Hark
back to the early 2000s, to that little slice of paradise when this band of
boys took us on a rollercoaster rewind from the sixties to the eighties each
Friday night. The times when we were all young, when our feet moved to a blood
rush that didn’t come from our veins but from the songs they played. This is
where we relived our growing up years, at Cavala, each Friday night, with the
Music Company in attendance. The Company is officially no more, but the “boys”
very much are around and when they suddenly spring up on you-as they did last
week, literally off the wall, you know you are ‘Homeward bound’.
The Music Company, to the uninitiated ( though most
reading this will be totally initiated), was a band consisting of Alex
Braganza, Noel D Souza and Mariano and their journey of delight has been felt
and recorded. On Wednesday last, it was yesterday once more at ‘Off the wall’,
which is a delightful little place at Sinquerim, where harmony returned. There
in the outer courtyard was the slightly hunched figure of Nini, crouched over
his guitar with his long time music companion Mariano on the drums. Like
flashes of distant light that come with memories, there they were. Ageless and
matchless, singing for all our yesterdays, todays and tomorrows. They both lead
lives content and busy. Nini of course is the lord and landlord of all of this.
‘Off the wall’ is his, and his son, Ian Marc, pretty much runs this as his own
and while we old timers will always see him as Nini’s little boy, to many
newbies, Nini, for the first time in his life, is known as Ian Marc’s dad. Nini
will be proud of that too. Of course, the boys have two bosses, the usual
story: Tanaz, Nini’s daughter, and Michelle, his wife.
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Sitting that night with a friend and family, with the
music they were playing as the backdrop, I just asked myself, what makes them
go on? Is it Goa, the land they live and love, or music which keeps them
together? The answer lies in a bit of both but above all, this peace comes from
being content about leading a life simple and clutter free. Nini still lives in
a village home in Assagao, tending to his plants. Mariano has been an
educationist from Aldona and runs an educational institution in Bicholim where,
among other things, local boys learn media and communications. And when they
are done with spending fruitful days, they pick up their musical instruments to
celebrate, either for themselves or for audiences.
Perhaps someday, Alex Braganza who fronted the Music
Company (lead guitar and vocals) will do a reunion concert, much like ABBA did
at home in a café in Sweden recently.
These guys take you back to the old times and the good
times, and perhaps one of the unconscious reasons why many of us find it so
difficult to live anywhere else.
Postscript: But such magnets which keep us glued to Goa, show up
in so many different experiences. And some of them are closer to home than you
can imagine. If it’s 3 am and you are returning from listening to Nini and
Mariano, and passing through Panjim and hunger pangs strike you, one stretch of
one street has a lot o to offer. The 18th June road literally turns itself over
from the staid business like office goer to a night time socialite who gets
filled with joie de vivre.
Head to the ros omlette carts, which are
actually ‘eggs-plotions’ of creative cuisine. There is one guy who broke away
from his boss and mentor who ran the older cart down the road and moved to the
Hotel Fidalgo footpath. A quarter of Panjim seemed to be having their
after-parties at this stall with plates of ros omlette being ordered by
the tens. And then there’s the showstopper- the single egg fry with masala with
spices, coriander, onions and chillies. At three in the morning you could call
it sunny or moony side up, but it beats all the fancy eggs cooked by star chefs
in the 60 pound breakfast diners in England.
And it’s a meeting place of most locals including
tired journalists after putting the paper to bed; chefs and bartenders from
restaurants and clubs gather here, all in search of comfort food.
Margao, by the way, has also staked its claim to
having the best ros omlette stalls, which does exactly what Panjim does
and that will indeed be put to test in these very columns.
So this was all about the tried, tested and
the ‘un-failable’. With people and with food, that’s all that works.
