From: Michael Lobo <dr. Back in the era of “God, Savethe King”, Sind was a part of Bombay Presidency – and Karachi was probably thesecond largest city in the presidency after Bombay itself. Many Christians from Goa and Mangalore foundopportunities for employment in Karachi – and by the late 19thcentury the city was acquiring a sizeable Christian community. The Christians of Karachi formed a close-knitgroup – regardless of whether they hailed from Goa or Mangalore or elsewhere.
The pioneer Mangaloreans atKarachi were involved in a variety of professions. Nicholas Noronha (1863-1939) was a P.W.D.engineer; Ligoury Albuquerque (1866-1935) was a tile merchant; Joachim MichaelSaldanha (1868-1912) was in government service; Henry Rosario (1871-19xx) was alighthouse keeper; Gregory Saldanha (1873-19xx) was employed with Remington Typewriters;Raymond Rebello (1876-1922) was an auditor; Martin D’Souza (1876-1930) was a subjudgeand court registrar; Clement Vaz (1876-1929) was a schoolmaster; Albert D’Souza(1881-1961) and his twin brother James (1881-1964) were businessmen; Philip D’Cunha (1885-1967) was Asst.Collector of Customs; Julian Miranda (1892-1975) was a teacher at St Patrick’sSchool; Anthony Fernandes (1886-1948) was employed at the Mint; James Aranha(1893-1937) was a signaller with the Government Telegraphs; Joseph Mathias(1895-1966) was Manager, Blackwood India; Joseph Colaco (1903-1986) ran his ownschool with his wife Marie; John Rasquinha (1904-1991) was an Agent for theImperial Tobacco Company; Henry Mathias (1907-1992) was an Agent for Grindlay’sBank; Piedade Victor Pereira (1907-1988) was an Agent for the Central Bank ofIndia; Henry Baptist (1908-1972) was an Agent for the Imperial Bank of India. Dr F.S. deSouza ICS (1869-1943)retired in Karachi as Additional Judicial Commissioner, Sind. Following Partition, theChristians working in Karachi, Lahore, etc. were given the option to return toIndia, or to remain and adopt Pakistan as their new country. Most of theMangaloreans returned, but there were exceptions – notably Oswald BrunoNazareth (1911-98), who taught for over 50 years at St Patrick’s High School,Karachi – his pupils in the pre-Independence era including L.K. Advani and inthe post-Independence era including Pervez Musharraf and General JehangirKaramat, who was Chief of Staff of the Pakistan’s army in 1996-1998. O.B. Nazareth was Assistant Manager of thePakistani hockey team at the London Olympics (1948). There were also instances ofmembers of a family choosing different options. The aforementioned Julian Miranda elected to remain in Karachi afterindependence; he died there in 1975. Hiseldest son Michael, an electrical engineer, settled in India, being employedwith TELCO and ITI; he also served for some time with the Indian army. Hisyounger half-brother Romulus joined the Pakistan army and settled in Rawalpindi– a virtually unique instance oftwo brothers serving in opposing armies. Another example is the family of the aforementioned Philip D’Cunha. He was twice married; his first wife being aMangalorean and his second wife being a Karachi Goan. His eldest son Frank was born in India butchose to remain in Pakistan after Partition; he joined the Pakistani governmentservice, and settled in Islamabad, the capital. Philip D’Cunha’s daughters by his secondmarriage were all born and married in Karachi but settled in India with theirhusbands following Partition! Frank D’Cunha and RomulusMiranda have both now passed away, but some of Frank’s children may still be residingin Islamabad and Romulus’s two sons are still in Rawalpindi. There was a case of aMangalorean opting for Indian citizenship but continuing to reside in the newlycreated country of Pakistan. This wasCyprian Mathias (1900-1985), who had been posted in Karachi in the governmentservice of the British Raj. FollowingPartition, he obtained employment at the Indian High Commission inKarachi. The family later returned to Indiaand migrated to Canada in the 1970s. There were also instances of Christiansmoving from India to Pakistan after Partition. Many incentives were offered to Indian Christians to join the staff ofBritish banks and other companies in Pakistan because Hindus employed in thesebanks and companies were fleeing in large numbers to India. In general, families who optedto remain in Pakistan eventually migrated to England or Canada – few Mangalorean families remainin Pakistan to this day. One of Lahore’s well-known Mangaloreanresidents was Lawrence Saldanha (1895-1992). Employed in the Telegraph Department, he elected to stay on in Pakistanfollowing Partition