Tonferns - A Nostalgic Journey

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2012-03-17T03:41:00.001-05:00

ST. PATRICK

Apostle of Ireland,

born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland,

in the year 387;

died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland,

17 March, 493.

The green color and the shamrock represents and symbolizes Irish Christianity. It is the national colour of Ireland and everything goes green on St. Patrick's Day. St. Patrick is believed to have used the shamrock in teaching the Irish about the Holy Trinity.

Green is life, signifying growth, health, and environment.

Green is restful with cooling and calming attributes,

and good for the eyes.

Green is the national color of Ireland.

Green also heralds the onset of Spring

Love all, trust a few. - William Shakespeare

2012-03-16T04:24:00.001-05:00

TRUST IN JESUS

and you'll be in full control
under full throttle.

GOA CHITRA - Museum founded by Victor Hugo Gomes

2012-03-15T14:32:00.003-05:00

The Goa Chitra is a museum based in the former Portuguese colony (and now India's smallest state) of Goa. It has a large collection -- over 4000 artefacts -- focusing on Goa's traditional agrarian technology and lifestyle.

Goa Chitra is based in the coastal Goan village of Benaulim. It was founded and is run by the artist-curator-restorer Victor-Hugo Gomes. The museum has been described as one of Goa's most charming attractions. This little rural complex houses a huge collection of horse and bullock-drawn carriages and thousands of traditional implements, vessels and tools that evolved over centuries in the agrarian heartland of Goa in the service of farming and other traditional trades.

Goa Chitra's collection includes examples of local pottery, farming tools, musical instruments, ancient carts and palanquins -- from different points of the past. It also showcases an organic farm for the cultivation of various vegetables, herbs, spices, sugarcane, and rice -- all staples of the area in coastal western India

Photos by Tony Fernandes

GRANDPA'S HEART

2012-03-14T07:19:00.005-05:00

Grandpa's Heart

News of you has taught me more,
I know now what a long life's for.
I've found through you my magic heart,
The kinder, gentler, patient part.
While I waited those months for you,
I reflected on the things we'd do.
I would be your special friend,
Have secrets to share and pennies to spend.
I would tell you of the past,
Leave you memories that would always last.
I would grant your every wish,
Like bigger scoops in your ice cream dish.
I would be your biggest fan,
The one cheering loudest from the stands.
I'd play games of make believe,
Pull magic tricks from up my sleeve.
I'd take lots of photographs,
And be generous with smiles and laughs.
The first time you were in my arms,
I felt the miracle of your charms.
I placed your newborn hand in mine,
And understood the gift of time.
Tender feelings are hard to express,
Grandchild,it is me you've blessed.
Your life gives me another chance,
A youthful heart and eyes that dance.
News of you has taught me more,
I know now what a long life is for.
I give to you the magic part,
Of your Grandpa's loving heart.

- Teri Harrison

Grandchild's Hand

2012-03-14T06:03:00.004-05:00

Grandchild’s Hand

The promise of tomorrow

And the hope of dreams come true…

A reminder of the childhood

That’s still a part of you…

The wonder of a miracle

From which this love began…

There is so much found in the touch

Of holding a grandchild’s hand.

A NEW FERN - A New Beginning

2012-03-13T08:52:00.014-05:00

OUR GRANDSON ARI

JOINS THE FAMILY TREE

To Our First Grandchild
Ari Lukasz

It is a special time for us
as you bring great joy to us this day,
And it also means a lot
to those who love you, too ~
So, along with lots of love and pride
on this very special day,
Comes a wish that you’ll be blessed
in a very special way.

2012-03-12T15:00:00.002-05:00

The Lone Fisherman Lost in Thought

Looking for a clue among the pebbles in the sand

Sunset at Baga Beach, Goa

Spectacular Chapel of St. Anthony, Cabo de Rama, Goa

2012-03-12T14:33:00.000-05:00

St. Anthony's Chapel

situated within the fort,

Cabo de Rama, (Cape of Rama)

Goa, India

Resort Rio - Arpora, Bardez, Goa

2012-03-12T08:56:00.003-05:00

Resort Rio

Panoramic Goa - Baga, Bardez, Goa

2012-03-10T06:16:00.002-05:00

Baga Across the River

Panoramic Goa

2012-03-09T21:44:00.003-05:00

View of Chapora River from Morgim Hills

Goodbye Goa! Hasta la vista!

