Who said Goanet was devoid of humor these days? Selma asked: I was wondering if anyone would be able to comment on this. In Salcete large areas do not have bamons. Would Assolna of Salcete have had bamons. What would be the possibility of a man who set up a school in Assolna being bamon?
In rush three gentlemen (this title used for civil, not meritorious purposes) taking the following positions: G1: My brothers and sisters all married non-bamons (is there some virtue in that? There could have been, if G1 admitted to being a bamon). When I was in school, my teachers told me to disregard caste. My family did not care for caste (so did about half the Goa population, especially those in Bombay and the Gulf). My brothers and sisters all married outside of their caste. (Assuming caste is a ladder did they go upwards or downwards?). I understand that G1 is a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. The very institution that allowed this nefarious caste system to be perpetuated in Goa. Hey father, you would have been more credible if you had taken the opportunity to apologize for that on behalf of the body you represent. Then in comes G2 on the same lines: What a blot the caste system is. Don't talk about it. I am a sub harijan and kunbi (Cecil Pinto nails him on that one!). My children married (where he does not say) in line with our family not breathing the caste word. He adds a Spanish word or two, leading us to believe that not only was this out of caste, but out of India entirely (nothing wrong with that - more than half of Goan children overseas marry "outside"). What I have to ask G2 is why all the family revelations given the fact that Selma for the purpose of writing a book only asked an unrelated question as shown above. Here Vivian nets G2 like a fisherman nets a "tallo" by telling us that Goans went to EA for better prospects while G2 was convincing us based on Ben Antao's fictitious book that Goans went there to escape the caste system. Busted, G2! G3 as usual puts his foot in where angels fear to tread. He talks about Selma's bias in writing about the caste system. Hey G2, she hasn't written anything on this yet. She is still at the research stage. Why not talk about your bias for gold investing and your bias for cheering the fall of profligate western governments as represented by your arch-enemy the United States where you went to study and whose innocent citizen you married? Roland. Toronto. Vivian D'Souza writes: I did not read posts on this subject after the initial query from Selma. And when I did read a post, I was surprised how far the posts have strayed from the original scholarly query. Why question E.A. Goans about their motives to emigrate from Goa ? A wide spectrum of Goans migrated to East Africa for better economic prospects. I know I did in 1959. From a salary of Rs. 100/- a month in Bombay I started earning Shs. 347/50 per month as a clerk in Tanganyika. A quantum jump, even with the differential in living costs.. I am sure all the Goans (predominantly Catholic) who migrated to the British colonies, did so for economic reasons and not to escape Caste discrimination.