and retired as Superintendent of Telegraphs. His entire family eventually settled inMontreal, Canada, where Lawrence died a nonagenarian in 1992. However, one son – also named Lawrence – remainedin Pakistan. He joined the priesthood, secureda doctorate in theology from the Urbanium University, Rome, in 1963, andeventually rose to be Archbishop of Lahore (2004-2011). He has since joined his siblings in Toronto,where he currently resides, but is still officially Archbishop Emeritus ofLahore. Among the distinguished Mangaloreans tohave lived in Pakistan, a special mention should be made of Dr Una Pinto neeAranha – the first MangaloreanCatholic lady to obtain the degrees of MD (1945) and FRCS (1947). Her Goan husband Anthony Pinto was also adoctor – they were in Karachi fortwo decades and were personal physicians of the Bhutto family, Una having deliveredBenazir. They settled in London in 1969. Both have now died, Anthony having attainedthe age of 102. There are on this forumdescendants of some of these families – and I invite them to share stories toldto them by parents or grandparents about life in what is now Pakistan. Kevin Coelho, a major entrepreneur inMontreal since the 1970s, is a grandson of Philip D’Cunha. Santosh Shenoy of Bangalore – a seniormanager with Air India at Bangalore – is a grandson of Julian Miranda, and sotoo is Mel D’Souza of Toronto, who has been an occasional contributor to thisforum, his choice of topics tending to be of a scholarly nature (such as thetracking of migrations through DNA analysis). Melvyn’s mother Heather is a sister of Michael and Romulus Miranda. Melvyn’s father Harold D’Souza – who is aliveaged 91 – is one of the few Indians who opted to work in Karachi after thefoundation of Pakistan. From Karachi, hewould return to his home at Mulki near Mangalore every 3 or 4 years, thejourney by ship involving halts at Bombay and Goa (sea travel between Karachiand Bombay was discontinued after the 1965 war). Melvyn’s parents were married atSt Patrick’s Cathedral, Karachi, on 5 June 1960. They lived in Karachi till 1974, where Harrywas employed with the Caltex Oil Company, eventually becoming their PersonnelOfficer. In 1974 they migrated toToronto with their three children – and have lived there ever since. They will be celebrating their diamondwedding next year. Another Christian family who optedto remain in Karachi after Partition was that of Michael (Bonny) Pinto, whoserved the British-Indian Navy during World War II, and later joined ICIpaints, Karachi, retiring in 1966. Heand his wife Tresilla had 7 children – all probably born in Karachi. The family migrated to the US in 1985. I have been in touch with their daughterCharmaine, who is in Phoenix, Arizona, and have added her name to the mailinglist in the hope that she might respond to my query about the nationalanthems. She is welcome to remain on theforum and write about other subjects. Finally,I must mention that among the Mangalorean Pakistani immigrants to Canada isWilliam Andrade. Born on 12 January1916, he is still alive aged 103 years and 7 months, and resides in Calgary,Canada. His wife Zena died last yearafter 68 years of marriage. William wasemployed with Burmah Shell at Karachi airport – and was in charge of therefuelling of Allied military planes during World War II. William and Zena were married in Bombay in1950, after which they returned to Karachi, where Zena taught at St Joseph’sConvent, simultaneously working towards a masters’ degree of KarachiUniversity. Their seven children were born in Karachi. William retired in 1971 as Customs LiaisonSupervisor, Shell. Theireldest son Terence was the only Catholic in the Karachi University hockey team (1970-71)as also in the Karachi Port Trust hockey team. In 1974 he migrated to the US for post-graduation in electrical andcomputer engineering. Their second sonClarence migrated to Calgary, Canada, the entire family joining him in1982. Over the years, William Andrade madeit his mission to help new immigrants to the Calgary area acclimatize toCanadian culture and practices. For the current mail, I amattaching two recordings of national anthems. One – as I mentioned earlier – is the vintage rendition of Jana Gana Mana by RabindranathTagore. I am complementing this with anattachment of a much more recent recording of both Quami Taranah and Jana GanaMana by a group of young singers. Alycia Dias and Natasha Baig are from Karachi; Zeeshan Ali is fromIslamabad; the others are from various parts of India. I would prefer to categorize them as allbeing citizens of “Undivided India”. Michael Lobo
