goanet-digest Wednesday, May 1 2002 Volume 01 : Number 3917
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In this issue:
[Goanet] NEWS: Audience weeps while watching film on Gujarat violence
[Goanet] A Luso-Indian Voyage
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Date: Wed, 1 May 2002 18:29:39 +0530 (IST)
From: Frederick Noronha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] NEWS: Audience weeps while watching film on Gujarat violence
Audience weeps while watching film on Gujarat violence
By Ehthashamuddin Khan, Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, Apr 30 (IANS) A nearly 100-strong audience here watching a
documentary on the brutal Gujarat violence broke down and wept at the scenes
of butchery and bloodshed.
Besides about 70 invitees, 30 victims of the violence watched burnt and
rotten corpses and heard survivors' heart-rending tales in journalist Pankaj
Shankar's documentary, "In the name of Faith".
In stunned silence they heard victims describe how neighbours they had never
wrong betrayed them to Hindu fanatics and how the police remained passive in
the face of what they called a "well-organised carnage".
A moved Mahesh Bhatt, the noted filmmaker, said: "All of us are responsible
for the carnage because of our indifference and apathy."
But Bhatt urged the victims not to confuse the Gujarat government with the
people of India, saying: "We do not share the feelings which made you
victims."
Dilawar, 11, and his eight-year-old sister Salma from Mehsana town of
Gujarat described how a mob killed their parents in front of them.
A weeping Dilwar said: "They surrounded us and started throwing stones. Then
they entered our house, locked the door and electrocuted my father and
mother."
He couldn't go on any more and there was a soul-searching silence punctuated
only by his sobbing.
Documentary producer Shankar was the first to break it. "Let us ask
ourselves how long we will remain silent."
It was the first time a film was screened on the victims of Gujarat's
sectarian violence that has claimed about 920 lives since February 27.
Houses and business establishments belonging mostly to Muslims were burnt
and looted while Chief Minister Narendra Modi's government and police in the
western state have been accused of siding with the killers and arsonists.
A girl screamed on the screen: "Is the government only yours (for Hindus)?
Are they not for us Muslims too? Don't we too live here? Are we not
Indians?"
Shankar said: "When she said this to me, I was confused. With which Hindus
should I associate myself? Those who burnt Muslims or those who saved them?
Those who didn't take part in the violence are larger in number but they are
silent and don't have the courage to protest."
The 30 survivors who came to New Delhi to tell the media about the situation
blamed the Gujarat police for supporting the killers and rapists.
Zahira, 28, from Vadodra town, said: "They stripped me in front of my
brothers and then burnt my brothers alive. I have named the people who did
it but police didn't listen to me. I can't go back to my village."
"Nearly 15 people raped a neighbour," said Noorjahan from Ahmedabad. "The
police directed the mobs to attack and kill us."
The documentary showed a man holding up a policeman's identity card to show
that police participated in the arson and looting.
An emotional Valson Thampu, a Christian priest, apologised to the victims
that he didn't do anything to help them.
He said: "For the first time in my life I am ashamed of being a religious
man because the carnage was done in the name of religion. We don't want
religion any more."
- --Indo-Asian News Service
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 1 May 2002 21:15:36 -0600 (MDT)
From: "Cliff Pereira" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] A Luso-Indian Voyage
A Luso-Indian Voyage.
By Cliff Pereira
Introduction.
When I was first invited to write an article about Goan genealogy by FIBIS,=
=20
I pondered about the best approach to the topic. After consultation with=20
several people interested in the work of FIBIS, and after my own research=
=20
initiatives on behalf of people from all over the world with Anglo-Indian=
=20
and Luso-Indian ancestry, I decided to present this article from my own=20
perspective using my maternal family tree as the basic framework of the=20
article.