2012-03-09T11:57:00.005-05:00

Till We Meet Again!

Church of St. Cajetan, Assagao, Bardez, Goa

2012-03-07T23:19:00.000-05:00

Chapel at Sucorro, Bardez, Goa

2012-03-06T22:17:00.001-05:00

ST. CAJETAN'S CHURCH, Bastora, Bardez, Goa

2012-03-05T21:33:00.001-05:00

Ashvem Beach, North Goa

2012-03-05T01:48:00.003-05:00

Bridge across the lake

Ashvem Beach, South of Keri,

North Goa.

View of Sunset from Monte de Guirim, Bardez, Goa.

2012-03-03T22:22:00.003-05:00

Sunset View from Miramar, Goa, India

2012-03-03T03:21:00.003-05:00

HINDU TEMPLE, Parra, Bardez, Goa

2012-03-02T12:40:00.004-05:00

Illuminated Temple - Evening Splendour

Temple at Parra, Jaaknnim, Bardez, Goa

SPICE MARKET

2012-03-01T22:42:00.002-05:00

'Nossa Senhora de Milagres' Church, Mapusa, Bardez, Goa

2012-02-29T23:30:00.003-05:00

Vintage Cars in Goa, India

2012-02-29T00:25:00.002-05:00

TULSI, Goa

2012-02-26T22:32:00.002-05:00

The Chapel on the Hill, Verla, Bardez, Goa

2012-02-24T21:04:00.001-05:00

Resort Rio - Arpora, Bardez, Goa

2012-02-24T01:28:00.003-05:00

Fruit of the Cashew Tree

2012-02-22T21:34:00.004-05:00

While the fruit of the cashew tree is used for making the world-famous one of a kind CASHEW FENNI, the seeds (cashew nuts) of the cashew fruit make excellent snack to go along with Cashew Fenni with Limca.

The cashew is a tree in the family Anacardiaceae. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, acajú. Originally native to northern South America, it is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew seeds and cashew apples.

In Memoriam

2012-02-18T22:27:00.002-05:00

In Memory of those young school children and others who lost their innocent lives at Calvim - Aldona, Goa, a tragedy that occurred yesterday - a mini bus plunging into the river.

Chapel of St. Francis of Assisi, Monte de Guirim, Bardez, Goa

2012-02-17T23:48:00.001-05:00

Chapel of St. Francis of Assisi,

St. Anthony's High School,

Monte de Guirim, Bardez, Goa

ANCESTRAL HOME, GOA

2012-02-16T23:02:00.002-05:00

Ancestral Home of Late Benedicata Fernandes e Barboza,

Loutolim, Salcette, Goa, India

Bridge across the Chapora River, North Goa

2012-02-16T06:37:00.004-05:00

ROSES REMIND OF "EL KAYS" Parra, Sonar Waddo, Bardez, Goa

2012-02-15T10:36:00.003-05:00

FLOWERS OF GOA

2012-02-14T10:12:00.004-05:00

Down by the Chapora River, Siolim, Bardez, Goa

2012-02-12T21:14:00.002-05:00

Down by the Chapora River, Goa, India

Panjim City Garden, Goa, India

2012-02-10T21:32:00.005-05:00

FATHER OF HYPNOTISM - ABADE FARIA

2012-02-06T20:53:00.004-05:00

STATUE OF ABADE FARIA

Panjim, Goa, India

Father of Hynotism

Abbé Faria (Abade Faria in Portuguese), or Abbé (Abbot) José Custódio de Faria, (30 May 1746 - 20 September 1819), was a colourful Goan Catholic monk who was one of the pioneers of the scientific study of hypnotism, following on from the work of Franz Anton Mesmer. Unlike Mesmer, who claimed that hypnosis was mediated by "animal magnetism", Faria understood that it worked purely by the power of suggestion. In the early 19th century, Abbé Faria introduced oriental hypnosis to Paris.

