Today being the 4th of March and the 45th death anniversary of my father Advocate Gerald Pereira, l have been inspired to write the following article to pay tribute and to thank all his great Goan mentors, friends and comrades, who were based in Bombay as well as Goa. These people in particular along with several others were responsible for mentoring my father's life and influencing him in his early days. This motivated and moulded him into a trade union activist, a social worker and a politician, who was a Communist to the core. My late father Gerald Pereira pursued his studies in Bombay (now Mumbai), as he was shipped there overnight in the year 1946, at the age of 16 years. This was because he had raised slogans against the Portuguese regime in the school he attended in Vasco. lt was the year Dr Ram Manohar Lohia visited Goa, and the noted freedom fighter D. D. Deshpande being a teacher at his school, inspired Gerald to do so. At that time, Gerald lived with his mother Maria Santan Gomes Pereira, in Vasco (his birth place), his two elder sisters, Gloria and Annie, and his younger brother Joe. His mother was frightened as the Portuguese police issued a warrant for his arrest. Gerald was thus sent to live with his father, Xavier Pereira, who stayed in Byculla, Bombay. Xavier himself was a diploma holder of VJTI Bombay i.e Victoria Jubilee Technological Institute (now Veer Mata Jijabai Technological Institute) and worked for Garlic Engineering Co., Byculla, Bombay. Thus began Gerald's life with his father in Bombay, in a rented premise in Patel building in Byculla. This building was located in the Byculla market area with the Gloria Church towards the front and the Byculla railway station to the rear. After completing his matriculation from Cambridge board, with Bombay as his exam centre, Gerald graduated in arts from the prestigious St. Xavier's College, Bombay. This was followed by a degree in law from Siddharth College of Law. Gerald carried out his practice of law and other activities as a freedom fighter and trade union leader from the Byculla residence. This rented premise is still in possession of the family till date, as a memory of my grandfather, late parents Gerald and Luiza and also as the place of birth of my late brother Adv Thälmann (who followed in the footsteps of my father both in profession as well as social work), my sister Dr Zarina (presently who is a front-line covid warrior in Delhi Health Service) and me, Architect Lara based in Vasco, Goa. During Goa's freedom movement, this particular place has served as a meeting place of several freedom fighters based in Bombay, like the late Joaquim Braganza (my maternal grand uncle), late Adv Arsenio Jacques and his brother-in-law Adv Gilman Fernandes, Dr Edward Diaz, Raymond Dantes, late Victor D' Mello, late Comrades George Vaz and Narayan Palyekar and not to forget, the wife of Gerald and my late mother, Dr Luiza Carvalho Pereira. All of the above being closely associated with T. B. Cunha, Menezes Braganza and Dr Julião Menezes, in spite of being of different political affiliations, worked together to attain freedom for Goa. Most of them were members of an organisation named Goan People's Party which was a pro-left and democratic organization and had a sizable amount of membership. In the 50s, Byculla often witnessed clashes between the two main communities .The Christians who lived there consisting of Goans, Mangaloreans and the rest being parishioners of the Gloria Church were peaceful by nature. Gerald being a Communist by then, after coming in contact with the Bombay based founders of the Communist Party in lndia, but hailing from Goan Christian background, helped in diffusing the communal tensions. Being a lawyer and a trade union leader, he happened to be a good mediator and was respected by both the warring communities. The respect commanded by him was so much that he was elected to the welfare board of the local ward (mohalla) of Chambar Lane in Byculla that covered the entire market area. Those were the years when the freedom movement of Goa was in full swing everywhere, including in Bombay. A lot of memorable serious/hilarious incidents that occurred then have been narrated to me by my mother Dr Luiza who also was a part of this movement. l would like to share some of them over here. There was this hilarious incident that happened when the infant son of Raymond Dantes was being baptized in one of the famous Churches in Bombay. Raymond chose the name Patrice Lumumba for his son, after the Congolese Prime Minister. But the priest disagreed with the name due to its Russian connection and changed it to Patrick. (Russia has a University by that name.) On another occasion Gerald being a Communist and having close contact with the IPTA i.e. Indian People's Theatre Association, got to rope in the legendary actors Raj Kapoor and Nargis (sympathisers of IPTA) to attend and participate in a fund collection drive cum roadshow in Bombay to collect funds for the Goan freedom movement. And thanks to the presence of these legendary actors the event was a grand success. Then there was the time when the entire Goan community residing all over Bombay (irrespective of whatever religion or political affiliation) came out in huge numbers in solidarity, sporting the patent Goan vertically striped pyjamas and waving black flags, to protest against Morarji Dessai, who was the CM of then Bombay State. Morarji had certain political limitations on international issues. Due to this, he had not sent the promised police protection for the protesting Goan freedom fighters during one of their famous satyagrahas. Held at the Goan border, this satyagraha ended in a disaster as the Portuguese police opened fire on the protestors. This angered the Goan community living in Bombay and hence the mass protest by them. My mother told me that seeing this big crowd of Goans outside the Assembly complex, Morarji preferred to leave through the back entrance rather than face the protesting Goans. Thanks to the Goan spirit which is laudable. Soon after Goa's liberation in 1961, while Gerald was active with his trade union and political activities in Bombay, a group of workers who were working at the Mormugao Port as dock workers (winchmen) invited him to come to Goa and address their issues. Gerald immediately agreed, came to Vasco and formed his very first union in Goa. At that time he continued to carry on his union and political activities in Bombay and stay there itself but started commuting to Goa often for his trade union activities. In the mid 60s, Gerald started researching for his M.A. thesis on the subject of “An Outline of Pre-Portuguese History of Goa”. At that time it was