So what has yours truly been amusing himself with in Moira of late. Well I'd pick out my visit to The Cube and the Special General Body Meeting of the venerable Associação Academica de Moira.
1) I went to The Cube, the art gallery of Sonny Singh which is just next to the Church to see Webotika an exhibition of paintings by Unnati Singh. Interesting stuff I thought with the painter seeming to be doing stuff which I used to do (figuratively speaking) during boring science classes in schools - either reading comics or drawing doodles. However I decided that I not to invest any money on the Rs 5000 - 150,000 priced artworks. 👹 The exhibition is open until the 24th of April and if you just go there Tue - Sun 11am - 6pm) the watchmen are quite obliging and will open the gallery for you. I think Moidekars especially should take the opportunity to taste something different. Promoters of art galleries do appreciate it when people come and see what they have to offer. And we are one of the few villages in Goa that has such an urban thing as an art gallery. Some reports of the exhibition are in the following links: http://www.heraldgoa.in/Cafe/Facets-of-contemporary-art-/99866.html https://www.facebook.com/1432555190362271/photos/pcb.1696367423981045/1696367280647726/?type=3&theater 2) On Sunday morning I dropped in at the Associação Academica de Moira aka the Moira Club for an Extraordinary General Meeting. Such meetings are rarely held and this one was mainly because the committee wanted to get approval for a cemented dance floor. I entered a little late and found that the minutes had just been read and the main item was on. Some of the more honourable members were grilling the committee members about the money they had collected so far (about 3.5 lakhs) and pungent questions about why some members were targeted for donations and others were not and whether all the sponsorship appeals had been numbered or not were being asked. I felt a little sorry for the committee as I had noticed that they were doing a commendable job in the short while they have been in office having done repairs to various parts of the club and bought a big new 50inch TV and had tournaments and other activities which was good I thought. Finally the dance floor was approved after the committee promised to keep the plans open for objections till March 31. Since nobody else was saying anything during this barrage, I decided to open my mouth and defend them by appreciating the good job they were doing at the thankless task of fund-raising and that if some people thought they were being 'targeted' then a general appeal should be made but they should continue with the practice for when making personal appeals it is an accepted practice to hand out a written appeal to potential sponsors. I think that other members agreed with this for there was applause. Actually I don't understand this charge of people being 'targeted' for funds. The fact that someone approaches you for sponsorship should be taken as a compliment because it means that you are thought of as a person of 'good standing'. For instance the committee will not come to me for sponsorship because apart from being a Moidekar, a race which as everyone knows is as stingy as Scrooge and Silas Marner and Shylock all rolled up in one, they also know that I don't have a *domdi* in my *chomdi* to give them. So I think it should be regarded as a privilege when someone comes to you with a sponsorship appeal. It means that you're one of the twice born. Then there was a bit of a stir when it was announced that two of the members were resigning as they could not attend the meetings for various reasons. I think this is the first time that this clause has been used since the Constitution has taken effect. Francis Nazareth and Mark Cordeiro came in as the new members. During the AOB I made an offer to organize some talks, discussions, debates, "different" films and so on. I was a bit surprised that there were some people saying there was no interest in this. I retorted that before burying the idea alive we should at least try and find out whether it really is as dead as is being made out. Privately I thought to myself that the Moidekars should welcome the opportunity to shed the tag of being *pixés*. I intend to give it a shot anyway. Later I was talking to Denzyl Andrade who looks after the club's facebook page who told me that the club had plans to start zumba classes soon. Interesting I said, maybe I should join it considering all the tyres that have settled around the middle. He also said that the club may offer free wi-fi and I thought the idea was good as it should get more of the youth coming to the club and as long as there were activities happening too it would be a good investment. Cheers Augusto