Edited by Eddie Fernandes editor@goanvoice.org.uk

Lawrence Sequeira: Funeral details added
3 Oct. Bexleyheath, Kent, UK. LAWRENCE SEQUEIRA (Born 1925; Ex Entebbe, Kampala & Siolim; died after a prolonged illness). Husband of Zinda, Father of Brian and Sharon. Funeral Service at 11am on Tues 19th Oct at St. Thomas More Church, 420A Long Lane, Bexleyheath; followed by Burial at 12.30 at Hillview Cemetry, Wickham Street, Welling. Donations in lieu of flowers to The British Kidney Patient Association. Condolences to sharon.sequeira@ymail.com
 click here

Video: Canada Entering the Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi
3 Oct. You Tube. Canada enters the Commonwealth Games led by flag bearer Ken Pereira. 1m. 15s.  click here

Is That a Snake in Your Closet? By Venita Coelho
3 Oct. Indian Express. ... it’s impossible to impress anyone in Goa with a snake story. They all have their own. “Oh that’s nothing, I had a cobra on my pillow....” “I put my foot in my shoe and there was a snake curled in there….” 781 words.  click here

36th Tiatr Competition, Kala Academy Sept-Oct 2010
3 Oct: Navhind Times. Writer and director Tomazinho Cardozo himself acquaints the viewers with the content of the tiatr at the beginning, appealing to the people to reflect on the deterioration of the Goan society. Tomazinho makes a dramatic appearance as a clown to apprise the audience on the objectives of the theme of the tiatr ‘Kal ani Aiz’... 716 words.  click here

Indian Navy intends to take over 2 islands in Goa for security reasons
3 Oct: Frontier India. The Indian Navy says that it wants to take over two islands, Grande and Pequeno, due to security issues ... The local fishermen and the Panchayat are opposed to such a move... 219 words.  click here

WHO THE BLEEP CARES. Weekly column by Selma Carvalho.

95. Who the bleep cares about Edila Gaitonde?

A few weeks ago, journalist and publisher, Frederick Noronha sent me the obituary for Joao Francisco Caraciolo Cabral from Verna. In fact so understated was Cabral's passing away, that Frederick and I wondered for just a moment if it indeed it was the same Cabral who formed the Goa League in London in the 1950s. Joao Francisco Cabral is perhaps one of those freedom fighters most forgotten and least honoured by Goans but he is remembered by Edila Gaitonde, wife of Pundalik Gaitonde, in a little known book entitled In Search of Tomorrow.

The Gaitondes visited Cabral on more than one occasion and Edila writes: "We immediately contacted J. Cabral who had just moved to 1, The Park, in Highgate, London. Cabral had been for years the link between the freedom fighters from the Portuguese colonies of Africa and India and the Portuguese opposition groups in exile, in London. He was then helping with the preparation for the Casablanca Conference. Edila stayed with Cabral's family while he and Lica, as Edila affectionately calls Pundalik Gaitonde, went on to Africa.

So scattered and selective is Goa's memory when it comes to honouring contributions by outsiders, that Edila herself is virtually unknown to Goans. Her story makes for riveting reading. Here was a young Catholic girl from Azores, Portugal, who became the first woman to marry a Hindu doctor in Goa. By her own accounts, she had married into a very conservative, Brahmin family who tried to dissuade Pundalik from marrying her by begging him to consider his caste and not "destroy the good name" of their ancestors.

But Edila and Pundalik did marry and Edila's resolve to assimilate into this society is commendable. If she needed a clue as to what would be required of her as Pundalik's wife, then that clue arrived on her honeymoon. It was arranged that Pundalik and she would spend their honeymoon at the Peniche fortress, in Portugal in the company of Dr Ignatius Loyola, T. Braganza de Cunha, Laxmikanth Bhembre, Purushottam Kakodkar and Ram Hegde, who was a friend of Pundalik and all of who were held as political prisoners at the time.

As soon as she arrived in Goa, she took to wearing the sari and making as few waves as possible. The one area where she put her foot down was with her music. She insisted on having a piano, forming groups of children to tutor and later with the assistance of the Royal School of Music, London, forming a branch of the school in Mapusa. She writes, Pundalik: "wanted me to forget all about the past, including my music; we did exchange some strong words on the matter and in the end, I won. Lica was still thinking of the role of a Hindu wife…"

Edila's role as Pundalik's backbone should not be forgotten. It was Edila who endured deprivation, which at one time was near penury when Pundalik was deliberately being denied a good posting in Goa's hospitals. It was in Edila's house that meetings were held at all hours. It was Edila who travelled with Pundalik when needed and in a very real sense gave him the freedom to become vocal in his opposition to the Portuguese regime even if it meant the family was constantly under pressure. And it was Edila, being Portuguese that cultivated relationships across the racial divide in Goa, which in her own words was an: "unmixable society of orthodox Hindus, bigoted Christians and uncaring Europeans."

Whatever we may want to believe of the Portuguese, wherever our loyalties and sensibilities may lie with that dichotomous period of our history, we cannot deny that the intelligentsia of pre-liberation Goa, the doctors, lawyers, writers and freedom-fighters were a creation of the Portuguese. We may disagree with Santa Rita Colaco, who at the dinner-party of the Semedos uttered those words: Aqui também é Portugal (here too - in Goa - is Portugal), to which Pundalik Gaitonde replied with those now famous words "Eu protesto." But for us to believe now, that here too (Goa) was not Portugal is to deny a great part of the transformations that took place in our society because of the Portuguese.

