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 where the road splits into two, one to Loyola School and the other to Fatima Convent, was a room which was either an office or residence of the famous or rather infamous Agente Casimiro Monteiro of PIDE ( Policia Internacional da Defeza do Estado ) . I have a vague recollection of Agente Casimiro who in his white vest used to lean on the window and watch school children go to these two schools. It must have been in the early fifties when we as teenagers used to go to school in small garrulous groups. One fine morning right in front of Agente Monteiro on his window, I said to my colleagues in Portuguese ''Arreh ' one day or other, Goa will be free from the colonial rule '' . Agente Monteiro heard me ( and at that time, I didn't know who he was ) and gave me a sort of wry smile. On being told of his identity, my carefree trips to Loyola School were never the same again. Antonio -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Goa - 2005 Santosh Trophy Champions | | | | Support Soccer Activities at the grassroots in our villages | | Vacationing in Goa this year-end - Carry and distribute Soccer Balls | --------------------------------------------------------------------------
