Not the usual history of Goa
Frederick Noronha
fredericknoron...@gmail.com
Goa's past is a strongly contested one. Depending
on whom you are reading, or listening to, you could
easily believe that you are encountering very
different regions. Now, along comes a book which
offers yet another different take on Goan history
-- definitely not the one you're likely to learn in
the text books of our times.
'The Portuguese Presence in India' (Notion Press, 2020) by
Joao A. de Menezes has what appears like a cross-laden
caravela sailing into tropical waters on its cover. You
could mistake this work as containing the nostalgic
outpourings of a Daizporean Goan. But, actually, two things
stand out here.
Firstly, the author offers a rather intense understanding of
a narrow band of Goa's history (mainly 1947-1967).
Secondly, the Poona-born, ex-Aden, US-educated Bombay Port
Trust-(1963-1991) Chief Mechanical Engineer cites rather
detailed and lesser-noticed records to bolster his argument.
In the polarised world of Goan historiography, it
might be tempting to dismiss these as
pro-Portuguese perspectives. But, before doing
that, what is written here perhaps deserves to be
given a fair hearing. Even if only to understand
the point it is trying to make. Or, how valid it
is.
Agree with him or not, Menezes packs in details with
engineering precision. In between some personal details of
his life (in Aden and Poona early on in the book and
elsewhere later), João António Timotio Ligorio da Piedade
Menezes includes some interesting facts, details and even
official perspectives.
Some of these are known facts of history, but which we often
overlook. For instance, of all the European powers that held
colonies and trading posts in India, the Portuguese came the
earliest and went the last (1505 to 1916). Other
influential powers didn't come early. After the Portuguese
were the Dutch (1605 to 1826), the Danish (1620 to 1869), the
French (1668 to 1954). Finally, though they were the most
impactful, came the British, from 1757 to 1947. (From 1612
to 1756, it was the British East India Company that held
not-as-vast stretches of territory.)
The section on Goan life in Poona, though a distraction from
the main topic of the book, is rather detailed. It gives an
insight that few other books on Goan migration, which one has
come across, tells about that one-time Maratha-ruled city, and
the unusual Maratha-Portuguese-Goa relationships.
Some details focus on Goa too.
Menezes argues that Portugal's equation with its
"colony" Goa was different from, say, Britain's
with India. In Goa, he says, the locals had "same
identical laws as Metropolitan Portugal".
Excepting the Governor General and the Chefe do
Gabinete, all officials and judiciary were locals,
even if the army and navy were not, though (p.45).
This is a different way of looking at Goa's history, one
which today many might not agree with. But, Menezes offers
many original (and translated) documents and records from
those times.
Among these are the 1940 Concordat between the Vatican and
Portugal. Then there's also the lengthy and interesting
official correspondence between India and Portugal, on
another largely unnoticed issue. Quite early on, after 1947,
questions had been raised about Portugal's right to decide on
Catholic Prelates in parts of what became Independent India.
Menezes points out that the Diocese of Daman (including
Portuguese-built churches in Bassein, Bombay, Chaul and
elsewhere in the vicinity of former British India) were part
of the Goa archdiocese. Likewise, places like Cochin,
Mylapore, Quilon, Trinchinipoly, Mangalore and Bombay. All
these were till 1950 part of the Padroado, and linked to Goa.
This was also the case with Dioceses of Belgaum, Poona.
Amidst the changing post-1947 power equations, India had a
lengthy and -- apparently little studied -- correspondence
with Lisbon over this.
* * *
Menezes inserts his own take on life in yesteryear Goa; this
contrasts strongly against some very fact-based,
document-citing writing on the place. It's hard to make up
one's mind on whether this slightly hinders the narration, or
helps to actually hold the writer's interest to all these
seldom-narrated facts.
The story of the Exposition of 1952 reminds us that Hotel
Mandovi "became the newest and largest to have show up at the
Exposition, and was built by Purxotoma Quenim, who later was
elected one of the three Deputies representing Portuguese
India to the National Assembly, Lisbon." Unfortunately, that
era has recent come to a close, at least for now, with the
hotel currently not being in operation.
We learn why the Archdiocese is named "Goa and Damao"
(p.117). Or, what was the history of Goa's airlines TAIP
(whose airhostesses
