Dear Roland,
Thank you for the kind words.
I know you've spent your holidays in Goa, when based in Bombay, the Gulf,
and now in Canada, with your "eyes wide open." How else could you have
penned all those graphic accounts of Goan weddings, dances, and the two Fs...
feasts and funerals, if it were not so?
The "Aldona" in the 3-B family part was a typo, it should have read Assolna.
I saw the error when I read the mail after it was uploaded, but then decided,
those aware would know there are no "Sales Gomes" and "Wisemen Pintos"
in Aldona and that it actually meant Assolna. (For those not aware, it wouldn't
make a difference one way or the other.)
As regards the sentiment in your last para, the same here. Being branded a 'B'
is a Big Bad word in today's times, far worse than being an illegitimate child,
and,
like you, I would have anyday preferred being a Mhar -- that way, I would have
at least retained my 'caste-endowed' powers of 'exorcism' (hope the Chimbelcho
won't read this or I am your ham at tom's breakfast table), every Sunday and
Wednesday. Even if my ancestors had converted to Christianity. I have it on the
authority of Anant RS Dhume, a learned bhatkar from the village my mother
hails from, Cumbarjua, that even Christian Mhars were called to Saraswat houses
to cast away evil eye. All this just btw.
Hey, wouldn't Goanetters be interested in those delightfully delicious Goan tales
of ghosts, evil eye and exorcists? If some netters could launch three new threads
on each of those subjects and everyone would share their experiences, I'm sure
Cecil Pinto and Frederick Noronha would only be glad to publish them in
book form (with a foreword by Dr. Santosh Helekar, of couse!) Just a thought.
Rgds, v
On Sun, 09 Dec 2007 Roland Francis wrote :
Valmiki, thank you for a most informative post triggered by my questions on
the Bamon Ladder. As usual, written in your own distinctive style, it makes
for easy reading and even easier understanding. Most writers would give
their eye-tooth for this skill.
I do admit to making casual observations supported only by short stints in
Goa although with eyes wide open. Your opinions are drawn from a lifetime in
Goa supplanted by much reading to base it upon. So I surely defer to what
you say.
Didn't quite understand your para about the 3 Brahmin families of Kshatriya
Aldona. Do you really mean that Aldona was K-majority? Or were you referring
to Assolna mentioned at the end of your sentence.
I look forward to Senhor Tavares's views after the Nobel week is over and he
is more at ease.
With reference to your:
quote
This distinction of class within the same caste is not a feature only among
the
'higher castes' but every caste down the ladder! The only chaps we all
forget in
these great debates are the tailend Mhars and Chamars, both Hindu and
Catholic --
it is only among them that I have found no distinctions.
unquote
Goa must have once seemed like this:
Upper rung Bs looked down on lower class Bs
Lower class Bs looked down on upper class Ks
Upper class Ks looked down on lower class Ks
Lower class Ks looked down on upper class Ss
Upper class Ss looked down on lower class Ss
And lower class Ss and everybody else looked down on the Mhars and Chamars.
How I wish I were a Mar in the golden days of Goa. I would have had my own
brand of fun.
Roland.
416-453-3371
