Future generations of Goans will have no idea of the enormous successes, sacrifices, tears, roads and labors of love that their ancestors undertook (yes I too will be an ancestor) to make made it possible for them to flourish. I have names of many famous Goans implanted in my own memories, but even I do not know enough of them and I shudder to visualize how vague in memory they will become to my own family that will live in times to come.
Not just famous Goans who lived and still live. It is also the spirit of the Goans that must find a place not just in history books but in actual mementos that can be seen in a museum by anyone who visits Goa. The spirit that succumbed to Portuguese conquests and conversions and the spirit that resisted. The spirit that drove the Goan to Bombay, Karachi, Aden, Basra and Bahrain. To Angola and Mozambique. To Portugal, Goa's mother-country for 450 years. To work on the ships that carried cargoes and peoples through the worlds seas and oceans. To Dhobitalao, and to the collective communities in cities wherever they were. To the countries of the Persian Gulf when drinking water had to be transported by dhows. To their journeys to the darkest corners of Africa and to the life they led there and the travails of the Ugandan Goans in 1972. To their struggles in England, Canada, Australia and the US. Their voices that drove them to Parliaments and seats of power. Their souls that took the abuse and their bodies that took suffering and death far away from their native lands and villages. There is a huge story here. It begs to be told. And It craves to be remembered in the psyche of those for whom it was all done. I dream that when I take my children to visit Goa many of the questions they ask about Goans will be there for them to see if they are so inclined, and they are. That they will be able to see the cloak of an Abbe Faria perhaps, a picture of Froilano de Melo standing tall in Portuguese Parliament. A painting showing the Ranes and the Pintos valiantly fighting the Portuguese and losing. A picture of our Lady that every seaman carried in his cramped cabin. A montage of a freedom fighter sitting dejected in a Portugese border jail. A Jat regiment colonel smartly saluting his Portuguese counterpart while accepting his surrender in the Ponda barracks. A Goan proudly sitting in a plush office in Abu Dhabi. The pioneers of communications between Goans in cyberspace. My imagination knows no bounds. If Cecil Pinto can strive for a million rupees to celebrate a principal of a school in Aldona, a museum that is worthy of all of us can easily be built. Goans shine in every profession. Architects create, constructors build, historians write and people with connections make it all possible. And we have all of these and more. As a Goanetter mentioned in another context, the govt must best not be depended on. We must do it by ourselves and for ourselves, involving them only we must. Goan families give with all their heart to honor a long gone relative and the museum will have no place for its displays if people are approached in the right manner. Here is a project I humbly think is worthy of a world Goan effort. It is something for which I can without a blink dig into my pockets and dig deeply. I'll be glad to donate my Assagao property small as it is (5000 square feet or so) if that is enough. I know my cousins to whom it also belongs will agree likewise. If it is not enough, there are many bigger and better alternatives. We must have a dream...... _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org