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International Cuisine Conference on Traditional Asian Diet Panaji, Goa, September 2-5, 2007 - http://www.indologygoa.in Online Media Partner: http://www.goanet.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catching up on reading Goanet (this thread), three thoughts popped-up: 1) Ferry Crossings - short stories from Goa edited by Manohar Shetty 2) Down by the Ferry - Remo Fernandes with his Mary-bai "walking fitik-fatak"......"go and ask your future sasupai". 3) The first recollections I have of taking the ferry was Aug/Sep in the mid-80s (just after the Mandovi bridge collapsed). I had taken the coach from Dabolim to Dempos.....it was the evening "rush hour" and I had Fr. Joe Mendes, msfs, for company - don't recollect where he was arriving from; he was headed to Bastora. We waited for the drizzle to abate and then made our way to the Ferry Crossing. While "a lot" of people entered the ferry alongwith honking vehicles, the scene was nothing like what JoeGoaUK has captured 20 years later. JoeGoaUK has highlighted the "ramp is almost sinking" and people getting on the ferry without allowing those alighting to get off first. What will be the scene 20 years hence? Does anybody know how many (if any) two-wheelers fall from a ferry into the Mandovi each year? Is it not possible to legislate/mandate the combination of the number of two / three / four-wheelers and people that can be allowed on a ferry ? Must there be a tragedy before we wake up ? While Cecil attempts to allay my trepidation of taking the ferry with suggestions to take the Old Goa/Ribandar ferry, I hope to take the ferry again the next time I'm in Goa notwithstanding the possibility of me ending up in the Arabian Sea. Taking the ferry is certainly more delightful than a cruise on the sore-eye, called SM, on the Mandovi. - Bosco T.O