- Brian Mendonça
When my nieces Melanie (22) and Michelle (18)
declared they were coming down from Bombay for my son’s birthday we were very
happy. One had a confirmed ticket to Goa by train, the other didn’t.
Rather than make her rough it out at night in the
general compartment, Melanie asked Michelle to travel with her on the same
berth. They boarded the moving train at CST at 10.03 p.m. in true Bollywood
style, after buying last minute gifts for Dwayne (7).
The Ticket Collector came around and asked for the
ticket. After trying to bargain for a cheaper fine, the TC relented and levied around
Rs. 400 – which was the difference of the fare of the confirmed ticket and the
general class ticket which Michelle was carrying.
When I picked them up from the Margao station, the
joy of having them home was palpable. I marvelled at their resolve to make it
to Goa, given the circumstances. They had got away cheaply, I felt. ‘Fine is
fine’ I told them and said I would pay the amount. Because a birthday is a special
occasion and they had made the effort to make my son smile.
This was the first time we were hosting my son’s
birthday in Porvorim. We had envisaged it as a lunch affair, his birthday falling
on a Sunday. But since relatives were passing by on Saturday we had a pre-event
lunch on Saturday too. (It all began, actually, on Friday night with a wedding
reception at Perpetual Gardens, Majorda.)
We called friends and family. Some came, some didn’t.
But we cruised along with the energy of our house guests, Michelle and Melanie. Having just arrived Melanie gave a talk to
college students on ‘Forex and the Indian Economy.’ Her experience in Paterson
and Company, Forex brokers, Mumbai has made her a more self-assured person. She
ended her interaction with the students with a bold poem on body shaming called
‘Brown Girl.’:
Twenty-two years it all went
unnoticed . . .
And now, they rise up from graves
of judgement
and misogyny
And criticize us, measure us and
tame us
Based on their judgement on us
Of how happy we should be.
Michelle put up the decorations and helped Queenie
in the kitchen, while I took Dwayne and the guests poolside before Sunday
lunch. We had a lovely dinner as the river water lapped by the shore at
Terry’s, Betim. After a Monday morning at Mapusa market, we met for fish thali
at Ritz Classic, Mall de Goa, Porvorim.
Like the way he changed our lives, Dwayne’s birthday
is on Makarsankranti, when winter begins to slip into summer. The reading for the season was, 'No one puts new wine into old wineskins;
otherwise the wine is lost and the skins too. No! New wine into fresh skins.' (Mark
2: 22). Mark’s advice remains with us as we continue to ring in the freshness
of 2018 with the nuptials of a friend’s wedding at St. Jacinto church, St.
Jacinto island, Chicalim.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published in Gomantak Times Weekender, St. Inez, Goa on Sunday, 21 January 2018. Pix courtesy Brian Mendonca.
Comments