10 Questions by Ree Coh
Professor Cecil Pinto is interviewed by world famous journalist Ree Coh.
Professor Pinto, is a Ph.D and has been twice awarded the Adha Shri for his
contributions in the field of Literature by President Pandurang of the
Independent Republic of Chimbel. Currently officiating as the V-i-c-e
Chancellor at Chimbel University, Professor Pinto is a prolific writer with
many well researched books to his credit. His next book is titled 'Child
Naming Conventions of Goan Catholics'. Ree Coh met Cecil in a rather lucid
moment at his rented apartment in Panjim. After a few rounds of drinks the
interview begins.
---------------
RC: What made you choose this rather unconventional topic for your next book?
CP: You see I have always been interested in proper names. My earlier book,
"Business Names in Goa and their Origins" was rejected by the publishers
because a lot of big companies currently operating in Goa do not want their
rather mediocre origins to be exposed. And they had enough muscle and money
to silence the publishers. I have written to President Pandurang who has
promised to intervene in the matter.
RC: Why did you study Goan Catholics only and not the Goan Hindus?
CP: You see Rico. Can I call you Rico? The Goan Hindu has always followed
cultural convention while naming their children. There has been little or
no variance over the centuries. The Goan Catholics on the other hand shows
interesting discernible waves and patterns which can be scientifically
enumerated and categorised.
RC: Any particular reason for this strange Goan Catholic trait?
CP: To fully understand this Rico, you must understand how the Goan
Catholic ethos has evolved over the millennia. We have to examine their
culture right from pre-historic times. Let me briefly bring you to the
present by demystifying a few myths which have crept into our understanding
of the Goan psyche. Incidentally all this is clearly explained in one of my
earlier books "Goa - A Concise History"
Firstly, let us examine the legend of the 'creation' of Goa. According to
the Vedas, Lord Saptoshwar threw a trident into the Arabian Sea, hoping to
catch the equally mythical Goan Crabs. The trident missed its mark and
landed in interior North Karnataka, close to where the Dupont Nylon 66
plant is currently situated. Three clumps of earth thus shot up from the
ground and landed near the Arabian Sea. Lord Saptoshwar immediately
christened them Govapuri, Bhajipuri and Shrikandpuri. These were later
re-christened by the Portuguese as Goa, Daman and Diu.
Now this is the legend we have been telling our children for so many
generations. But this is absolutely false. I have done some digging in my
hometown, Aldona, and found a diety-like oblong object that I got carbon
dated and found that it predates even Lord Saptoshwar. It goes way back to
3246 B.C. I even tried to get a photo of this diety-like object published
in The Chimbel Times, but the newspaper rejected my submission. In fact
the Features Editor told me that 'Papayas that are shaped like dieties are
news, but dieties shaped like papayas don't sell". Imagine this man's
ignorance of our history and culture!
RC: Coming back to your thesis about naming patterns among Goan Catholics...
CP: One minute. I was explaining the cultural ethos of Goan Catholics. See
our history books tell us that Goa was once the 'Kashi of the Konkan'
before it became the 'Rome of the East'. This is another example of a
warped understanding created by our language diversiity. It was just a typo
in the original transalation from the Gopi Script. It was not 'Kashi' it
was 'kashti'. This is a loin cloth worn by...
RC: Are'nt we digressing a bit, we were supposed to discuss your thesis..
CP: Yes I am coming to that. Let me just rush you through the history part.
Lots is said about the Kadamba Era. Now you tell me what did the Kadambas
do for Goa? All they did was provide employment. Conductors, drivers,
mechanics etc. And for that matter the Portuguese? The old timers say that
they introduced us to western concepts and the printing press. This is a
lie. All they did was introduce superior distillation techniques that make
our country liquor better than any other country's liquor. Did you know for
example that the Coconut Tree is not native to Goa and was brought here by
Marco Polo in 2232 B.C. along with Polo Shirts, Polo Mints and Water Polo?
Not many people know this. Read my book.
RC: Ok! Ok! I believe you. Now can we start on the topic of Child Naming?
CP: Wasn't that what we were discussing all this while? I know you want to
restrict yourself to only 10 questions but that is your problem, not mine.
So where was I? The Portuguese.
Before the Portuguese arrived the Goan Catholics had no proper names. They
just used to call each other 'Bhau' and 'Bai' and 'Guru' and stuff like
that. In fact before the Portuguese arrived there were not many Catholics
in Goa. Only a few hundred families in the Saligao Constituency who
steadfastly believed that one Dotor Willy would someday arrive and save
them from the foxes.
Now the Portuguese changed all this. They gave the Catholics names. And
they converted many of the Hindus to Catholics and gave them names too. It
was time of much merriment among the Portuguese. They would catch some
helpless victim and drag him into the town square. Then they would take
turns thinking up names. I have dedicated a whole chapter of my book to
this colourful process. Please keep in mind that at the time the Capital
City of Goa was not Panjim. It was Benaulim, which remains a perpetual
stronghold of the Catholics with most curious first names, even at the
Assembly level. British Prime Ministers, Walt Disney characters...
RC: Can we move to the immediate past.