He was one of the first to depart from the theory of the "magnetic fluid," to place in relief the importance of suggestion, and to demonstrate the existence of "autosuggestion"; he also established that what he termed nervous sleep belongs to the natural order. From his earliest magnetizing séances, in 1814, he boldly developed his doctrine. Nothing comes from the magnetizer; everything comes from the subject and takes place in his imagination generated from within the mind. Magnetism is only a form of sleep. Although of the moral order, the magnetic action is often aided by physical, or rather by physiological, means–fixedness of look and cerebral fatigue.

Faria changed the terminology of mesmerism. Previously focus was on the "concentration" of the subject. In Faria's terminology the operator became "the concentrator" and somnambulism was viewed as a lucid sleep. The method of hypnosis used by Faria is command, following expectancy.The theory of Abbe Faria is now known as Fariism.

José Custódio de Faria was born in Candolim village of Bardez in the Portuguese administrated Goa, on 30 May 1746. He was the son of Caetano Vitorino de Faria, a Goan of Colvalevillage, and Rosa Maria de Sousa of Candolim village.

- Wikipedia

DOWN BY THE BANKS OF THE MANDOVI

2012-02-05T21:15:00.003-05:00

WHERE THE WATERS FLOW

AND COOL BREEZES BLOW

View of Mandovi River from Ribandar, Ilhas, Goa

Picnickers at Keri Beach, Goa (North)

2012-02-04T20:24:00.004-05:00

Sari-clad Picnickers at Keri Beach, North Goa.

RIDING ON A BUDGET

2012-02-03T20:49:00.004-05:00

SHIRTLESS LOW BUDGET 'TUSHIN'

LOW ON APPROPRIATE ATTIRE

AND POSSIBLY LOW ON GAS TOO

AS THE LADY SEEMS TO BE DIGGING INTO HIS POCKET

SOUND HORN OK PLEASE

2012-02-02T23:47:00.006-05:00

MIND BOGGLING

Vehicles with this type of signage first arrived in Goa after the Indian Govt. takeover in 1961. At present the only thing that is 'OK' seems to be the honking, but not the roads, the drivers or their driving habits. Honking apparently goes on and on, sometimes without rhyme or reason, and even when there is no one around (force of habit, I guess).

I've tried to figure out the above signage mainly on trucks, ever since the time I learned to read, but never really understood it. HORN PLEASE OK, PLEASE SOUND HORN OK, PLEASE OK HORN, BLOW OK HORN, etc. I don't really know whether the horn of the guy in front of you is okay or whether he requires that you get your horn repaired if that's ok with you. Will someone please enlighten?

I"M OK, YOU'RE OK, HORN OK, BUT TRUCK BRAKES NOT OK, TRUCK DRIVER NOT OK (may be drunk) SOUND OF HORN IS NOT OK, TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IS OK. I ASKED A DRIVER BUT HE DIDN'T SEEM TO KNOW WHO IS OK?

SO IF YOUR HORN IS OK KEEP BLOWING IT ALL THE TIME OK?

PLEASE

Hibiscus - A Common Flower of Goa

2012-02-01T23:31:00.003-05:00

Altars of St. Anne's Church, Parra, Bardez, Goa

2012-01-31T21:31:00.001-05:00

Back in Baga, Goa, India

2012-01-30T20:41:00.002-05:00

CHURCH OF ST. DIOGO, GUIRIM-SANGOLDA, Bardez, Goa.

2012-01-29T23:00:00.003-05:00

CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, Panaji, Goa. India

2012-01-28T21:46:00.003-05:00

'Pikaas' - Goa Tools & Implements

2012-01-28T00:23:00.001-05:00

The Goan Picas (Pick-axe)

The 'Koito' - Common house-hold Tools of Goa

2012-01-26T22:14:00.005-05:00

Koito - Common House-hold Tools of Goa,

The Scythe - Goa Tools of the 'Render'

2012-01-25T21:47:00.003-05:00

The Scythe of the Toddy Tapper

'Gunnsunnom' Grinder for Spices (Masala)

2012-01-18T18:55:00.001-05:00

House-hold Spices (Masala) Grinder

Carved from Granite Diameter 2ft.

Total Height: 2ft.

