Re your specific question to me on help to "needy Goans" in London, I can't see the relevance at all to the ongoing debate on caste. However, as you are obviously dying to know, I can tell that I have been, among other associations, in the Goan Association as an editor with a last publication of forty-eight A4 pages, and while also in the welfare section, was able to help to seek accommodation for newcomers, and even house people in my own premises, briefly, as I was single then, and to obtain warm clothing for them from charity shops. In terms of generally helping people to adjust to a totally new environment with many hurdles to cross, I provided much advice/help on the education of children from primary school to university. Additionally, help in writing letters to solicitors and immigration bodies, help in obtaining bank accounts and in obtaining council housing and also mortgages, help in registering for GP services, help in sorting out pension transfers from East Africa, and lots and lots of job references, particularly for old acquaintances who badly needed references from here and fast.
As I had a car I was sometimes the taxi driver collecting new/unknown people from the airport and even taking people home when they were without personal transport for some late return journeys from Goan socials, and help for people moving from premises with their luggage. Mind you, the roads were relatively empty in the 1960s and early 1970s compared to now and petrol was incredibly cheap to worry about any car journey. One was also young with lots of energy, and more idealistic too! Indeed I feel sure that our earliest Goans in places like Toronto and Sydney did likewise.
The most challenging situation for many parents was to do with trying to obtain suitable secondary school places for their children in a very competitive situation and I often accompanied parents and their children to meet senior 'difficult and snooty' education officers and spoke at appeals of course. Also getting a first job befitting qualifications was a major problem when unemployment was high. At no time did I ever ask about the social background of people because it did not matter at all. In times of crises, especially, all tend to be at the same level irrespective of where they might have been before.
There were some acute situations needing much help such as the exodus in 1968 from Kenya and in 1972 from Uganda. In the case of the Ugandan Asians, they were located in 'holding camps' a long way from where I lived, and as a volunteer I offered advisory help and met several people there including Goans.
I could not have imagined that anybody would ever find it necessary to ask me for such information and I had to try and remember/recall some of the above as it was all done quietly. But I repeat, Gilbert, how this has anything to do with caste I do not know but I will leave it to your fertile imagination!
More than anything else, if this is not clear by now, I reiterate that I reject the existence of caste in its entirety, and particularly intensely, when people will insist on caste labelling under the guise of a geographical interest, and also, the utterly absurd recent suggestion of a personal caste declaration.
Minimally, for me, caste is primitive and does not encompass the Christian teaching of love thy neighbour as thyself. Castes separate neighbours as lower and higher beings from birth and as an American you must know that caste belief rejects the central theme in your Constitution, taken from Enlightenment thought, that all men are born equal. Further, I do not agree at all with those who suggest dealing with caste across the board in all of India. This is a recipe for failure and thus, wittingly or unwittingly, a hidden agenda for the retention of caste. One battle at a time which is winnable, even if difficult, is good enough for me in a very long war! But as Confucius supposedly said, every (long) journey starts with the first step! However, I risk endless repetition on this theme and simply say Amen for now.
Regards,
Cornel DaCosta, London.
