Life in Goa half a century ago was purely based on nature. People lived in a healthy environment, ate natural food, breathed fresh air and lived in peace and harmony. Joint-family was the norm at the time. As such, family values were very high.
To live under one roof meant getting help round the clock. If there were four brothers in a family, all of them lived with their parents in their ancestral home. When a male in a family got married, his wife would have several companions in the house - mother-in-law, father-in-law, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, etc. Thus, she would be surrounded by scores of relatives throughout her life. If she conceived, she would not be allowed to do any work; women in the house took over her duties and made sure that she relaxed throughout her pregnancy. Love and coordination in those days was great. When a child was born, he/she would get attention from every family member in the house. In fact, the child would become a natural joy for everyone. Each family member considered the baby as if it was his/her own child and showered his/her love on it. The child would be passed on from one family member to the other like a toy. One could hear a child's cries only when he/she was hungry or sick, otherwise one hardly heard him/her cry and that was because there was no shortage of baby sitters in the house. What was most important was that the child received love and affection from everyone in the house which in turn strengthened the bondage among family members. Girls in the olden days were given in marriage at a tender age of 12 or 13 and they sometimes became mothers when they were barely 14 or 15 years old! If a girl had not matured at the time of marriage, she would be kept in the safe custody of an elderly in the house, preferably the mother-in-law or any other elderly person. She would be handed in to the groom the moment she matured. The newly-married couple, especially the girls, did not know anything about marriage but they were tutored and guided by women in the house. A woman in those days was meant to produce as many children as she could so they could have a large family, which would be dependant on each other. In fact, the norm in those days was: 'The larger a family the better'! Everything was done collectively in groups. Today, we need cranes to lift heavy items including large felled trees. In those days, a group of family members got together, applied natural levers "lottunge" (solid round wooden pieces) and transported the logs from one place to the other; even today, many use this old inexpensive methodology to shift heavy wooden logs from one place to the other. Nobody was worried about maintenance of family; everything was taken care of by the Creator automatically! This being the case, almost every year was cause to celebrate a child's birthday. People were God- fearing. Therefore, even to think of an abortion was a mortal sin, and, if anyone had gone for it, they were looked upon as murderers! Oh, how times have changed! Today, Science has advanced so much that one can determine the sex of a child to be born through sonography as soon as the fetus is developed, and, if it's a girl, they get rid of it as if throwing out a packet of garbage! Bhogos tankam Saiba! Although abortion was a taboo in those days, and nobody talked about family planning, people knew how to take care of themselves through natural means. "Moskachea pananchi bhaji kuddin gormi vaddoita" - Drumstick tree leaves' vegetables create heat in the body, affects the system and reduces the chances of pregnancy, and so does consumption of too many drumsticks. If a woman conceived and did not wish to have a child, she would consume lots of "moskachi bhaji or drumsticks", thrice a day - at breakfast, lunch and dinner - for about a week, which would result in her monthly period and bring about relief for her. In the olden days, the process was called 'cleaning of the system.' It was used as a natural means of family planning. "Torne popaiecho melgor" (raw papaya vegetables) was also used for the purpose; it is considered more powerful than "moskachi bhaji." Consumption of too much chocolate also produces the same result. However, these natural wonders do not work with women who have strong uteruses. The eldest child would get a baby partner to play with while he/she began to walk, which meant he/she got a live toy to play with. Each new born child would have the following child to play with. As children grew up, regardless of the gender, they were taught how to handle and carry babies. Children were very possessive of their brothers and sisters and grew up loving and caring for each other. In those days, there was no entertainment of any kind and neither was there any activity after the sunset. Unlike