NOSTALGIC ATTIC DISCOVERY!

Nostalgia

'DISCOVERY IN THE ATTIC' -

 45 RPM Vinyl Record (1975)

MUSIC & LYRICS by

Oslando De Souza

Konkani MUSIC of Goa

DAHLIA FERNANDES - WATCH OUT FOR HER NEW EP - TO BE RELEASED SHORTLY

Watch out for the
Upcoming EP 'BETWEEN the LINES'
by my daughter
 Dahlia Fernandes

The countdown begins... to 04.13
 

BACK IN DUBAI

BACK IN DUBAI

Sal Davies was a entertainer from Mombasa who often visited Dubai in the 1980's. His song 'Back in Dubai' was quite popular then with the expatriate community. Often broadcast on TV and radio, Sal Davies' another popular song was 'Malaika'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vQgB6wLksY

CiTROEN

CITROEN

Goan Proverbs & Sayings

Goddo dhanvlea uprant gotto dankun kaim faido nam.

Meaning: There is no use to close the stable after the horse has run away or in other words its to no avail to close the gate after the horse has bolted away.

Application: In the Konkani language it is applied and meant in the same sense as it is done in the English language, i.e. that we cannot correct, mend, avoid or undo an error when it too late to do so.

A Fleet of Caminhões - Goa of the 1950's & 1960's

A Fleet of Caminhões

 - Goa of the 1950's & 1960's -

Hand-crafted miniatures, 1/8" plywood



GUITARS GALORE - TONY & HIS 50 GUITARS

HAND-MADE GUITARS 1/6 scale 

BY TONY FERNANDES

WOODEN & PVC

Handcrafted by Tony Fernandes

CITROEN

1/8" thick plywood.

No scroll saw used.

1/8" scale 

TONFERNS OFFROAD - HD

1/8' PLYWOOD

OFF-ROAD

HUM-TON

TON-HUM

TON-VEE

SIDE VIEW

 REAR VIEW

BODY

CHASSIS

 FRONT SUSPENSION

REAR SUSPENSION



BOTTOM VIEW

Saluting the Flags

SALUTING THE FLAGS

 STANDING TO ATTENTION

(A True Tale of Circumstance)

I was born in Bombay in 1947, on 7 of January. The British were still in India. India was yet to get its Independence from Great Britain then. Independence for Felicio would eventually come 7 months and 3 weeks later. Due to the economic situation prevailing at the time my family had to relocate to Goa in 1951 and Goa was under Portuguese rule.

My earliest memories of hearing the Portuguese national anthem was in 1953 in Goa when I was about 6 years of age studying English as well as Portuguese in the village Primary School. Sometime after that I heard the anthem on the radio which was well known then as Emisora de Goa.

Then I went to high school - St. Anthony's at Monte de Guirim. The Portuguese national anthem was printed on the last page of my school calendar for several years. I had to memorize and sing that anthem at the enforced and compulsory Mocidade Portuguesa, both at the school drill and at all school functions until 1961 when Goa was taken over by the Indian Government.

In the interim period I traveled from Goa to Bombay (Mumbai) and back, on a travel then known as 'Documento para Viagem' (Document of Travel) - not exactly a passport.

At 14 years of age, I waved out to the Indian Army soldiers in their turbans as they drove through our village of Guirim in Bardez, perched on the tanks, armoured vehicles and jeeps, creating a huge cloud of dust as they rumbled along, proceeding on the unpaved road from Mapsa to Betim on the banks of the river Mandovi, as some of the people around me shouted 'Jai Hind' (Hail India).

Our school calendar’s last page was soon replaced by the Indian national anthem to which I stood to attention and sang as as inductee into the National Cadet Corps until 2^nd of September 1967 when I boarded a steamer to work in Dubai, then known to only a few as the Trucial States of Oman' - several sheikdoms as Protectorates under the British.

Five days of sailing on the high seas bound for Dubai via Karachi in Pakistan and Muscat in Oman through the Straits of Hormuz meant that there was ‘No National Anthem’ of any kind as the famous steamship ‘Sirdhana’ of British India Steam Navigation Co. - one of the last in the line-up of steamships to sail the seas, left Ballard Pier in Bomaby on 2nd September 1967.

Steeping ashore in Dubai is still one of the memorable moments that changed my life to this day.  Dubai - one of the Trucial States of Oman – was a British Protectorate. Approaching anchorage at offshore location in Dubai on 2nd September 1967, via Karachi and Muscat, the wind-towers looked like sky-scrapers in the distance which in a few years' time were to turn into real skyscrapers!

