If you are wondering what "Pondian" is, I don't blame you. Only a few know what a Pondian is, and fewer can be Pondians.

Ponda, is the not so fabled town in much fabled and glamorous Goa. "Ponda" translated literally in Konkani means ditch (fond). That's because Ponda town is essentially a low lying area between some beautiful hills and plateaus.

"Pondian" is a word coined by Mr. Nimeesh Suseelan sometime in the year 1999. I hate to digress, but can't resist mentioning that Nimeesh came to Ponda from Dubai for "higher education"... but I am sure he'll agree that he got a lot more! He became a Pondian himself! (His story deserves a separate blog... so later.)

So what, or who really is a Pondian? A Pondian could be someone like me, growing up in Ponda, going to school there, making friends there, doing a lot of things for the first time in life there... and hating Ponda from the core of his or her heart. Why? Of course because Ponda doesn't have hip fast food joints, no good movie theatre, no beach, no "tomats". Sure, when you are 15 and 16 years old, these things matter!

A Pondian could be someone like Nymzy... born somewhere in space and brought up in Dubai. Like most desi Dubaiyyas, he had to come to India to go to college. So his uncle from Usgao (another town that deserves another blog!) suggests that he come to Ponda. Nymzy from Dubai, going to GOA! Land of beaches, sun, sand and beer... couldn't get better.Unfortunately for him, he landed in Ponda. Needless to say, Nymzy was a Ponda hater like none other. But then, at the end of three years, proudly crowned himself a Pondian.

It's said that you really know the value of something when you don't have it anymore. It couldn't be more true. Being as far away from Ponda that I am today, i realize that its my home town, my swades... where I had the best childhood, made the best friends, gained knowledge... and made myself what I am today... a proud Pondian in Cleveland.