NO CHRISTMAS TOYS By Isabelle Vaz
No one really took heed to the Japanese when they announced over the radio on December 21, 1941 that they would soon be showering Rangoon with ``Christmas toys''. Oh why? Why did they have to send in their surprise bombers a couple of days later, just when we were all preparing for Christmas ? Many of our Goan friends were doing their Christmas shopping and were caught unawares. I was then only seven years old, practicing the piano on 50th Street at my grandmother's place, Mrs. Cheron's Bakery . She supplied bread to East Rangoon Goan s and, on this day, she was busy making special plum cakes and roasting stuffed ducks, which she supplied annually at Christmas to all who had placed their orders with her. My mother Ivy D'Souza was in a three-storey building in central Rangoon tutoring her pupils, when the bombs rained down. She ran down the steps, and onto the road which was strewn with corpses. She ran and kept running till a Burmese rickshaw runner called out ``la ba sayama'' (come, teacher). Seated in his rickshaw, she was carried with great speed to 50th Street, where they picked me up and continued to 52nd Street where my father Anju and my brother Aloysious (then six years old) were waiting anxiously. Near our home, some of the members of the D'Cruz family were clapping and cheering, thinking that all this action going on in the air was just a `dog-fight'. But Rangoon was in flames. As soon as the bombing stopped, there was an eerie silence. We tried to find out how our friends and relatives were. We learnt that Eddie D'Cruz who had been badly injured and was rushed to the General Hospital, was pronounced dead on arrival. His pregnant wife Connie, their infant daughter, Connie's mother and the nanny were all dead in the hall where they had been sitting when a bomb fell directly on them. Some of the survivors were the D'Souza family who ran a big pharmaceutical business; Sunny Sequeira; Sequein Valdo, who was proprietor of a large musical instrument company; Edwin D'Souza; Ronnie D'Souza, an engineer in the Public Works Department; and Albert Menezes and his family. Many of the men in Rangoon had been trained in ARP (Air Raid Protection ) and guided people to trenches and basements in garages, where they took shelter whenever the sirens sounded. Glass windows and electric bulbs had to be covered with brown paper, so that the lights would not be seen from the planes. Most of the Goan s did not stay on in central Rangoon , but packed a few valuables and moved to Kokine , on the outskirts of Rangoon . New trenches were dug, and we spent many days and nights in these. The men motored to and fro from there to central Rangoon by day. The ladies, who were so used to cooks and servants, had to do their own cooking. Often rice turned pish-pash on coal fires, when cooking had to be abandoned till the `all clear' siren sounded. We children, of course, had fun in the open spaces; but as soon as we heard or spotted a plane we would all dive into the trenches . We stayed there till we were told it was okay to come out. I remember how all of us went for Mass, Confession and Holy Communion at the nearby church, so as to be prepared for death. We survived, but grieved for those who didn't. ``Don't know when, don't know why, but we'll meet again some day,'' was our philosophy. God's goodness spared the pagodas, churches, schools and convents from direct hits. In January and February, the British Government made arrangements to evacuate women and children by ship to Calcutta and Madras . The ships had to dodge torpedoes from Japanese sub-marines and avoid bomber planes in the Bay of Bengal so the journey took eight to ten days. We were fortunate to get onto one of these ships. One Mr Scindia helped us get berths. I remember sitting on the deck and eating a meal of boiled rice and cucumber pickled in vinegar and tumeric. We arrived at Calcutta in one piece and, soon after, went to live in the family home in Nachinola , in the Bardez sub-district of Goa . Many others were not so fortunate. There were many who trek ked to India and suffered great hardships. Some of them died of malaria , beri-beri, jungle fevers, and starvation or were bitten by wild animals and snakes. Local villagers helped them on the way; there were a few canteens and camps near the Indian borders. Once they landed on India n soil, they received food, medicines and help in contacting their relatives or friends there. There were also those who lived on in Rangoon in their homes or in camps in Taunggyi, Maymyo and other places.They learnt the Japanese language and tried to live in harmony with the