Dear Frederick, It was indeed a pleasure to hear the audio recording of the meeting held in Panaji on 13 January 2017. It was particularly nice to hear the views and opinions of Vicky and Roland de Souza, who are the exception to the norm as they chose to remain in Pakistan despite having all their family in the US.
Their respective families were longstanding within the Karachi elite. Roland grandfather Celeriano de Souza and P A de Souza (from Saligao and father of Mr Hubert de Souza, Fr Jimmy de Souza and Sr Alice de Souza) were known to have exceptional singing voices and used to take part in the choir as well as Goan folk song singing at the KGA. Roland's father Joe was one of the wittiest people that I had the pleasure of knowing. He would deliver his lines with a dead pan expression. In this day and age he would have become an instant celebrity. The de Souza family gave the Catholic Church three Priests in the form of Frs Tony, Valerian and Francis. A sister Angela was an exceptional Mathematics teacher and the two bachelor brothers Naval Commander Stan (who could make young maidens quake when in his fatigues) and Louis (Karachi Port Trust). Roland's mother Olinda was a 'dear'. She was a good friend of the family and loved to chat with my mum mixing her conversation with use of Portuguese, English and Konkani. Roland and his siblings Osmund and Mariette studied Engineering - a sister Susan in the UN and another Nona - an Airhostess. Olinda used to visit my dad (who worked near their home) from time to time with chocolates and goodies for me. These were always brought by the daughter Nona. This will remain in my mind forever. Vicky's maternal grandfather was the famous Philip and Co - Furniture specialists in pre and post Partition Karachi. Her dad Diego Menezes held a Senior post with the American Embassy in Karachi (which in its heydays employed many Goans, East and Anglo Indians). Her mum Theresa was another exceptional talent. She would perform a one act dialogue of a middle aged Goan woman called Conceicao - an earlier but much better version of Auntie Maggie. She used to perform this skit regularly until the early 1970s before emigration to the US. I had the pleasure of seeing a performance during one of her trips to Karachi in the 1980s when she was asked to come out of retirement at a Parish function. Roland and Vicky both come from a talented musical family. Besides being members of the church choirs, they have also taken principal roles in Musical extravaganzas like Jesus Christ Superstar etc. In the late 1980s, Vicky and a friend Lynette Viccaji decided to put up a musical concert which ran for three evenings at the KGA and which contained Music from the popular musicals like; My Fair Lady, Sound of Music; Oklahoma, Hello Dolly, etc. I had the pleasure of performing a duet as well as was part of some of the other performances. The function was recorded. The efforts of Vicky and Lynette cannot be forgotten as they organised the practices, stage sets very professionally. Lynette's daughter Zoe is a very successful Pop artist in Karachi. I was pleased to learn that Vicky and Roland are contemplating leaving their beloved Karachi, Pakistan. Their contribution in that country can never be forgotten. They will surely be missed but they need to be united with their loved ones already based in the US and I wish them all the success. Regards Fausto Sent from Outlook<http://aka.ms/weboutlook>