I was born on the island of Mombasa in what was the British Coast=20
Protectorate of East Africa. Soon after independence in 1963 my family=20
migrated from the coast into the Western Highlands of the Republic of=20
Kenya. It was here that I began to gain some sense of my ethnicity. My=20
formative years were staged with a backdrop of a society in transition. I=
=20
soon became aware that I belonged to a racial minority, loosely termed as=
=20
Asians, and that I had a place in a changing hierarchy with both "European"=
=20
and "African" people at the top. Other black-haired brown-skinned people=20
were in the middle and the vast majority of the people that I saw every day=
=20
were the Africans at the bottom of this social system. Attending an=20
Ismailia nursery school I then realised that I belonged to a minority=20
within the East African Asian racial group which was Catholic and English=
=20
speaking. Unknown to me then, I was personally experiencing a social system=
=20
that would have been familiar to the ancestors of many readers of this=20
article, if not some of the readers themselves. As time went by the=20
distinctness of my people was more acute. There were just three children in=
=20
this town that were culturally akin to me and we were the at the receiving=
=20
end of jives and children's rhymes, one of which ran "Vasco da Gama, went=
=20
to a drama, =85=85. All he found was Pilipili Manga (Kiswahili for Black=20
Pepper)". In my years at a state primary school I was to discover that=20
Vasco was a Portuguese voyager who came to Mombasa and a place in India=20
called Calicut. I was told that I did not belong to an African tribe but=20
was a Goan. Though I did not know precisely what that meant. In the=20
following traumatic years my family were forced to leave Kenya by virtue of=
=20
our British Protectorate passports and we found ourselves in London in=20
1971. At two English state secondary schools I was to discover that despite=
=20
being English-speaking Christian and not having been born in the Indian=20
sub-continent I was in the minority and had to face many challenges. It=20
wasn't until many years (and trials) later that I set upon a voyage of=20
self-discovery. In 1982 I visited my maternal grandmother in Goa, and she=
=20
told me about her family. The feeling of belonging to a shared past, tied=
=20
to a specific piece of land, led to an awakening and a transformation. I=20
gave up my job and went to university in Northern Ireland, eventually=20
gaining honours in Geography and Asian Studies. The course was ideally=20
suited to me and enabled me to gain a good background on the history of the=
=20
Indian sub-continent and its varied peoples.
Background History.
One of the things I learnt from my grandmother was the importance of=20
history in understanding others, wherever in the world I found myself. Back=
=20
in England I began to ask my parents about their birth, education and=20
families. One of the first things I realised was that both of my parents=20
and most of their siblings were born in Africa. I also realised that=20
finding more information would be difficult because the surnames=20
encountered so far were similar. I was aware that the surname "Pereira" is=
=20
as common in areas of Portuguese influence as "Smith" is in England.=20
Research into my surname in Lisbon, London and Goa, was an incredible=20
education. I discovered that the name had its origins in medieval Portugal,=
=20
and was forcibly adopted by Portuguese Jews in the fifteenth century. Over=
=20
the next century these New Christians were to take the name to France, the=
=20
Netherlands, England and Ireland. Other Jews took the name into the Ottoman=
=20
Empire and North Africa. With the voyages of discovery the name was spread=
=20
to Brazil, the Caribbean, the islands of the Atlantic (Madeira, the Azores,=
=20
Cape Verde) and to the new Portuguese possessions in Asia. As if by a=20
repetition of history, in India the name was spread by the forced=20
conversion of Moslems and Hindus. Though there was some miscegenation=20
between Portuguese soldiers, convicts (Degradados) or merchants, and Hindu=
=20
women. Goa in the sixteenth century contained a cosmopolitan population of=
=20
merchants (Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, Persians, Arabs and Hindus). There=
=20
were Malay, Japanese and African slaves, and there were people of mixed=20
(Mestic) Indo-Portuguese origin. My ancestors could belong to any of these=
=20
distinct communities. There had to be some focus to my investigation and=20
though a one name study was useful, I had to be aware that most of the=20
hundreds of thousands of Pereiras in the world were not related to me.
