The other day I was relaxing down by the River Zuari side, at Pica-Peixe Restaurant & Bar, I saw four men descending on the beautiful location and heading towards the table I was occupying. They decided to sit at the vacant table next to me. I found their discussions very interesting and amusing. As I was sitting very close to them, I could hear their conversation clearly. It went on like this:
It’s good that we are in the ‘chore’ committee because like ‘them’ we are not in a ‘chor’ committee. The other one said ‘they’ are only ‘nine’ which right now is fine, but we are 20 plus, which takes us to the tally of 29. And who knows what is in their mind? Aare, what maximum they can do? Pull two mice with them? You must never underestimate them! They are master mathematicians; they can beat even Shakuntala Devi! You mean to say they will try to lure two Dhavlikars and one Mamledar? There you are! And then what? That will make 9+3+2 = 14. Then? There is a group of 5, although they will be difficult to budge, and as it seems some of them are not very happy about what is going on, ‘they’ may offer them fortune of their lifetime, then what shall we do? So that makes it 19 hum? What about the two which will be short? Aare, the PWD minister thinks he is only DWD minister (Dirty Water Department) right now, if they make him CM, you think he will refuse? He will easily pull two from our net, who are more or less disgruntled, won’t that do the trick?
I ordered another glass of ‘Pimenta’s’ wine and gestured if they would like to share it with me. They promptly called me to join them. They asked me if I had heard their conversation and I nodded affirmatively. One of them asked me whom I support. I, without hesitation said: Parrikar and his Parivartan. I continued, “just within 100 days he achieved a lot and that he will sweep every department and achieve zero tolerance towards corruption. Shah Commission report will be out within a few days or months, he will constructing extra rooms (VIP) in Aguada Central Jail, China will not get any iron ore dumps for a song, Mhadei River waters will freely flow into our rivers, Mandovi and Zuari will be dredged and barges will navigate freely and efficiently and much more! I support him fully and wholeheartedly. The only problem is: There is no opposition as only Reginaldo Lourenco is talking.
By then everyone’s spirits were high and some of them started chanting “Raghupathi Ragav Rajaram, Patit Pavan Sitaram”. Since Ganesh Chaturthi is fast approaching, I also prayed “Ganpati Bappa Laukar yea, Fuddlim Panch Vorsam sangathan bhoun-iea.” We promised to meet again soon, time permitting!
