It was a thing of some beauty and a fixture in every middle class Goan home.
Working on kerosene, which fueled a bright core that could be enhanced by pressure pumped by a finger-worked external piston, the Swedish made Petromax cut a bright swath through the Goa darkness whether in the home or outside. It was used sparingly, replacing the humble oil lamps only at an occasion or celebration or religious procession. It was brought out of the store room with much love and care to be hung from its appointed hook in the center of the hall, its pride of place. Romancing cousins kept far from it for fear it would show stern and observant aunts the blush in her cheeks or the lust in his eyes. And then one day the bulbs slowly crept into the Goan village and usurped the throne of the Petromax. In these days when long-used products crumble like dry jaggery when faced with modern technology, the Petromax is still an item, a tad smaller, sleeker and brighter than its Goan grandfather but the shape and design still not much changed. In Canada in this day and age, with all the battery and electric candlelight power and options available to those who want it, the Petromax now made by Coleman, sells for about 60 CAD and to those who use it I am told, still much valued in the countryside. Roland. Roland Francis 416-453-3371
