Owa, 1922-2007
(Qeleloa, Gopal Uncle's mother)
I will remember her for her awesome sense of humor and, off course the famous word "Ammmoow". Always loved chatting with her and even in her eighties she had her wits intact.
She lived a good life and was well taken care of.
She will be missed.
Recently, Akshay and I played a game of "Paintball" in the Riverhead forest with my work group. I must say, we really enjoyed it. Akshay is 13th this year so I am thinking this could be good way to initiate him into his teenage years by shooting a few Lomowaians. After all, I did the same at his age by boxing a few Lomowains and beating then senseless, इंगार्द सामी son's comes to mind.
What's Paintball?
Paintball is a War-game played with guns that shoot paintball. Small balls filled with paint that explode on impact. There are several objectives and the one that we played was "capture the flag". Each team has a flag at each end of the field. Each team starts from their end and advances to capture the other teams flag, bringing it back to their territory while at the same time protecting their own flag. The Team with both the flags sounds a hooter and is declared the winner.
As the photo's suggest this can hurt a bit. There are body covers for ladies. Gopal you may use one if you wish.
(Mouse over the photos for slide controls)
The cost is $45.00 per person and includes 100 paint-balls. You can buy extra paint-balls. There is also a BBQ area available after the game.
You may show your interest by using the voting gadget below. You can leave comments as well.
Friends are welcome.
ई लडकी, कोमल, थो बहुत हिम्मथिया निच्क्ला !!
Komal reporting from Under Water.
Hi people,
Thought I'd fill you in on my exciting (With a captial E) weekend..
This weekend I took a trip up to the Poor Knights Islands, off the east coast of Whangarei. Rated by the experts as one of the top 10 dives sites in the world. It is one of the many marine reserves in NZ. This was my first dive trip after finishing my course a month ago. I was a bit aprehensive, since I didn't really know anyone else that was going (except 1 instructor) but I guess that was part of the adventure. It was kind of a 'spur of the moment' decision.
The trip incorporated 5 dives, 3 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. Saturday started off with chopy seas and 1.5 to 2.5m "swells" (cliffs).. when you're on a 7m boat and you fall off a 2.5m "wave" with no back... it's not fun... you know the feeling when you're at the top of a roller coaster and you perch on the edge for a little while before you go crashing down... only this time its airbourne for about 2 seconds before the boat hits a water with a bone jarring crash.... needless to say say there were some very sick divers on board, including me... but hey at least it brought the fish closer! They must have liked our breakfast.
The water was a reasonable temperature at 18 degrees, with a full wetsuit on it was quite comfortable. Our first dive got us down to 18m. Unfortunately there weren't too many fish around.. just some lonely snapper swimming around. it funny they just come straight up to your face and stare at you... quite ugly really... and then you can just slap them in the face and they'll bugger off. We decided to attract a little bit more attention by cutting open some kinas and having a bit of a feeding frenzy... we even had a little moray eel join in the fun... Eels are actually quite cute, they're shy little things and get a bit anxious when you look at them for too long. Never thought I'd see them in that light...
The 2nd dive was better got to about 20m.. saw some cool scorpion fish.. they basically look like a big rock.. and then they move and its like.. oops sorry fishy.. didn't see you there. we explored a cave where someone had decorated it witha nice frog garden statue.. apparently there are few garden statues down there which divers have left in caves. The best thing was when we were coming up the whole area full of white floaty stuff.. (I thought it was guys throwing up again) but then you looked really closely and they were moving! it was basically thousands or tiny organisms... like microscopic jelly fish blobbing around, little square transparent creatures... so pretty you could see their delicate skelatal structures ... very cool. when we finally did surface the guys on the boat were feeding these huge snapper and king fish. They would basically eat out of our hands... man some of those snapper are pretty aggressive... I had three of them charging up to me at one time... hehe bet you guys wish you could have stuck a fishing line down there... I caught some with my bare hands.. :)
The 3rd dive was the best! we went into this archway called the Blue Mao Mao archway.. and guess what... it was full of blue Mao Mao.. thousands of them... they all hang out there.. it's their nightclub. most of them stand by the wall looking bored... and you know the funny thing... they all line up and face one direction... there was this solid wall of fish....you know the schooling fish in Finding Nemo... exacly like that... like you'd go up and scatter them around.. and then two seconds later... they're back in perfect order again... I wish i could have asked them to make shapes for me :).. the thing is.. we went back there the next morning and they'd all packed their bags and gone somewhere else!
We found them in a another tunnel though... it's like "what a you guys doing here? Go back home!"... The tunnel on our 5th dive was awesome!! We saw some huge crayfish and ofcourse the Mao Mao who we fed when we surfaced. But the coolest thing was there was a crazy surge in the tunnel... like it would just push you forward... the fish would move first so we did get some warning.. and then it would surge the other way so you had the hold on to the rocks to avoid getting sucked into the vortex... it was so much fun... and then it would push you forward again... you didn't have to swim at all... again for those who've seen Finding Nemo it was like that current where the turtles were swimming... cowabunga dudes!... awesome!...
Anyway... that's enough fishy stories for one day... My cheapie Kodak underwater camera didn't do a good job but there are some photos attached so you guys can kinda see what it looks like...