The RAF Base band at Sharjah raised the British and the T.O.C. flags side by side and I stood up in reverence until 1971 when the United Arab Emirates were formed.

I waved out to the UAE Army Parade and stood up during functions when the UAE National anthem was sung or played for several years.

In the years that followed I immigrated to Canada and had to memorize and sing the Canadian national anthem at the swearing-in ceremony as a Canadian citizen.

So, now, to sum up the anthems:

                    Portugal         Herois do Mar.

                    India              Jana Gana Mana

                    British            God Save the Queen

          UAE                Ishy Bilady

                    Canada           O Canada

1.  In India under the British: 7 months and 1 week (oblivious to any anthem)

2.  No Anthem: 5 days in international waters

3.  In Goa under Portuguese rule: ‘a subject of the Portuguese Overseas Province’ as the         Portuguese liked to call it: 8 years.

4.  Independent Indian in Goa: 5 years

5.  Indian outside Goa: 8 years.

6.  Indian citizen and expatriate worker in Dubai: 31 years

7.  Landed immigrant in Canada: 5 years

8.  Canadian Citizen: 10 years

9.  Independent, tired and retired - Ad Infinitum.

1. In heaven, assuming that I'm going there, I guess I'll have to sing the Lord's Anthem.

It's been a long and nostalgic journey indeed. But what's an anthem? Besides being compositions with patriotic lyrics, up-beat marches, or hymns in a particular style, I have sung, saluted and stood up to attention and shown respect to them as they were played, and listened to the world anthems whilst watching the Olympic Games.

But on the lighter side, if I ever decide to go to Mars, and if the Martians have an anthem, it will be my 6th. 

SALUTING THE FLAGS, STANDING TO ATTENTION

Convoy of Indian troops passing through the village of 
Guirim, Cumbiem Morod, heading to the capital Panaji via Betim,
from Mapusa, 19th December 1961.

Line drawing by Tony Fernandes

SALUTING THE FLAGS
&

 STANDING TO ATTENTION

(A True Tale of Circumstance)
by Tony Fernandes

I was born in Bombay in 1947, on 7 of January. The British were still in India. India was yet to get its Independence from Great Britain then. Independence for Felicio would eventually come 7 months and 3 weeks later. Due to the economic situation prevailing at the time my family had to relocate to Goa in 1951 and Goa was under Portuguese rule.

My earliest memories of hearing the Portuguese national anthem were in 1953 in Goa when I was about 6 years of age studying English as well as Portuguese in the village Primary School. Sometime after that I heard the anthem on the radio which was well known then as Emisora de Goa.

Then I went to high school - St. Anthony's at Monte de Guirim. The Portuguese national anthem was printed on the last page of my school calendar for several years. I had to memorize and sing that anthem at the enforced and compulsory Mocidade Portuguesa, both at the school drill and at all school functions until 1961 when Goa was taken over by the Indian Government.

In the interim period I traveled from Goa to Bombay (Mumbai) and back, on a travel then known as 'Documento para Viagem' (Document of Travel) - not exactly a passport.

At 14 years of age, I waved out to the Indian Army soldiers in their turbans as they drove through our village of Guirim in Bardez, perched on the tanks, armoured vehicles and jeeps, creating a huge cloud of dust as they rumbled along, proceeding on the unpaved road from Mapsa to Betim on the banks of the river Mandovi, as some of the people around me shouted 'Jai Hind' (Hail India).

Our school calendar’s last page was soon replaced by the Indian national anthem to which I stood to attention and sang as as inductee into the National Cadet Corps until 2^nd of September 1967 when I boarded a steamer to work in Dubai, then known to only a few as the Trucial States of Oman' - several sheikdoms as Protectorates under the British.

Five days of sailing on the high seas bound for Dubai via Karachi in Pakistan and Muscat in Oman through the Straits of Hormuz meant that there was ‘No National Anthem’ of any kind as the famous steamship ‘Sirdhana’ of British India Steam Navigation Co. - one of the last in the line-up of steamships to sail the seas, left Ballard Pier in Bomaby on 2nd September 1967.

Stepping ashore in Dubai is still one of the memorable moments that changed my life to this day.  Dubai - one of the Trucial States of Oman – was a British Protectorate. Approaching anchorage at offshore location in Dubai on 2nd September 1967, via Karachi and Muscat, the wind-towers appeared like sky-scrapers in the distance which in a few years' time were to turn into real skyscrapers!

The RAF Base band at Sharjah raised the British and the T.O.S. (Trucial Oman Scouts). flags side by side and I stood up in reverence until 1971 when the United Arab Emirates were formed.

I waved out to the UAE Army Parade and stood up during functions when the UAE National anthem was sung or played for several years.

