Ive moved.... Feeling lost in this new blogger home! Still a trifle nostalgic for having abandoned my previous abode ! But plan to stick around here for a while. To ease the move, Ive carried over my last posting with me - so here's my debut on a crispy new blogger interface with a slightly stale posting :)
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Back to pavilion after a 10 day stint in the land of the sushegaad... and still getting the feeling, that I havent had enough of it! This year marks a decade, that Ive been living away from home. And of all the things that Ive learned upon being independent - what has amazed me the most, and continues to do so flawlessly till date, is the reaction I get from blokes around when they are enlightened that I come from Goa! Initially people's reactions were a trifle unnerving - and totally unexpected. It never failed to surprise me, that the world(read as the-rest-of-the-country), would have such meagre or such lop-sided inaccurate views, about this tiny state with its magnanimous coastline. But over the period of years, and after innumerable hilarious moments, (where in Ive stifled many a giggle in my tummy) Ive deigned to conclude, that folks around, can seriously be ill-informed regarding one of their own neighboring states. I generally make a mental note of the varied 'reactions' that I witness, when I inform that Im from Goa, and the comments that follow sure make my day :) As of now, I possess a priceless collection of these comments - and I bet you an arm and a leg, you wont hear many of those - when you inform folks that you're from Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and the list goes on !
Just tell anybody you're from Goa... and the initial trailer you get to view, is a look of awe, a glint of envy, and a face painting vivid happy images in front of you. I like this part. Makes me happy too. Never realized that I come from a land, which paints happy-scenes for people, till I actually moved to a place, further up the coastline! And then the comment arrives. "So are you a Christian?" One of the predominently prevailing mis-conceptions - that Goans by default embrace Christianity. And before you get a chance to get this part ironed out, it is immediately followed by - "Do you go and pray in a church just like in the movies ?" (Im a pro at handling this now ;) The others are not so sober. Some cool assumptions about Goans - "So you must be good at swimming ?" or better still "Do you swim in the sea all day when you're in Goa?" (help... Im a terrestrial-mammal with a few aquatic tendencies just like you!!). However, I personally categorize this as the milder version - the inebriated version of which being ... "Is it true that you wear your swimming costume and drink Feni all the time ?" (aww.. come on!!).
One of my favourites though, is "Is Antony Gonsalves really a name in Goa ?" to the absolutely cute "I thought all aunties in Goa were called Mrs. Braganza !!" And this one truly rocks - After you're done informing that you come from Goa, there is pin-drop silence for a moment and then the genuine query pops up "So are you Portuguese ?" (And I thought Goa's been a part of India for more than four decades now !)
Well a decade down the line, when I thought I was done hearing all the possible permutations and combinations of these vagrant, witty Q's - there arrived this 'classic' one, "So you must be great at playing the guitar ?" For sizeable moments after listening to this one, I was still at sea as to why I ought to be great with the guitar-strings, just because the stork dropped me in Goa, and pretty much ashamed of the fact that I hadnt the foggiest how to do so. When I replied in the negative, I was greeted with total surprise, a touch of disdain, and a look of disapproval clearly stating "such-a-shame" - After this totally unprecedented cold-response, I did gather all the courage I could muster, and erred once, by inquiring as to why I ought to be possessing this skill...
"Well.. Remo Fernandes does so... I thought everyone in Goa plays the guitar!" (~sigh~)
~Tweety
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Back to pavilion after a 10 day stint in the land of the sushegaad... and still getting the feeling, that I havent had enough of it! This year marks a decade, that Ive been living away from home. And of all the things that Ive learned upon being independent - what has amazed me the most, and continues to do so flawlessly till date, is the reaction I get from blokes around when they are enlightened that I come from Goa! Initially people's reactions were a trifle unnerving - and totally unexpected. It never failed to surprise me, that the world(read as the-rest-of-the-country), would have such meagre or such lop-sided inaccurate views, about this tiny state with its magnanimous coastline. But over the period of years, and after innumerable hilarious moments, (where in Ive stifled many a giggle in my tummy) Ive deigned to conclude, that folks around, can seriously be ill-informed regarding one of their own neighboring states. I generally make a mental note of the varied 'reactions' that I witness, when I inform that Im from Goa, and the comments that follow sure make my day :) As of now, I possess a priceless collection of these comments - and I bet you an arm and a leg, you wont hear many of those - when you inform folks that you're from Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and the list goes on !