Sumitra Auntie
It is with great sadness, I write that Chotu Uncles older sister and Bila Tatha's elderst daughter, Sumitra Auntie passed away yesterday in Fiji. The extended family gathered at Chotu Uncle's place last night. Sumitra Auntie and Uncle (formally of Lomowai) was scheduled to arrive in New Zealand today for the onward trip to India later this month. The cause is not yet known, Baby Auntie said that the doctors diagnosed a lack of oxygen to her brain and admitted her for some blood transfusion to prepare her for the trip. She already had one transfusion and that went well. The second one had a reaction but she recoverd well and was just about to be discharged for the trip. Sumitra Auntie had been battling Diabetics for a while. As of last night Madhu, the youngest son was not able to be contacted in Canada. Thata and Vani are planning fly to Fiiji today. Chotu Uncle was out of town last night.
Chotu Uncle's Contact:
161 Kaipara Road. Papakura, Auckland, New Zealand
++6492965170.
Please, pass this sad news to family and friends
Our thoughts are with them in this sad moment.
12 of us set off to Hamilton on drizzly Saturday morning on a 12 Seater Van with me on the Drivers Seat. The party at my place night before was pretty civil(ie. no hang-overs) and tasty with Amma and Rohini dishing out fresh Dosai to a mixed crowd which went down really well. The last pick-up was at Mama place. Chotu unlce looked liked he had not stooped celebrating his 50th dinner party from the night before.
The Van was full of Lomowai and Qeleloa Gumpu with one visitor from India, Navin's friend and our official Photographer. Appa went with 2 of Bunny's friend in a car following us. He was in the Van with us in the return trip.
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Gopal in his usual wisdom set out the rules for the weekend. Everyone was to have a nick name and real names was penalised. 4 offences cost a round of Amrit Jal to everyone at the temple stops on the way to Hamilton. The stops became the plan as golf was canceled due to bad weather. I cant really repeat the names in this blog, maybe one. The most decent one was given to the only European. His nick name was Black Bitch. This game kept everyone entertained on the trip down.
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We checked-in in the Inn and made our way to Moon Kaka's place 10 minutes away. I gave the drivers seat to Avneet in Hamilton. Aveent is Moon Kaka's son who does not drink (must take after his father). After cutting a surprise cake for Chotu uncle's 50th, and a surprise kiss from Rajan for my 40th, in the garage, we sifted to the backyard. Moon Kaka's new house is a lovely three bedroom house in a good area. The paved backyard boasted a Fiji style wash tub, mainly used for culling live animals. Munni Kaki's lamb chaser was top's and the BBQ was sizzling with fresh pork, courtesy to Moon's new Samdhi. Soon the meat was flowing alongside Bunny's Blue Label and a 20 year old Chivas...like honey.Gopal did not waste time inciting some Qeleloa/Lomawai camaraderie and soon the songs were flowing. Gyan even challenged him with a Tirkuttu song. Moon Kaka's amd Munni Kaki's hospitality will never be forgotten. (Moon Kaka obviously takes after his father)
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We headed to the City with Bunny in Ball and chains, courtesy of his friend Anand. It was supposed to be a penance for him but he soon turned it to his advantage, making most of the guys envious. He was gently persuaded to take it off by the police, maybe he looked too much of a terrorist.
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Some went home some stayed and ended up in the casino, and bed at 5am, only to wake up 8.30am to watch All Blacks in the hotel bar. And yes, the lady was serving beer alongside orange juice at 8.30 am. Since Bunny get away too easy we decided to push him in the cold swimming pool.
On the way back the Sahitaans were still thirsty for the Amrit Jal. We stopped at Chotu uncle, slaughtered a few ducks, took it to Amma's. But by the time it was ready some just could not make it.
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On the whole a very memorable weekend. Next stop, the wedding.
Just a little recap on my recent 3 day visit to Fiji. This trip was after 12 years and for a sad occasion on the passing of Mami. I am really glad that I made the trip to represent all the brothers and sisters. It dawned on me after a while after hearing the news, that she happens to be a lot in my memory bank as a child growing up in Fiji.
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| From Fiji Trip 06 |
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| From Fiji Trip 06 |
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| From Fiji Trip 06 |
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| From Fiji Trip 06 |
Hi all,
I have been thinking about starting a blog for sometime so finally I have started. What's a blog? Blog is short for weblog. A weblog is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site. More info on blogs here..
I have started The Qeleloa-Lomawai Connection Blog, as a place for us to easily catch up with whats happening around us and discuss stuff. I am hoping that it will propagate to involve all our connections around the world so feel free to pass it on.
I will be gradually covering the technical aspects of it so that anyone interested can easily start their own.
For now, please fell free to subscribe to the "The Qeleloa-Lomowai Connection Group" mailing list. It's powered by Google groups and can be used for discussions and mailing lists. Also have a look at the "The Qeleloa-Lomowai Connection Calendar". You will see Avi's Stag Nite Event published in here. Have a play.You all have access to organize events or post comments in this calendar.
Chow for now. Please keep checking this site as I have some interesting stuff and photo's coming up and do leave a comment.
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