Who exiled the Goan Intellectual? by Jose Lourenco [email protected]
Did the gauddis and kunnbis toiling In yonder fields throw you out? Or did the kharvis on sandy shore Weigh you with fish scales And find you wanting? Did the escrivao frown Over horn rimmed glasses? Did the posorkar hold back his sugar And did the toddy tapper fail To read your footnotes? Did the bent backs at the tavern Scorn Descartes and Proust The smell of earth and their sweat Intolerably incomparable with Champagne and Chardonnay? Did they not pay for their matchbox And their candles and their jaggery? Humble tax to the great exchequer That would pay for your books And the noble flights of your mind? Did the primeiro grau school teacher Cast thee out with stern rule in hand Or the bhat, singing of god’s glory? Did the baker shove his be-jingled staff Up your enlightened arse? You left, O great Goan To walk with kings and poets And to shine like a martyred star With glowing angst and exile-chic But They, unmindful, toil on. NOTE: Jose Lourenco, engineer-turned-writer and editor of Goa Streets[1] recently shared this poem of his on the occasion of World Poetry Day via the Goa-Book-Club, an open-archived network promoting the book and the written word in Goa. You are welcome to join this network by signing up here [2]. [1] http://issuu.com/goa-streets/docs/goa-streets -issue20?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222 and the website is http://goastreets.com/ [2] http://groups.google.com/group/goa-book-club Frederick Noronha :: +91-9822122436 :: +91-832-2409490