In the years that followed I immigrated to Canada and had to memorize and sing the Canadian national anthem at the swearing-in ceremony as a Canadian citizen.

So, now, to sum up the anthems:

                    Portugal         Herois do Mar.

                    India              Jana Gana Mana

                    British            God Save the Queen

       UAE              Ishy Bilady

                    Canada           O Canada

1.  In India under the British: 7 months and 1 week (oblivious to any anthem)

2.  No Anthem: 5 days in international waters (by Bristish Steamship 'Sirdhana' - Bombay to Dubai via Karachi and Muscat, Oman.

3.  In Goa under Portuguese rule: ‘a subject of the Portuguese Overseas Province’ (as the   Portuguese would have liked to call it):  8 years.

4.  Independent Indian in Goa:  5 years

5.  Indian outside Goa:  8 years.
. .  Indian citizen and expatriate worker in Dubai as a British Protectorate: 4 year

6.  Indian citizen and expatriate worker in Dubai: 31 years
...  Landed immigrant in Canada: 5 years

8.  Canadian Citizen: 10 years

9.  Independent, tired and retired - Ad Infinitum.

11. In heaven, assuming that I'm going there, I guess I'll have to sing the Lord's Anthem.

It's been a long and nostalgic journey indeed. But what's an anthem? Besides being compositions with patriotic lyrics, up-beat marches, or hymns in a particular style, I have sung, saluted and stood up to attention and shown respect to them as they were played, and listened to the world anthems whilst watching the Olympic Games.

But on the lighter side, if I ever decide to go to Mars, and if the Martians have an anthem, it will be my 6th. 

SALUTING THE FLAGS & STANDING TO ATTENTION

SALUTING THE FLAGS

 STANDING TO ATTENTION

(A True Tale of Circumstance)

I was born in Bombay in 1947, on 7 of January. The British were still in India. India was yet to get its Independence from Great Britain then. Independence for Felicio would eventually come 7 months and 3 weeks later. Due to the economic situation prevailing at the time my family had to relocate to Goa in 1951 and Goa was under Portuguese rule.

My earliest memories of hearing the Portuguese national anthem was in 1953 in Goa when I was about 6 years of age studying English as well as Portuguese in the village Primary School. Sometime after that I heard the anthem on the radio which was well known then as Emisora de Goa.

Then I went to high school - St. Anthony's at Monte de Guirim. The Portuguese national anthem was printed on the last page of my school calendar for several years. I had to memorize and sing that anthem at the enforced and compulsory Mocidade Portuguesa, both at the school drill and at all school functions until 1961 when Goa was taken over by the Indian Government.

In the interim period I traveled from Goa to Bombay (Mumbai) and back, on a travel then known as 'Documento para Viagem' (Document of Travel) - not exactly a passport.

At 14 years of age, I waved out to the Indian Army soldiers in their turbans as they drove through our village of Guirim in Bardez, perched on the tanks, armoured vehicles and jeeps, creating a huge cloud of dust as they rumbled along, proceeding on the unpaved road from Mapsa to Betim on the banks of the river Mandovi, as some of the people around me shouted 'Jai Hind' (Hail India).

Our school calendar’s last page was soon replaced by the Indian national anthem to which I stood to attention and sang as as inductee into the National Cadet Corps until 2^nd of September 1967 when I boarded a steamer to work in Dubai, then known to only a few as the Trucial States of Oman' - several sheikdoms as Protectorates under the British.

Five days of sailing on the high seas bound for Dubai via Karachi in Pakistan and Muscat in Oman through the Straits of Hormuz meant that there was ‘No National Anthem’ of any kind as the famous steamship ‘Sirdhana’ of British India Steam Navigation Co. - one of the last in the line-up of steamships to sail the seas, left Ballard Pier in Bomaby on 2nd September 1967.

Steeping ashore in Dubai is still one of the memorable moments that changed my life to this day.  Dubai - one of the Trucial States of Oman – was a British Protectorate. Approaching anchorage at offshore location in Dubai on 2nd September 1967, via Karachi and Muscat, the wind-towers looked like sky-scrapers in the distance which in a few years' time were to turn into real skyscrapers!

The RAF Base band at Sharjah raised the British and the T.O.C. flags side by side and I stood up in reverence until 1971 when the United Arab Emirates were formed.

I waved out to the UAE Army Parade and stood up during functions when the UAE National anthem was sung or played for several years.

In the years that followed I immigrated to Canada and had to memorize and sing the Canadian national anthem at the swearing-in ceremony as a Canadian citizen.

