Dwayne's 11th

Dwayne strikes a pose.

-Brian Mendonca

Breaking Bread with Aaron is a cute little cottage tucked away just behind us, at Sangolda, Goa. We headed there this afternoon to pick up Dwayne's birthday cake. With the array of pastries on offer we simple had to come away with a lemon tart and a wedge of apple pie. 

This was after I had paid for a box of Big Mishra Special Pedas when I had earlier shot off to get the ham and bacon for Dwayne's birthday breakfast. The pedas looked the closest to what the Mathura pedas looked like when I distributed them 11 years back in Delhi. Dwayne had just come into this world at 11 a,m, at Holy Family hospital, Okhla.

The day started with Dwayne's online class. He was a bit reluctant to get up 'early' on his birthday for his Hindi class, but came around to it. Her was brave enough to say, 'It is my birthday also today, teacher.' when mention was made of someone else's birthday. The teacher herself and the students (mikes muted) sweetly sang happy birthday for Dwayne. I was glad to instill in Dwayne that birthday or not, duty comes first. He too felt happier after the class. 

After listening to online Mass we decided to go for a drive and we headed down the familiar CHOGM
road. We turned right towards Calangute, Baga, Anjuna. I chased the trail to Anjuna beach and we viewed the gorgeous beach. The drive was lovely guided by GPS on the way back to Porvorim.

Anjuna beach

We passed several chapels, churches and schools along the way. They all looked beautiful in the winter sun. It was Makar Sankranti and the breezes were just perfect. As winter gave way to summer a feeling of carpe diem was in the air.

We drove to Anjuna via Arpora and returned via Parra - which was where dad grew up. We imagined him playing with his cousins on just a day like this.

As we neared home Dwayne said, 'Everything looked so nice.' I said yes. 'We gave you the sea and the sunshine on your birthday - something money can't buy.'

We enjoyed the family time together. We look forward to discovering more of Goa together.

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Pix taken today by Brian Mendonca. Updated 6 Feb 2022.