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There is a section of pseudo-patriots who would like us to remember Goa's
history before 01 March,1510 AD., the day Afonso de Albuquerque captured
what was thereafter called 'Ilha de Goa'. The rightful ruler of the day
,Adilshah Ismail, knew the place as 'Pajkhalli' and today we call it Panaji.
It is [ as yet undisputed]history that Yussuf Adilshah of Bijapur, a part
of the Bahamani Kingdom of the Deccan, had annexed Goa[ or Gopakkapatna] in
1489-90 and made Ela [ Velha Goa or Old Goa] as his local capital. The
history of Goa immediately before the entry of the Portuguese is of a Muslim
kingdom. There is a funny twist to history of Goa in 1510 AD that is Hindu
and which is eminently worth forgetting [as far as the pseudo-patriots are
concerned]. The twist is of Timmaji Appa, a man trusted by the Adilshah. He
was a stubborn man who betrayed the trust, went to Afonso de Albuquerque and
invited him to capture Goa. If there was one who cut the nose in spite of
the face, it was Timmaji Appa. The Panaji Nagrik Kruti Samiti tried to do a
repeat show in a Saturday Night Fever that began around sunseta good
time for dark deeds.
It is said that Timmaji Appa was very stubborn. The locals coined the word
'Tembdo' to metaphorically refer to a stubborn person. In Portuguese it was
'Teimoso': STUBBORN is the word. For a group of persons...MOB may be the
correct word... who vandalised the name plaque of 'Dr.Bernardo Guedes
Garden' and replaced it with 'Col.K.P.Kandeth Garden'..BUT COULD NOT CHANGE
THE NAME OF THE GARDEN... this was a repeat performance. This was an easier
job, ceramic tiles are easy to break, specially in the dark,narrow alleys of
Fontainhas[ooops! that should be read as Mala ] and in the company of 400
like-minded persons [ as per Mr.Nagesh Karmali's account]. Why should there
be Portuguese names on the streets?, he asks. If the name of a road
brings back memories of the Portuguese and their atrocities to the minds of
the Velingkars and Karmalis, then it is a surprise why the shirt-and-pant
attire doesn't! writes Ashley do Rosario [ in the Herald of 21 June page 3
,bottom]. He suggests that all these Vandals contact Wendell [Rodricks] for
a designer 'pudvem' [dhoti] or better still...the kashti...the redder ,the
better.
On the second day of the 'Panaji Expo' there was one gentleman who insisted
that the old Secretariat building did not have any architectural value and
should be pulled down. He was a strong protaganist of the pre-Portuguese
heritage. He was obviously aware that the Adilshah's palace was built by a
muslim ruler. Perhaps he was unaware that the 'Fazenda' was Adilshah's
harem! One architect told him that the structure should be maintained, if
for nothing else,than at least because it is one of the few buildings that
predated the Portuguese rule...and has survived 43 years of 'liberated '
Goa!
The Dempo Charities Trust[ a name thrust down the throat of the erstwhile
'Goa Education Society'] Dhempe College at Miramar-Panaji is conducting a
six-month long non-formal course in Goa Heritage Awareness. The course
will be conducted by Shri Prajal Sakhardande, a well-known history
teacher[ his father also taught at Dhempe College], writer and
Vice-President of GHAG. If 'additional' or 'desirable' qualification is
required, he is also a Saraswat Brahmin. I would strongly recommend that the
pseudo-patriots learn a little bit about history of Goa from him. [ Sorry,
Shri Shri Murli Manohar Joshi did not consider Goa important enough to
re-write its history while he had the power to do so!]. The course starts in
July...time enough to re-learn history correctly before the 30 September
deadline of the poor Panaji Nagrik Kruti Samiti to the CCP to remname the
roads.
If these folks are really patriotic and democratic, why dont they just send
a proposal to the CCP and then lobby [ not arm twist] for support to rename
all the roads and even the town. Panaji is, after all, a modification of a
Kannada muslim ruler's name for our capital. The BJP has the support of the
majority of the councillors in the Corporation of the City of Panaji . A
simple majority is enough to pass the resolution to rename a road or a
street. Once that is done, let us rename Panaji. The BJP also has a majority
support in the Goa Legislative Assembly. Let us rename it 'Govasa',
'Gopura', 'Goagao'...or something that reminds us of the holy cow. If not,
let us stop all this bull !
We cannot divide the history, culture and language of Goa on the basis of
period and religion without dividing the people also. Man is born without
any clothing and without any
