In my last letter I made the unfortunate presumption that Anthony Campos de Sa was not really a Goan. Given that I have it on good authority that he is certainly one and a proud one at that I'd like to correct myself.
The Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh is the grandson of Dr Antonio de Sa, who was born and brought up in; and did his studies in medicine in Goa. >From the year he left Goa (1899) to the year he died (1946), he and his family came back to the ancestral house in Piedade, every year, and the first thing that Dr Antonio apparently did while stepping on to the soil of Divar each year was to pick up the mud and anoint his forehead with it saying "Minha terra". It is a tradition which Dr Antonio's son (until his death in 1981) and Anthony himself and, I am told Anthony's son Rohit maintain to this day with pride. Anthony's father made it a point to bring his family every May to Goa (whether by ship or by bus or by rail - and fifty years ago it was an arduous journey of a thousand kilometers from Bhusaval to Piedade), and further made it a point that they live in their ancestral village house (and though it was a difficult time his mother had to open up a house that had been shut for a year; but she did it willingly, because, after all, it was - Goa!), notwithstanding the fact that it did not have electricity and only sported a 'pig-toilet'. Those annual holidays in Goa, include bathing at the well and fishing in the Mandovi estuary, were among his best childhood memories. His ancestral house in Piedade is one of the oldest structures in Goa, the ground floor dating back to the time when his family name was Kamat, and this house of his ancestors is something that the de Sa's would never part with for anything in the world for it represents their roots. In spite of Anthony's father himself being born and brought up outside of Goa, both he, and his son (as soon as they completed 14 years) were registered in Goltim (Divar) for their 'zonn'. Both of Anthony's parents have bequeathed to him and his sisters an abiding love for and pride in their heritage. Anthony has stated somewhere,"The waters of the Mandovi and the Chapora are mingled with the blood in my veins". Soon after his post-graduation from St Xavier's in Mumbai, Anthony was a research fellow in the Heras Institute, and while preparing for his IAS entrance exams also researched the history of Goa - under the supervision of his cousin, Fr John Correia-Afonso, a scholar of international repute and an authority on Goan history and culture. Practically every wedding in the de Sa family, including that of Anthony's daughter, has been celebrated in Goa. Anthony is also a poet and a whole section of the poems he has composed are dedicated to Goa, and a book of short stories that is soon to be published are entirely located in Goa. In the Govt of India records his 'home state' is recorded as Goa and that his mother tongue is recorded as Konkani. Although he admits he is not very fluent in it (his wife, Malusha is fluent in both Salcete as well as Bardez Konkani - even though she too has been born and brought up outside Goa, in Mumbai), and they have consciously tried to familiarize their children with the language of their heritage, even though, understandably they are more fluent in Hindi. Like a good IAS-wallah he is equally proud of his native state as well as devoted to his state cadre Madhya Pradesh. That apparently is the very essence of an all-India Service, such as the IAS. I think we all agree that it is as presumptuous to assume that just because a person is born and brought up outside of Goa, there would be a lack pf pride in his or her roots, as it is erroneous to assume that every person born and brought up in Goa is passionate about it. Being Goan is a state of mind more than a mere geographical accident. My regrets for any offense caused Sincerely Augusto -- Augusto Pinto 40, Novo Portugal Moira, Bardez Goa, India E [email protected] P 0832-2470336 M 9881126350