Oral History.
Of course I knew that my father was a Pereira, and that my mothers maiden=
=20
name was also Pereira. However to complicate matters my maternal=20
grandmother also professed to be a Pereira. My parents confirmed these=20
facts and so I learnt the first lesson in genealogy. Cross check your=20
details wherever possible. My parents were also able to tell me that my=20
father's family hailed from a village in South Goa, while my mother's=20
family hailed from North Goa. Additionally my maternal grandmother and=20
grandfather hailed from different villages in North Goa. My father had=20
copies of the Goan civil registration certificates of all four grandparents=
=20
in Portuguese. These gave me their parents' names and the villages of=20
residence. I now had three Pereira families originating from three=20
different villages. This was where I started my oral research. Contacting=
=20
cousins, uncles and aunts I compiled a basic family tree with dates and=20
places of birth and death. I was surprised to find that my family on both=
=20
sides had been living in the East Africa for almost a century and that both=
=20
sets of grandparents had originally come to Kenya from Goa. I later=20
discovered that there had been uncles and aunts living in Uganda and=20
Tanganyika and Zanzibar. I also began noting email addresses, telephone=20
numbers and postal addresses of extended family friends and distant=20
relatives in Britain, Canada, Australia, India and East Africa. On a=20
further visit to Goa, my maternal grandmother told me a story in which she=
=20
said that her father who was born around 1875 had been a "shippey" and was=
=20
in a war. The family had not heard from him and thought he was dead, so=20
they held a mock burial. During the burial my great-grandfather appeared=20
and my great-grandmother fainted! My grandmother added that her mother was=
=20
a Lobo. My mother too recalled that her maternal grandfather had some medal=
s.
Family Traditions.
Despite the fact that my generation no longer spoke our original language=
=20
there were some Goan traditions which were intact. The standard Catholic=20
traditions regarding Baptisms, First Holy Communions, Confirmations,=20
Marriages and Deaths/Burials were rigidly adhered to by my community in=20
East Africa. All of these events are recorded in ecclesiastical records.=20
Additionally there were other cultural traditions that were also practised.=
=20
Goans have a tradition of naming their children after a recently deceased=
=20
relative. Hence if an Antonio died, the next child (usually a grandchild)=
=20
born would be called Anthony or Antoinette. Uncles and aunts were often=20
made godparents and their names would often be added to that of a child.=20
Both of these "deceased" and godparent names could be first, second or=20
indeed third names. By the middle of the twentieth century in Africa and=20
much earlier among Goans in British India, other often non-Catholic English=
=20
names were used as first names and the second or third names would become=
=20
Anglicised (my own second name Joseph came from my uncle and godfather=20
Jose). In some Luso-Indian communities, such as those from Kerela, a=20
fathers first name would be given as a second name to all of his sons,=20
Hence Sylvester Pedro DaSilva, would have a son called Thomas Sylvester=20
DaSilva and another called Joseph Sylvester DaSilva. Recording the full=20
names of Luso-Indian people is very useful as it provides family names that=
=20
may stretch back centuries, and is often indicative of the period within=20
which someone may have passed away. Among Catholics in India the memory of=
=20
belonging to a particular caste would suggest Hindu ancestors. There are=20
particular marriage customs that similarly suggest Hindu, Moslem or even=20
Jewish ancestry. The last traditions to be replaced are dietary. Particular=
=20
family recipes often provide clues to ones origin even if one is not aware=
=20
of it.
Family Heirlooms.
