Evenings, after I had finished with Ashok's shop, I would listen to the FM radio music programmes. Like any other teenager, I like fast and loud music. Fortunately, my aunt Allison visiting us from Canada gave me a walkman which enabled me to play my music without disturbing the others. I thought about starting to learn the guitar but my parents advised against starting guitar lessons immediately as I had plans to travel out of Goa in the coming months. Letter writing is not one of my favourite things. However, I was forced to reply to the people who sent me letters and cash prizes, congratulating me on my examination results. I was overjoyed to receive prompt replies from several of my relatives and friends commending me on my choice of a year's sabbatical. I also realised that you only get letters when you write to people. However, I still don't enjoy letter-writing. On Sundays, I used to do a few odd jobs to earn some pocket money. Like washing the car for which I used to get five rupees from my dad. I was also the main errand boy at home and I did all kinds of jobs like paying the electricity bills, buying the rations and so on. All in all, working at Ashok's was a good beginning. Field Work Notes: Now Julie Has a Fish Tank Juliet and Peter D'Souza are college friends of my parents. They live at Calangute. Peter is a criminal lawyer and Juliet is a school teacher. Our families occasionally go on outings together. On one of these picnics during my SSC year Juliet discovering my interest in aquarium fish promptly tried to get me to assist her in setting up an aquarium in their home. Actually they did have a fish tank earlier but the bottom glass had cracked and Juliet had given it to Ashok for repairs. And there it remained, in Ashok's shop, with nobody attending to it. Juliet had reminded me on several occasions about the tank but there was little I could do other than pass on her reminders to Ashok. When I started working with Ashok I quickly took the opportunity of keeping my promise to her. The first problem was to find the tank. I began searching for it in the storeroom of Ashok's shop. I found it right at the bottom of all the other big tanks. I was relieved to see it still in one piece. Ashok and I then removed the broken bottom glass. We took the measurements and bought new glass from the glass shop. After fixing the tank, I went to Peter's office and told him to pick it up and take it home whenever he could.