So, now, to sum up the anthems:

                    Portugal         Herois do Mar.

                    India              Jana Gana Mana

                    British            God Save the Queen

          UAE                Ishy Bilady

                    Canada           O Canada

1.  In India under the British: 7 months and 1 week (oblivious to any anthem)

2.  No Anthem: 5 days in international waters

3.  In Goa under Portuguese rule: ‘a subject of the Portuguese Overseas Province’ as the         Portuguese liked to call it: 8 years.

4.  Independent Indian in Goa: 5 years

5.  Indian outside Goa: 8 years.

6.  Indian citizen and expatriate worker in Dubai: 31 years

7.  Landed immigrant in Canada: 5 years

8.  Canadian Citizen: 10 years

9.  Independent, tired and retired - Ad Infinitum.

1. In heaven, assuming that I'm going there, I guess I'll have to sing the Lord's Anthem.

It's been a long and nostalgic journey indeed. But what's an anthem? Besides being compositions with patriotic lyrics, up-beat marches, or hymns in a particular style, I have sung, saluted and stood up to attention and shown respect to them as they were played, and listened to the world anthems whilst watching the Olympic Games.

But on the lighter side, if I ever decide to go to Mars, and if the Martians have an anthem, it will be my 6th. 

ALL JOKES ASIDE!

TEASERS

Me:          “Would you like to taste a sample?”
Customer:  “No, thanks, I’m alright”
Me:           “I didn’t ask you how you are.”
———————————————————————————————
Me:           “Would you care for a sample taste, sir?”
Customer:  “My wife makes our own pickles at home.”
Me:           “My wife makes too. But I didn’t ask you
                  whether your wife makes her own.
                  I asked you whether you’d like a sample."
______________________________________________________

While trying to make a quick getaway after
trying a multitude of samples;
Customer :   “How long do your jars last?
Me          :   “Jars:  Forever,   Pickles: 3 years.”

 

AL JOKES ASIDE!

HIPPY HANDS, A KIND OF SEMAPHORE!

Visitors standing and watching in front of booth with

Both hands on hip   :   Daring

Left hand on hip      :  Tentative

Right hand on hip    :  Contradictory     

One hand on hip

the other in pocket  :   Sending us wrong signals. Or trying to invent a new kind  
                                         of semaphore.

 

10 MONTHS ON 13 ONE 13

ARI

YES, THERE IS LIFE AFTER 66 - IT IS CALLED GOING ON 67

LIFE AFTER 66

Yes, there's life after 66 -

it's called going on 67.

66 clicks and counting.

CLICKETY CLICK : 66

Ari-Baba says:

  For an enlarged view,

please click on the pictures.

First of all, a big 'thank you' for the good wishes on my 66th birthday from all my close family members - my wife, my children, my grandson, friends and relatives who have remembered me on this day, and all those who have sent in their wishes by way of greeting cards, emails, Facebook and telephone calls making me feel fortunate and blessed.

All these years, it's been hard to visualize what it would mean to be 66. I like the phrase 'aging gracefully' as some people so well put it, while others live and age so well - if I could only keep up with that. In fact, 'clickety click' to me sounds more like something that is associated with trying to straighten out an aching and aging knee.

Sometimes in the past the thought of getting older has been a scary one for me - making me tend to think as if the guarantee and chances of being up and running are finally running out.

But my biggest gift for this year birthday is my 10-month old grandson, Ari Lukasz, who is presently the darling of our entire family, relatives and friends. Ari has brightened up the new way I look at things and renewed my willingness to live on and on, dismissing the guarantee mentioned above as null and void. Ari's mere presence is enough to calm me down from woes or worries. One look at Ari or even merely at his photograph is enough to ward off the aging blues. And I take pride in acknowledging this fact, having spent an entire day yesterday - (some quality time eh?) with my family.

Ari gave me a wonderful birthday card this year. This card is an important and a significant one among others from the family members - of being a first greeting card from a Grandson to a Grandpa.

There are also many other gifts that I have to be thankful for in my life:

Firstly I thank God for giving me a beautiful and caring family.

I thank my wife Edna for her love and understanding, for her hard work and dedication in bringing up our children well, for her constant support in all my aspirations, and for her constant companionship during the last 37 years - through ups and downs.

I thank my 3 children for their love and respect, care and support. Denise is always there for us, and is able to come up with the most logical solutions and the most elaborate surprises. Thanks Shawn for lending me your Fender 'Stratocaster' with the amplifier - to play with for as long as your are away on your trip to San Francisco.