today, everyone, including working members, returned home before the Angelus was said; the church/chapel bell served as a reminder to get home! Once the night fell, the whole family was found at home. They sat on the floor and talked and shared their lives with each other. At the stroke of the church bell at 8:00 p.m., people gathered on the "osro" (hall) and said "ters" (rosary); dinner followed; meals were served on the floor and the head of the family made sure that everyone was present for the meals. By 9:00 p.m., people went to bed. Although education was not prevalent then, they followed the good old saying: "Early to bed, early to rise makes a person healthy and wise!" Married couples, once in bed, played their daily game, which was the only entertainment then, resulting in non-stop birth of children - sometimes even without a month's break for the poor woman! Life today is very different from the past. Nowadays, as soon as children grow up and begin to work, they build houses or buy their own apartments before they get married and shift to their new homes as soon as marriage takes place. Separation from the main family results in a lonely life, and it gets worse if both the parents are working members. Working parents have a tougher time when children are born; they have no other alternative but to hire baby sitters to look after their children. With no parents or relatives around, babies grow up in loneliness. Sometimes the apartments are so small that children's freedom is curtailed - in the olden days we played in the open area! In order to keep babies occupied, loads of artificial toys are placed at their disposal, which may produce robotic sounds but they cannot replace humans. Nowadays, we get various types of dolls - crying dolls, walking dolls, nipple sucking dolls, just to name a few. Can these dolls be compared to live babies? Certainly not! A baby sitter may look after a child but he/she cannot give him/her the motherly love and affection. When a child falls sick, he/she has nobody around to look after or comfort him/her; as a result, the child becomes cranky. Whereas, in a joint-family, if a child falls ill, everyone gets worried, becomes concerned and goes out of his/her way to help the ailing child and his/her parents. Those who grew up in Anjuna and its surrounding villages in the 1950's and 1960's surely remember a guy called Pako Porobo. Yes, he was the only person who sold tiny toys at every Saturday bazaar in Calangute, Wednesday bazaar at Siolim and Friday bazaar in Mapusa. He carried toys packed in a large box which he placed on the hind bracket of his Raleigh Ladies bicycle. He also sold his toys at every "festache ferien" (feast fair) in Anjuna and the surrounding villages - Assagao, Badem, Siolim, Arpora, Saligao, Calangute, Guirim, Porvorim, etc. In those days, only a few could afford to buy his toys. The poor also bought toys for their children once in a year at a "festachi feri" but they had to think at least ten times before spending four annas on a toy, firstly because they were expensive, and secondly because those toys didn't make much sense to the parents as their children were used to playing with natural joys - live pets. It was interesting to watch a child pull his father's hand or his mother's "kapodd" and plead him/her to buy a toy. Suddenly the parent would lose temper and say to the child: "Tum mhaka bestoch/bestich bejear korinam ham! Ar're/agho, tuka kiteak zai teo naka zaleleo vostu? Ghora amger kaiborim jivim zanvaram assant - dukram, kunkddam, mazram, bokddeo, sunnim - tim tuka khellpak pavonant re/gho?" (You don't simply irritate me! Why do you want those unnecessary things? We have so nice live pets at home - pigs, chickens, cats, goats, dogs - aren't they enough for you to play with?) The child would continue to plead and say: "Punn pai/maim, mhaka ekuch pirluk tori ghevun dhi gha/ghe! (But daddy/mummy, please buy me at least one whistle!) The plastic/metal whistle was the cheapest and the most sought after toy for the poor, so much so that the whole fair would be filled with its sound in different tones - fiv; fiv-fiv; fiv-fiv-fiv; fiv-fiv-fiv-fiv-fiv-fiv; fi-fiv- fiv; fi-fiv-fiv, etc. One could hear nothing in the fair but whistle blowing which sent everyone crazy, particularly the adults; it was as if several policemen were manning heavy human traffic in the fair! The only other cheap toys that almost every child held in his/her hand tied to a string, were balloons; they really beautified the fair. But alas! Sometimes, they burst and failed to reach home! If they burst when another child touched it, magir ghe, fighting komes! GOAT (Bokddi) Goats seem to have been first domesticated roughly 10,000 years ago in the Zagros Mountains in Iran. Ancient cultures and tribes began to