Moira Musings: 14 April 2013 Chinu RIP
Chinu died today morning. Apparently he drowned, And few can believe this for Chinu came from the caste of St. Peter - Kharvis - fishermen. I should estimate that he was somewhere in the late thirties or early forties, although ever since I knew him he looked more or less the same: emaciated and mostly drunk. What did he do that deserves this obituary? To be honest nothing of earth-shaking significance except that he was Chinnuu as he was called, which I reckon was a profession in itself, and one difficult to emulate. Chinnuu created the post of Chinnuu in our lives and he filled it to perfection. Actually Chinnuu was born Chandan Purushottam Volvoikar, the son of the only genuine freedom fighter of Moira. There are others who reap the benefits of the freedom fighter pension but they were actually chicken or coconut thieves who fortunately happened to have been imprisoned during the time of Liberation and when released all were accorded the appellation of 'freedom-fighter'. But Chinu's father Purushottam alias Purso was a genuine freedom fighter. He used to hide the big gun freedom fighters of the likes of Prabhakar Sinari in his house which was close to the Moira river in Canturlim, and ferry them over to the Tivim side from where they could escape to the New Conquests areas of North Goa and thenceforth to Maharashtra. Purso however was a pain in the ass: after Liberation he used his reputation as a freedom-fighter to terrorize people he didn't like be showering abuse at them. Most people did not dare to respond. For some curious reason he developed a dislike for my mother. I am absolutely sure there was no logical reason, except it might have had to do with my Mom's sharp tongue which I may have inherited. However there is no record of any confrontation as such. Anyway, Purso used to drink to the fill at a watering hole in Nachinola and then would make his way home showering a string of foul swear-words in Konkani at those whose houses he passed who he didn't like. One of the residences happened to be mine, and as an adolescent I had to bear the pain of having my mother abused thoroughly night after many a night. This started becoming intolerable to my nascent manhood and one day I cold-coldbloodedly decided to teach Purso a lesson. I took a stout bamboo of lathi length and confronted him as he began his abuse in front of my house asking him the reason for his abuse and demanding that he stopped forthwith. Naturally Purso was not going to tolerate the insolence of a half-pant-wallah as I was then and charged at me murderously yelling even more murderous imprecations. I was quite prepared for him and simply retreated but even as I did so swung my bamboo stick at his legs (this is where the cold bloodedness came in: I had come prepared with the thought that if Purso tried to beat me up, I would make sure I did not retaliate by hitting at his head which might have been homicidal) So Purso went on trying to attack me but I just kept on retreating all the while taking swipes at his legs with my bamboo. After a while I think the pain got to his brain and taking off the slippers he was wearing left them behind and tried to run away although it looked more like stumbling away. Now the joke of this encounter was that Purso never again abused us, and on the contrary whenever he met me he'd loudly greet me with a 'BAB!!' to which I'd obsequiously reply 'Uncle'!! Life's like that only. Anyway, as I was saying although Chinu was a pest he was not a bad sort and would not harm anyone, even if he did have a bit of a streak of his father's penchant of bullying people and yapping at them, but everyone knew he was a harmless sort and just let him be. His drinking ensured that he always was on the point of collapse, but he somehow survived, He stopped drinking a few years ago and even took up a job of taking matka bets but he couldn't resist one day when some cruel idiot offered him a Vat 69 and his cycle of boozing started all over again. How he sustained himself was a mystery and someone had the quite plausible theory that both his father Purso and he were police informants as they could go loafing all around Moira without anyone suspecting them of doing anything out of the ordinary. Also circumstantial evidence suggests that although both of them used to be regularly hauled up at the cop-station due to people's complaints they were never known to have been manhandled by them. Anyway, Chinu had to die some day and it was today morning when apparently he went into the river and for some reason collapsed and drowned. R I P Chinu. Augusto Pinto -- Augusto Pinto 40, Novo Portugal Moira, Bardez Goa, India E [email protected] P 0832-2470336 M 9881126350
