ORLANDO DA COSTA (1929-2006)
>From the days I got to know Dr. Orlando da Costa in 1995, soon after my
settling down in Lisbon, we met quite regularly over lunches. He was
introduced to me by a common Goan friend, Nuno Gonçalves, to whom (along
with two other Goans in Lisbon) Dr. Orlando dedicated the re-edition of his
Sem Flores Nem Coroas (2003). Our last such academic lunch was at a Santa
Marta road restaurant in Lisbon, next to Santa Marta Hspital where I had to
go for a medical check-up about six months back. My last conversation with
Dr. Orlando was over the phone three weeks back. From a well sounding tone
of his voice I could hardly believe that the end was so near. I had been
just out of hospital after a week of internment, and Dr. Orlando seemed more
concerned about my state of health. He repeated a last time that he had
preserved for me the only surviving copy of the first edition of his O
Signo da Ira, a copy he had gifted to his mother and had recovered from her
when she died. He regarded it as a precious relic and wanted me to keep it
in his memory. I wonder now if this wish of Dr. Orlando will ever be
realized. I have a feeling that it will be.
I conveyed my condolences to his sons at the Basilica da Estrela where the
body of Dr. Orlando lay for public homage. More important for me was to bid
farewell to Dr. Orlando who had been a close friend and advisor. May his
soul rest in peace, and may his example continue to inspire indo-portuguese
heritage. Saibá, or O Lord in our native Konkani language is an
expression that occurs most frequently in the writings of Dr. Orlando da
Costa. It transmits well a feudal bond that characterized the Goan society
during the colonial times. Through novels and drama, Dr. Orlando da Costa
was able to convey to the Portuguese society in Portugal what it meant for
the Goans to live under the Portuguese dictatorship. Both, his first novel
O Signo da Ira (The Angry Spell) and his play Without flowers or wreaths
(Sem flores nem coroas) will need to be better anylised the grasp their
sociological and political implications for his concern for the Goan society
Bostu of his play is perhaps a representative of all Goans who had to live
in Goa as *poske* (adopted) in their own land until the day of Liberation.
The father in the play is the one who is most worried about the end of the
Portuguese rule. He is told bluntly by his own wife that for his funeral
there would be no flowers and no wreaths! Those would be reserved for his
sister who preferred to bear a life of humiliations and died in her own
land! I doubt if any in Portugal have been able or will be able to reach
these conclusions. From my many personal interactions with Dr Orlando da
Costa, I have no doubts that he was able to couch in literary and dramatic
terms and suavely the historical truths which we as historians find it
difficult, if not impossible, to do. Even so, his first novel had to face
the wrath of the Portuguese censorship. As conveyed to me personally by Dr
Orlando, it was an influential Goan (whose name I shall not disclose) who
provoked the situation by asking the concerned authorities if they were
blind ("se eram cegos") to let such a novel be published on the eve of the
fall of Goa!
Orlando *Saiba,* help us to resist oppression as you tried to do: without
rejecting our historical and cultural heritage. Therein lies your greatness.
We can see his example being successfully practised by his two sons,
prominent public figures in Portugal today, Babush and Babulo (Antonio and
Ricardo respectively ) as he referred to them affectionately during our
conversations.
For a glimpse of the first novel of Dr Orlando da Costa please read:
http://histheory.tripod.com/chsix.pdf
Teotonio R. de Souza
