My friend of old times Marcos Gomes Catao, with whom I had lost contact for ages, made now his presence felt with these Reminiscences of Mapusa in the 1930s and 1940s". My heartfelt thanks to him for reviving the memories of those simple and beautiful times.
There are names mentioned by him which are more than familiar to me, besides those of my father (Carlito Noronha), my grandfather (Fransquinho Noronha), my godfather (Adv. Caetano Filipe Saldanha) and my grand uncle Dr. Florencinho Ribeiro: Adv. Cipriano da Cunha Gomes, the Pinto de Menezes family, Dr. Mousinho Elvino de Sousa, Dr. Filipe Cordeiro, etc. But Marcos made a slight mistake when he referred to «Tome Menezes of Menezes & Cia», as Tome Menezes was actually of the "Cosme Matias Menezes" family and not of Menezes & Cia. Another mistake from him refers to the house of my grandfather Francisquinho (Fransquinho) Noronha, which he said «is now owned by the Soares family of tile manufacturing fame». My granddad's house was sold in the 1950s to a Hindu family which I think still owns it, while the Soares family's house is next to it, opposite the house then owned by Mr. Rafael Lobo. I don't know how, having mentioned the Benao house, Marcos forgot to refer to another (so to say) landmark of the city, the Boirao commercial establishment (now called "Bhairao" if I am not mistaken), opposite the Swiss chapel, wherein one could find for sale almost anything that one couldn't find in any other shop. And, as far as I remember, the graduates of the Goa Medical School (Escola Medico-Cirurgica de Goa), each one of whom felt proud to simply call himself or herself "Medico Cirurgiao", were labelled by the British not «as LMPs (Licensed Medical Practitioners)» but as LM&S (Licensed in Medicine and Surgery) I think that Marcos's following paragraph is apt to be misinterpreted: «Further up was the Remanso hospital that belonged to Dr. Francisco Correia of Ucassaim (Prof.Francisco Correia Afonso M.A. Oxon was a Professor of English and Principal of Colleges in Dharwar and Belgaum)». Prof. Francisco Correia Afonso, who hailed from Benaulim, had no affinity to the medical practitioner Dr. Francisco Correia. The latter gave up his "Remanso" private hospital after the take-over of Goa by India and settled in Portugal where he started a new clinic and eventually died, and where his son, Francisco Correia Jr., is nowadays a renowned cardiologist. If memory doesn't fail me, the name of «the 'gentleman' beggar, impeccable in his black waistcoat and earthen bowl intoning "Amot tik, Barretto makta bik" (Hot or sour, any will do. Rough translation of his intent, rather than a literal one)» was Jeronimo. I can still picture him carrying a stick in one hand besides the earthern bowl in the other. There was also a "lady beggar" named Artemisia who walked with many cats on her and used to bless everyone in Portuguese: "Em nome do Pai, do Filho e do Espirito Santo". Thank you, Marcos, for bringing back to mind a vivid picture of the Mapusa of the 1930s and 1940s. Jorge _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list ([email protected])
