Marcos Gomes Catao
Nostalgic Echoes of Belgaum
I attended St. Paul'sbetween 1942-46 when St. Paul's was in its
halcyon days, at its apogee with a student body that was theenvy of the town,
'crème de la crème (everyone has the right to extol his time,doesn't he? The
Brazilians call it “ Puxar a sardinha para a sua brasa” (i.e.Pull the sardines
to your own fire). In those days there was no politicallycorrect
molly-coddling: so, there was intense competition in sports, unrivalledstriving
for scholarship, participation in debates and stage-craft. Everyonewanted to be
tops, and succeeded. That is why the years flew so fast thatbefore you were
aware of it, you were out of school and heading for College.
Since the Bombay University Matriculation examination was substitutedsoon
afterwards by the SSC Board exam, I am not aware whether the “Sir
CowasjiJehangir” Latin Scholarship, the “Mons. Delgado” Portuguese Scholarship
and theFrench Scholarship, all awarded to the student who stood first in the
subjectin the Matriculation exam, was continued or not, since the original
endowmentmust have been to the University.. Though the less generous
financially thanthe other two, the Latin Scholarship was considered more
prestigious, beingfought for quite fiercely specially by the Bombay and Poona
Schools. Belgaum provided an immense contribution tothe educational
and social development of Goans, particularly in the 1938-1968decades, perhaps
in some measure due to its physical contiguity with Goa. True,compared with
Bombay and Poona, Belgaum was less blasé, too provincial atown. But, it made up
the deficiency by the more closely knit community imposedby the smaller
physical space within which it was contained. . Like all Britishmilitary
stations in India, Belgaum was divided into the Cantonment andthe City. The
Goan community was confined almost entirely to the Cantonmentarea so that,
going about one's business, one got the impression one was athome in Goa.
TheGoans in Belgaum comprised a motley lot: there were theGovernment
employees working speciallyin the Telegraphs(those were the days still of
Morse receivers and senders) ,Railways, Excise, etc; a fair sized contingent of
'refugees', people who hadfled from Rangoon with the advance of theJapanese in
Burma; then there were the Afrikanders i.e. Families whose bread-earner
laboured inAfrica mainly(Aden, Persian Gulf, were other places) while the wife
lookedafter the educational and integral development of the children in
Belgaum; there were the young men and women who, afterfinishing schooling in
Goa had to come out to continue their higher studies;there were also the 'birds
of passage', who in April came to Belgaum to appear for the Matriculation
(later, SSC)examination as the Portuguese Government did not permit such
examinationcentres in Goa. Belgaum, however, had not been planned
for a Catholiccommunity in mind. There were only two small churches: GOA
CHURCH, so calledbecause it belonged to the Padroado i.e. to the Archdiocese of
Goa and St. ANTHONY's a church built for theMadrassi ayahs, khansamahs, cooks,
etc that tended to the needs of the British civil and militaryestablishments.
Belgaum, however, was not a MECCA because of itschurches but because
of its educational institutions, among which St. Paul'sheld the primacy. A
driving force behind the sports was Fr. C.S.Saldanha, who was notonly a good
player himself( at 65 he was still playing with his soutane tuckedup at the
waist) but, more importantly, as military chaplain, interactedclosely with the
British officers of the Mahratta Light Infantry, thus enablingfrequent games to
be played: “practice makes perfect”! As a result, St. Paul'sboys were perennial
semi-finalists at the annual local “PUJARI HockeyTournament” together with the
Army, the Police and the Railways. The St. Paul’s youngsters strove valiantly
against thestalwarts of the Army or the Police and sometimes carried the day
and thetrophy. Several of them went on to play for the University or other
countries,at least one having represented Kenya in the Olympics.
Thewinter of '43 was particularly proficuous in games, mostly football, as
abattalion of the Lancashire Cross-key Regiment (so called because they had
twocrossed keys on their shoulder straps) had come to Belgaumon R & R (Rest &
Recreation). They had a burly, vivacious and gregariousPadre who himself was a
good player and got on famously with Fr. Saldanha. Sothere were endless games.
Moreover, they had come at the time of the annualFancy Fete and participated
actively in it, charming everyone with theirgenerosity. Unfortunately, all of a
sudden, the Japanese began advancing fastin Burma, threatening Calcutta. The
Regiment's R & R was summarilycancelled and they were rushed off to the front.
There they were wiped out to aman. It took several weeks to get over the
tragedy, such the bond created insuch a short while.