Selma Carvalho is the author of the book Into the Diaspora Wilderness

Do leave your feedback at carvalho_sel@yahoo.com

Lawrence Sequeira: Funeral details added
3 Oct. Bexleyheath, Kent, UK. LAWRENCE SEQUEIRA (Born 1925; Ex Entebbe, Kampala & Siolim; died after a prolonged illness). Husband of Zinda, Father of Brian and Sharon. Funeral Service at 11am on Tues 19th Oct at St. Thomas More Church, 420A Long Lane, Bexleyheath; followed by Burial at 12.30 at Hillview Cemetry, Wickham Street, Welling. Donations in lieu of flowers to The British Kidney Patient Association. Condolences to sharon.sequeira@ymail.com
 click here

Video: Canada Entering the Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi
3 Oct. You Tube. Canada enters the Commonwealth Games led by flag bearer Ken Pereira. 1m. 15s.  click here

Is That a Snake in Your Closet? By Venita Coelho
3 Oct. Indian Express. ... it’s impossible to impress anyone in Goa with a snake story. They all have their own. “Oh that’s nothing, I had a cobra on my pillow....” “I put my foot in my shoe and there was a snake curled in there….” 781 words.  click here

36th Tiatr Competition, Kala Academy Sept-Oct 2010
3 Oct: Navhind Times. Writer and director Tomazinho Cardozo himself acquaints the viewers with the content of the tiatr at the beginning, appealing to the people to reflect on the deterioration of the Goan society. Tomazinho makes a dramatic appearance as a clown to apprise the audience on the objectives of the theme of the tiatr ‘Kal ani Aiz’... 716 words.  click here

Indian Navy intends to take over 2 islands in Goa for security reasons
3 Oct: Frontier India. The Indian Navy says that it wants to take over two islands, Grande and Pequeno, due to security issues ... The local fishermen and the Panchayat are opposed to such a move... 219 words.  click here

WHO THE BLEEP CARES. Weekly column by Selma Carvalho.

95. Who the bleep cares about Edila Gaitonde?

A few weeks ago, journalist and publisher, Frederick Noronha sent me the obituary for Joao Francisco Caraciolo Cabral from Verna. In fact so understated was Cabral's passing away, that Frederick and I wondered for just a moment if it indeed it was the same Cabral who formed the Goa League in London in the 1950s. Joao Francisco Cabral is perhaps one of those freedom fighters most forgotten and least honoured by Goans but he is remembered by Edila Gaitonde, wife of Pundalik Gaitonde, in a little known book entitled In Search of Tomorrow.

The Gaitondes visited Cabral on more than one occasion and Edila writes: "We immediately contacted J. Cabral who had just moved to 1, The Park, in Highgate, London. Cabral had been for years the link between the freedom fighters from the Portuguese colonies of Africa and India and the Portuguese opposition groups in exile, in London. He was then helping with the preparation for the Casablanca Conference. Edila stayed with Cabral's family while he and Lica, as Edila affectionately calls Pundalik Gaitonde, went on to Africa.

So scattered and selective is Goa's memory when it comes to honouring contributions by outsiders, that Edila herself is virtually unknown to Goans. Her story makes for riveting reading. Here was a young Catholic girl from Azores, Portugal, who became the first woman to marry a Hindu doctor in Goa. By her own accounts, she had married into a very conservative, Brahmin family who tried to dissuade Pundalik from marrying her by begging him to consider his caste and not "destroy the good name" of their ancestors.

But Edila and Pundalik did marry and Edila's resolve to assimilate into this society is commendable. If she needed a clue as to what would be required of her as Pundalik's wife, then that clue arrived on her honeymoon. It was arranged that Pundalik and she would spend their honeymoon at the Peniche fortress, in Portugal in the company of Dr Ignatius Loyola, T. Braganza de Cunha, Laxmikanth Bhembre, Purushottam Kakodkar and Ram Hegde, who was a friend of Pundalik and all of who were held as political prisoners at the time.

As soon as she arrived in Goa, she took to wearing the sari and making as few waves as possible. The one area where she put her foot down was with her music. She insisted on having a piano, forming groups of children to tutor and later with the assistance of the Royal School of Music, London, forming a branch of the school in Mapusa. She writes, Pundalik: "wanted me to forget all about the past, including my music; we did exchange some strong words on the matter and in the end, I won. Lica was still thinking of the role of a Hindu wife…"

Edila's role as Pundalik's backbone should not be forgotten. It was Edila who endured deprivation, which at one time was near penury when Pundalik was deliberately being denied a good posting in Goa's hospitals. It was in Edila's house that meetings were held at all hours. It was Edila who travelled with Pundalik when needed and in a very real sense gave him the freedom to become vocal in his opposition to the Portuguese regime even if it meant the family was constantly under pressure. And it was Edila, being Portuguese that cultivated relationships across the racial divide in Goa, which in her own words was an: "unmixable society of orthodox Hindus, bigoted Christians and uncaring Europeans."

Whatever we may want to believe of the Portuguese, wherever our loyalties and sensibilities may lie with that dichotomous period of our history, we cannot deny that the intelligentsia of pre-liberation Goa, the doctors, lawyers, writers and freedom-fighters were a creation of the Portuguese. We may disagree with Santa Rita Colaco, who at the dinner-party of the Semedos uttered those words: Aqui também é Portugal (here too - in Goa - is Portugal), to which Pundalik Gaitonde replied with those now famous words "Eu protesto." But for us to believe now, that here too (Goa) was not Portugal is to deny a great part of the transformations that took place in our society because of the Portuguese.

Selma Carvalho is the author of the book Into the Diaspora Wilderness

Do leave your feedback at carvalho_sel@yahoo.com