I thought my grandmother's story was quaint but difficult to substantiate,=
=20
until my grandmother took my mother and me to her village and the ruins of=
=20
the house where she was born. There we found a somewhat faded and framed=20
photograph of an Asian man in a uniform. We salvaged the photograph and I=
=20
brought it back to London. My grandmother also had a small brass tin where=
=20
she stored her precious rosary and her gold bangles. The brass tin had the=
=20
inscription Imperium Britannicum, and Christmas 1914 as well as an "M" on=
=20
either side of a woman's profile. Assured of my interest in family history=
=20
she gave me the brass tin. I took an enlarged photocopy of my maternal=20
great-grandfathers photograph to a dealer in medals at the Charring Cross=
=20
Market. The dealer instantly identified the medals as First World War naval=
=20
medals. The brass tin too was confirmed as a Christmas present to British=
=20
servicemen during the First World War. I later saw an identical one in the=
=20
Imperial War Museum. Now I knew that my great-grandfather had been in the=
=20
British Navy in the First World War. The dilapidated house contained some=
=20
other surprises. When we opened a cupboard a shocking pile of artificial=20
limbs (arms) fell out. My mother explained that these belonged to her=20
brother who had lived in Uganda. Also in a drawer we found three Portuguese=
=20
passports - all issued in East Africa, and two coins. One was a five cent=
=20
1942 George VI copper coin (with a hole in the middle) from East Africa and=
=20
the other was a one shilling George V 1922 coin also from East Africa.
Records.
Initially I contacted the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, where I=20
inquired if they had any information on Goans in the Royal Navy. I was=20
disappointed by the fact they claimed to have never heard of Goans in the=
=20
Royal Navy, after all Goa was part of the Portuguese Empire. My next step=
=20
was to contact the Ministry of Defence (MOD). I provided them with my=20
great-grandfathers full name, approximate date of birth, place of birth and=
=20
the photocopy of the faded photograph. Within a month I received a call=20
from the MOD, they had in fact found my great-grandfathers service record=
=20
and following a letter of consent from my grandmother they supplied me with=
=20
the service record of Deogo Antonio Pereira. I went back to the naval=20
records of the National Maritime Museum that provided collaborating data on=
=20
the stated ships, the respective captains, and theatres of war as stated in=
=20
the service record. I was able to therefore gain an interesting biography=
=20
of my maternal great-grandfather including his naval service and some=20
photographs of the ships he served on and fought against. According to=20
family tradition Deogo and Felicidade went to the island of Pemba in the=20
1920's and opened a guesthouse there. Though I have not been able to check=
=20
this lead, it may be the source of the 1922 one shilling coin that I found=
=20
at their Goan house. While the 1942 five-cent coin may belong to either of=
=20
their sons who went to Uganda.
I later tracked down a niece of my great-grandmother, now living in=20
Portugal. This woman supplied me with information on her siblings and=20
paternal uncles/aunts including my great-grandmother Felicidade Lobo. She=
=20
also told me that her father had lived in Aden, where many of her siblings=
=20
had been born. Checking through the records of the Oriental and India=20
Office Collection (OIOC) in the British Library. I did indeed find all of=
=20
the Aden births/baptisms for this family under the Bombay Presidency=20
birth/baptism records (IOC/N/3/), and the fact that Felicidades' brother=20
was working at the Eastern Telegraph Office in Aden during the First World =
War.
For the first time in my life (and that of my maternal cousins, uncles and=
=20
aunts), our family had some idea of the life and involvement of our family=
=20
and the Goan community during the First World War. Naturally I handed this=
=20
data back to the National Maritime Museum. The biography was subsequently=
=20
published by the Black and Asian Studies Association (BASA Newsletter 28,=
=20
September 2000).
The passports that we found in the ruined house included the mandatory=20
photographs and physical description of my great-uncle and details, such as=
=20
his wife's name and the names of his three children who were registered on=
=20
his passport. I managed via email to get in touch with one of the children=
=20
who now lives in Ottawa, Canada. He confirmed that his father had an=20
artificial lower arm and also confirmed that the seaman Deogo Antonio=20
Pereira was presented with several medals. He suggested that his father had=
=20
also seen some military action in Eastern Africa during the Second World=20
War and that his uncle had received the OBE as Chief Auditor in Uganda. I=
=20
have yet to probe into these two leads and expect that the answers lie in=
=20
the colonial records of the Public Record Office (PRO).
