[BOOK EXCERPT: Chartered accountant Ganesh Daivajna, who releases his autobiography 'An Audit of My Life' in Goa on Friday, June 16, 2017, at 5 pm at Damodar College, describes the Goa he first encountered in the 1960s.]
Goa -- a Shangri-La or a Timbuctoo? By Ganesh Daivajna daiva...@gmail.com Wherever my travels may lead, --paradise is where I am. Voltaire. My part-time employer, chartered accountant S.M. Inchalmat (SMI), asked me to accompany him to Goa. In 1961 itself, Portuguese rule came to an end in Goa, which became a Union Territory with limited self-rule. Foreseeing Goa as a sunrise area for the audit profession, he had decided to test the waters in this fertile soil. A survey done by SMI and S.T. Annigeri, a tax practitioner, further confirmed the prospects. Systems in accounting and auditing in Goa were yet to fall into place. My knowledge of Konkani was an added advantage. So go I must with SMI. Here was young me with a fourth rank B.Com. certificate in my pocket, having others make decisions for me. The Sirur job offer was declined. My friend, J.S. Korlahalli, also turned the offer down because he had decided to coninue with his M.Com. There was no way I could count on my parents and relatives for guidance. One thing I was sure about was that a trust in the Almighty and my unwavering faith in my will to forge ahead would never let me down, despite all the obstacles and hurdles. Goa, to my mind, could be as good or as bad as any imagined Shangri-La or Timbuctoo. Our study room in Deshpande Nagar, Hubli, was by the side of the railway line. We had seen a lot of movement of the military to Goa during the Liberation battle in December 1961. This was the time people in the college used to talk about Goa and its Liberation struggle. I had also been talking to Goan Konkani-speaking students in our college about Goa and its culture. In any case, it was a dream place in our mind. When the unilateral decision of SMI was thrust upon me, I had no other alternative, but to concede to his wish and command. SMI, of course, painted a very rosy picture. He described the place in words which went something like this: "It's a paradise on Earth. Sun, sea and sand. The people are warm, hospitable, trust-worthy. Under Portuguese rule for over 450 years theirs is the culture and lifestyle that has a blend of the East and the West. Name the imported product and you will get it at discounted rates." Well, it sounded like a Utopia. So the anxiety I felt in going to this strange land was, to some extent, mitigated. Can one imagine in today's time and age a young boy at the behest of his employer moving to another state to make his future without the knowledge and consent of his parents? I had implicit trust in Mr. Inchalmath and I did what he said. I sometimes shudder to think what if one of my own children were far away from house and home and there was no communication from them for long spells! In this day and age of mobile phones and the Internet, our children are just a phone or Skype call away. And yet, in those days we had to wait for weeks if not months to hear from our dear and near ones, through the only lifeline of the postal system. My parents had no clue that I was in Goa. It was only after a long month that I wrote to them of my whereabouts. Meanwhile, a few interesting facts about Goa: • While the Portuguese ruled Goa, Portugal itself was ruled by Spain from the late sixteenth century for 60 years. • The remains of St. Francis Xavier at Old Goa are more than 400 years old and still in a non-decomposed state. • Goa is the only state whose road transport service is named after a dynasty that ruled over it, the Kadambas. • Goa is the only state in India that, regardless of religion, has an active and commonly-enforced uniform civil code for all citizen. • The first medical school of India, which is also one of the oldest medical colleges in Asia, was established in Goa. • Goa is the only place where one can find a unique pillion passenger motor cycle taxi. These two wheeler taxi riders are often referred to as 'pilots'. • Goa houses the only naval aviation museum that exist in Asia. It is also one of only seven that exist in the world. • The longest laterite sculpture in India is located at Ancestral Goa museum in Loutolim, Salcete taluka in South Goa. • The Se Cathedral, dedicated to St. Catherine in Old Goa, is considered to be one of the largest churches in Asia. • In the year 1556, the first printing press in Asia was set up at St. Paul's college of Goa. With it being just two years after the Portuguese beat a retreat, Goa still carried pronounced vestiges of Western culture. For persons coming in from the other states of India, particularly the non-cosmopolitan cities, Goa was a totally different kettle of fish. Women attired in short skirts, gowns, high-heeled shoes and bob-cut hair is something one did not see in the rest of the country. The men wore pants and shirts and it was even quite common to see some of them in full suits. Dhotis -- the long loincloth worn by many Hindu men in India -- were a very rare sight. On occasions and festivals, Hindu men wore their dhotis, and a traditional topi for their