The Goa Government gets progressive patriotic !

Like every other day in my life, I woke up this morning and in the course of my morning routine, picked up the daily Navhind Times newspaper. And like almost every other subscriber to this very popular newspaper I turned to the last page of the newspaper after a cursory glance at the headlines, as a matter of habit.

I was greeted with a big full color image advertisement from the Goa Government's Department of Information and Publicity. Shown below is the advertisement that wishing "All people of Goa a happy Statehood Day".



So at after first glance anyone would think to themselves..."hmm.. That's nice". But then on closer inspection of this large advertisement another striking feature hits you squarely in the face. Its almost like diving into a haystack, and hitting a stone wall under the haystack. Below is the image of the entire advertisement.



Highlighted conspicuously under the official logo of the Goa Government, is a picture of two very happy looking individuals of what looks to be Caucasian origin.

I am quite proud to see that our state government recognizes that Goa is a state made up of people of all kinds of races and filled with ethnic diversity. I hope that my interpretation is the actual one, and not merely an oversight.

I cannot help but wonder if there is any other state in India, where such an advertisement on the most popular daily newspaper, by the state government, would not fail to cause controversy. Such is the nature of bandaging I see in India, all around me.

I am also happy to see, that as of this post, no Goan has taken this rather trivial issue I mention here, as a source of controversy.

Happy Statehood Day to all you Goans out there !

The cat goes exploring on a rare excursion outside the house.. Unfortunately (or fortunately) with the arrival of the of the other kitten Smoky, Mia's days out roaming wild have come to a close.

Oh wow.. this snap is of my dad and his brother taken from ages and ages ago.. found a scan of it on the old hard disk.. touched it up a bit in photoshop .. that would be papa on sitting with uncle Alex standing..

great snap from years ago of me and mum I found lying on a hard disk in a forgotten folder.. I love finding things on my comp that I had forgotten about..This one comes from a folder of scans taken from back in the day. It lay dormant in that old hard disk all these years.. until i decided to hook it up now.. Like finding an old chest .. cant wait to see what other goodies the old HD has..

A snap of me and dad on a trip to Pune for a re-union with his friends from Nigeria. An awesome trip in January 2005, this snap is taken at a farm house we were all staying at on the outskirts of Pune not far from the National Defense Academy. I had a really great time on that trip...

Sunset over the sea at Sunset Beach near Betalbatim in south Goa. Quite lovely..

A local fruit seller goes about his business.. I dont quite know why this snap appeals to me.. but it does.. something about his disconnection with global issues around him maybe ? I'm sure he doesnt care that there is was in Iraq, or that people in africa are hungry. ... maybe its the contrast in the picture of the old and the new.. modern Honda Dio in the background, old pushcart in the foreground ?

A close up of papa..I thought this snap came quite nice. Wish I could have uploaded the original version from my camera. That one is a much higher resolution but 1.7mb in size.. this one is a slimmed down 200kb. Pity.. you could actually zoom in on his sun glasses and observe the details reflected in there..

I love this snap because of the way the garden looks in the bright summer sunshine. Thats papa in the picture playing with water in the garden. it must be a Fernandes family trait, because both the brothers (my dad and Uncle Alex) love to put water on plants.. actualy I think they just like to play with water.. but being adults need an excuse.. hehe ..

Some of the old gang from Sharada Mandir, met up again along with a friend from the later years. A nice re-union of sorts at the miramar Cafe Coffee Day. Named left to right are Me, Melanie, Melody, Nadia, Deepa and that would be Platini in the back. Good time.. good times...

When cookie got her new kitten from the shelter, its main roaming grounds was our place. According to her the cat needed company while she was away at work. This is a snap i took of the rather inquisitive Mia sitting in my window grills..

Awesome snap of the Kakra beach taken with Vrinda's camera, I believe. After our tech fest Manthan 2005, the organisers, which was basically my batchmates, decided to out for lunch. We pigged out at lunch, and then again at Cafe Coffee Day. Then went for a drive to this awesome rather remote beach on the outskirts of Panjim. Hidden away beyond Bambolim, this is one my favorite beaches. I think the group I took there agreed...

This snap is also taken by Larissa, the same day as the other two I have just posted, and is my favorite of the lot. This one is of the river looking up towards Divar and Old Goa. All three snaps were taken the same day and I think they are quite amazing. What eye for photography that girl has..

Another of larissa's early morning snaps taken from the Mandovi bridge.. this one is the golden sunrise over the Ribandar-Merces side..

Some days back my cousin Larissa stopped over and showed me this awesome snap she took early in the morning off Mandovi Bridge. Lovely snap of the Britona & Penha-De-Franca side of the bridge...

I was at Waves 2006 (in March) !! hehe that was the aim of this self snap, but the problem with self snaps is that they are very dificult to get just right. But on the plus side I think i got everyone expressions :-D Really enjoyed the waves experience !! Met some awesome guys and girls from BITS and made friends with quite a few. Walked away from bits with 3 first place prizes. One for winning the JAM contest, one for winning Mr. Waves and one as part of the first place in the Model's lounge Event. BITS goa rocks.