On my maternal grandfathers side I already had his fathers' name from the=
=20
copy of his Goan birth civil registration recorded at Mapusa in the Taluka=
=20
(province) of Bardez. Family history had also provided me with the names of=
=20
his siblings, and his paternal uncle. I was able to get hold of a copy of=
=20
his fathers' nineteenth century baptismal record from Goa. This Portuguese=
=20
record headed with "India Portugueza" is probably one of the most=20
fascinating records that I have seen in my genealogical research. On=20
translation the record included the names of the child's father, mother,=20
both sets of grandparents, all of their villages of residence, the=20
godparents names, and the officiating priests names. It also states that=20
this Joao-Luis Pereira born in 1879 was the third child of the union=20
between Antonio Francisco Pereira, a seaman and Maria Madelina Candida Frei=
tas.
The local village church of Our Lady of Flight contained a grave enclosure.=
=20
This consisted of a chapel in which were a number of marble plaques over=20
the niches in the walls containing the remains of the village people. Among=
=20
the plaques were several bearing the surname Pereira in Latin, Konkani and=
=20
English. One of the niches stated:
NICLAU SEBASTIAO PEREIRA
NASC. AOS 20-1-1877
FALE. AOS 4-1-1961
PRIETO DE INFINDUS SAUDADES
DA SUA ESPOSA E FILHOS
Family history had already told me that Joao-Luis had a brother called=20
Niclau Pereira, and I had now found his grave and I would later trace his=
=20
Ugandan-born descendants in Britain and the United States. The same grave=
=20
enclosure contained another plaque dedicated to Antonio Francisco Pereira=
=20
and Maria C. Frietas Pereira, their son N. S. Pereira in 1940. This=20
therefore was the seaman and his wife as mentioned in the baptismal record.
In the last year I have been able to view the British 1881 Census on CD-ROM=
=20
at my Family and Local History Centre. Finally compiling two listings, one=
=20
for the Royal Navy and another for the Merchant Navy. Rather surprisingly=
=20
in the Merchant Navy records I found an Antonio Pereira from Goa on board=
=20
the MV Ravenna in East Ham in 1881. The date of birth of this Antontio=20
Pereira does match the oral family history on Antonio Francisco Pereira and=
=20
the birth/baptism certificate of his son Joao-Luis.
The baptism record for Joao-Luis Pereira, claimed that his mother came from=
=20
the village of Parra in North Goa and her maiden name was Freitas. One=20
family tradition states that the Pereira family are related to a Freitas=20
family in the village of Parra, and that this family was related to a=20
"Com". This word would ordinarily imply a "canon". I would have to write to=
=20
the parish priest in Parra, Goa and hope that he would be able to trace=20
these ancestors within the parish records. Newspapers recorded on microfilm=
=20
are a good source of information for the nineteenth and twentieth century=
=20
India. There are a number of useful repositories for this data, including=
=20
the British Library, and the National Library in Canberra, Australia. A=20
search in the Social and Personal columns of the Times of India for=20
Saturday 15th March 1941 produced the following article:-
Acknowledgements.
Rev. Canon J.S. Freitas, Mrs R. Freitas and family, Dr. C.Moreas. thank the=
=20
Rev. Fathers, Dr. R. B. Billimoria, relatives and friends for their kind=20
attendance, floral tributes, masses and letters of condolence in recent=20
bereavement and regret their inability to thank them individually."
Perhaps this is the same Canon Freitas that some of the older family=20
members recalled.
