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* * * 2006 ANNUAL GOANETTERS MEET - GOA * * *
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WHERE: Foodland Cafe - Miramar Residency - Miramar, Goa
WHEN: December 21, 2006 @ 4:00pm
More info:
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2006-December/051747.html
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Thanks to the mess Dabolim airport is in (limited flight slots, all
clogged in the afternoon), I had to catch the 2 pm flight... and waste
around seven more hours at the Mumbai airport... before getting a
connecting flight.
Night flying at Dabolim, bah!
Fairly affordable laptop-fitted datacards (Tata Indicom, Airtel,
Reliance etc ) make you mobile. Sitting at the airport, you're online
(even without the costly cybercafe). But improved communication of the
cyber kind is no consolation for the poor connectivity of the
transport kind that Goa suffers from.
So, unless we support the very systematic efforts of a Philiip Thomas,
you're going to get some such email from me... possibly in the near,
and long-term future too. Who knows...
Bombay/Mumbai is talking about big expansion plans by 2012. I guess
that's for our kids :-) In the papers, Fr Cedric Prakash (not sure,
but I think he's ex-Stansilaus, and even Goan) was given an award for
his work in fighting anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat. Hi! magazine has
an article by Suchita Potnis, about Goa's little-noticed spots to
visit. It features (at least) two Goanettes: Cecil Pinto's marriage
wows biz and Jose Lourenco's Amazing Goa cards.
But to come to the point....
For the first time, I landed on a right-side window seat, while
heading north from Goa to Bombay. So, instead of seeing the blue
see... I saw... Goa.
Guess what it looks like? Much like Google Earth, of course :-) (Okay,
we're now coming to believe that the real thing mimicks its cyber
representation!)
But jokes apart, after seeing Google Earth, I could actually recognise
parts of Goa. While I was wondering whether the two bridges in
parallel was actually the Mandovi, something like the new Goa assembly
popped up. Then, the most surprising thing... the square-C shaped
Saligao Seminary! Next to it, another square-C, Lourdes Convent. Just
two houses from home!
Like all good and not-so-good Goans (I fall in the latter category),
even a four-day trip is good enough an occasion for saudades and
home-sickness. So, the advice to other Goanetters: next time, before
coming home, check Google Earth. And take a right-hand-side window
seat (if heading northwards, out of Goa). Trying to recognise Goa
while entering the state is always more difficult. The 'frame' isn't
very clear, as it is when leaving Dabolim. (After Bardez, one could
actually see the mining-scarred earth of the Goan hinterland.)
I'm sure others have better experiences to share than this fragmentary
one. So, just post it on Goanet. FN
PS: E&OE ... I'm underslept.
--
FN M: 0091 9822122436 P: +91-832-240-9490 (after 1300IST please)
http://fn.goa-india.org http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com
http://www.goa-india.org http://feeds.goa-india.org/index.php