CP: What happened? You running out of time? I think you want to stick to
your magic figure of 10 questions. Do you think anyone actually counts if
they were 9 or 10 or 12 questions?
RC: Actually I didn't think of that? Where were we?
CP: See I wasted another of your precious numbers! Now we have only 2 left.
Gotcha!
I was telling you about Catholic names. In 1937 Salazar passed a decree
that Goan Catholics could gives names of their own choice to their
children. This created an upheaval and a lot of confusion. You see the
average Goan Catholic of that time was not used to thinking for himself -
incidentally that's why they called Lohia in. They named their children
after any passing fancy. So we had names like Ben and Bambino and Pat and
Milton and such not for a few years.
Then somebody discovered the almanac which has all the saints' names for
ever day of the year. A young printing entrepreneur named Dominick Savio
immediately made minature credit sized copies of this almanac and put his
own photo on it too. These plastic 'calenders' can still be located in
certain areas of Goa. Hence a lot of Catholics and even a few Hindus are
named Dominic and Savio. The father of the child would just whip out the
handy Dominic Savio Card from his wallet, check the date, and viola, there
was the name.
So it was set. You were named after the saint on whose day you were born.
Of course Goans, being the way they are, this trend did not last for long.
There was rebellion. People started naming their children after the local
church...Alex in Calangute, Anne in Ponda, Thomas in Aldona, Conception in
Panjim, Reception at Alva-Mar Parra etc.
After a particularly troublesome delivery it was tradition to name the
child after the attendant doctor. This didn't make a major difference
because the doctor was originally named after a saint anyway. Unless he was
a Hindu. In which case an advert was put in the local papers thanking the
doctor and the Dominic Savio Card was referred to, as always. This
tradition of placing an advert still carries on to date but its origins are
forgotten.
All was well until Liberation in 1961. Lakhs of Goan Catholics now were
exposed to All India Radio and were updated on what was happening in the
world. Incidentally before this the Portuguese Radio Station at Altinho was
named Banco Ultramarino and the ancient records they used are lying in the
State Bank of India's vaults opposite Hotel Mandovi in Panjim.
Now, as I was saying, people turned on their radios and heard about the
great happenings of the Sixties all over the world.This was a period of
heroic names like Charles, Armstrong, John, Kennedy, Helen, Keller, Elvis,
Presley, Peter, Nazareth etc. A confusing period for the children
especially the hundred odd who were named after Ringo, Evita, Simon and
Garafunkel.
Interestingly in the early Seventies a few priests took up Hindu names like
Fr. Sanyas and Fr. Vipassana. Parent's followed suit and gave names like
Nirmal, Jyoti, Avinash & Nash. Curiously despite their nationalistic fervor
nobody used Goan Hindu names like Damodar, Sakaram, Pandurang, Ganpat,
Mogrem, Shunvtem, Tukaram, and Bhimlo.
RC: I am sure what you meant is Indian names and not Hindu names?
CP: I meant what I said. These are Hindu names. You keep your political
correctness to yourself. What you mean Indian names? Isn't Abdul an Indian
name? Or Hasina? Or Rosemary for that matter? Aren't these people Indian. I
said Hindu names and I meant Hindu names. There is no such thing as an
Indian name.
Now back to what I was saying. A few years down the line there was a
minority backlash against these Hindu names and the Catholics reverted to
the Holy Book and used Biblical names like Aaron, Daniel, Saraf, Cleophas,
Ruth and Demetrius. Some took the anti-Indian sentiment to it's extreme and
used names that were totally culture contrary like Stacy, Bach, Remo and
Frankie-goes-to-Hollywood.
In the early Nineties a strange trend came into being, uniquely first in
the civilised universe - combi-names. Such combi-names had been used
earlier by Goan Catholics to name their newly built RCC bungalows. But now
they started giving combi-names to their children. A combi-name consists of
a combination of the names of the Father and Mother. For example Edlen from
Edwin-Helen, Loubert from Lourdes-Albert, Fremella from Frederick-Pamella,
Luiza from Luis-Eliza... you get the idea. I have been doing extensive
research in this unique Goan phenomenon and will be placing a lot on
emphasis on this aspect, combi-names, in my book. An earlier book of mine
'House and Vehicle Names in Goa' touches on this subject, but briefly. Did
you know that there are 227 RCC bungalows in Goa named 'God's Gift'? And
324 Maruti Vans named 'Jesus Saves'? Not many people know these things.
RC: I'm afraid I have run out of questions numbers so this has to be the
last one. Any last words for our readers.
CP: Yes. I would like the Goan Catholics among your readers to send me
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> their name, date and place of birth. And an
explanation, if they have one, on why their parents chose that particular
name. This will help me in my research. Also if they have any house or firm
names with a unique origin I would happily include them in future editions
of my best selling books. Also vehicle names, private and public, eg. Baby
Rebecca, Bhagwati, Rubina, Jumbo Jet, Pink Panther etc.
Right now I too have to go. A bit of child naming is in store for me too!
===========
(Errors and omissions in this interview are intentional. For the correct
picture buy the book!)
Please forward this to any Goan Catholic you know, who has a unique
explanation for his/her name.
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