FORTHCOMING

17 Feb. Goan, Mauritian & Trinidadian Valentine's Disco and Blind Date. White Hart Lane School, Wood Green. Dance to exotic Mauritian and Trinidadian music as well as Konkani. Live Band from Leicester Sliver Stardust and a top Mauritian DJ playing Soca, Sega, Bhojpuri, Reggae, R&ampB and many more. £8 advance; <12, £4. Ricky Rebello 020 8361 4577 (ev.) or 07941 514333. E-mail: anrickco@onetel.net.uk If anyone is interested in being a contestant in the Blind Date, please get in touch. There are great prizes to be won.

24 Feb. 7 p.m. Goan Association UK "VIVA CARNIVAL" at Bishop Thomas Grant School, Streatham. MUSIC/DANCING TO THE EVER POPULAR SAY ONE DO ONE DISCO. NOT TO BE MISSED: SPECTACULAR SHOW BY RIO LATINO. Dance to exotic Latin beat, plus cabaret. Fancy Dress optional. Tickets: Members and dependants over 12, £4; Guests £6; Children under 12 free. Available from Bernie Gracias 020-8723 1322 berniegracias@aol.com or Norma Menezes-Rahim, 020-8771 4457 menezrahim@aol.com.

25 Feb. 12:00- The Mungul Union [UK] celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. White Hart Lane School Hall, White Hart Lane, London N22. Music by Silver Stardust. A Carnival Queen will also be selected. Tickets £7 inc. meal. Children £3. Contact Mr Cos Fernandes 020-8884 3124. Robert Fernandes 020-8524 1762. Xavier Fernandes 020 8360 9329. Rosy D'Silva 020-8352 9450.

16 Apr. 12 noon - 10 p.m. Goan Community Millennium Celebration in conjunction with the Goan Association(UK) on Easter Monday at the Goan Community Centre, Keston Road, London N15. Opening Ceremony by the Mayor of Haringey at 12 noon. Stalls. Performance Football nearby in Downhills Park. Entertainment in Keston Centre from 2-6 p.m. followed by dancing to live band. Disco for the youth will be in the Goan Community Centre. Entrance £1 for 16 yrs and over. Event to accommodate 2000 people covering the areas of the Park & the two Halls so everyone is welcome. Ample car parking. If you wish to put up a stall or participate in the entertainment contact Nina Pinto on 020 8767 0663 or Candy on 020 8245 4513:e-mail candyrose2000@hotmail.com

29 Apr. Rocky's Trook Tournament. Near Oval LT Station. Rocky Fernandes 020-7274 3585.

6 May. 5 p.m. The Goan Cultural Society UK proudly presents a modern comedy Konkani play, " FARICPON" written and directed by Larryboy. St Monica's Church Hall, Green Lanes, Palmers Green, London N13. Tickets: Adults £ 6, OAPs £ 5 and children under 14 years £ 5. Contact: Rosy 020 8352 9450, Bella 020 8352 0373, Ida 020 8881 2921 or visit our website: www.goanculturalsociety.com

6 May. Saligao Feast. Zemira Fernandes 01895 359947

20 May. Malawi Goans. 25th Anniversary Reunion.

27 May. 12:00-20:00 Cortalim Union. Feast of St. Phillip & St. James at White Hart Lane School Hall. Wood Green. London N22. For further details contact Luis Fernandes 020 8889 2278 luisf@lineone.net, Maria Alfonso 020 8803 5146, or Melvyn Fernandes 020 8809 1128. See Cortalim website for further info at: home.earthlink.net/~nsequeira

27 May 12.30pm - 8pm.The members of the Assolna, Velim and Cuncolim Union (AVC) will celebrate their annual feast at Bishop Thomas Grant School, Streatham. Alvira Almeida 020-9300 6154 or Plino Martins 020-8657 8951.

27 May. 1.00pm to 8.30pm. Third Bakuli (Kampala, Uganda) Reunion at the Jasmin Club, Tooting. Music by "Zodiac" and "Ben's Formula 21". Tickets £10 and £5 children. Snacks and meals included. Leave name, address and telephone number at 01666 824122 or email ediasuk@email.com or regdacunha@aol.com Details to follow.

COMMUNITY NEWS

Young London Goans Social [YLGS] is a non-profit & cost-free Social Society. The aim of the Society is to organise social activities for London's Young Goans. More information from marie.pereira@talk21.com or Jude John Lobo jjlobo@clara.net

DEATHS

5 Feb. London NAZARETH CARVALHO. Son of Dorothy Carvalho and the late Jose Carvalho. Brother of Camilo, Gregg, Francis and Antonio. All ex-Nairobi.

5 Feb. London (Kingsbury) Dr MAX C DE SOUZA (ex Mombasa) Brother of Heltrude (Pinto), Arminda, Alexander and John. Funeral at St Sebastian and St Pancras Church, Hay Lane, Kingsbury at 2pm on Tuesday 20/2/01 followed by burial at Hendon Cemetery. For details - telephone Alexander on 020-8764 9273.

6 Feb. Moshi, Tanzania. NICO DA COSTA (Ex-Barclays Bank, Moshi), son of late John/Gracy, brother-in-law of late Visitation, late Maurice/Lena, Rev Fr Bede (Mumbai), Zachary/Celine (US) and Martha/Mike (US).