heads; but above this was a Western-style suit coat. Upper caste Catholics conversed in Portuguese, even with their educated Hindu counterparts. If one knew Konkani, whichever the dialect, one could manage to communicate. Interestingly, there are various dialects of Konkani. The Hindu Konkani, the Christian Konkani, the Bardezi Konkani, the Karwari Konkani and the Mangalorean Konkani. Mine was closer to the Karwar version. Speak a sentence or two and your roots would immediately be identified. English was seldom used in the Goa of those days, and Hindi never. This was about the time, in the early sixties, when the sluice gates to Goa were yet to be flung open. With the opening of schools all over the state and the starting of colleges in the major towns, Goa was a haven for jobs in education. The demand was filled by the neighboring states. So also with jobs in the public-works department, irrigation and other government departments. In education and the PWD, the influx was from Kerala, the country's most literate state, followed by Karnataka and Maharashtra. The few chartered accountants working here were also from outside the state. Even at that time, Margao was a commercially active town, even though Panjim was the state capital. Margao was known as the commercial and cultural capital. It had both a Railway passing through and a bus station that facilitated intra- and inter-state transport. For travel within the city and the outskirts, one used the carreira, a very differently modeled bus that was very typical of Goa. Many of Mario Miranda's cartoons of Goa highlight the camaraderie and the humorous side of travel in the carreira. Yes, there were a few taxis but didn't my eyes pop out when I noticed among them the Mercedes Benzes, the Fords and the Volkswagens. The indigenous Ambassador, Fiat and Hindustan Standard were slowly making their presence felt. The Volkswagen Beetle was among the popular cars then, owned by the middle and upper middle class. Rickshaws were non-existent. Motor cycles were available for hire for individuals. The 'pilot' (owner-rider of a motorcycle two-wheeler taxi) would take one to his or her destination for a reasonable fare, a facility unique to Goa which continues to this day though at a much higher price. These pilots enjoyed a high level of trust. They could be depended upon to take you to your destination at any time. The bike in common use was the Rajdoot and the Yezdi. People even entrusted these pilots with their children, to have them dropped and picked up from school. Very few people owned motor bikes or scooters then. The bicycle was much in use. Margao well deserved the nomenclature of being the 'commercial capital' of Goa. The market was flooded with imported goods, clothes, watches and stationery. It was a veritable shopper's paradise. People who came here from the rest of India felt they were visiting a foreign country without needing a visa and a passport. They returned with bags loaded. The flow of liquor was an added attraction. Need I say anything about the landscape? Breath taking! Lush green trees, wide open spaces, high tile-roofed houses aesthetically designed to suit the climate and the people. Fairly wide roads and absolutely no presence or the stench of garbage. Not a single high rise building. Even government buildings were an architectural feast for the eyes, for example the Margao municipal building. Almost every house had a surrounding compound with a well maintained garden in front and orchards behind. Dotting the landscape were the tall steeples of churches, chapels and crosses in white. Needless to say, that the quintessence of a place is its people. And like in every other part of India you could classify them in terms of religion, class, caste, culture, urban, rural. Though it was under Portuguese rule for over 450 years, Goa continued to retain some Indian ethnic practices. Pronounced among those is the caste system. Even those who converted to Christianity centuries ago often held on to their caste identity. So you have the Brahmin Catholics, the Kshatriya (Chardo) Catholics, the Sudra Catholics and of course Kunbi Catholics. To this day, when it comes to marriage, caste is a deciding factor. Very un-Christian! But habits, customs and traditions die hard. Like in the rest of the country, the Hindus strictly adhere to their caste and sub-caste practices. The Christians have church feasts and festivals and Hindus, their temple festivals and zatras. The Muslims were relatively small in number. Very commendable in this small territory is the camaraderie and fellowship of all communities. A Traumatic Entry Talking of the experience of my sojourn to Goa, it started on a note that was nothing short of traumatic. At the Anmod check-post, on the Goa-Karnataka border, on April 14, 1963, hardly a week after my B.Com. exams, all passengers visiting Goa for the first time were compulsorily vaccinated. I, who had not taken even a single injection all my life, was being administered a painful shot. The effect of the vaccine was very severe on me and I was down with a high fever for nearly eight days. Burning with fever, away from home, family and friends for the