I recently had the opportunity to participate in the Waves 2006 inter collegiate cultural festival at BITS Pilani Goa Campus. The snap above is of the amazing BITS campus at night. Taken from one of the main building balconies.

Above the law ?

Some days ago my dad and I had to go to the ATM in Panjim. Now the SBI ATM opposite the Hotel Mandovi is notorious for those who use it, because finding parking in that area is something herculean. The nearest available parking space is usually 3 roads away. So after driving around the ATM for a good 12 minutes, by chance we were able to get parking in sight of the ATM. As my dad gets up to go to the ATM, up come a Police vehicle, stops right in front of the ATM, right under the "No Parking" Sign. The driver gets down from the car, nice and slowly, and goes to the ATM. While the other occupant of the car has a happy chat with a friend. Indeed !

I felt such behavior on the part of police officials was disgusting ! They of all people should know, that no one is above the law. If the enfocers of the law can't obey, why should anyone else.

Trying to catch a smile..

I spoke to papa yesterday, and it reminded me of a certain undertaking of mine a few months ago. Going through bunches of old photographs from over the years, Cookie had once remarked that "papa never smiles in photographs if he knows the snap is being taken".

Well technically that's not true.. But the point she made is that it is genuinely hard to get a snap of papa smiling unless you are at a party.

So when the digital camera came round I was determined I would catch papa smiling in an everyday situation.. What follows now is my rather opportunistic attempt to eck out a 'Kodak' moment..

My first attempt I think had a good degree of success, when I caught him rather unawares when he was engrossed in his favorite bridge problems from the Sunday Express.



The next few attempts, I must say yielded these intense photographs which were exactly the opposite of what I was trying to achieve...




...Another sneaky snap and I got a half grin ..



By now I had dozens of blurry images or images of the side of his head. Deciding I'll just settle for a nice portrait snap, I shot a heavily zoomed snap of papa just as he turned from the window.



Ready to concede defeat I decided to take a shot later that night of the two of us as a record of my failed undertaking. And behold... Success...

Rainy days and mondays...

Dont you love the smell of the first rains ? That earthy aroma that rises up from the ground..that whiff of mother earth refreshed..

When I was growing up, I used to spend my summers in the sleepy coastal village of Utorda, on the south coast in Goa. Home to my mum's side of the family, I remember the last few days of summer holiday were torment to a young kid. The May showers had begun, that awesome first rains aroma roamed unchecked, and all around, parched life turned magically green. Yet I had to leave for yet another year of school ! But I always liked new beginnings, school included, and so life went on...

Today an early thunderstorm graced the wee hours of morning (4am) and brought back all those memories. I always find it amazing how some memories can lie dormant in one's mind until a sound, fragrance, or sight suddenly awakens it, and then you get happy rush as it all comes flooding back. And it seems so unbelievably real.

In traditional goan fashion, with the coming of the first storm, the power utterly failed, condemming me to a hot and restless sleep with the mosquitos. Finally at around 5 am I conceded to defeat to the elements and the inefficient power department. I threw open the windows and was hit squarely in the face with the most refreashing, cool breath of air. In that minute, I decided, 'what the hell, I'm up anyways, might as well enjoy the morning'.

So began another day.. one which suprisingly found me awake at 5 am and in good spirits. I think I have forgotten when the last time, i was awake that early and not in most foul mood.

Deciding that these moments may happen just once in my lazy life, I grabbed the camera and decided to caputure the moments...

The snap below is the first I took, and right away I realised that the first light of day is pleasant on the eye, but much harder on the camera.



So after I got this dull moment on camera, I decided to aim for the heavens and see what else the skies had in store for this refreshing day...



A coconut tree later and I decided to explore the outside. While the rain was likely to piss off poor Dominic by leaving the car a mess, mama's plants at least were glad of the rain...



The second shot I took was my attempt to get artistic and nail some water droplets dangling from the leaves...



So much for art... ;-P

Heading back to my room I realised that fearsome entity, the 'Mama' was awake.. and it made its presence known with loud warnings of leaving windows open for rain to enter and ruin its realm.

By this point I was quite enjoying this experience. People who get up this early regularily are of course crazy, but such behavior has its moments. The next shot is of my window... a window to nicely washed world from the poetic point of view..



Few mins later I stole snapshot of the light of dawn creeping slowly into the living room...



..and then I caught on camera a priceless 'mama' moment. Having woken up a few minutes earlier, she promptly proceeded to do what every sane person does early in the morning .. she re-pots and re-arranges plants in the window !



By now, this experience of being awake so early was taking its toll, and I needed coffee.. nothing like that hot cuppa coffee early on a rainy morning is there ?




Coffee drained and the rain outside paused. I figured the heavens had decided to allow us to venture outdoors. Not to be daunted, brave explorer that I am, I snuck outside and grabbed a few shots of the neighborhood resting after bearing the fury of above..





blissfull peace, everything so calm...



.. excursions complete, I took a parting shot of the our happy residence



...and retired to bed with happy thoughts of a special holiday in the recent past. After all, people who get up this early are crazy and I need my sleep...

So with those happy thoughts and the musical strains of Yanni, Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens, I returned to what is second nature to me.. sleep.