enemy, while subsisting on rice and salt and whatever they could get. They repaired their destroyed houses with bamboo. For roofing, they used old tar drum sheets avoiding thatch and other highly inflammable materials. We had only recently moved from Goa to Calcutta, when the Allied forces announced victory in June 1944. What joy and jubilation there was in Calcutta ! We school children left the classrooms and gathered on Chowringee Maidan , marching to the tune of `God Save the King', dancing and singing, happy that the horrors of World War II were over. My father Anju D'Souza was enlisted on a British Short Commission in the Indian Army and was posted at Chittagong and Poona. When the British recaptured Burma, he returned to wind-up his business there and also because he had got a job as an agent for the Warner Brothers movie company. A few years later, when there was the Karen uprising, he returned to India and settled in Bombay. His heart was in Burma though, and he often spoke highly about Burma and the people there. He had travelled extensively because of his job and met people from different walks of life. One thing he always remembered was the hospitality of the Burmese people. Rich or poor, they always had a smile and invited you to share their meals Dad first went to Burma in the early 20th century with his Uncle Hipoll D'Souza (also known as Myingyan D'Souza) whose wife Hilda was a milliner. Their son George worked in the Israeli Embassy. Anju opened a liquor shop in Meiktila and was also an agent for life insurance. This latter job took him all over Burma to places as far north as Bhamo and down south to Mergui. He met my mother Ivy D'Souza, a Burma-born-Goan, at the Portuguese Club in Rangoon , fell in love and married her at St. Mary's Cathedral. My younger brother Aloysious and I were their two offsprings. Ivy's parents Domingos (a plague victim) and Euphem were proprieters of the Cheron Bakery and Confectionery which they had bought from a Frenchman, and hence the name. My father's brother Jerry and his sister Bevinda later came to live in Burma. Bevinda married Saluzine Rodrigues, who played in a band at the famous Maxim's Club in Rangoon . The entire family escaped to India when the war in Burma began. A great part of my life was spent in Burma. I attended school at Branch Convent, while Aloysious studied in St. Paul's High School. When we returned to Burma after the war, we continued our studies there. Destiny willed that I go back to Burma in 1957. Frank Vaz, the youngest of the seven Vaz brothers who were living in the Shan State of Burma, came with his parents to India to find a bride. My parents who knew the family well felt that he was the perfect match for me. So we were married in Bombay, and left soon after for my new home in Taunggyi and later to Lashio . Since Frank was an agricultural officer, we lived in comfortable government quarters and enjoyed a life of plenty. After the military regime took over the reins of government, we decided to return to Goa in 1964. Frank passed away in 1999. Five of my six children were born in Burma and they were still young when we came away. So, initially, it was a bit of a struggle to begin a new life here. But Goa is home and now with sons-in-law, daughters-in-law and nine grandchildren added to the family and living in different parts of India and abroad, my heart is filled with love and gratitude for all blessings we have received. * * * [Saligao-based Isabelle Vaz is a prominent figure in the village, and lives at Vazlyns in Sonarbhat. She is the only daughter of the late Anju and late Ivy D'Souza, and sister of Mumbai-based Aloysius D'Souza. Her husband Frank Vaz expired in 1999. She has six children (Glen, Noella, Leon, Joe, Vanessa and Warren), and loves visiting and spending time with their families in India and abroad. She keeps busy in parish work, social activities in the village, and also mentors young children in the world of art.] More details of this book at: http://goa1556.goa-india.org/index.php?page=songs-of-the-survivors Sole distributor: Broadway Book Centre, 18th June Road (near Pharmacy College), Panjim Price Rs 295 in Goa. 289 pages. -- Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490 Links from Goa: http://goalinks.livejournal.com/ Campaign for real beauty : watch this film. Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does :: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/home.asp _______________________________________________ Saligao 403511 website http://saligao.goa-india.org Saligaonet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goacom.org/mailman/listinfo/saligaonet
