I am writing this letter in the interests of communal harmony to stop those elements that are trying to bring unrest in Goa on "Goanet" platform.
I know Fr. Victor slightly and I know that his thought process has been distorted in the article, "There were no Hindus in Goa before Portuguese landed". Fr. Victor in fact has been known to say that both the Catholic and Hindu communities come from the same biological tree but that misunderstandings occur because they view each other through the prism of trauma of colonization. His analysis and his approach are very much based on linguistics. He once explained this very simply by giving the example of three things: 1) Dog: The term dog as three aspects: the word "dog" which changes from one language to the other, the actual animal with four legs and a tail etc, which does not change, and the third aspect is the nature of the dog which could be described as a canine animal which can be domesticated. 2) Goa: The term Goa stays the same in every language. The territory also is pretty much the same. However in the third sense Goa has changed. Previously it was a colony of the Portuguese. Now it is a State in India. 3) The Centre: The term the centre will be different in different languages. The thing it is referring to will also change depending on what you are talking about. However the concept will stay the same - it is something in the middle of everything else. In this same way every word or concept can have three meanings. What Fr. Victor was trying to say is that the term Hindu as it is used now does not have the exact same meaning as it did before. The term initially and probably originated from the word Indu which was a reference to the great River Indus. There is nothing for anyone to be angry about. The Catholic religion has also changed. A Catholic today is very different from a Catholic of the past. I hope this helps people see how Fr. Victor's message has been distorted. He is a simple scholar whose objective in studying Goan Society is to seek therapeutic solution to the current differences. He feels there is a forgetting of history in Goan society that afflicts us tremendously. Catholics have forgotten their histories of origin as well as the Hindus have forgotten that they have transformed. Only through willingness to listen and therapeutic dialogue in Goa can all communities heal their wounded memories. Stephen Dias,D.Paula Mob: 9422443110
