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JoaqMarian
By Valmiki Faleiro
He was born to nobility. To Margao’s only, genuine, royal-blooded family.
"Sangue Real."
Few today would know that the Dias family that lived in a low-slung house
across the
parochial residence of Holy Spirit Church was just that. Joaquim Mariano Dias
belonged
to that stock. He was my childhood chum at the Portuguese ‘Escola Primaria
Oficial, AV
Lourenco.’ Peers had abbreviated Joaquim Mariano to ‘JoaqMarian.’ How JoaqMarian
morphed to JokeMarian is stereotype of the story of how some famous families
faded.
>From his demeanour, it was clear JoaqMarian never had the faintest idea of his
>lineage.
Unsurprisingly. The decline of his family had begun some three generations
before him.
The great grandfather was given to the explosive combination of vices that
ruined many
an aristocratic Goan home: gambling and drinking.
The family lived in a house known as 'Fradi-ghem Ghor.' Prior to the Dias
occupation,
the house was apparently a friary. Before a scion of JoaqMarian’s ancestry
could pawn
off the religious artifacts still in the house, womenfolk in the family were
said to have
quietly donated them to the church. A large crucifix that today adorns the left
wall of the
south side doorway of Holy Spirit church is from that house.
Bacchus seemed to have entered the house together with the Dias family. A common
thread that ran down their generations in Goa was alcoholism. I say "in Goa"
because a
branch of the family that shifted and settled in Portugal did well in life. One
of them rose
to a very high rank in the Portuguese army. Early last century, he was posted
to Goa in
the No.1 army post. Margao’s Catholic aristocracy frantically dashed off
letters and
telegrams begging him not to come, as the state of his relatives here was a
disgrace.
The man never stepped on Goan soil.
Back here, the upshot of drink and decline showed. Educational levels in every
successive generation sunk. What survived one generation of the family’s
material
wealth, depleted in the next. What survived JoaqMarian's great grandfather was
almost
polished off by the grandfather, a functionary in the Margao comunidade.
The best JoaqMarian’s father could get was a lowly job in Goa police. That too
was
short-lived. He was sacked for his drinking. The father had a bachelor brother
who all his
life was a driver in Bombay. He returned home on retirement, to spend his last
years.
The standard 'game' with us, neighbourhood kids those days, was to guess who,
any
given day, was more drunk -- JoaqMarian’s father or uncle.
The daughters of the house carried its noble traditions. They were women of
impeccable
character, learning, and kindness.
JoaqMarian’s childhood was traumatic. Both parents had turned incorrigible
alcoholics.
In time, before he could think of a job, a wife and family life, JoaqMarian, a
promising
young man (less than six months separated us by age), had himself turned into
one.
This July 8, now reduced to skin and bone, my boyhood buddy kissed the creator.
I
attended the funeral, and penned this piece immediately after. For a different
reason.
Other than family and immediate neighbours, there were few mourners. Barely any
in
that 50-odd group would have known JoaqMarian's hoary stock. At a funeral like
this, the
large Holy Spirit Church should have overflowed with the Margao aristocracy.
There were, however, some seven men, of varying ages and degrees of physical
deterioration, who touched my senses ... JoaqMarian's drinking comrades. Each
had a
genuine tear in the eye, as each tossed his handful of earth into the grave. If
the Margao
aristocracy didn’t pay tributes to someone much superior to it by pedigree,
JoaqMarian's
drinking comrades did.
I feel bad every time an alcoholic goes six feet under. Because, as each one
goes, the
world loses one man who could be counted on to speak the truth -- esp. when
sozzled.
'Requescat Em Pace' up there, dear JoaqMariano, and cheers!
SIGNS OF INTEGRATION: Thanks to Vidyadhar Gadgil, I read Ramachandra Guha’s take
on his Goa of 1984 and today (‘The Hindu,’ August 19.) I will paraphrase a
small part, "The
Portuguese were here twice as long as the British, and their long residence
left its mark.
I was back here after 23 years. Goa appears to have become more solidly part of
India.
One sign is the decline of Portuguese. Back in 1984, many of the shop signs in
Panaji
were in Portuguese. I particularly remember one that read "Tipografia
Prafulla". If the
business still exists, it probably goes under the name of "Prafulla
Printers".(ENDS)
The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=330
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The above article appeared in the August 26, 2007 edition of the Herald, Goa
