Dear Roland, At the risk of exposing my own ignorance, I'll share the little I know:
There are Colacos and Colacos in Velim. All do not belong to a single category. Some Velim Colacos are originally from Carambolim. Ain't sure if that village name has anything to do with the Portuguese "Caramba!" Whether or not, Carambolim, for a fact, was a suburb of "Goa Dourada." The ancestors of our Carambolim Colacos fled that great city of the East, just as the plague morphed it to Old Goa. Some from Carambolim went to Velim, some others settled on the other side of the Salcete river at Orlim, yet others fled to Calangute and other places in the north of Goa. Velim's Carambolim Colacos, like their diaspora elsewhere in Goa, continued to be gaunkars/zonnkars of the Carambolim comunidade -- once Goa's richest. It was said a Carambolim zonnkar never needed to work in a lifetime ... the zonn was more than sufficient. Perhaps to distinguish themselves from the rest of the Colacos of Velim, the Carambolim zonnkar settlers of the village categorized themselves "Zonnkars" -- and referred to the rest as "Chonnkars." My interpretation: while they, the Carambolim Colacos of Velim got Goa's richest comunidade zonn, the other Colacos of the village earned chonne (grams, peanuts, whatever), hence "Chonnkars." That's why I asked Dr. Carmo DCruz whether he meant "Zonnkar or Chonnkar." To round off this little chapter from my abundant ignorance (that springs from a personal connection), may I point out that Colacos are not the only Carambolim "zonnkars" in Velim. There are Vaz, Barros, Falcao, etc. families in Velim who, like the Colacos, migrated from Carambolim for the same reason and at the same point in history. Zonnkar-Chonnkar, touchy subject. May the debate live long. I know of at least two worthy Goanetters on either side of the divide .. both now in the continent, and its southern twin, where you live. Maybe we get more on this if they join in. Regards, Valmiki From: "Roland Francis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, November 06, 2006 9:16 AM Subject: Re: [Goanet] Moses COLACO - Footballer from Velim > At the risk of exposing my ignorance, may I ask what is chonnkar, Valmiki? > Roland. > > On 11/5/06, Valmiki Faleiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> From: "CARMO DCRUZ" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Subject: [Goanet] Moses COLACO - Footballer from Velim > > Hi Everyone, >> > >> > Finally it wamed the cockles of my Goenkar/Velkar heart to hear that we had >> > an outstanding Colaco in soccer named Moses Colaco from Velim. Was he a >> > zonnkar or not ? Was he from the Colaco clan near the Velim church area or >> > was he from Carxeta, Velim ? >> > Dr.Carmo D'Cruz > >> Carmo, >> >> Did you mean to ask, "Zonnkar or chonnkar?" To the best of my info, he was >> not a Chonnkar. Didn't have the privilege of knowing Moses but his elder >> brother >> Milton was a friend. The house was at Vaz vaddo. And yes, he was a >> descendant of the Carambolim clan. >> >> May the souls of all departed chonnkars and zonnkars be at peace. >> >> Valmiki _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
