Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2010 From: Marcos Gomes Catao [email protected] To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Antonio Menezes on Portuguese Dr. Batista Sousaa
I was happy to read Antonio Menezes' info on this matter as it confirmed my own experience. Banished to GOA because of his Communist ideology (ironically he "converted" several crew members of the Portuguese destroyer "GONCALVES ZARCO then stationed in Goa to the same ideology), Dr. Batista soon gained widespread popularity because of his medical skill and humanity. On one particular occasion, I was going back to Mapuca together with my uncle, a resident Canon at Old Goa, when we stopped at the "Hospital Central" since my uncle wished to consult said doctor, The corridor outside the doctor's consulting room was crowded. We waited. After a while, the door opened and the doctor came out with the patient: an oldish man, dressed in typical fashion of most Hindu men those days viz. dhotti, shirt, blue coat and cap. He spoke not a word of Portuguese. But his son was there. The doctor told the son he could not do much for him. He had to go to Miraj ( The American Mission Hospital at Miraj, with its renowned Dr. Goheen, was a Mecca in those days for Goans who could notafford to go to Bombay). When the son translated the message, the old man was totally dismayed. "I do not have the means to go to Miraj", he muttered. Dr. Batista immediately dipped into his bushcoat pocket, pulled out a Rps.100,00 note and said "You have to go,"( just for reference Rps 100,00 in 1960 was not the same obviously as the worthless Rps.100,00 of to-day!!), It is a strange coincidence that Mr. Menezes' comments come almost on the eve of the anniversary of the Portuguese "Revolucao dos Cravos", engineered primarily by Communistoid officers, and that resulted in the Independence of all Portuguese colonies, excepting GOA, of course. Marcos Gomes-Catao
