See essay below submitted for the GOA SUDHAROP GOAN SENIORS E-BOOK. Please send your submission to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and encourage your friends and family to send in an essay too. Thank you for your support.
Goa Sudharop ****************************************************************************** CROSSING THE INDIAN OCEAN BY SHIP DURING WORLD WAR II by Cornel DaCosta Many Goans in East Africa worked hard for five years and then took their long leave, of about six months, to visit their loved ones in Goa. When young, I did the trip by passenger ship six times. The voyage each way took about nine days and in later times, was most pleasurable. However, in 1942, although very young, I can recall much detail of a voyage on the Tilawa, travelling fom Goa to Mombasa, Kenya. I am now amazed that so many people did make such a trip when enemy submarines were known to be attacking shipping in the Indian Ocean. Indeed, my trip on the Tilawa was the last one she made before being torpeoded by a Japanese submarine on 24th November 1942. Many Goan lives were lost and survivors had horrific accounts to tell for many years. On the Tilawa, I recall the terrible fears of the hundreds of passengers. During the day, an escorting British frigate was seen just twice and provided some reassurance. However, at night all lights were switched off on board, so that the ship would not be visible and become an easy target for the maurading submarines. At best, one had a torch to find one's way to a toilet and young children prone to tantrums were desperately quietened by their anxious mothers. It is difficult to describe the fear of the passengers when crossing the Indian Ocean in such perilous circumstances. Most were simply fatalistic or took to ceasless prayer. They literally counted the hours rather than the days when they would make it safely across the sea. But why did they travel in such hazardous circumstances? A number of reasons come to mind. Firstly, they were prepared to take the risk of a crossing in wartime. Many assumed that the Indian Ocean was relatively safe compared to other seas in the world and believed that a harmless passenger ship would not be sunk by the enemy. Their prime purpose was to renew contact with family and other loved ones in the ambience of Goa. They took with them, from East Africa, presents like chocolates, ground coffee, sugar, bars of soap and manufactured clothing for folks 'back home.' In turn, they took from Goa, things not available in East Africa such as genuine Goa sausages, Goan sweets and the permitted bottles of feni and Portuguese wines and spirits. All these were transported in many metal trunks which were stacked in the depths of the holds of a ship. Spending six months in Goa was an absolute joy. Homes were alive with so much activity. Christmas, Easter and Carnaval were a particular treat. Moreover, at least one goat would be bought and reared for milk for the children, chickens would provide eggs and meals too, while a pig was invariably fattened to provide home made sausages by the expert chef in the locality. Tailors were employed at home to produce clothing of one's choice and the beach provided real pleasure on relatively empty beaches in an incredibly underpopulated Goa. To be taken around in horse-drawn carriages was a great novelty as well as when travelling in pretty rickety buses on red roads which threw up a lot of fine dust everytime the few motorised vehicles went past. As electricity was not yet available, lighting in homes at night was limited and the shadows thrown by candlelight in large homes were often rather daunting. This was not helped by local people providing endless stories about ghosts and haunted homes as well as accounts of encounters with snakes. However, this was compensated by many new experiences, including the skill of expertly drawing water from a deep well. Secondly, children were able to meet with grandparents in Goa for six months at a time even if they missed schooling for such long periods as I did periodically! If children were starting school in East Africa, keeping to school entry dates were deemed important, however difficult the sea passage. Thirdly, there were those who were travelling for the first time to East Africa after obtaining a much valued "permit" to work there. And there were those who had gone to get married in Goa and were returning with new spouses. Clearly, these voyagers across the Indian Ocean were really brave to do so in the dificult and dangerous circumstances during the six-year Second World War. I salute their fortitude and use this opportunity belatedly to convey my condolences to families who lost their loved ones in the depths of the Indian Ocean. Because of very fortuitous circumstances, my family and I were lucky not to have gone down on board the Tilawa by the margin of a single earlier crossing. Fate does work in strange ways! _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org