FLIGHT CORNER

Apologies. The correct url for Travelfind last week (Goa rtn. Dep. 15 Mar. £208). was: www.travelfinder.co.uk

From Saldanha Holidays: Out 23/24 Feb, 1/2/3 Mar - 2 weeks - flight - transfers - accommodation on bed breakfast basis - twin sharing @£349. Also long stays - returning via Bombay from £479. - accommodation for 14 nights in Goa £30.00 per person with, if required, breaks in Bombay or Dubai. SALDANHAGOA@aol.com Tel. 020-8686 5888.

From Regency Holidays Ltd. Limited Seats @ £99 "ONE WAY" Gatwick Mar. 9 & 16. Manchester Mar. 8 & 15. Long durations available on request.. Contact: 020-8316 1473 / 020-8317 3335 Damaciano D'Souza

10 Feb. The Guardian. Jewel in the Crown (01293 533338) is offering two-weeks in Goa departing April 14 from either Gatwick or Manchester. The price of pounds 399 per person includes including B&B accommodation based on two sharing.

11 Feb. Express on Sunday. For heavenly white beaches, Thomas Cook Direct (0870 752 0066) is offering an all-inclusive package to Goa for GBP569. The price includes 12 nights in the three-star Maria Rosa resort, based on two sharing, flying from Gatwick on February 17.

NEWS HEADLINES
( mainly from Joel D'Souza in Goa, courtesy of GOACOM, e-mail: goanow@sancharnet.in )

The ration card is no longer the only document for verifying one's identity to avail benefits of various public services. Passport, driving licence, voter's identity card, bank passbook and IT identity card will also serve the purpose, according to a State government order issued through the Department of Civil Supplies and Price Control.

Johnson Kituku Mutisya, a Kenyan national, was beaten up by a group of six persons at Calangute on February 9, for 'misbehaving' with a local girl at the beach.

Aires Rodrigues has convened a meeting of two-wheeler riders and pillion passengers at the Institute Menezes Braganza hall on February 17, at 4.00 pm, to discuss the compulsory use of protective headgear. The Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Transport Minister Pandurang Raut and officials of the Transport Department and Goa Medical College have also been invited.

The Goa Government decided not to participate in the Carnival and Shigmo celebrations and to donate the funds thus saved to the Gujarat Relief Fund.

The Court has decided to remove "M.V. River Princess" from the Sinquerim beach in the most suitable manner and recover the damages from the vessel owners, Salgaocar Mining Industries Ltd.

Goa's Minister for Information Technology, Ramakant Khalap, says that by 2002 Goa would be fully be-governed, and to achieve this end compulsory computer education will be imparted to all government servants below 55 years of age.

A proposed link over Mapusa river to connect Chorao to Porvorim is getting deeper into controversy with villagers arranging themselves into two camps over the two shortlisted sites.

A luxury tourist train on the lines of the Palace on Wheels will be introduced in Maharashtra as a joint venture between the Railway Ministry and the Government of Maharashtra by October this year. It will cover the Mumbai-Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg-Goa-Pune-Aurangabad-Ajanta & Ellora-Nasik-Mumbai route.

IN THE NEWS
(e-mail eddie@fernandes.u-net.com for the full text of items marked *) .

*8 Feb. The Birmingham Post. Valerie Vaz, the sister of Minister for Europe Keith Vaz, is seeking selection as the Labour candidate for the Birmingham constituency of Perry Barr… 398 words.

*9 Feb. New Straits Times (Malaysia). German multinational B. Braun Melsungen AG is to set up a plant for surgical instruments in Goa by the middle of this year.122 words. 10 Feb. New Straits Times (Malaysia) By Cheah Chor Sooi …Keith Vaz, who is married to Kenyan-born solicitor Maria Fernandes, came to London at the age of nine with mother Merlyn Vaz and sister Valerie in the mid-60s. Merlyn, an Indian school teacher, is a formidable woman, who on her own raised her children to believe that any of their goals were possible. Her husband Xavier, a former airline clerk and Times of India journalist, died when the children were young…

*11 Feb. Sunday Telegraph. …Asians in this country, despite the attempts to pigeonhole them as workaholic newsagents, are a very diverse community. Mainly Hindus and Muslims, whose origins can be traced back to the rural areas of the sub-continent, they are quite far removed from Vaz, an urban Goan Catholic. In that sense, Vaz is a minority within a minority and though this may make his background exotic… 853 words.

*11 Feb. Business Line. Lufthansa has been granted permission to "improve" the charter service between India and Germany and operate "two-hop" charter flights between Germany, Delhi and Goa. 351 words.

12 Feb. The Independent (UK). Instead of being asked to pay for online fiction, readers are being asked to write it at this site for an Indian online bookseller. Bollywood actress, model and author Tara Deshpande is inviting submissions for chapters 2,4 and 6 of her new whodunnit, The Motive, and will choose the best to go into the final version. Contributors may lose out on royalties, though a free holiday in Goa could be yours if you guess the ending. See: http://www.themotive.net/

14 Feb. The Herald (Scotland). The Godfather of Phreaking, a near-legendary figure who gave birth to telecoms' delinquent underworld, has just re-emerged from the wilderness. John Draper, 57, whose recent addresses include Californian correctional facilities and a Goan ashram, sits at the pinnacle of every hacker's family tree… most recently living in Goa, supporting himself by designing websites for an Indian entrepreneur. 984 words