'''Paclo ,a country bumpkin''' was an interesting article by Mr. Teotonio R de Souza on O Heraldo ( Oct 4 ). He writes inter alia : ''' There is much to be studied about the rusticity of the Portuguese who were let loose on Goa ....... a good place to dump bastards and criminals.......Goans today may like to know what the Portuguese mestisos have left in Goa '''
Who was called a paclo . ?In the dark ages of colonial Goa i.e. from 1510 to 1850s , a fair skinned person was called a paclo. He was mestiso, a child of a Portuguese man and a brown or dark brown Goan woman. During this period Goa saw a large scale debauchery indulged in by the dumped bastards and criminals who were let loose on Goa and which is aptly expressed in konkani: '''Inga io go, bienaca, cai corina tuka ''' With the opening of the Suez Canal enabling the Portuguese to reach Goa in a shorter period than by sailing round South Africa, Goa was settled by many Portuguese families. The racially pure Portuguese in Goa held the mestiso in utter contempt so much so that mestiso became a derogatory word. It was at this stage in time that the mestiso started calling himself a descendente and uttering the word mestiso became a taboo. It is safe to assume that Goa had a substantial mestiso population. It is not only the fair skinned who called themselves mestisos,there were other mestisos who were dark skinned like their mothers. Whereas the fair skinned mestiso was sufficiently well looked after by the Portuguese and who ultimately migrated to Portuguese colonies in Africa, it was the dark skinned mestiso who was left to fend for himself in Goa. And yet , wonder of wonders, hardly any person in Goa today claim himself to be a mestiso/descendente. How come ! Or are they living under some other designation ?