first time, it was very depressing. Providentially, my junior assistant took care of me. By the grace of the Almighty, I managed to overcome the pains of my vaccination. Later, to my horror, I discovered that there was no fixed place for me to stay. I was unceremoniously told to put up at an old rented house at Borda, which had no proper sanitation except for a pig toilet facility. For our daily meals, we visited a Udupi hotel called 'Dilkush', located near the Railway station. The owner of the hotel, Mr. Acharya, was also our client and I made arrangements for my meals at concessional rates after talking to him. The hotel was simple, not very clean, but the food was wholesome and tasty, very similar to home food. Sometimes, I went to Swagat Lodge run by the Desai family, next to the Railway station. These hotels are still famous for their tasty and affordable food suitable for the middle class. Mr. Acharya sometimes prepared special food for me and my boss, SMI. It was pure vegetarian fare with drumstick sambar as our favourite dish. During the afternoon meals, we met some people like Bipin Shah, an engineer working at the Mormugao Port Trust, and Mr. Raikar, who later did his articleship with chartered accountant S.J. Thali, who had a big CA firm at that time. He then joined a mining firm as a chief accountant. We also met Mr. Vyapari, a CA from Bombay, and many travelling salesmen, some of whom were also from Hubli. Coming back to my daily routine, we had to walk three kilometres in the hot sun to the Main Market for work, and that too bare feet. There were only two CA firms in Salcete, Goa, at that time. H.K. Aparanji had settled down in Margao before we did. We ourselves had small clients and our job involved compiling their financial transactions and other accounts. I spent many days writing the accounts of the Longuinhos Bar and Restaurant, sitting in a corner of the bar. It is today a prominent Margao watering-hole for the trendy and old-timers. Gradually, our clientèle increased and we began to conduct the audit of firms such as M/s. V.N. Sarmalkar & Co., K.S. Kunde, Nooranis and several small and medium sized restaurants. It was an onerous job -- collecting, collating and formating all the required information and writing the accounts too. The existing accounting system prevalent during the Portuguese rule in Goa was rudimentary and could not meet the requirements of the new taxation laws. Health care in Margao was basic at that time. There were no private hospitals. The only good hospital was Hospicio, a hundred year old government hospital at the entrance of the city which was reasonably equipped and provided its services all free. There were a few doctors practicing, noted among them was Dr. Shantaram Naik, who had a small consulting room near the Margao municipality (camara). He worked alone, with no nurse or assistant. His style of treating any ailment was, first a dose of purgative in the form of some churan in a packet, to be taken at night after food and see the doctor again after a day. He would then prescribe some medicine powder and tablets. At that time, all pharmacies used to dispense or distribute doses of powder and tablets. All were affordable and cheap but effective. In later years, I opted for Dr. Vasant Kamat as my family doctor, he was very popular, and also known as a saviour of the poor. He never asked for money; anyone wanting to pay him had to leave whatever they wished on his table. Behind the municipal building Dr. P.L. Kamat's clinic cum dispensary was also very popular. Presently his son Dr. Deepak P. Kamat runs the clinic. A New Code In 1964, the Government of Goa introduced the grant-in-code to strengthen the financials of local schools. Prior to Liberation, some schools were proprietary, some run by the Church and a few by the societies. After the code, it was necessary that the management of all the schools be entrusted to the Trusts or Societies, for them to be able to claim government grants. Hence all the school managements had to fall in line. It was necessary to maintain the proper books of account which needed to be audited by a chartered accountant. Based on the audited statements in the recognised format, the grants were sanctioned to the schools. Hence a floodgate of opportunities opened up for the chartered accountants. Many schools did not know about these changes, and therefore we undertook an awareness drive by visiting all the schools and educating them of the need for maintaining books of account and forming trusts and societies to manage the schools. We covered nearly 120 schools and many of them requested us to help them. They entrusted the assignment of putting things in order and getting the accounts audited to claim the much needed government grant. This greatly helped improve the financial health of schools. SMI was happy that we got many assignments, but the task of carrying out the assignment fell on my young shoulders. Contact the author Email : daiva...@gmail.com Phone : 0832-2730728 or 2736139, or (via Naveen) 72760 29981 [Book extracts of newly released Goa-related books are welcome, and Goanet Reader looks forward to sharing the same online.]