Title: Lest We Forget By: Roland Francis Source: Goan Voice Daily Newsletter, 11 Nov. 2012 at www.goanvoice.org.uk
Full text: If you look at the moral decay in Goa today, it is tempting to secretly wish that the Portuguese had not left or at the very least that the high moral and civic values that were learned during the long years of their rule did not disappear like leaves in the Indian wind. But if one reflects on it, freedom from occupation by a foreign power is ingrained in every man and woman's heart. And we Goans were no exception. The first known revolt took place in 1563 hardly 50 years after the Portuguese landed in Goa and was led by Fr. Mateus de Castro a Goan priest who obtained his Doctorate in Rome and was appointed as a Bishop much to the chagrin of the Portuguese who imagined that such a position was their monopoly. They practiced the policy of discrimination and racial prejudices almost until 1961 at least in Church appointments. Two hundred years of comparative peace followed that revolt after which the next and this time well organized attempt at rebellion took place in 1787. It was called the Pinto Revolt. The brain behind it was Fr. Caetano Victorino de Faria of Colvale, a father figure of the Goans in Portugal with the involvement of his son, a Benedictine monk Custodio Jose Faria later to become well known as the hypnotist Abbe Faria. The main participants were Frs. Caetano Francisco Couto, Jose Antonio Gonsalves, a few Pintos from Candolim and some students living in Portugal. They were betrayed by their own and suffered brutal reprisals by the Portuguese. Besides these, there were about 40 other revolts during the entire Portuguese rule of 450 years among which the constant and notable armed insurrections of the brave Ranes of Sattari and Valpoi gave the rulers no respite. After that, the age of gentlemen protesters and rebels dawned with the first Goan Viceroy appointment of Bernardo Peres da Silva in 1835. A host of Goan heroes followed with their voices raised to proclaim their right to independence. Luis de Menezes-Braganza, Tristao de Braganza-Cunha, Francisco Luis Gomes of Navelim, Joaquim Felipe da Piedade-Soares, Bishop Joao Xavier de Souza-Trindade of Assagao, Pe. Sebastiao Salvador Batista-Cana of Benaulim, Constancio Roque da Costa, Lamartine Prazeres da Costa of Orlim, the Loyola-Furtados of Orlim and Bernardo Francisco da Costa of Margao are all part of a roll call of Goan heroes who looked down with contempt and disdain upon all honors, favors, status, position and wealth, to indulge in their passion for Goa's freedom. After Salazar came to power, and the political consciousness of Goans became a thing of the past with dictatorial politics and the choking of civil liberties, there were nevertheless Goan voices that would not be stifled, like Jose Inacio de Loyola, Antonio Bruto da Costa, Antonio Colaco, Telo Mascarenhas, Purshottam Kakodkar, Mohan Ranade and Pundlik Gaitonde to name a few. Ram Manohar Lohia an Indian socialist politician played a major revolutionary role with his 'satyagrahis'. Secretly, Goans hoped that Salazar would grant Goa its own independence separate from but aligned separately with both Portugal and India. That dream was not to be. In the end, the Indian Armed Forces in a brutal and perhaps unnecessary action nullified the efforts of all the Goan freedom fighters down the ages. The actions of these brave men may one day be forgotten, but not easily. Freedom aside, being November, this is a time of year also to remember those men and women of our families no longer living, whose many sacrifices, seemingly unremarkable but intensely heroic, brought us to where we are now. In the Diaspora, or in Goa itself, living the good life, we forget what it took them to bear their loads. They endured deprivation, sometimes poverty, constantly struggling with large families against daunting odds to give their children better education and better lives, yet they taught us to laugh, to love and to hold the family and one another dear. Not least of all they showed us how to pray. A toast to your dad and mum, your uncles and aunts, your grandfathers and mothers, and to all your other angels and mine Please send your comments to roland.fran...@gmail.com