When our Bhagwan created the human race, he must have paid special
attention to a corner of earth called the Indian sub-continent. for he
gave it his best from his brain (the brahmin), from his arm (the rajah
) and from his thigh ( the bania ) and endowed them with the best
qualities that the
Two thousand years ago, there appeared in the sky a rare phenomenon of
conjunction of the planets of Jupiter and Saturn. As the days passed
by, its brightness grew so much that to the untrained eyes it looked
as if a new star was being born.
The conjunction did not go unnoticed by the wise men
As stated earlier, by 1760 the Portuguese stay i n India was already
two and half centuries old. The territories they had occupied so far
were the three talukas of Ilhas , Bardez and Salcete. Wih the
annexation of seven more talukas in the late eighteen century two
new terms appeared on the
After the Portuguese had completed their defensive positions of the
land they had acquired, events took place that were to have an impact
on the socio-religious life of Goans. Since the cross normally
followed the flag, the missionaries may have started the process of
conversion first in the
Before November, 1510 Goa was rather an obscure land on the West Coast
of India. The only place that was somewhat known around, was the
minor port of Ela (later renamed Old Goa) which was frequently visited
by the Arabian and Persian dhows ( sailing vessels ). They brought
fine horses for the
There comes a time in the life of a nation, especially when that
nation is on her way up economically as well as militarily, when Toms
Dicks and Harrys of that nation think that they have the potential to
occupy the highest political position of the land.
Then there are pulls and counterpulls
It has been said that ancient sage Parashurama stood on the top of a
peak in Western Ghats and shot an arrow in the Arabian Sea. The sea
retreated backwards to a point where his arrow fell i.e. on the
modern coastline of Banavali ( Benaulim) and the land came to be
known as Gomantak or Goa.
All human beings on earth have their own individual solar points.
A Solar point is a point within the tropics where the sun shone
directly( the noon time ) at the precise moment of one's birth.
To understand better the individual's solar point , one has to know
the movement of the sun from
If one looks back at the last 58 years of our independent existence ,
one is bound to say with a little pain in his heart that we are yet
to produce a political leader with vision who is acceptable to all
the sections of our society.
Jawaharlal Nehru came close to being one of them but his
Muitissimo obrigado Senhor Gabriel de Figueiredo for reminding me of mangoes.
Reminiscences of the month of May when we used to go back to our
village for holiday that fish was a scarce commodity in the hot
season.
Breakfast was usually katream pao stuffed liberally with mangada
made from
Today, let us have a good look at one typical Goan village, say
Navelim or Chinchinim . It is served by , atleast, one good main
road together with other minor roads which give access to the bazaar
area or the church. Telecommunication facilities like local and
overseas phone calls are
Of late, it has become fashionable to cast aspersions on politicians
who do not happen to belong to a certain social category. They are
accused of corrupt practices and lack of moral fibre. Admitedly,
they are not from a comfortable economic background and hence were
denied the fruits of
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| Wishing all Goanetters |
| a Prosperous |
| and
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|Goanetters annual meet in Goa is scheduled for Dec 27, 2005 @ 4pm |
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|Goanetters annual meet in Goa is scheduled for Dec 27, 2005 @ 4pm |
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|Goanetters annual meet in Goa is scheduled for Dec 27, 2005 @ 4pm |
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|Goanetters annual meet in Goa is scheduled for Dec 27, 2005 @ 4pm |
||
| Watch this space for more details
Today's Margao Police Station is an imposting building but during the
colonial regime it was a longish ground floor building known as Quartela
with its many calaboussos where suspects were interrogated , threatened
and flogged with chicote.
Right in the southernmost corner of the quartela
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1. Santo Antonio was born in Lisboa in 1195 and died in Padua ( Italy ) on
the 13 of June, 1231. He was baptized as Fernando de Bulhoes
2. Santo Antonio is the most popular saint in Goa. Among the many shrines
built in his honour , the most prominent in South Salcete is the St.
Anthony' s Chapel
By 1975 Goa would have become free from the Portuguese rule along with other
colonies like Mocambique, Angola, Guinea etc.
But then the regedor and padre vigario would have continued with their
capricious ways. Indeed, Goan catholic masses would have had to be
liberatable further. How long
Clinton, many thanks for your vivid description of some aspects of the village life. Here isbit more.
Barade khuris - on a hill near Cutbona. If you happen to be there at full tide ,one can see an unforgettable view of the mouth of the Sal river and also see Mobor complex of hotels etc.
Khorpam
As a retired person living in an urban centre in India and having access only to public computers in cyber cafes, I hope I am not late in wishing Goanet many more years of service to the Goan Cause.
