From Camotim to Kamat A Review of: Short Takes, Long Memories Prabhakar Kamat and Sharmila Kamat Rupa Publications, New Delhi, 2011.
Reviewed by Augusto Pinto 'Short Takes, Long Memories' is written like a comedy film. It is narrated with a smile and many winks by former Portuguese administrador turned I.A.S. officer and diplomat Prabhakar Kamat (formerly Prabacar Camotim). He is assisted by his astrophysicist daughter Sharmila, who incidentally also writes humour columns. The narrator's background as a Goan upper class, upper caste, cosmopolitan official allows us a peek into several different worlds. The prose is "mango mood" in style: soft and sweet on the outside but there is a tough seed underneath: sharp insights lurk between the lines. His lens-eye covers a panorama that ranges from his childhood in the Goa of the Second World War years up to the present. We get glimpses of eras now forgotten. For example in the 40s: "Keeping the front door of your home closed and bolted during the day was a no-no, bordering on impropriety." Nowadays this would border on insanity. The narrator shows that although relations between different communities were cordial, there were clear boundaries. At one point Hindus and Christians and Muslims would not dine together. This posed a problem for the early Hindu eateries which opened up to all communities. The chapter 'Ek Ardha Single Phooti Safed' shows how the problem was ingeniously solved by Panjim restaurants in the early 50s: food was served in separate vessels to the multi-religious mix. A faith based code was used to tag customers and a clever waiter would identify Hindus as 'safed' ; Christians as 'fancy'; and Muslims as 'fulawar'. (Presumably no untouchable entered the restaurants.) In some ways therefore, things Goan have improved. When Camotim went to Portugal for higher studies after he completed his Liceu he had to make many adjustments - like having a bath once a week, not daily as in Goa; and avoiding eating beef in countries where it is a staple. There was some racial confusion, not all one way, as the following conversation with a serving woman that occurred at the dining table where he lodged demonstrates: "'Menino (boy) are there hens in Goa?' I would nod my head in reply, 'Do they lay eggs as well?' I assured her that the activities of Goan hens did not depart significantly from those of their cousins in the West. 'The eggs', she would continue with her quiz, 'What colour are they?' I was confused. What colour did she expect them to be? 'Are they white like my skin', she would want to know, 'or brown like yours?'" He also came across some Goan freedom fighters who, it is sad to note, were shunned by emigrant Goans out of fear of the P.I.D.E., the Portuguese secret service. The narrator however was not so afraid and befriended some prominent freedom fighters like Purushottam Kakodkar and T.B. Cunha, and even took the latter out to a concert. Apparently they could move around quite freely. The penal system in Portugal was surprisingly lax so much so that Cunha gave his captors the slip and escaped to India to continue his revolutionary activities in Bombay. Whan Camotim came back to Goa after his studies in Portugal and Switzerland he was absorbed into the Goa administração where he had direct access to the Portuguese Governor. Because of the then Indian economic blockade, shiploads of foreign goods were imported to Goa which were then smuggled into import-permit-raj India helping many an adventurer to make a fortune. However there were some disasters as when a cow which was a 'carrier' of wrist watches died en route and the customs officials came to know. As Liberation neared he also tells us of the inefficiency of the Portuguese administration which for instance sent a consignment of sausages to fight the massed Indian troops instead of hand grenades! Prabhakar Kamat (as he spells his name now) outlines in remarkably few words how the rot of corruption which we face today had systematically set in soon after Liberation. He must have seen more later in Delhi working in PM Indira Gandhi’s office. Later he became a diplomat and here his connections with old student friends in Portugal coming from African colonies, who were now leaders, came in handy. Gentle and temperate in tone, the book is one of the most readable autobiographies to come out of Goa. It avoids dwelling on family trivia but is a book that lightheartedly trips through Goa’s passage from colonial rule to integration with India. Hopefully a sequel will follow covering the many gaps in time of the narration. Book cover http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/5934312959/in/photostream Book cover: http://bit.ly/noi6qg Published in Goa Today September 2011 issue. -- Contact the reviewer: Augusto Pinto 40, Novo Portugal, Moira, Bardez, Goa, India E pinto...@gmail.com or ypinto...@yahoo.co.in P 0832-2470336 M 9881126350 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------