex-Air India Air Hostess and Air Hostesses always have had a bit of head weight) - but she turned out to be just the opposite - sweet, smiling and gentle. Good going Melinda. Bosco - Goanet Volunteer remembered exchanging mails with me and was there with his writing pad taking down the names of all those who had turned up. Daniel De Souza - He is from Vasco and I was meeting him for the first time though he is a vasco-car like me. Daniel happened to travel back to vasco with me after the meet-up and we had the opportunity to discuss issues pertaining to Goacom on our drive back. Joel D'Souza - the guy who sends us all the news clippings was accompanied by his son. Joel is the quiet behind the scenes man who was busy clicking all the action on his digital camera. I am sure he will have some of the pics circulated soon. Keep up all the good work Joel and thanks for your daily clippings. I also met up with Vivian D'Souza, Mario fernandes, Mario Dias, Margaret Mascarenhas, Brian Pinto, Floriano Lobo - those are the names I can recollect and many others too. Though I expected more members to show up - It was all in all a very nice afternoon and well worth the 7 + 7 hours drive from Mangalore and Back. Thanks once again to everyone who made a difference at Ernesto's. Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year in advance. With Warm Wishes, Vincent Andrade Mangalore