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TidBits.005 ( Shaa' bas Khatre'chea Chakra) And, they say that memories of the schooling days are etched on our minds. And it is true. I always ask any friends turned teachers or new acquaintances who are teachers if I could quietly sit down in their classroom for once. And they laugh. The memories of riding a bicycle to Bastora in 1965-68 to the St. Xavier's College, which was housed in the then recently abandoned Portuguese military cantonment. The then mud roads full of pot-holes during the monsoons, the two track (concretized) stretch of the road from halfway Moira to the junction of Mapusa/Bastora and for which, we, the cyclists and the taxi fellas used to fight for supremacy, we, forcing the taxi fellas to shift from our track even at the cost of getting splash with liquid terra-cota. And then, there was the very familiar sight of the grey "STANDARD Gazelle" driven by Fr. Nicolau Pereira, always with a pressed-lip smile on his face, which got the right of way at all times. And then there were the occasional appearances that Fr. Nicolau gave us in our classroom (Science) at times, to fill in for the absent lecturer and to talk to us on no one special subject. I remember the day when he sent for me during the class. There were two cops looking for me with a summons to the police station. I could see the consternation on his face. "Have you been a bad boy, Floriano? I don't like police looking for my students" It was a statement with an air of finality. He was relieved when he heard me out and sent me packing with a sound advice " I don't want to see you involved in police cases while you are a student of St. Xavier's College." Well, my crime was that I had punched a freedom fighter ( the real one) in the face where they had to stitch him up some. He got what was coming to him for a long time for terrorizing the residents of our ward including my family, while in a state of inebriation. My ward has'nt seen any more of its kind since those good old days. The freedom fighter has since passed away without a grudge for sporting the marks on his face. The memories, ofcourse, came flooding back when I saw the orbituary of Fr. Nicolau Pereira in the newspapers and the marvelous piece on him by Radharao Gracias. I decided to go, bid him farewell" Fr. Antonio Felipe Pais, one among the numerous fellow priests who crowded the "Mother of God" church of Majorda, a Moidekar, did a fine tribute to his colleague and friend of long standing, in his well delivered homily. The theme being "SHAA'BAS KHATRE'CHEA CHAKRA" And the many others who spoke, brought to light the fine qualities that were the prized possession of Fr. Nicolau as an eminent and dedicated educationists. The Concanim Eucharistic service celebrated by the Arch Bishop of Goa Rev. Raul Gonsalves and the excellent choir put together by the Xavier's college was indeed a fitting tribute to Fr. Nicolau Pereira. And it felt good to see and talk to some of the old timers from the faculty like professor Triparthi and nod greetings to colleagues of the golden era of Xavier's of Bastora. And I was privileged to offer a lift back to Mapusa to the head of the Konkni Department of the St. Xavier's College, professor Budte. "One thing I must tell you Florian", he said. "I did'nt know you were a Xavierite from Bastora times" And our talk shifted to his department of Konkni and that is when he confessed his shortcomings in terms of real Goan Concanim. "I was confused and puzzled" he said when I was confronted with the theme of the service "Shaa'bas Khatre'chea Chakra" I know Shaa'bas. But it was the Khatre'cha Chakra" that was Greek to me. I had never heard these words before" he said. "So I had to find out the meaning of those two words from my colleagues. I know I shall never find the connotations such as these in the Konkni that I teach" he said. And my response to that was: "Well! Well! Professor, there you are. You have said it all. What you teach is not " Concanim" but Konkni. The real "Concanim" is rich, it is elegant and it is Goan. It is the Concanim that I was born and brought up with. It is the Concanim that I grew up with as my mother's tongue.It is the Concanim that I speak everyday with my fellow Goans. Maybe we shall hear more of it on our radios, our TVs and read more of if in our newspapers and magazines to make us comfortable and fulfilled when the mergerist and the pseudo Konknis leave us Goans and our dear Concanim alone. And maybe this breed will leave us Goans and our dear Concanim enough alone if we learn to administer the good recipe of not only punching the faces of these trouble makers but also marking them for the rest of their miserable lives. And for target practice, there are enough freedom fighters on the list of freedom fighters who have never known what the fight for freedom was all about in the first place. And, I am sure, Fr. Nicolau Pereira would approve of this, especially because Concanim was his love and excelled in the delivery of his sermons in our good old Concanim, of which I have had the pleasure of being witness to, at least once. Cheers Floriano
