Xit-Koddi - Jan 2014

Happy New Year.

The door has opened on yet another year, and we have entered 2014. In the year ahead, we at Xit-Koddi hope to find common ground for our community to express their views and convey news and information beneficial to all our readers. We are also open to expressing differing viewpoints, in a civilized manner. Let us treat each other the way we want to be treated. We invite members of our community to participate in the publishing of this e-newsletter.

Your participation can be in different forms. You could share a piece of information for wider publicity. You could forward this copy of Xit-Koddi to your contacts and build up our subscriber list. You could even simply advertise anything that you feel would be useful to our readers.

This is our community. Our resolution for the New Year is to bring more and more members closer to each other through this humble endeavor.

Happy New Year To You All.

= GR Crasto 

Goan Festivities In Bahrain: Christmas is a time of good cheer, for reunions with loved ones and spreading warmth and goodwill everywhere. Goans in Bahrain organized several get-togethers in keeping with this spirit during this festive season.

A group of Goan families under the leadership of Moses Dias, had a festive celebration on December 27 at The Juffair Grand Hotel. The evening commenced with the presentation of a Christmas tableau and carol singing by a group of children. Rev. Fr. Anthony D’Mello, assistant parish priest of Sacred Heart Church was the chief guest of the evening and joined Santa Claus in cutting the Christmas Cake (see picture above). He later blessed the candle of love, peace and happiness, which was distributed to the families and their guests. 

DJ Moses Dias entertained the guests on the dance floor with lively music throughout the evening. Santa Claus distributed gifts to the children, whereas several spot prizes were given away to the adults.The organizing families and their guests sponsored the prizes with Glen Fernandes contributing two gift hampers. John Barretto, Edwin Fernandes and Benny Fernandes were part of the organizing committee of this annual event of these families. 

The Riffa-based Goans also created their usual festive atmosphere among the families living there. A Christmas tree party for children was held on December 27, with Santa distributing gifts to about 25 children. A number of games were held making the evening full of fun and frolic for the kids. Snacks and refreshments with contributions from the families, were served to children and their parents gathered for the festivities. The Christmas tree party was organised by Prettie D'souza, Zita Mascarenhas and Electra Sequeira. The burning of traditional “old man” was the highlight at the New Year’s eve party organized by these families. The evening with a DJ music featured a novelty dance and games for couples. 

The Young Goans Club rang in the New Year with a dinner dance for their members and guests at the Al Manzil Suites in Juffair. Over 200 people danced to the music of DJ Bazel through the evening. The traditional “old man” appeared for a brief spell to bid goodbye to the year 2013. The mid-night special to bring in the New Year featured a novelty dance that saw couples with masks and headgear taking to the floor, with flutes and whistles drowning the music of the DJ to welcome the new year. The President Francis Correia greeted the crowd as 2014 dawned. The event was organised by the Youth Wing of the club.

Name Withheld On Request: Thank you for Xit-Koddi. By the way, do you get any financial help for all this work you are doing, or do you accept any donations for your hard work. Sorry for asking you as I don’t like to interfere in somebody else’s affair. I very much appreciate what you people are doing for Goans. It’s all hard work and too much criticism for nothing at all. Any help or support in any way I can help you (full na palki - I don’t know if it’s correct) then I am always there for you at all times.

(Editor’s note: Words of encouragement like these motivate us. Appreciate your intent. I simply enjoy doing this little bit of free service for my community. Thank you for your offer of help. You can help with your practical and concrete suggestions for improvement of the newsletter and making it more widely known so that fellowship among Goans is cemented.) 

New Year message posted by Goa CM Manohar Parikar on his facebook page: "Over the past year, we have achieved some important goals and also confronted some new challenges. At the start of this New Year, we move forward with trust in the power of the Goan spirit, we move forward with a resolve to work for the development of our state and for the well-being of our people. I wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year 2014."

Well Med( in the pciture) played attacking soccer throughout the tournament and defeated Nuvem 2 - 0 in the preliminary round. In quarter finals they beat Our Lady of Valankini Davorlim also by an identical margin of 1 - 0. They defeated star-studded Castle Boyz 2 - 0 in the semi- finals. Robin Louis of Jesus Youth was declared “promising player of the tournament”. Rio Fernandes of Castle Boyz and Eusepio Fernandes of Davorlim picked up “player of the tournament”and “best goalkeeper” prize. The Arabic Community, Konkani Community and FC Jesus were among the other ten teams that participated in the day-long tournament. The tournament was organized by the Cultural and Sports Committee of the SHC. 

Goans Gold Cup: The seven-a-side football league for Goans Gold Cup resumes after the festive break on January 24. Matches will be played every Friday from 3.30 p.m. onwards at the Al Nojoom grounds in Gudaibiya. Curtorim Challengers are currently on top of the league table with five round of matches yet to be played.