When I came on Goanet in the third trimester last year, my first reaction on seeing the name Joegoauk was; who is this Joe gawking at? I even thought, doesn't this fellow know the spelling of gawk? After a few posts, I realized his name was meant to be Joe Goa UK.
Joe is the guy who keeps us informed of what is happening in Goa, mainly via pictures. Joe knows that a picture is worth a thousand words. Originally his posts were very economical in wordage. Just a sentence or two as introduction to his picture links that followed. However of late he has opened up and writes his opinions about what he is seeing. And that to me is very welcome. Joegoauk is the salt of the Goan earth. The quintessential Goan of my youth that I remember as being available to every one's need. The guy who would go to the pharmacy to bring you your prescriptions when you couldn't do it. The man who was there for every village social, shaking hands and showing you his happiness to meet you - and really meaning it. The chap you would meet for every feast - as interested in meeting others as he was interested in paying God homage at mass. I don't know what drives Joegoauk to do the things he does. Whether it is covering the Colva Fama or telling us about IFFI or detailing the Global Goan Convention or just taking and showing pictures of the Anjuna Flea Market, or the beaches and hotels, or some discordant scenery that irks him or maybe an eroded ceremonial centuries old gate leading to a village, he does it all and he lets us see it wherever in the world we are, in whatever mood his pictures have caught us in. As they say of good reporters, Joegoak does not make the news he just shows it. And he is no paid reporter. Just does it because he does it. I don't even know whether he likes doing it, running from pillar to post to let us in on what we would never know, or whether he does it because he knows we will somehow be the better for what he is doing. Thank you Joegoauk. Sometimes we go through life never really appreciating what has been placed before us. You must know that I appreciate what you do and I give you a heartfelt Goan hug. I know many of our readers love what you do too, and how wonderful it would be if they could just say a line or two to show you that they enjoy it as much as I do. Roland.