The place where one hums "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" over bread and more...

Somewhere on the Calangute–Anjuna Road in Porba Vaddo, amid the traffic and the pedestrian ruckus, there's a cosy place called Just Lobo's Family Restaurant and Bar. The name says just Lobo's, but it is way more than 'just', given the sumptuous food, well stocked bar, and above all the legendary surname, ubiquitous in India.

Lobo means "wolf" in Portuguese and Spanish, from the Latin lupus. So every Lobo you've met, whether your kith and kin, friendly neighbour, math teacher, boss, employee, colleague, or even the quintessential uncle with the guitar, is a fiery wolf who knows no bounds, including those of geographies.

When the Portuguese arrived in Goa in the 16th century, many Goans who converted to Catholicism took Portuguese surnames at baptism. These often came from a godparent or a Portuguese patron. Over the next two centuries, war, famine and the Inquisition pushed many Goan Catholics south along the coast to Mangalore. That's why the Mangalorean Catholic community also has more Lobos than a Lisbon phone book. From there the pack spread to Bombay, the Gulf, East Africa, Canada, the UK and Australia. Wherever there's a church choir, a sorpotel recipe guarded like a state secret, and a Sunday lunch that runs into Monday, there's probably a Lobo integral to the event.

So when you sit down at Just Lobo's, you're eating at what is basically the pack's home den. To me, personally, the place brings back memories of Lobos I have met in person and worked with, as also reminds me of names like the lady doctor Dr. Lobo mentioned in the epic work by Das Ganu Maharaj of Shegaon dedicated to Gajanan Maharaj of Shegaon, Goan freedom fighter Padmashree Libia Lobo Sardesai, and the great genealogist from Mangalore Micheal Lobo,

and of course the one and only...

..my favourite singer-songwriter Roland Kent LaVoie well known as just Lobo, the one with no Goan roots, no Portuguese godfather, and no known sorpotel recipe. India adopted him with open arms, especially In Goa and Mangalore where he is still a sensation.

I am perpetually hooked to umpteen Lobo gems including "I'd Love You to Want Me", "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo", "How Can I Tell Her", "Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend", and "A Simple Man", more so when I am at Just Lobo's.

It was at Just Lobo's that I met the cheerful server Yasir, originally from Kashmir and now finding his feet in Goa.

This post is dedicated to Lobos, wherever they are across the globe.