The records held on microfilm by the LDS on Catholic churches in Goa is=20
primarily for the twentieth century and limited to a few Catholic parishes.=
=20
Additionally most of this information has to be ordered from the LDS=20
archives in Birmingham. More widespread Goan village church records in the=
=20
form of photographed manuscripts for the twentieth century is available at=
=20
Salt Lake City. In the case of the Parra Church (Parish of Saint Anna)=20
records, the LDS records at Salt Lake City only cover the period 1914-1987.=
=20
Likewise the LDS records for the church of Our Lady of Flight only covers=
=20
the period from 1977 to 1994. With regards to the records of Felicidade=20
Lobo and Deogo Pereira. Though the imposing village church of Saint=20
Christopher in Tivim dates from well before the nineteenth century, the LDS=
=20
records only cover the period 1914 to 1994. Additionally though there were=
=20
older records at the church the priest was reluctant to admit me access to=
=20
the files. The LDS records for the church of St. Jerome in Mapusa cover the=
=20
period 1930 to 1986. However, I was able to contact the priest and see the=
=20
1929 marriage certificate of my maternal grandmother and grandfather.
One useful source of collaborating records were the Embassy, High=20
Commission and Consulate returns of the Family Records Centre (FRC). Among=
=20
these records I have found the birth registrations of relatives from the=20
second half of the twentieth century in Kenya and Switzerland which have=20
substantiated the records I had received from family members. Likewise the=
=20
death records recorded from the LDS "Familysearch" internet site for the=20
United States was also collaborated by oral family records. There are some=
=20
Goan records for Uganda in the Familysearch site, but none for Kenya,=20
Zanzibar or mainland Tanzania. Likewise the WorldGenWeb site is also=20
useless for these two countries.
A number of people have contacted me by email and I have been able to find=
=20
new leads for some of them. The OIOC records from the Madras Presidency=20
(IOC/N/2/) have proved to be useful for people tracing Mangalorean and/or=
=20
Anglo-Indian ancestors with Portuguese surnames into the nineteenth=20
century. However, I have had some difficulties with "Eurasian" people=20
bearing Portuguese names presently living in Malaysia or Singapore who=20
claim Anglo-Indian descent and migration from the Kerela area in the early=
=20
twentieth century. The Catholic Church in Pakistan has been particularly=20
useful in providing genealogical information on Goans in Pakistan upon a=20
written request. The Internet site of the Commonwealth War Graves=20
Commission has also been useful in uncovering one Goan seamen who served in=
=20
the Indian Merchant Navy and died in the Second World War. In this case the=
=20
sailors name, approximate age, and oral history from his descendants, as=20
well as some cultural traditions (i.e. his first name was given to his=20
grandson who was born in Nairobi a month after his death) helped to verify=
=20
that we had indeed found the right person.
I have been surprised by the amount of miscegenation that has taken place=
=20
between say Luso-Indians and Britons in eighteenth century India, Goans and=
=20
Africans in Eastern Africa since the seventeenth century and between Goans,=
=20
Anglo-Indians and Mangaloreans right up to the present day. How many of us=
=20
have a duel (or multiple) heritage that we are unaware of ?.
The discovery of my mother's family history going back into the late=20
eighteenth century was far more then I had hoped to accomplish. I realise=
=20
that to go back further I would have to spend some time in Goa at the local=
=20
parish churches and at the national archives in Panjim. However, I have=20
been delighted by the wealth of Goan, Anglo-Indian and Mangalorean=20
community history in the British Empire and in the Commonwealth, and would=
=20
like to see this history in a higher profile.
Acknowledgements:
Bexley Local Studies and Archive Centre, Bexleyheath, Kent, England.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Maidenhead, Berkshire, England.
Family Records Centre, London, England.
Immigration Museum, Melbourne, Australia.
Ministry of Defence, Hayes, Middlesex, England.
National Library of Australia, Canberra, Australia.
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England.
Oriental and India Office Collection, British Library, London, England.
Public Record Office, Kew, Surrey, England.
The Family History Centre (LDS), London, England.
------------------------------
End of goanet-digest V1 #3917
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