'FAATHON' GRINDING STONE - Goa

2012-01-17T07:14:00.003-05:00

Common House-hold Grinding Stone - Goa,

for grinding spices in paste (masala) used in making curry and vegetable dishes

'NO CURRY TASTE BETTER WITHOUT A GRINDING STONE'

'Dantem' - Grinding Grain into Flour

2012-01-16T01:14:00.002-05:00

House-hold Grinding Mill - Granite Stone - Goa,

for grinding grain into flour used in making flat-bread and pastries.

'Vaan' - Threshing of Parboiled Rice (Goa - India)

2012-01-16T01:12:00.004-05:00

'Vaan'

USED FOR THRESHING PARBOILED RICE

(A must in the back room of every rustic village home of a bygone era)

The 'Vaan' consists of a hole in the ground about 6" in diameter and 8" deep and a set of two bamboo poles.

This is mainly a chore for two women alternatively beating into the hole where rice is put, threshed using the ends of the bamboo poles and later separated using sieves.

GOAN 'PONTTI' BY NIGHT - by Tonferns

2012-01-15T19:40:00.008-05:00

'PONTTI'

Known locally as 'pontti', it is a lamp made of red clay, average size about 3" x 2", and extensively used during Diwali celebrations. Arrays lit 'en masse' are seen in the balconies and courtyards of homes. It is lit mainly as a religious offering using oil with a cotton wick in Hindu and Christian homes.

CANDLE LIGHT BY NIGHT

2012-01-13T07:06:00.002-05:00

2012-01-12T16:01:00.001-05:00

Hohner Meister Klasse 580 MS Diatonic

2012-01-11T08:03:00.002-05:00

Hohner 'Puck' Harmonica

2012-01-10T18:54:00.005-05:00

Hohner Hot Metal

2012-01-10T18:05:00.007-05:00

Hohner Big River Harp

2012-01-10T18:02:00.007-05:00

Chrometta 12 255 Hohner Harmonica

2012-01-10T14:14:00.004-05:00

Marine Band B-flat

2012-01-10T01:54:00.004-05:00

M. Hohner

Marine Band B-Flat

TONFERNS THROUGH THE AGES

2012-01-07T08:35:00.006-05:00

TONFERNS THROUGH THE AGES

I can’t remember any speeches anymore. You know I’m sixty-five. So I have to read them.

I thank my wife Edna for her love and understanding, for her dedication in bringing up our children well, for her encouragement in all my aspirations and for her constant companionship and steadfast support during the last 37 years.

I thank my children for their love and respect, and 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.

Denzil is very loving and always 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.

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 friendship.

My parents are no longer living, but I owe them for the good life that I have today. They made sure that I got an education, but more importantly nurtured me with their love.

Lately my friends have been saying: “Hey, Tony, you don’t look sixty-five”. At this point in time I’d like to mention that I owe my youthful looks to Edna’s wonderful cooking.

Nevertheless, since I really can’t believe like most of you that I’m sixty-five – I insist on a recount.

They say when you are sixty-five you first tend to forget names; then you forget faces; then you forget to zip up your fly; and then you forget to unzip your fly. But my dear relative and friends, you will never be forgotten. Thank you for your friendship during all these years.

I must say that being sixty-five was not easy – it took me 23,801.5 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 seventies, and learning to manage kids through the rocking eighties and digital nineties and 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 45 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 104 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 65 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.

2012-01-07T08:31:00.001-05:00

2012-01-01T18:18:00.001-05:00

ADIEU TO 2011

2011-12-31T13:12:00.001-05:00

Once again, we say adieu to a year that seemed to have just passed by us so quickly and it is time now to usher in yet another. Each year we wish and pray for peaceful days ahead, free from turmoil, war, natural disasters. Some folks happily attend parties, family get-together, large social gatherings in communities irrespective of caste or religion to celebrate the new year. Some may be thinking of their loved ones who were with them in the last year, and as fate has it, many of us do not with us today those that we loved to share in those happy moments of yesteryear.

We cherish the good old days when we attended New Year’s Eve Ball and house parties that followed. That was the norm. Today as we are much older, we can’t help but reminisce about the good old days, and the good times we had then and those that we shared with our friends, some of whom sadly are not longer with us. Some times I tend to ask myself why we refer to those days as the good old days. Conversely, I believe that the days are the same, the only difference being that we are getting older.

