TEGSA Bridge Tournament

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TEGSA organised their Bridge tournament at Commander Hall on Sunday 7th February 2010. The event attracted 14 tables (56 participants) on a lovely Sunday afternoon (no snow!) and enjoyed, with seriousness, by all.

We have come out not only to play on a lighter note, but also to compete vigorously in all aspects of the game and claim the top prize, quipped one ardent fan. The game started at 2.10 p.m. and lights were out at 6 p.m. At the end of 26 rounds, some players appeared jaded and exhausted while the die-hards clamoured for a few extra rounds. Such is the game of bridge. Entrance fee of $2.00 got you a game of bridge, tea/coffee with a plate of snacks, and prize money of $100.00 to the winners and runners-up. Bidding boxes (some had to be educated in handling them) was an added attraction but at the end of the day, everyone mastered them. Mavis Pecus, with her assistant, Aelred, carried on her flag of snacks, coffee, tea or me with a smile and exuberance while Ann and Manny Sequeira attended the roll call. The ‘call’ was such that besides checking the wallets of those unpaid, it also hastened their arrival to their proper seating. The planner of the plans, Carmelita D’Souza, executed her professionalism, in compiling stringent code with ease. John Barretto managed accounts with simplicity and also assisted Carmelita. Zena Vaz chipped in whatever she was designated and more. Charles Fernandes, President, was kept on his toes during the entire session, masterminding the operation, literally, and giving chase to the pickup slips methodically.

Robert & Alba Saptel organized the bridge tournament.

Here are the results and the Winners are:

• North-South: John Barretto and Tony Correa 75.00%

• East-West: Denis Davids and Trevor Davids 68.43%

Runners-up

• North-South: Llewelyn Davids and Lorraine Davids 66.19%

• East-West: Tony James and Denis Fernandes 62.18%

Third Place

• North-South: Bruno Gomes and Edgar D’Souza 55.61%

• East-West: Alba Saptel and Stanley Francis 59.13%

Charles Fernandes thanked the participants and gave away the prizes

The Goan Overseas Association (GOA) raises money for kids at Viva Carnival
http://www.southasianobserver.com/south_asian_canadian_news.php?mid=1&cid=1958
Excerpt from: (Feb 11 2010)

Toronto: The Goan Overseas Association (GOA) raised at least $12,000 Ann D’Souza and Ezekiel Rego, both kids in need of medical care. at a well-attnded Viva Carnival charity dance, held at the Capitol Banquet Hall, Mississauga, on Feb. 6. A live band, Sound Advice, DJ Kaya, singer Rachael Castelino, salsa dancers Ronson Fernandes and Kayann D’Souza, entertained the guests. Sandra Fernandes led the participants in a zumba dance. The highlight of the evening was the arrival of the traditional King Momo in all his finery with a band of young men and women who trailed him. GOA President Oscar Furtado thanked the guests for supporting the cause. He said the GOA would embark on a strategy to help seniors. The 55Plus Goan Association of Mississauga handed over a cheque for $2,500 to the charity fund. The event was coordinated by a committee of Seira Furtado (chairperson) and Audrey Almeida, Abel Nunes, Yvonne Rodrigues, June D’Souza, Lorraine Lawrence and Akhtar Akram

55 Plus Goan Association Health & Wellness Seminar - Mississauga
Demystifying cancer, sex
http://www.southasianobserver.com/south_asian_canadian_news.php?mid=1&cid=1962
Story and pics by Eugene Correia | ( Feb 12 2010 )

Click photo to enlarge

Toronto: Three leading doctors gave educational talks on cancer and sex at a Wellness & Health Seminar organised by the 55 Plus Goan Association of Mississauga at the Sts. Martha and Mary Church hall on Feb. 6

At the sold-out event, more than 180 people listened with rapt attention to Dr. Phillip Kuruvilla, of Brampton Civic Hospital, speak on Prostrate Cancer, Dr. Callista Phillips, professor of oncology, McMaster University, on Breast Cancer, and Dr. Terence D’Silva, a family docotr as well as also a deacon, on Sex, Sexuality and Intimacy in Later Years. Dr. Kuruvilla said that prostrate cancer was the second leading cause of death among non-skin cancer in men. At least 25,500 men are diagnosed with this type of cancer and that at least 4,400 men will die from this disease this year, which means 1 in 6 men, he added.