Denzil has been very loving, and has always been passionate about whatever he does. And he is always there when we need him. He also comes up with convenient solutions that somehow always involve the use of computer technology. Special thanks to Denzil for your gift plus installation of the new super-duper computer with Windows 8 and state-of-the-art scanner and apps installed, and for training and introducing my 1970's style mind-set and personality to new  4G technology. For an aging mind it's not easy - but I think I'm getting there. Well, almost. Thanks also to Kate for her encouragement and support.

Dahlia is ever present to keep our spirits high with her music, humour and energy.  I am blessed and my life is full of love and her friendship, and the meaningful lyrics in her poetry at the drop of a hat. Tristan and Dahlia - thank you both for your gift, kindness and admiration.

My parents are no longer living, but I always remember them and owe them for the happy and good life that I enjoy today. They made sure that I got an education, but more importantly nurtured me with their love, and instilled in me the good values of life. I am sure they are looking down on me today with their blessings, along with the company of my mother-in-law and father-in-law who treated me like their own son in the absence of my own parents.

Lately, and very often, my friends have been saying: “Hey, Tony, you don’t look your age”. But look guys, what I'd like to say at this point in time is that I owe my youthful looks to Edna’s wonderful and healthy cooking.

Nevertheless, since I really can’t believe it myself, like most of you, that it was until just yesterday that I was only a mere 65, and turned 66 today – I must insist on a recount.

They say that after sixty-five one first tends to forget names; then faces; then you may   forget to zip up your fly; and then you forget to remember to unzip your fly. But my dear relative and friends, you will never be forgotten - neither your name nor your face.

Thank you for your friendship during all these years. I must say that being sixty-five was not easy – it took me 240106.5 days to get here, including that extra day in leap years . Having been born in the roaring forties, life has been a great experience - studying through the swinging fifties, donning a Beatles haircut and sailing to Dubai in the sixties, getting married in the fabulous ABBA seventies, and learning to manage kids through Dire Straits with the rocking eighties, and coping up with digital mania of the great nineties, and topping up with the completion of a great and fantastic decade in the 21^st century.

Now, it’s time to look on the brighter side.

From today I shall presume that I am twenty with 46 years experience.

Convert that into Celsius and it should be about 17 without wind-chill.

From now on I shall select only sweet tunes as they say the older the fiddle sweeter the tune. Or it may be the same fiddler, same fiddle, but a different tune. 

Have you ever wondered why sixty-five is considered as a great mile stone?

It’s very simple my friends - because if we were to count age in kilometres I would have been 105 years old today. Besides, who'd want to live that long eh?

Days of inflation are long gone for me. Inflation was supposed to be when I paid fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut when I had hair. I wasn't a show-off, but keeping the barber happy with a 50% tip meant that a good hair-cut was very important in my younger days. But inflation or no inflation – now I don’t have to worry about rising cost of hair-cuts, or even try to get mileage from my hair any more. And besides, a good collection of hats does the rest!

Finally, I’d like to say that today, as I embark on yet another 365-day journey around the sun, with wonderful friends and a loving family, I look forward to a wonderful year ahead. And after having completed 66 of these round trips already, which incidentally means a lot of experience, I am happy to be alive to tell the tale. I thank the Lord for a good life, a good wife, beautiful kids and excellent friends.

AND A HANDSOME GRANDSON - Ari Lukasz.

Happy Birthday to all those who share and celebrate their birthday with me today. To those who are older than I am, I'd say "I'll catch up with you some day" and to those who are still young and in waiting - yet to be 66, I'd say this, if I may:

"You'll catch up to be my age one day, but you'll never win."

Tony Fernandes

THE ADORATION OF THE MAGI - Cansaulim, Goa - 6 JAN 2005

After prayers at the local

church in Cansaulim

one of the selected 'Kings'

from the family of the celebrants...

...start on the long trek through villages and fields...

...in a procession with other folks from the village

and the band playing along the way....

...and finally the end of the journey is near....

...the mount is in sight...

...finally reaching the chapel on the hill.
There they will meet the other two 'Magi'
who will trek up the hill from other villages
and meet them in front of the chapel,
culminating with
a con-celebrated Solemn High Mass
and other traditional festivities. 

Pictures on Kodak film 

The Adoration of the Magi

Feast of the Three Kings
Balthazar, Gaspar, and Melchior

Cansaulim,

Salcete, Goa. India

In this posting:
Scanned Images of the Year 2005
Film: Kodak

HINDU TEMPLE AT CANCA, Bardez, Goa

RAIA, LOUTOLIM

CHAPEL AT RAIA - LOUTOLIM, Salcete, Goa

Chapel at Raia - Loutolim

Salcete - South Goa.

near Fernando's Nostalgia Restaurant