Poignantly though and quite aptly, some of us may reminisce once again in forming a circle with our friends at the Ball, waiting for the count-down at the stroke of midnight and singing ‘Auld Lang Syne’.

At the same time, in true fashion of “Old Long Ago’ we take time to re-kindle cherished memories of our loving Fredrick and Benny Barboza and all other dear departed relatives and friends.

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and days of old lang syne.

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

2011-12-31T09:59:00.001-05:00

CHANGING OF THE SEASONS, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

2011-12-30T18:56:00.005-05:00

CHANGING OF THE SEASON'S & BUILDING'S PROGRESS

This is no trick photography, but the changing scene of a lone building through the course of the years 1998 - 1999 in Mississauga, Canada.

Digital photography wasn't in vogue yet, hence the dim and faded glow of a decade-old photographs, shot on film with an SLR Camera from an Apartment Building on Mississauga Valley Blvd., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

SPRING

SUMMER

EARLY FALL

FALL

LATE FALL

WINTER

REMEMBERING FREDRICK BARBOZA

2011-12-28T23:50:00.008-05:00

REMEMBERING

FREDRICK CHARLES BARBOZA
3rd Death Anniversary

Lyricist, Composer, Singer, Actor

30.11.1930 - 28 December 2008

(in Photograph with Antonette & Late Romeo Mendes - actors and singers of the Konkani Stage)

2nd Cassette produced by Mr. Freddy Barboza

Season's Greetings

2011-12-28T08:21:00.000-05:00

Season's Greetings

2011-12-28T08:18:00.005-05:00

2011-12-28T08:18:00.004-05:00

NATIVITY SCENE - Tonferns Creations

2011-12-27T19:40:00.003-05:00

2011-12-26T12:37:00.001-05:00

WISHING EVERYONE A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS

2011-12-25T08:45:00.004-05:00

2011-12-24T07:46:00.001-05:00

CARTOONIST MARIO MIRANDA

2011-12-23T20:52:00.002-05:00

Mario João Carlos do Rosario de Brito Miranda (2 May 1926 – 11 December 2011), popularly known as Mario Miranda or Mario de Miranda, was an Indian cartoonist based in Loutolim in the Indian state of Goa. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and Padma Shri in 1988.

Miranda had been a regular with The Times of India and other newspapers in Mumbai, including The Economic Times, though he got his popularity with his works published in The Illustrated Weekly of India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Miranda

LET'S GET IT RIGHT

2011-12-21T07:18:00.005-05:00

I'M A FRIEND OF LANSDOWNE!

http://www.letsgetitright.ca/

Ottawa

2011-12-20T20:20:00.001-05:00

Edna's Pickles in Toronto Life

2011-12-18T13:24:00.005-05:00

'MISSISSAGOAN'

Edna's Pickles have been featured in Toronto Life.

http://bit.ly/t3UBe8

Excellent Job

2011-12-16T19:27:00.001-05:00

WHAT A FINE ACCOLADE:

Customer after trying about a thousand samples,

(and after an unsuccessful sale) had the following to say:

You’re doing an excellent job!

Lansdowne Park, Ottawa

2011-12-14T23:04:00.003-05:00

Resilient Artisans at Craft Shows

2011-12-13T16:10:00.002-05:00

THERE”S ALWAYS SOMETHING:

Artisans somehow have always been resilient to the brunt of adverse conditions: If it’s not a bad spot, then its floor. If it’s not the rain, then it’s the blistering heat. If it’s not the low turn out, then it’s the gale force winds that blow over tents, and at times there's everything combined.

Bring it on!

Aberdeen Pavilion, Lansdowne Park, Ottawa

2011-12-12T21:12:00.003-05:00

Ottawa

2011-12-06T10:32:00.003-05:00

EDNA'S PICKLES, One of a Kind Show Christmas 2011

2011-12-03T07:43:00.001-05:00

OOAK Toronto

2011-12-03T07:42:00.004-05:00

Direct Energy Centre, Toronto.

