INDIAN TENDULKAR By: Bennet Paes
I am an Indian was from the horses mouth. first is from the medias. Tendulkar could have better said: I am a Maharashtrian Indian and it could have avoided the current controversy with the Thackerays, in my opinion. Lets discuss this further. When I first saluted a flag, it was Portuguese, and I sang Herois do mar .., too. When I first traveled out of Goa , it was on a Portuguese passport. When people overseas asked me who I am, I said I am a Goan. I did not say Portuguese, because I thought my very looks would betray me. And I did not say Indian because I was not, then (even though I looked like one). Soon after Indias invasion of Goa, I was asked to get an Indian passport while abroad. And I said invasion because while Gandhi got British rule replaced by Indian rule in India, Goas rule by the Portuguese was replaced by an Indian army, and not by Gandhis satyagraha). I was not told specifically to change my passport from Portuguese to Indian. There was an ambiguity in my mind. So I had both, but I used the Indian one for residential purposes, and the Portuguese one for making world travel infinitely easier. Now, finally I am back in Indian Goa, on an Indian passport. Although I had first said I was just a Goan, now I say I am an Indian, and with a little prodding by the enquirer, I prefix the word Indian by Goan. Which means I am a Goan Indian. Footnote: My birthplace is Goa, and Goa now being in India , my nationality is Indian, (although I could also have citizenship of another country, honorary or by a freak of history). That makes sense to me. -------------------------------
