------------------------------------------------------------------------ * * * * * * * * * ANNUAL GOANETTERS MEET * * * * * * * * * ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goanetters in Goa and visiting meet Jan 6, 2009 at 3.30 pm at Hotel Mandovi (prior to the Goa Sudharop event, which you're also welcome to). Join in for a Dutch dinner -- if we can agree on a venue after the meet. RSVP (confirmations only) 9822122436 or 2409490 or f...@goa-india.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Valmiki Faleiro's articles on Goan names in the Herald Mirror bristle under the surface with all sorts of politics, although I admire the way he has managed to keep the story good humoured. He was not born yesterday however, and I'm sure he knows what his project is - so I suspect he will be upset by the jaundiced and prejudiced comments of mine which follow. Faleiro writes,"Catholic surnames, from Fernandes to Souza, are ... egalitarian. [They cut ] across social divides. A Fernandes or Souza could be a converted Hindu Brahmin or one from the lowest in the social pecking order." What he says is true. I do not know whether this was done consciously or not by the Portuguese. But in effect, it was a brilliant move by them because it was one of the means of changing the identity of the convert. [Although of course other means were used as well. They demanded a change in dress; in food habits (eating beef and pork and drinking feni in the house was made normal and chewing beetlenut and spitting out the remnants of the paan was frowned upon); hairstyles (xenndis were taxed!!) and perhaps most importantly, in language - (everyone was supposed to speak Portuguese.) The last measure failed, but at a tremendous cost to Konkani. I suspect that in those times the identity of the Goan was not to the 'Hindu' religion as such, but more to the family and to the family deity and caste, and the name of the person was a marker of this. By changing a Saraswat name like Kamat to a de Souza or a Fernandes, which could very well belong to a Sudhir or a Mahar, they hit at one of the cores of the pre-converted Goans' identity. But this does not mean that the Portuguese succeeded in this enterprise. Lucio Rodrigues in his brilliant essay 'To Kon'nallo' documented how Goans managed to circumvent this little obstacle. Read: www.mail-archive.com/*goan*et-n...@*goan*et.org/msg00367.html - 19k The local Goan aristocracy however was not satisfied with this arrangement and came up with a little subterfuge to make clear their ascendency over the rest. To understand how, read Faleiro from where he writes, "Another feature in many Catholic family names is double (even triple) surnames ..." I know what I say is annoying especially to the Bamons and Chaddes of today, but I think Catholics should learn to rationally confront the ghosts of their forbears, for unless they do, they will have to be resigned to bear the torments of the Hindutva baiter. Looking forward to a more happy year, Cheers Augusto -- Augusto Pinto 40, Novo Portugal, Moira, Bardez, Goa, India E pinto...@gmail.com or ypinto...@yahoo.co.in P 0832-2470336 M 9881126350
