Message 4 Dated of Sun, 22 Aug 2021 23:04:48 +0530 ID:cabcxcfghat233s9pntogzsy5wanozmx-f_9pj-bmjquidjx...@mail.gmail.com>
Goa 1961 (Op Vijay-1) :: 1961 GOA OPS The background.... (Valmiki Faleiro) valmi...@gmail.com I read the piece with great interest. Suddenly, one individual, Valmiki Faleiro, made me sit up because the book he wrote a decade earlier is being revised and will come every week. This week we are told This column hereafter carries the 1961 Goa Ops part from a revised chapter of the book, Patriotism In Action: Goans in India?s Defence Services by Valmiki Faleiro, first published in 2010 by Goa,1556 (ISBN: 978-93-80739-06-9). Revised edition is to be published. He further notes <<<The primary target audience of this book is the Goan, wherever in the world s/he may be domiciled. The subject of liberation/conquest of Goa in 1961 and her integration into the Indian Union in 1962 -- though sparsely understood at best, and misunderstood at worst -- should be of much interest to the primary target reader. Hence this Military Op and whatever preceded and followed it – the background, diplomacy, arguments, the run-up, the buildup, the actual ops and their aftermath in Goa, within India, and internationally -- are recounted in some degree of detail. Faleiro hoped that >>>the reader will enjoy reading it as much as the author enjoyed writing it!>>>> His pleasure is our pleasure : There are several things that stuck me in a cascade. First What struck me was that one of the world’s greatest colonizers was itself colonized by the Romans. Both Spain and Portugal were part of the Roman Empire. Latin was the common language of these two Roman colonies. Yet over time, indeed for centuries the languages took a different course. Yet, one cannot learn Portuguese and expect to know Spanish. Currently the two languages are quite different. Secondly Portugal, though puny with a population of barely one million and poor maritime traditions was the first European nation to chart a sea route to Asia. The fall of Constantinople (now Istanbul) to the Ottoman Turks on 29 May 1453 and ensuing closure of the land route for Asian merchandise led to the search for a sea route. Thirdly, How many Goans, who are so proud of their Luso connections, know much of <<<<Prince 'Henry the Navigator', This Prince invested some of the wealth of the Templars into shipbuilding and navigation. He launched a maritime school at Sagres on Portugal's southwestern Cape of Santa Vicente facing the Atlantic.>>> This noble Prince transformed the half-decked sailboats, and sailors who did not have the skills or education to navigate without keeping visible reference to land. The Prince decided to make the Training of Portuguese sailors with Arab, Jewish and Genoese help….perhaps even an Indian Mathematician or two to improve the skills and the vessels. The Italians who centuries before took the land route to go to China at most could do about 20 Kilometres a day. In good weather a ship could do 50 or more kilometers a day. Soon Portugal emerged as a European leader in “<<<discovering>>> new lands from West Africa to India and all the way to Japan in the East and Brazil in the West. Fourthly, how many Goans know that Lisbon is the oldest capital in Europe But it also turns out that Lisbon, the capital of Portugal is the oldest in Europe. It was established circa 1200 BC, -- older than Madrid, Rome, Paris and London. Yet, the Indian civilisation was far more ancient, next only to Mesopotamia and Egypt, and followed by the civilisations of Maya/Mexico, China and Andes (Aztec, Inca), all much older than Europe. Yet all these countries and their civilizations became colonies in a small way, by the Romans but then in a quantum leap by the Portugese. They not only imposed or converted their citizens to Catholism, but mixed freely with local people. Portugal under Prince Henry the Navigator had a population of about 1 million, today has a population of .11 million. India and China each have a population of over a billion. Portugal the puny state has hundred times less than the 2 giant countries. Fifthly,OK Goans do not know much about Prince Henry the Navigator , who sent Vasco De Gama, Albuquerue and Cabra…but they know even less of a Marquês de Pombal <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marqu%C3%AAs_de_Pombal>.who in 1761 ABOLISHED slavery in Africa that is several decades before Livingstone and the abolishist campaigned for the end of child labour and slavery in Africa. On the flip side the Marques also banned the Jesuits from Goa. The clever Jesuits, they moved away from Goa and moved in the hugh British to India and look at their impact on education, rights of other people including tribals and on the Moslem education etc in Pakistan. Grandolfo says what is next ….It is a good thing that Valmiki Faleiro, piece comes only once a week. I am exhausted Yet there is so much to say about, Colonialism, Slavery, slavery etc