2011-12-02T08:38:00.001-05:00

One of A Kind Show, Direct Energy Centre, Toronto

2011-11-28T08:20:00.001-05:00

2011-11-24T08:36:00.002-05:00

FAIR NOVEMBER ARTS & CRAFT SHOW AT UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH

2011-11-16T08:01:00.004-05:00

ART & SCULPTURE AT THE DISTILLERY HISTORIC DISTRICT, TORONTO

2011-11-14T07:29:00.004-05:00

The CN Tower

(View from the Parliament Street, Distillery Historic District)

2011-11-13T18:33:00.000-05:00

12 FLAVOURS FOR TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

2011-11-12T17:34:00.012-05:00

CHRISTMAS AT EDNA'S PICKLES

Twelve Flavours of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas

My true love gave to me

An Eggplant in a pear tree

-------

On the second day of Christmas

My true love gave to me

Two Crunchy Gherkins

And an Eggplant in a pear tree

-------------

On the third day of Christmas

My true love gave to me

Three Tangy Limes

Two Crunchy Gherkins

And an Eggplant in a pear tree

------------

One the fourth day of Christmas

My true love gave to me

Four Pear Chutneys

Three Tangy Limes

Two Crunchy Gherkins

And an Eggplant in a pear tree.

-----------

On the fifth day of Christmas

My true love gave to me......

(Carry on with all 12 flavours of Edna’s Pickles)

5 Super Spicy Mango

6 Mild Mango

7 Zucchini Special

8 Hot Triple Mix

9 Mango & Gherkin Mix

10 Sweet Lime

11 Sweet Mango Mash

12 Cranberry Delight

ON THE STREET WHERE I LIVE

2011-11-12T11:13:00.002-05:00

2011-11-12T11:09:00.001-05:00

REMEMBRANCE DAY

2011-11-11T10:49:00.003-05:00

In Flanders Fields

(my favourite poem)

by John McCrae

McCrae was born in McCrae House in Guelph, Ontario to Lieutenant-Colonel David McCrae and Janet Simpson Eckford; he was the grandson of Scottish immigrants. He attended the Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute and became a member of the Guelph militia regiment. The background of his family is military.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Guirim-ville

2011-11-10T10:54:00.007-05:00

Guirim is a small town in the district of Bardez, north-western part of Goa, India, south of the city of Mapusa, and 12 km north of the capital city, Panjim. Local village affairs are handled by the Panchayat system, under the Mamlatdar's Office located at Mapusa. The village lies west of Bastora hills, with the major arterial Highway 17 passing through this scenic village, famous for the academic institution of St. Anthony's High School at Monte de Guirim.

Guirim-ville

(Tony Fernandes)

Based on and adapted from the song

"Camooweal" by Australian singer, Slim Dusty

Should ever I go back to Guirim-ville,

It would be in the spring when marigolds bloom,
Oh, the hibiscus I know would still be there,
And the garden rose would brighten up the gloom.

Should ever I go back to Guirim-ville,
One thing is sure I'd not be seventeen,
As a young lad when I played there in the field,
But memories stay with me I can’t conceal.

How fresh the memory keeps for still I feel,

The falling monsoon rain and lush green fields,
And see again the fireflies in the night,
As I did so long ago when I was there.

Dreams of youth in that now distant day,

I did not heed, my heart did not reveal,
And now I know that I’m far away from home,
Far away from that old cottage at Guirim-ville.

In search of work to a far and distant shore,

Left my folks there so long ago,

Though I've sailed far from that sun-drenched land,

I've never found what I have left behind.

Oh the memories of my carefree and playful youth,
Is now but ashes and only fond memories dwell,

Time heals all wounds they say, but leaves the scar,

But I think I'll still go back to Guirim-ville.

Time heals all wounds they say, but leaves the scar,

Yet I think I'll still go back to Guirim-ville,
Yes I think I'll still go back to Guirim-ville.

Tony Fernandes

2011-11-08T22:19:00.002-05:00

2011-11-07T12:32:00.002-05:00

2011-11-06T10:04:00.002-05:00

GOA'S GRIM SCENARIO (IF MINING CONTINUES UNABATED)

2011-11-04T16:37:00.010-05:00

(AREY! AMCHEM GOA KHUIM REY!)

... BUT GOD FORBID.