Family history, eating meat increases the risk, and frequent urination, especially at night, dribbling stream and difficulty in passing urine are signs to be noted, he said. Dr. Phillips said breast cancer is the third common cause of death of women in the world, and that 22,000 women in Canada were diagnosed with the disease in 2006, The older a woman gets the higher the risk, she added. She advised that women over 50 years should gofor screening once in two years at least. Breast self-examination should be done by those who has great expertise, while ultrasound cannot pick up the disease and MRI is recommended for those with high risk, she explained. Dr. Phillips urged women to visit some notable cancer-related websites to educate themselves on breast cancer. Dr. da Silva remarked that sex between seniors still carries a taboo in the South Asian community. He advised those over 60 years of age should understand changes in their lives and express openness in their feeling for their partners.

Old age is the time to make a renewal of romance and a chance to reaffirm their sexuality as they do not have to fear any child bearing, he said. In the new paradigm, orgasm is not important, he declared. Erectile dysfunction (ED) is common in older men and those taking viagra or cialis to improve their sexual performance, they should be aware of their side-effects, he cautioned.

Goans Tell Their Stories In New Book
http://www.southasianobserver.com/south_asian_canadian_news.php?mid=1&cid=195

Ben Antao, left, one of the editors of the book, with Rudi Rodrigues, the coordinator of the book project. Story and pic by Eugene Correia ( Feb 09 2010 )

Toronto: Goa Masala, a collection of essays, was released at a function held at the Sts. Martha and Mary Church hall on Feb 6.

At the launch of the book, a first for 55 Plus Goan Association of Mississauga, Rudi Rodrigues, the coordinator of the book club, said he was touched by the excitement the project had generated and that all the 300 copies printed were sold out. He said there was no immediate plan to reprint copies and that the mandate of the book club was to provide the community with a cultural stimulus rather than make a profit. Rudi mentioned that “as promised at the contest stage of this project, we have drawn at random a few names of participants” who received a small prize.  The 275-page book has 40 pieces.

See also http://www.goanvoice.ca/2010/issue03/peopleplacesthings.htm#ppt_1

To konna'lo?
By Lucio Rodrigues | Thu Feb 4 06:14:17 PST 2010
('Pivoting on the Point of Return -- Modern Goan Literature', Peter Nazareth, ed.)
From: Goanet Reader goanetreader@gmail.com

Konkani has its own unique expressions -- words, phrases, idioms, proverbs, and other folksylinguistic miracles which defy translation into any other language. To konna'lo? is one such, with its several inflexions according to gender and number: tem konnalem, ti konna'li, te konna'le, tea konna'leo, tim konna'lim.

Literally, the phrase means, "Which family does he belong to?" or "Who are his parents?" It is apparently a simple interrogative, an expression of normal, healthy curiosity, expressing the concern that one human being has for another.

But to those who know their Konkani and belong to the social matrix of Goa, the phrase is far from simple and innocuous. True, it does express curiosity, but the curiosity is not the elementary curiosity of a mere individual. It is the highly sophisticated curiosity of the community, or organised
society. The phrase is a masterpiece of verbal economy and semantic subtlety. It implies a social and moral attitude that is the result of a whole way of life rooted in the soil of Goa.

Though the phrase is known to all, it is never used indiscriminately. It is not to be bandied about in the street or in the market-place. You cannot just speak it out glibly, or shout it out brazenly. Even in the drawing-room or the dance-hall, you cannot mouth it tactlessly. To do so would be the height of impertinence, and you would be summarily condemned as a very ill-mannered yokel. In fact, the use of the phrase calls for the proper occasion and situation, the proper place and time, and above all, the most practised gesture and inflexion of voice. Its utterance is part of a "code."

Goan society is based on a traditional hierarchy which has its origins in ancient Hindu India. It is a hierarchy of many tiers, arranged in a descending scale, each tier made up of a homogeneous group, with its own status, its own privileges and responsibilities, its own loyalties, and its own "code" of honour, which have to be zealously guarded.

An individual's place in this hierarchy is determined solely by the accident of birth. The gods decide it all for you: you are born into a family which belongs to one of the social tiers, and there you "belong," there you stay. Like the fixed stars in the heavens, you have your fixed station in the social firmament, and your set orbit.

