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Neena Badhwar: Farewell details!

 https://neerja.info/ Neerja Badhwar (Neena) (7 April 1952 - 17 October 2025) A beloved family member and friend; a valued contributor to her community; a pathbreaking newspaper editor; and a lifelong lover of literature, culture and language. Please join us to celebrate her life at 2:00 pm on  Wednesday, 22 October , at the  Lotus Pavilion, Macquarie Park Cemetery & Crematorium , corner Plassey and Delhi Roads, Macquarie Park, NSW 2113. Livestream:  A link to the livestream will be available on the day A pooja will be held at 2:00 pm on  Sunday, 26 October , at her home,  23 Barkala Place, Westleigh, NSW 2120 .

Rest in Eternal Peace Neena Badhwar!

Neena Badhwar! Condolences to vijay.badhwar@gmail.com I had lost touch with Neena and Vijay Badhwar for many, many months until Vijay called me and told me that Neena was quite ill. In fact, he was more worried about the fact that she was not getting out of bed. So I went to their place and tried to charm her out of her bed, but although she did smile quite a bit, even laugh a little, she firmly stuck to her bed. I visited them quite a few times later, and then one day Vijay surprised us with a visit to our place; more than that, he brought Neena back to walking around. And so I thought our fears for Neena were ill-founded. She was back to her old self. Everything I thought was going swimmingly until Vijay rang me a couple of days ago and told me that Neena was not getting out of bed. So I head off to their home in Westleigh. Just seeing her there, almost stuck to her bed, broke my heart. So I tried to get her out of bed with Vijay's help or the help of their two sons. In the end, ...

Rest in Eternal Peace: Sarah Fernandes (Goan Estate Pangani)

 

Goans!

 This is really a waste of space! Being Goan “Oh, these Goans!” exclaimed my Goan friend who lives in Borda, South Goa. “Are you not a Goan?” I asked. To which she replied. “I am talking about Goans from Goa.” I then realised there were many types of Goans. Goans from Bombay who used to consider them a class apart. They love everything Goan but cannot ever think of living in Goa. They just spend a few days in Goa to stock up on feni, sausages, vinegar and masalas. They always talk about how much property their family once owned and about the great summer holidays they had spent as children. Then there are the Goans from Africa. Many have returned to Goa after the introduction of Africanisation. For many, the stay in Goa was a short stay while their children were settling in the UK and elsewhere.   They are an affluent lot who belong to the educated class of artists, doctors, lawyers, accountants, businessmen, etc. As an outsider living here, I have noticed that in ...

Al Hambra, food for thought!

  Alhambra Amongst the world’s greatest treasures, the Alhambra sits in serene silence on a hill in Granada, Spain. I have been in love with it for a long time, and a couple of years ago, I spent as much time as I could there. Like a girl I had had a crush on for a long time, I loved every moment in her company. Always in my heart.         The Alhambra is a citadel and a palace atop a hill, overlooking Granada, Spain with complete majesty. To say that at first glance it is awe-inspiring would be the understatement of your life. It was built by Moorish kings in the 12 th  and 13 th  (although there was a Moorish fortress there since the 9 th  century) centuries and, to this day, it is recognised as one of the finest examples of Moorish architecture. Granada was the capital of the Moorish kingdom until it was captured by Ferdinande and Isabella in 1492.   On a rocky hill of difficult access, on the banks of the river Darro, protected by the mou...

What would you like to add to My Forever Yesterdays in East Africa

My forever Yesterdays (First published in the Twilight Of the Exiles)   By Cyprian Fernandes   Soft, sweet, gentle things, kisses from a whispering Nairobi breeze on any evening. I remember one of the other loves of my life: Nairobi. My friends, many colours, many thoughts, many dreams, trust, loyalty, poverty and riches, you don't count as money or wealth. Watching the world go by in Nairobi National Park or fishing somewhere, anywhere! Having tea (or coffee) with a pretty girl at the Tea House of the August Moon opposite the Kenya Cinema. What is it that psychologically tricks our taste buds into thinking that fruit and veg grown anywhere else other than Kenya lacks taste, aroma, that just plucked freshness, and just does not taste of that Kenya sweetness? And why is this particularly true of those gorgeous matundas (passion fruit) that I used to eat by the kikapuful (basketful) at one sitting, topped off with a couple of slices of pineapple. And what about the m...

Once upon a time ....

  This, I hope is the start of many similar stories I have gathered from friends and will include some of my own experiences. --    Marcelin Gonsalves arrived in Bombay (later to be known as Mumbai) from Nairobi as part of an official Kenya delegation heading to Japan. This is his story: We had a couple of days at a pretty upmarket hotel before heading off our safari eastwards. Being a seasoned traveller, I took my time getting out of bed from my morning siesta and even more time getting out of my shower. Suitably relaxed, I headed for the cocktail bar. It was one of that easy kind of mornings, as the Goans say, “sussegade” (relaxed, laid back). Outside the hotel, I knew, was anything but sussegade. Bombay’s human, motor, handcarts, scooters, animals, and every other type was legion. I was always amazed at how easily human beings cut in and out of traffic. People had also got used to the eternal honking … a language only they understood and humans and traffic it seemed we...