It was a fantastic idea of Herman Carneiro and his band of associates that made it possible for
Undoubtedly, there are many young non resident Goans of 2nd and 3rd
genarations who are keen to know what Goa of their grandparents and
great grandparents looked like, especially Goa of the first half of
the twentieth century.
So much development in roads, housing etc. is taking place that
Re: Frederick Noronha ' query'
The 232 page index of geographical names attached to Britannica
Atlas ( 1982 edition ) has the following entries:
GOAa political unit on the west coast of India
GOAthe name of a small township of less than 10,000 inhabitants
situated in the south of
The Portuguese sailors who were the first people to develop modern
navigational skills reached India ( Kozikhode/ Calicut in Kerala )on
the 20th May, 1498 under the command of Vasco da Gama.
For the next 12years, the Portuguese traded with India ( spices,
precious stones etc) and were at the
Mr. Avelino D'Souza of Bastora/kuwait asks me: could you clarify
where on the caste hierarchy you belong?
I must say it is a very good question. However , therre is no clear
cut answer but I shall try , as briefly as possible, to tell a story
that has been with our families for the last two
Senhor Alfredo Francisco Antonio Luis
de VASCONCELOS CUNHA e TAVARES
calls himself 1) an unabashed brahmin
who is2) determinedly fighting the detriments
of casteism in our society.
para 1) proclaims to be an abashed one, when all other bamons are quite
Igorjen bamon teca kelo
ani vodlo bamon to zalo
punn igorz nagoili connem ?
padr vigaran ?
chett !
to devache bhiranticho munis
So how come mostly bamon families prospered during the Porguguese regime.
Is there a symbologist among Goan catholics who could crack open a
Pandora's box , I mean
Mario Gouveia, thanks for putting it so succinctly, the answer to a
vague idea and it needs to be quoted again : the bamon padri
failed to understand the
very fundamentals of Christ's teachings. perhaps , as a
result of the
brahmanic i.e brutal insensitivity towards the
Thank you JoeGoaUk for many genuine questions. I doubt, whether you
will ever receive any reply from the Patriarch whose office was
exclusively responsible for the casteist state of affairs within the
Goa Catholic Church during the last four and half centuries ending in
the year 1961.
I
Mr. Cip Fernandes, many thanks for your reaction (may 24th). Of
course, i could start the process of psychic regeneration of our
masses, but i think, the job will require, at least, an effort
lasting for a couple of centuries so as to erase the palimpsest of
layers upon layers of not so
Our media is full of news that India, in future, is going to be the
third largest industrial power after the U.S. and China and that, in
addition, we shall enjoy the advantage of having the largest pool of
working age population as compared to the other two, which is indeed a
very good feel
Dr. Cornel da Costa, all of us know that we are the children of God.
But it would appear that Lord God wanted to do something different.
He looked at our subcontinent and said, why dont i give my best to
this region and see what comes out of that ?
And so He created a super human being and
since i have been accused of writting exclusively about the brahmin
catholics, i now request for a little more space on the goanet from
messrs. Herman and Frederick to deal with the chardo catholic
these two gentlemen together with their associates have created a
wonderful medium where goans
Mr. Teotonio R. de Souza writes: ''could each one writting
on the caste indicates what caste he belongs to ? ''
Senhor Teotonio, what good will it do ? you know it, i know it and
all of us know that catholics of celestial goa could be classified
dear gilbert lawrence
let me begin by saying that i do believe that there were forcible
conversions in the 16th century and that only the original inhabitants
of velhas conquistas were subjected to the fiery ordeal.
the descendants of those 16 th century goan catholics are still there
today but
hello cip,
thank you for taking time off to read my post. i think you and all
other goanetters should not take this caste business seriously, which
is in any case, in this modern electronic age , is nothing but arrant
nonsense.
interested, may be, for the sake of intellectual curiosity and
i would not say that armstrong has used strong arm tactics but it is
possible to look at cuncolim's past from an entirely different angle.
to recapitulate: by the end of the 16th century, all arable lands of
velhas conquistas were in the hands of christian gaumkares or
comunidades which were
joe, it would appear that the use of the term 'non twiceborn hindu' in
my post dated jan 24 has created a bit of confusion in the mind of the
goanetters who are not familiar with terms normally used whilst
discussing the hindu caste set-up.
the word twiceborn is, indeed, associated with the
as Dr. Cornel da Costa rightly said it, let the catholic church of goa
be governed by the dictum that charity begins at home.
why not dissect the behaviour of the 'superior' entities of the patriarcado.
or would it be coarse, as '' a sua delicadeza '' puts it ?
antonio
many MRGs i.e. non resident goans who come to goa on holiday during
the christmas season from the u.k. and canada ask me the same quesion:
who were we , before we became catholics.
the answer is: a minority of todays catholics has a hindu ancestor(
non twice born hindus, the brahmins having
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