Thecemetery in Belgaum was a good half-hour's walk away,
snakingthrough the military zone.. As the funeral cortège wove through, the
schoolboys, two abreast, leading the way, five British officers were coming to
thedown town cinema. As they approached and passed the bier, they snapped
toAttention on their bicycles, with a smart salute, in a tribute and gesture
ofmilitary etiquette that captivated our young minds and made a
lastingimpression for weeks thereafter.
My initiation into, and fondness for, classical music begun by
the yearly execution of Handel'sMESSIAH at Easter, by the Mapuçá church choir
was consolidated andfurthered by the tripod of Bro. Cyril Freitas, the Mahratta
Light Infantry bandand the Italians. At the semi-annual school concerts, and on
other occasions,Bro. Freitas was able to assemble and train a group of
musicians to producesounds from Heaven, the yearly staple being Hungarian Dance
No. 5. Thisfondness of mine was strengthened by the MLI band diffusing
elysian,soul-stirring strains at the monthly Dinner Dance at the Officers'
Mess. Of theItalians I will speak later on.
. During theChristmas season, one went round carol singing and there always was
the muchvaunted Christmas Ball everyone used to look forward to. There were
also other celebrations.The visit of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima
occasioned a plethora of religioushappenings. So too did the visit of Valerian
Cardinal Gracias of Bombay. Thevisit of the Patriarch of Goa, D. José da Costa
Nunes, was more subdued,possibly because his area of work was restricted to the
GOA Church, which fellwithin his jurisdiction. In1949, we staged a
MOCK TRIAL of the scientists responsible for building thefirst Atom Bomb such
as Lisa Meitner, Enrico Fermi, Otto Bahr, Oppenheimer,Oliphant, etc. For weeks,
three of us burnt the mid-night oil in a room graciouslyceded by the school,
working on the script, and weeks thereafter getting theplay together like
casting, stage set-up and illumination, etc. Surprisingly,it was a big success,
we did not expect as we did not believe the local Goancommunity would be so
responsive to such a political subject.
Come April all Goanhearts started to get aflutter: the holidays
were on the horizon and, withthem, the annual exodus home to Goa. There was
only one convenient mode oftransport from Belgaum to Goa, the railway. One
boardedthat mid-night broad gauge Poona-Bangalore Express and then, changed to
thenarrow gauge train from Londa to Vasco. As might be expected, the rush
wasterrific as one sought to find a place in the wagons in any possible way.
Attimes, since two wagons were attached to the main train at Belgaum, the knack
was to find out where in therailway yard thosewagons lay and then to make a
bee-line for them. Ifsuccessful, one waited there for two/three hours, in pitch
dark, until theywere shunted and attached to the train that had arrived. From
Londa onwards,the rush diminished somewhat as the gross of the passengers had
proceeded on toBangalore.
End-May the reversejourney took place but this time full of
apprehension and distress because theInspectors and sepoys of H.M. Customs at
Castle-Rock( the Customs post) wererather nasty and rude. Their concept of
Official Service was resumed in thewords: “Good service is in direct proportion
to the harassment you can inflicton the person”. No sooner did the train
arrive, the doors of all compartmentswere locked so that each one was examined
by turns. Items that were most looked askance at were: liquours ( almost
invariablyeveryone came back with a bottle or two of MACIEIRA, a favourite
Portuguese brandy then, besides feni, whisky,etc), cigarettes, cosmetics and
perfumery. They did not make too much fussabout sausages, chocolates,
ball-cheese, etc. I used to have my heart racinglike a Formula I driver's
because I wasvery fond of a perfume called 'Evening in Paris' which I used to
bring in mypocket as itwas a very tiny blue bottle. Fortunately, I never got
caught norsearched.
The early forties werethe war years and Belgaum was an important
clog in the warmachine: it was the Regimental centre of the Mahratta Light
Infantry and had anOfficers' Training School, British and Indian. There was
also part of a Britishbattalion whose parades we liked to go watch because they
had a Sergeant-Majorwho was pint-sized but had the voice of thunder. We were
always intrigued as tohow a man so small could produce a volume so high!
The Goans did not faceany serious problems as such because of the
war but there were minorinconveniences such as rationing and censorship of mail
going to Goa. Queues atthe ration shops were sometimes long and the items
offered inadequate invariety and quantity. So barter was not uncommon. I know
we at home did notfancy jowar flour and so exchanged it for wheat flour with
our local servant,who found wheat too weak. Sugar was another item in much
short supply, a particularlysignificant sacrifice for me, for whom normally the
dessert was the main courseand the main course, the dessert.