In the good old days, before emigration and the spread of education began to disturb the feudal stability of life in Goa, everyone knew practically everyone else. Your identity was known, not only who you were but also where you belonged. This is generally true in the villages even today. Such was the thoroughness with which the hierarchic social system was perpetuated that a large number of Hindu surnames could be interpreted as marks of identification which placed you definitely in one of the social tiers.

However, an accident of history took place to disturb the old social order. Foreign conquest and conversion in the sixteenth century introduced new ideas of a free and equal society in Goa. The logic of the principle that all men are equal was a challenge to the traditional hierarchic practice,
and the situation was fraught with perils. But the challenge had to be faced. Habits die hard; position and privilege cannot be easily surrendered; group loyalties cultivated over the centuries cannot be given up. The new ideas of social mobility were a threat to the homogeneity of the group. The purity of the social group had to be maintained, the well-being of the members assured. This could be done by sedulously preventing the infiltration of intruders and upstarts, of "outsiders."

Under the new dispensation this was not as easy as before. Names, for example, were arbitrarily changed, and one clue to the identity of an individual came to be lost. "Fernandes" or "Colaco" offered no clue to the status of an individual christened with the new foreign name, as "Sardesai" or
"Borkar" offered. A "Colaco"" could be anyone from the highest-born to the lowest-born.

In this state of anonymity and impending social confusion a technique had to be devised to discover the identity of the individual, so that the privileges enjoyed exclusively by the high-born could be safeguarded. In the field of employment, for instance, unwanted low-born competitors had to be eliminated. The loaves and fishes of office had to bedistributed among members of the group that enjoyed the patronage of the rulers. The elders who held office had not only to see that their relatives, whom they knew, were well-placed, but also see that further recruitment was confined to the members of the social group they  traditionally belonged to. This called for the closest scrutiny and circumspection.

This was a task for the new Goan gentleman. A gentleman, as Cardinal Newman has it, is one who never hurts others. So when the job-seeker had to be "placed" socially, it had to be done in a gentlemanly manner. The problem was to find an answer to the crucial question which the upholders of the old hierarchic order had invented in face of the new challenge: To konna'lo? An easy way would have been to ask the party a direct question: Tum konna'lo? But that would be against the spirit of the new civilization. The process of detection had to be oblique and casual. By indirections find directions out: that was the civilized way.

"Which village do you come from?" is usually the opening  question. Like the old surnames, the names of several villages in Goa are associated with a certain social group  that has a major population in it. If your reply is Assagao, or Saligao, or Moira, or Velim, or Cuncolim, or St. Estevam, the problem of "placing" you is not very difficult.

There is a supplementary to this: "From which ward?" which tracks you down nearer home. The pursuit continues, however, "Do you know so-and-so?" It is a change from place to person generating an atmosphere of intimacy. If the answer is yes,  then pat comes the confidence move, "He's my mother's sister's sister-in-law's husband's son-in-law."

You reel under the impact of this chain of relatives, and when you have recovered from the attempt to unravel the complexity of the relationship, you warm up to the occasion and discover to him, "Ah! He's my father's sister's brother-in-law's daughter's son." It is a mutual discovery, and he bursts upon you with the cabalistic phrase, "Arre tum amcho mum-re!" You are not only "placed"; you are accepted. You join the chosen band of the privileged.

Another occasion calls for a like investigation. Traditionally marriage in Goa is endogamous. It is arranged between members of the same social group. It is not a personal affair, but a family affair, and it is mother-made.

Goa is dotted with Donas with grown-up daughters, whose giving away in marriage is a matter of great concern and calls for perpetual vigilance. It is not only that an adequate dowry has to be provided; a proper husband has to be chosen. The young man need not be rich, he need not be highly educated; in fact, he need not even be young. There may be a bunch of decaying beatas in his house, not to speak of a number of aged tios. The family may even have bred quite a few endde. But the proper husband-to-be must "belong" to the social group of his mother-in-law-to-be.

One of the happy hunting grounds for these Donas is the dance-hall, which offers a wide range of eligible young, or not so young, bachelors. Many a marriage has been arranged in this place, and many more are still arranged. Bejewelled, laced and feathered, these Goans of a dying species chaperoned their daughters to the hall and took their seats at a vantage point from where they could survey the whole scene.

