Thank you Antonio and Dominic for giving us a slice of true history, instead of made-up stories which some on Goanet have put forward. So much of our Goan history is already lost to us, so many reasons as to why things happened or came to be as they did, is now already lost to my generation. I hope all of this is preserved in books written by the likes of Antonio and Dominic. One other reason why I said poders were "held in high regard" was because in our occupation-based caste society, poders were bracketed as chardo. Other occupations which might have earned similar wages did not make it, so for some reason this was seen almost as a white-collar job.
My only fear is that someone centuries from now will google poders and it will spin out the made-up stories of some writers on Goanet. Not only will it give us the wrong idea of Goa, it will also tell us all about the penal code of Canada, the Presidents of America, the smells of London, written by persons who have never left the shores of Goa. selma --- On Fri, 2/20/09, Antonio Menezes <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Antonio Menezes <[email protected]> > Subject: [Goanet] Poios, poders & bhatkars > To: [email protected] > Date: Friday, February 20, 2009, 12:04 AM > In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Goan > catholics were mostly > farmers, artisans and > general servicemen. In villages, petty traders were mostly > Hindu > possorcars. However, if there was > one trading community among catholics it was the poder. > As Selma (Feb 19 ) has rightly pointed out :*Poders were > held in high > regard .........because a lot of > them managed to make a lucrative earning.. > *Some village traditional stories during the colonial era, > as told by cabai > wearing forfathers, would > have us believe that poders who had surplus cash, instead > of depositing > with Banco Nacional > Ultramarino , opted instead to pay land taxes that were > badly needed by > the half empty > government treasury. In two or three generations these > lands/paddy fields > became properties > of tax payers and poor illiterate farmers who had resided > and tilled land > for many generations > ultimately became mundkars. Thus a generation of bhatkars > was born. > > Antonio