Periodically, as theyfinished their training, the jawans of the
Mahratta Light Infantry would marchoff to the war front, first in N. Africa and
then, Italy. The way to thestation whence they embarked passed by the school.
So, curious crowds wouldcollect along the festooned route towatch them depart,
officers decked in marigold garlands and jawans' green twigsin their helmets.
The synchronous cadence of their sparkling boots clatteringon the deliquescent
asphalt resounded steadily with the boom of theirclarion-call, battle-cry gory
Left-right, left-right
German-ku maddya (let us kill theGermans)
As 1944 ended, andthere appeared some light on the Western Front
tunnel, two impressive eventstook place in Belgaum.
The first was the visitof the Italians. There were several POW
camps spread all over India and fromamong these, people were selected toform
bands for the entertainment of the troops. One such band came to Belgaum. The
show was strictly for military personneland invitees. But, by dint of smart
'legerdepieds' I managed to slip in and ensconce myself in asuitable corner.
The Italians played with extraordinary verve and ' molto conamore'.The sounds
they produced plucked at the heartstrings. They were accompaniedby a soprano
who sang the usual arias by VERDI and PUCCINI. More remarkablethan her singing,
however, was the person herself: Massive and well endowed inthe upper storey,
she had on an extremely low cut gown and so, as she modulatedher voice up and
down, her bosom heaved accordingly, accompanying the movements, to everyone's
merriment. Iobserved that even the senior British military officers had
difficultyretaining their composure and refraining from outright laughter. But,
that wasa distraction. What mattered was the music. And, at that, the Italians
weremasters. They might have been lousy fighters, those Italians(in N. Africa
theysurrendered in droves without firing a shot even to mere platoons of
British or Indiansoldiers) but they were magnificent purveyors of celestial
manah: with batedbreath we savoured every scintillating note, that vice-like
constricted theheart producing spasms of painful pleasure . Their superb
rendering of CHOPINWaltzes, and even s simple piece like Toselli's SERENADE
linger to this days inmy ears, almost sixty years later, and at times haunt me
on sleepless nights.
Thereafterin my career I had the privilege, either as a direct
participant or anonlooker, of being a witness to some extraordinary forward
steps in the fieldof medicine that have led to saving the lives of millions of
people.
Soonafter came relief for diabetics, haunted by the spectre of
daily insulininjections, with the introduction oforal hypogycemic agents, the
Germansprobably being first with their sulfonyureas. Millions of diabetics must
havecelebrated with unbounded joy being freed from the tyranny they were
subjectedto till then. This trend to oral treatment was further reinforced by
theintroduction of a second line of products called biguanides, pioneered by
theAmericans. A French Company with a Research laboratory headed by Dr. STERN
wasable to synthesize a differente biguanide from that of the American
viz.Phenformin. We represented that Company and so had a great launching
marathon.Dr. STERN came down to India and we had meetings of local Medical
Councils inover half a dozen important cities where I accompanied him. Among
the citiesvisited was BENARES, though not particularly famous in the field of
Medicinedespite the Benares Hindu University, it was a focal tourist point Dr.
STERNwas keen on visiting! The product has now become standard therapy in
diabetes.
There were twoconsequences to the end of the war and the subsequent
Independence of India.
The departure of theBritish military and civil personnel ledto
almost total emptying of the Anglican congregation, barely a dozen
families,mainly Anglo-Indian, being left behind to hold the fort. And, hold the
fortthey did so much so that years later when the BELGAUM Catholic diocese
wasformed, an offer was made to buy the edifice, which was repeatedly
andstubbornly refused. A new Cathedral had to be built from scratch.
Belgaum itself was progressing. A new College had beenopened some
time earlier, headed by none other than Prof. F. Correia-Afonso. Anengineering
college followed suit
In the meanwhile, asubtle change was taking place in theGoan
segment of the population. From 1960 Goan families in East Africa either began
moving lock, stock and barrelto the UK or Canada or, at least, sending their
children to the UK for studies.This resulted in the slow diminution of
Afrikanders in BELGAUM. Moreover, after1961, good \schools and Colleges started
proliferating in Goa and students fromthere did not need to come to BELGAUM. On
the contrary, families from BELGAUMstarted going back to GOA.
By the end of the decade, therefore, the Goan population had
decreasedappreciably and, though there were the die-hard ones and those well
establishedthere to think of moving, the curtain was at last being drawn on
NB: This article woven together from several articles inmy book Feuilles Mortes
