Patriotism In Action – A Reader’s View
By Roland Francis, Toronto, CA
roland.fran...@gmail.com
The Book
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Documented by Valmiki Faleiro of Margao Goa, a former journalist, former
President of the Margao Municipality, and the son of a proud Indian Army
officer in the medical branch, the book is a compilation of Goans in
India’s Armed Forces. A factual narrative like this was long overdue.
The aesthetics are definitely above average in this 253 page hard
jacket. The covers are well designed although the front showing India
Gate, could have been more impacting. That deficiency is somewhat
compensated by the rear cover with a minor collage and a short
description. The pages are of fine quality, as is the printing. Inside,
there are several photographs, many in color, without which the book’s
value would be diminished. The cost to the reader of Rs.600 or
equivalent, all things considered, is well worth it.
The Subject
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There is nothing like rage and a sense of loss, to create a piece of
valuable work. Valmiki had both. Deeply offended by the erstwhile
Maharastrawadi Gomantak Party which screamed over rooftops about
deporting “Portuguese-loving” Catholic Goans who “lacked patriotism” for
India, he was determined to prove otherwise. He did that in spades.
Added to it, an expectation of his father to see Valmiki follow in his
footsteps in the Army which went unfulfilled, drove him to make up for
that as best he could.
Even for the avid, civilian Goan reader, the book fills a great void in
the history of Goans in the 20th century. One came across many of these
officers’ names from time to time, in the media and elsewhere, but there
was no reference book like this where one could find out where such and
such an officer came from, who he (or she) was related to and what
happened after retirement. It is hugely rewarding to know that above
and beyond the top ranks in the services, there were so many others in
the middle and lower ranks of the commissions. Equally comforting is
finding that your run of the mill Goan village was the birthplace of
such bravery, heroism and sacrifice. As Valmiki mentions, it is amazing
that a community of brains would find a grudging but respected niche in
the rough and tumble world of Punjabi Sikh, Kumaon, Jat, Maratha and Gurkha.
Sadly such a Goan phenomenon will never occur again. A generation of
Goans has been isolated from the values that drove their parents and
grandparents and seem strangely motivated by examples of greed by the
environment in India, and more so in Goa. These young Goans who could
keep the flag flying are being bred in a human farm where the only holy
grail is money and the life that comes with it. Patriotism is reserved
only for elections and that too in a perverted sense. A life in the
Armed Forces to them, fails when compared to a job on a cruise liner.
Imagine! Our Goan heroes will turn in their graves.
Also to blame is the model on which the Indian Armed Forces was built,
once appropriate, but being sustained undeservedly in the modern world.
The idea of the Forces being your Maa and Baap (mother and father)
worked in the day when the country was poor and the enlistment was
largely illiterate. Now, the ranks are educated and if even if they
still come from villages, they are used to cars and have travelled to
meet relatives in the western world. Managing them should no longer be
in colonial style but in modern soldiering, obedience not slavish but on
smarts, dependence not on brawn but on technology. The Forces have not
kept up. Add to that the seeping of poor ethics from their political
bosses and you can see how that does not make for good example. Gen
Sunith Rodrigues when told by a US Chief that his Army was envied,
should have asked – why? The answer would probably have been – we can no
longer expect from our soldier what you get from yours.
The foreword and prologue were superb as were the guest articles at the
end. George Menezes showed his thought-provoking side and Radharao
Gracias outdid himself. I have read Radharao before but here he was like
a jockey cracking a whip on a slow horse. Navy Captain Jimmy Martin’s
piece made me smile. It was a fitting end to mostly serious stuff elsewhere.
What I Would Have Looked Forward To
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The indexing, which should have been a key element of the book, is
almost non-existent - a big shortfall for a reference of this nature.
Cross-indexing in addition, would conveniently bring the characters one
wants to quickly scan, within a thumb’s grip. It needs to be done.
The articles previously published in Goa newspapers perhaps as a teaser
to the forthcoming book should have found no place in the form of
separate pages when all the facts in them appear in the body of the
book. This is not the only duplication. The same information is
re-cycled on several pages not deliberately, but in context of a family,
a situation or to show an example in, say heroism. For reference, this
might be handy, but for a reader who is absorbed in reading one end of
the book to another, it is a major irritant.
Valmiki has clearly laid out his mandate in the starting pages and it is
quite logical. One sympathizes when he says that the book was created
within the other tasks of his life, but the question that begs the
reader is this – for such a monumentally important work and that too of
love, why did he not engage a team of young boys and girls with the
energy that only youth can provide, to go around the country’s HQs and
other places, to gather facts and sift information. Valmiki could have
done a much better job if he coordinated, directed and gave his own
impetus to the team. That would have left him only with creating from
what was brought home from the market, a much tastier dish. These kids
would have worked for free – who wouldn’t when such an opus would have
made their resumes so much more attractive and separated them from the
rest in their field.
In conclusion
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Sitting here comfortably in Canada, I can make as much of a wish list as
I want to. It is not me who wrote the book but Valmiki who both
conceived and mid-wifed it. Only he would know the challenges he must
not have even mentioned. Whatever the diamond in the rough, it is a
diamond nevertheless. You can only admire it when you hold it in your
hand and I urge every Goan who wants to be aware of his path, where the
light came from, to read it. A remarkable book, this. (ENDS)
http://patriotism-in-action.blogspot.com/
Goanet A-C-E!
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