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* G * O * A * N * E * T **** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S *
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Enjoy your holiday in Goa. Stay at THE GARCA BRANCA from November to May
There is no better, value for money, guest house.
Confirm your bookings early or miss-out
Visit http://www.garcabranca.com for details/booking/confirmation.
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Ex-ambassador Placido D'Souza shares his thoughts on time spent in Pune (Poona)
for the Goa
Sudharop Goan Seniors E-book. Thanks to Frederick Noronha for arranging this
submission. Please
send your essays to [EMAIL PROTECTED] One interesting development is people are
also sending
in their old pictures. Please feel free to send in pictures with names of the
people and the place
clearly identified - the more details the better. We will try and build a
database of old Goan
photos.
Goa Sudharop
www.goasudharop.org
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MY GOAN CONNECTION AS A YOUTH
by Placido D'Souza
My youth was spent partly in Dar-es-Salaam (East Africa) but mainly in Pune
(India). In fact, I
have lived my whole life, except for brief holidays, outside Goa. As such, I am
most grateful that
my father and mother took special care to instill in me and my sister and
brother, what they
considered some of the core elements of Goan culture. This provided the bedrock
that has remained
one of the sheet anchors in my life.
I learnt Konkani at my mother's knee and it was amchi bhas (our language) that
was spoken at home.
My father, a man of few words, strove to inspire us by his example. My mother
lent him invaluable
support, and it was their immense sacrifices and hard work that provided me
with a solid
foundation for the future.
My parents always had a Konkani proverb on the tip of their tongues to prove a
point or to drive
home the moral of some incident or event. Some were similar to those in other
languages but many
were unique and rooted in the Goan ethos. Ingratitude evoked the saying Kam
zalem, voiz melo (When
your work is done, don't forget the one who helped).
Another favourite aphorism - Moddlelea khursac resped na (No one respects a
broken down cross.) -
was probably derived from my father's bitter experience of friends deserting
him when in later
life he was in need of help. Yet another saying that keeps ringing in my ears
is Fudlem zoth
voitam toxem fatlem (The oxen behind follow in the footsteps of those in front.)
While in Pune, we would visit my uncle's home in Sorantho, Anjuna, generally
during the summer
holidays. Theirs was a different world, where life was simple and unaffected,
with none of the
conveniences that we took for granted such as electricity or piped water. The
happy memories of
those visits remain indelibly etched in my memory.
My aunt and cousins would prepare the most delicious meals rounded off with
mangoes that grew in
plenty on the trees in the garden. Another treat was tender coconut water and
sur. In general no
effort was spared to make our stay as enjoyable as possible. In the evenings we
would go to the
near-by beach, a rare pleasure for us from Pune. I would collect shells and
different coloured
pebbles, some of which are still with me as precious souvenirs of a distant
past.
At night, we would gather by the flickering light of the ponti (oil lamp) to
say the rosary,
concluding with the uniquely traditional and beautiful prayer Deu bori rat
I
was too young to be
allowed to go fishing with the elders, but would watch with fascination as they
prepared for the
expedition that was generally at night. The next morning I would wake up to the
excited cries of
delight over the good catch, and the mock-serious complaints of the women in
the house as they had
to clean the fish, and cook it immediately as there were no fridges then. Feast
days meant a
special trip to the Church of St. Michael's, and as this was quite far away, we
had the luxury of
going there in a taxi. Even though I have since traveled to several parts of
the world, I cannot
think of any holidays that were as enjoyable or memorable as the ones I spent
in Goa.
On the few occasions that a Tiatr came to Pune, my father would invariably take
us for this
entertainment. It was then that I came to know of Boyer and other veterans of
the Goan stage and
enjoy their songs. As I grew up, I discovered role models in the community like
Cardinal Gracias
and Frank Moraes, respectively the first Indian cardinal and the well-known
editor of The Times of
India. I wanted very much to follow in their footsteps, but fate sent me into a
completely
different profession.
Today, although far away from Goa, I often think nostalgically of my Goan
connection and try to
remain attached to what is otherwise a fading heritage. In fact the link is, in
a sense, now more
vibrant than ever, perhaps because, to use another of my father's favourite
sayings, Baim suktoch,
udcacho valor collta. (When the well dries up, one realizes the value of water)
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