Imagine them in a phalanx, these pillars of the traditional hierarchy, fanning themselves while they observe and comment upon the young couples on the floor. Perhaps one of them spots her daughter swaying in the arms of a handsome young man. She has not seen him before, but he looks eligible.

Perhaps he is making overtures to her daughter. Anything can happen while two young people dance cheek to cheek. She has to make a quick move to prevent a mesalliance. Her cronies on either side can come to her rescue and enlighten her. Some of them are experts in genealogy; they know family trees from the roots upwards to the smallest twig.

And so she leans to her left, her face half-covered with the spread-out fan, and whispers in her neighbour's ear the greatquestion: To konna'lo re?, pointing to the young man with her raised eyebrow and fixed look. This is the classic occasion for the use of the phrase. The young aspirant is minutely scanned, perhaps with the aid of a lorgnette, and "placed" with a superior sniff and a whispered contempt. His predicament has been very precisely stated by Prufrock: "...eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase, / And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin, / When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall."

He does not belong. The establishment is secure.

Of course, in spite of the heroic efforts of such Donas, there have been cracks in the establishment
in recent years. There is greater social mobility than ever before. But social attitudes practised over the centuries become part of the subconscious mind and resist change. The attitude crystallise in the phrase, To konna'lo? formed the warp and woof of Goan society. It played a furtive role in the corridors of the seminary, in the vestry of the church, and in the chapter of the cathedral. It received a sanction in Goan folklore, was codified in proverbs and immortalised in the following legend.

The two adjoining villages in Bardez, Sangolda and Guirim, have each a major population of one social group. They have one church, however, and one patron saint on the centre altar, the side altars being dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus and Our Lady of the Rosary. The religious loyalty of  each of the two social groups is attached to one of the side altars.

It happened once that an old woman in Guirim was on her death-bed. Now, it is a custom in Goa to teach prayers to the dying and end them with the ejaculation, "Jezu pav!" (Help me Jesus). The young woman who taught her the prayers finally whispered in the ears of the dying, "Repeat after me: Jesus help me!" Hardly had she uttered the ejaculation when the old woman opened her eyes wide and shook her head most piously, "Jezus amcho nhum, Jezus ten'cho!" and she closed her eyes and died.

Perhaps the old woman has changed her attitude in the other world. But in this world the Goan mind generally wavers between "decisions and indecisions" on this social problem. And if I speak wrong, dear reader, tell me this: has a question been flitting in and out of your mind as you have been reading what I have written: To konna'lo?

Your answer will alone prove or disprove what I have been saying.

THIS EXTRACT is from the recently published 'Pivoting on the Point of Return -- Modern Goan Literature', an anthology edited by Peter Nazareth peter-nazareth at uiowa.edu ISBN 978-81-905682-5-8

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Gloria Church – Byculla – Appeal for Funds for Restoration
http://www.gloriachurchbyculla.org/Home.aspx

Dominating the skyline of Byculla, Gloria Church is built in an English Gothic Style Structure & shaped in the style of a Latin Cross with Lofty towers - 4 Turrets which rise to a height of 160 ft.

It dates back to 1572, January 18 - a patent grants perpetuity to the D'Souza family for "Mazagaon Manor" with a Private Chapel which became a parish dedicated to "Nossa Senhora da Gloria" which is familiarly known as "GLORIA CHURCH" Later on, the present structure was shifted to byculla on May 1,1910.

Click here for more details on appeal.

• The vehicle’s on board electronic systems are able to control all of the engine’s operation with the exception of the amount of incoming air.
• The use of throttle actuation ensures that the engine only receives the correct amount of throttle opening for any give situation
• The optimisation of the air supply will also ensure that harmful exhaust emissions are kept to an absolute minimum and drivability is maintained, regardless of the circumstances. Coupling the electronic throttle actuation to the adaptive cruise control, traction control, idle speed control and vehicle stability control systems also means finer control can be achieved.

The use of such a system has advantages over the conventional cable version by:

• Eliminating the mechanical element of a throttle cable and substituting it with fast responding electronics, reduces the number of moving parts (and associated wear) and therefore requires minimum adjustment and maintenance.
• Greater accuracy of data improves the driveability of the vehicle, which in turn provides better response and economy.

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Click here for more details