Selma Carvalho wrote: This shows a lack of knowledge about Goa. Bakers, known as poders, were predominantly if not exclusively male in Goa. Their wives might have helped them with the firing of the fornun, kneading of the dough, etc but it was a male dominated industry. Poders were held in high regard, where occupations were pegged on a pecking order. Perhaps because a lot of them managed to make a lucrative earning and ofcourse they owned their fornuns. My maternal great-grand father was a poder. For some reason, it was a seasonal activity for this family. They operated their fornun only during the winter months. They were batkars in Colva, which might have had something to do with it. Perhaps they went fishing in the summer.
-------------------------- The posting above reveals an absolute ignorance about how poders functioned, and continue to function, in Goa. 1) The delivery person is not necessarily a poder. If the entire planning and preparation of the product is very often done by the women folk (and hired help) how can it still be labelled a 'male dominated' industry? In many cases the wives and daugters even helped out with delivering the bread. It was a family enterprise rather than of just one individual. The male head of the house was often the figurehead poder but the female component of the industry must never be underestimated. 2) 'High regard' is a relative term. Poders were held in high in regard as any other profession involving a lot of manual labour. Most poders barely managed to make a basic living, leave alone a lucrative one. Only those who progressed to become 'bakers and confectioners' were able to break out of the cycle. *chuckle* In North Goa especially, poders rarely owned their own 'fornuns' and were thus dependent on the goodwill of the landlord who owned the land/house from which they operated. 3) Seasonal operation of a 'fornun' was very common with another family operating the bakery during the alternate months. It was very uncommon for a poder to also simultaneously be a bhatkar, but then the definition of bhatkar is unclear. In my mind a person who owns the land he lives on is not a bhatkar. A person who owns vast tracts of land and has tenants, who live on and cultivate parts of the land, is a bhatkar. 4) I have close family and friends who were/are poders. I know what I am talking about and am not making illogical assumptions based on what might have transpired generations back. Cheers! Cecil ===========