CYPRIAN FERNANDES MY OWN UNFORGETTABLE MEMORY OF A TRAIN JOURNEY IN KENYA:
Then there was Corned Beef aka (late) Polycarp Fernandes. On a Hornets hockey team visit to Mombasa, Polly and his teammates (late) Steve Fernandes and Hygino Vaz leapt off the slowing train as it was inching its way to a dead stop in Voi.
On the journey to Mombasa, finger food provided by the various mothers was stored away in one of the carriages. There was music, card games and various other activities to keep everyone occupied. However, when they stopped for dinner, there was none to be found in the carriage where the food had been stored. Laughing from ear to ear, the trio admitted their crime. On the way back, Fernandes arranged for a kind lady to pack a box of finger foods and it was stored on the train with a guard of four to keep the three food robbers at bay. When dinner came, they asked for some food. No! No food for the trio because they had eaten all the food the last time. So, as we approached a train station, they wanted to be first in line for their sandwiches. Jumping off a moving train is forbidden and as luck would have it, they were nabbed by the local police. As there were no available cells, the two had to crouch under a police officer’s desk. It must have been pure agony for Polly dreaming of that sandwich.
Another teammate Hilary Fernandes went to the police station to enquire about their whereabouts. “I could not see them but heard a faint cry for help. They were under the desk,’’ Hilary laughed.
“Our manager Cyprian Fernandes rushed to see the station master who turned out to be Menino Viegas, a fellow Goan but he was not paying any attention to Fernandes’ pleadings. “They have broken the law”.
Fernandes asked Hilary to see if he could convince Viegas and get him to release the “starving” prisoners.
“After pleading with Menino Viegas (a hockey player himself) for what seemed like an eternity, they were allowed out. We will never forget that day,” said Hygino, who now lives in Mississauga. “We can all laugh about it now but it wasn’t funny then.’’ Polly’s love for food was legendary.
Once at an Indian restaurant in Pangani, Polly, Octavio (Pereira) and I were handed four gulab jamuns (Indian sweets) following our meal. We tossed a coin to see who would win the extra gulab jamun. Polly was the winner but before Polly could get his hands on it, Octavio quickly stuffed it into his mouth. The next minute we saw the confectionery fly out of Octavio’s mouth and on to the floor. A furious Polly had punched him in the face.
Polly was a superb hockey goalkeeper in school and went on to play for the Railway Goan Institute. He was a member of the RGI team that won the M.R. de Souza Gold Cup and several other local trophies. He also represented Nairobi in the Tata Cup and went on to play against the touring Pakistan national team led by incomparable Gen. Mansoor Atif.
Also, on the RGI team was his younger brother James, who was an excellent left-back. Polly’s older brother Jacinto was Kenya’s badminton champion and represented the country at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 1970.
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