another legendary Goan, the polymath Dr D. D. Kosambi who helped him. Dr Kosambi, who taught at a prestigious institute in Bombay but resided in Pune, guided Gerald personally in his research work along with his actual guide Dr V. D. Rao. On quite a few weekends Gerald would board the train from V.T. to Pune and stay at Kosambi's residence to carry on his research about Goa's history. Much later (in 1973) it was this particular thesis that he self-published by setting aside time for it in his busy schedule, into the well-known book on Pre- Portuguese history. In the same period Gerald relocated to Goa permanently. He dedicated much of his time to carry out trade union activities along with political activities of the Communist Party in the beginning and later on, the CPl(M). He was jailed a couple of times for his political activities. Yet he continued with them and formed several unions all over Goa. He conducted rallies, public meetings and led several agitations to fight for the rights of the working class and the downtrodden in society. In his legal practice along with his usual cases he also took up a lot of pro-bono cases. Having the experience of a working editor of a magazine in his younger days, he wrote articles for publication in the local as well as the national newspapers and magazines in his free time. Besides these activities, he engaged himself in composing songs, which were mainly political satires (i.e. songs for tiatra). He also composed the music for his own songs as he had some knowledge of it, for having learnt to play the violin in his childhood in the Church of St. Andrew, Vasco, Goa. He continued with all these activities till he suffered a heart attack on the 2nd of June 1975, the very next day of my 7th Birthday when our family was vacationing in Mahabaleshwar near Pune. After the heart attack, Gerald moved back into his Byculla residence for recuperation. That was the year of the Emergency and Gerald continued with some underground activities specially in the form of some writings against the government from his residence. Once again it was his friends, all his Communist Party comrades, trade union activists from Bombay as well as Goa who helped him carry out his political activities in this trying period due to his ill health and the political situation in our country. Unfortunately, he suffered another heart attack and passed away on the 4th of March 1976 at the age of 46 yrs just a few days after returning back to Goa. Coming to Gerald's mentors, friends cum aides, everyone knows about the lives of T. B. Cunha, Menezes Braganza and Dr Julião Menezes as they were "the stalwarts", but not much may be known about others that l have mentioned. Post my father Gerald's death my mother Dr Luiza continued to keep in touch with these special friends cum mentors as by then they were her friends too and as her daughter l along with my siblings would often accompany her on her visits to them. Joaquim Braganza, Raymond Dantes and Victor D' Mello remained in Bombay itself. Joaquim rose to become a manager of then ESSO (now Hindustan Petroleum), Dantes along with his wife ran a travel agency in the Fort area while Victor worked for a reputed multinational firm based in Bombay. Comrades George Vaz and Narayan Palyekar came back to Goa and have been known to all fellow Goans in their capacity as leaders of the trade Union movement and the Communist Party of India. Although Gerald and Dr Luiza had parted ways with the CPI, and had joined the newly formed CPI(M), they kept in touch with these two comrades as friends and also in the capacity of joint front movement of the left parties. Not many will know that George Vaz, being an alumnus of Sir J. J. College of Art, would render beautiful graphite drawings in his free time. I remember as a child he rendered a beautiful sketch of me sitting on a cane (rotesāo) chair when he visited our family house in Goa at Vasco. Sadly we have misplaced the precious graphite drawing. Advocates Arsenio Jacques and his brother-in-law Gilman carried on with social work after settling in Margao.They practised law along with Joana, who happened to be the sister of Arsenio and the wife of Gilman. They handled a lot of pro bono cases from their Margao office on Abade Faria Road which was next to the office of the famous Cobra Security Services operated by Gilman's brother. Also, Gilman along with Souza Ferrao was the Catholic face in the Hindu dominated MGP and has contested for the assembly elections on the MGP ticket a couple of times. Dr Eduardo and his wife ran the CESSIC (lndo Cuban Cultural Association) in Goa till they emigrated to Macâo to be with their children who were settled there. Besides this, they also did social service. Gerald's wife and my mother Dr. Luiza Carvalho Pereira, who held a Portuguese Medical degree from Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Nova Goa (now Goa Medical College and Hospital), served as a doctor at J. J. Hospital, Bombay after working as a trainee in several other big hospitals there. She had gone to Bombay to pursue her post-graduation and research in medicine which she successfully did and joined the Ackworth Leprosy Hospital in Wadala. Initially in Bombay, she had to fight for recognition of her Portuguese medical degree so as to be allowed to practice as a qualified doctor. Bombay University and the medical association there did not recognise our Goan medical degree then and forced the Goan degree holder doctors to answer the MBBS exam, which she opposed. Hence she had to work as a trainee at several hospitals and was successful in getting her degree reconized. Under the tutelage of her uncle, Joaquim Braganza, she joined the Goan People’s Party not only to fight for Goa's freedom but also for the rights of Goan doctors in Bombay. After marrying my father Gerald and settling down in Bombay, she relocated to Goa along with him. Initially, in Goa she served as the superintendent of the Leprosaria (leprosy hospital) in Macasana, Curtorim. Later, after surrendering her job there, she joined Gerald in his trade union and political activities, besides working as a leprologist. She continued with these activities till her death on 10th of October 2006. Likewise barring a few all, the mentors and friends of my parents Gerald and Luiza are no more today. But let us not forget that they are the ones who have contributed not only in influencing Gerald's life but also contributed in shaping and moulding Goa post her liberation and hence are our "daiz" in the true sense.. ... Lara Pereira Naik Vasco, Goa (My heartfelt thanks to all those mentioned in the above article and sincere apologies to those who, l have missed in mentioning.)
