There was a terrific row in the club yesterday.
Apparently there was supposed to be a meeting of the newly elected Club committee members about the organization of the Panchayat cup on August 15. It ended in a fiasco which John, Francis, Nicholas, Felipe, Tiago, Vincy, and I among others were witness to as silent spectators. Less than 5 members turned up for the Executive Committee Meeting which was less than the quorum for the meeting. Among them were President Oswald Cordeiro also Sarpanch of Moira, Secretary Thomas D'Gama. Savio (Teodolina the caretaker's son) Isidore Correia and Marshall D'Mello) Janja (as Isidore Anthony Correia is popularly known) was furious that of all the club committee members only these few members were present and that the meeting had to be adjourned due to lack of quorum. He thundered,"It is because you fixed the elections which is why this situation has arisen. People who were never interested in the club have been made committee members" Thomas said," How can you say that?" Janja said,"It was obvious. One person saying Proposed, and the other saying Seconded. It was all a farce." Thomas said,"You should have proposed and seconded your own people." Janja said,'Why should I do this? Let the best people be elected" This sort of exchange went on and on until Thomas D'Gama told Janja to 'F&%^^ O&&' Thomas is prone to such stupid loose tongued utterances and had done this once to me and luckily escaped a thrashing of his life because people like John, Reis and Nicholas had intervened on one occasion where he called me a S O B. Anyway to come back to the story - teling Janja to 'F&%^^ O&&' is an extremely unwise thing at the best of times, as he is the last person to keep his mouth shut when faced with such obscenities. He let loose left and right, and accused Thomas of being a prejudiced gaunkar who was not interested in the good of the village. Marshall joined the battle on behalf of Thomas and told Janja to get lost. There was a hell of a row and it was not easy to tell who was saying what to whom although it was clear that Janja was having the best of the exchanges. One of the prominent proclamations which Janja uttered many times was: "Who is Thomas D'Gama to tell me to 'F&%^^ O&&' I am a gaunkar and he is a gaunkar. He has no right to say this." In all this hullaballooo, Sarpanch and President of the Club Oswald Cordeiro was a quiet, but I think too quiet spectator. His silence ensured that the honorable gaunkars of the club committee disgraced themselves before all and sundry. Anyway it was quite an enjoyable fracas. Let's hope we have many more of these in future. ;p Cheerio Augusto -- Augusto Pinto 40, Novo Portugal Moira, Bardez Goa, India E pinto...@gmail.com P 0832-2470336 M 9881126350