Just tell anybody you're from Goa... and the initial trailer you get to view, is a look of awe, a glint of envy, and a face painting vivid happy images in front of you. I like this part. Makes me happy too. Never realized that I come from a land, which paints happy-scenes for people, till I actually moved to a place, further up the coastline! And then the comment arrives. "So are you a Christian?" One of the predominently prevailing mis-conceptions - that Goans by default embrace Christianity. And before you get a chance to get this part ironed out, it is immediately followed by - "Do you go and pray in a church just like in the movies ?" (Im a pro at handling this now ;) The others are not so sober. Some cool assumptions about Goans - "So you must be good at swimming ?" or better still "Do you swim in the sea all day when you're in Goa?" (help... Im a terrestrial-mammal with a few aquatic tendencies just like you!!). However, I personally categorize this as the milder version - the inebriated version of which being ... "Is it true that you wear your swimming costume and drink Feni all the time ?" (aww.. come on!!).
One of my favourites though, is "Is Antony Gonsalves really a name in Goa ?" to the absolutely cute "I thought all aunties in Goa were called Mrs. Braganza !!" And this one truly rocks - After you're done informing that you come from Goa, there is pin-drop silence for a moment and then the genuine query pops up "So are you Portuguese ?" (And I thought Goa's been a part of India for more than four decades now !)
Well a decade down the line, when I thought I was done hearing all the possible permutations and combinations of these vagrant, witty Q's - there arrived this 'classic' one, "So you must be great at playing the guitar ?" For sizeable moments after listening to this one, I was still at sea as to why I ought to be great with the guitar-strings, just because the stork dropped me in Goa, and pretty much ashamed of the fact that I hadnt the foggiest how to do so. When I replied in the negative, I was greeted with total surprise, a touch of disdain, and a look of disapproval clearly stating "such-a-shame" - After this totally unprecedented cold-response, I did gather all the courage I could muster, and erred once, by inquiring as to why I ought to be possessing this skill...
"Well.. Remo Fernandes does so... I thought everyone in Goa plays the guitar!" (~sigh~)
~Tweety
8 comments:
wah... su vaat che. lo tamara goa na bare na blog par amari gujarati ma pehli comment :)
may your new blog get a lot of visitors and lots of comments. may your fan count grow 5 fold because of the blog. Amen! :)
congrats on upgrading your blog to a better site ;)
@the_golden_silence: deo baren karoon :)
@asterix: This upgrading thing has been on the cards for a long time now. Glad it finally happened! Now you transfer all my old posts out here - Milk Treat assured :p
@shwwhs: Thanks :) And yeah, I dont get paid for this, so its difficult to make it fast ;)
Too bad they stopped making MTs, or else I would have definitely done it ;)
Yet another wonderful write-up ! Truly enjoyed reading every word of it ! My "bumble" opinion.... get to writing "sweet" blogs once in a while for Mr.Bee's sake to avoid those nasty stings rather than only "fishy" ones ;-)
Keep blogging....u will be "paid" with lotsa Hersheys... thats a promise !
oohohohoheheheh hahaha
I can ask one more thing.. since I know more about you than the general opinion ppl hv about being from goa.. heheheh still the best part being.." So u "really" wear a swimming costume! hahahaha
U shld hv told them u hv a tap and a bathroom at home for skinny dipping.. hehehehhe
u just wrote down my experieces. ditto...
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