keep goats for easy access to milk, hair, meat and skins. A goat is truly useful both when alive and dead, providing meat and milk while the skin provides hide. Domestic goats were and still are generally kept in herds that wander on hills or other grazing areas, often tended by "bokddeo raknnem" (goatherds) who are frequently children or adolescents. These methods of herding were very common during our childhood days in Goa. Female goats are referred to as 'does' or 'nannies', intact males as 'bucks' or 'billies'. Castrated males are 'wethers', offspring are 'kids'. In the 1950's and 1960's, almost every household in Goan villages raised goats. We had one beautiful doe called "Mogru;" she had smoky-grey background and white with black markings. She was very loving and affectionate. She was a very good friend of mine so much so that I sometimes would milk her and drink the milk. Just like cows, goats, too, are very fussy when it comes to milking them - they allow only regular people to milk them. In the past, all mothers breast-fed their children - it was given up for sometime but it is back and fast catching up. If for any reason a mother could not feed a baby with her milk, she would opt for a goat's milk which is utterly delicious and the natural choice for those sensitive or intolerant to cow milk, and goat milk is a healthy addition to the diet of the whole family. The fatty acid and protein structure of goat milk is different than cow milk, making it very easy to digest; hence, suggested in children. Goat milk is considered medicinal because it is quite fastidious in its eating habits, preferring to browse on the tips of woody shrubs and trees, as well as the occasional broad leaved plant. In the olden days, almost every compound had a fountain-shaped plant which was colloquially known as "gonjenn". It has blades like rice plants but they are a little broader in width. They were used for medicinal purposes; people also made tea out of them. Once in a while our goats ate the tips of these blades. Contrary to popular opinion, goat milk does not naturally taste bad. When handled properly, from clean and healthy goats, in a sanitary manner, and cooled quickly, the flavor is unremarkable and inoffensive. Also, it is necessary to separate the strong smelling 'buck' from the dairy 'does', as his scent rubs off on them and taints the milk. The gestation length for goats is approximately 150 days. Twins are the usual result, with single and triplet births also common. Less frequent are litters of quadruplet, quintuplet, and even sextuplet kids. A doe can give birth standing up or laying down; it depends on the doe, and both are normal. 'Kidding' (the process of giving birth), generally occurs uneventfully with few complications. The mother often eats the 'placenta', which gives her much needed nutrients, helps staunch her bleeding, and reduces the lure of the birth scent to predators. When it was time for our goat for 'kidding', she would bleat continuously. Obviously, our parents and grandparents knew the labor had started and they would rush to the goat but would restrain us from getting close to the scene - fathers nowadays witness a child's birth, but in those days even witnessing an animal's birth was a kind of a taboo! But curious as I always was, I hid in a corner and watched the whole kidding process. When the doe finally 'gets serious' and starts to push, the first thing one can see is 'the bubble'; you will see it slowly appear. When it finally sticks out enough, if you look inside it you can see the white feet. At first, you may see only one foot for quite a while; eventually, you are able to see the second. The head appears next resting on the legs, in the 'diving position'. Usually, the tongue sticks out. The 'bubble' can break at any time. Once the head is out, the rest of the kid can come out quite quickly. As soon as the baby is completely out, it is picked up by the back feet and held up firmly. The other person then clears the mouth and nose. This holding the kid up helps any liquid that may have gotten into the lungs to drain out quickly. Once the mouth and nose are cleared, the kid is placed on a clean cloth (during our time, they used gunny bags) in front of the mother. The mother then cleans her kid and bonds with him. Once the kids are all out and dried off, one assists the kid(s) in finding the teats. This can sometimes be extremely frustrating. The kids just don't seem not to 'get it'. You may need to hold the teats for them at first. Once he has sucked, he will want to suck again and so will be motivated to find the teats himself. Sometimes, the kids will find the teats and nurse on their own with no help at all. It is always good to help the kids find the teats so that they get their colostrum (first milk) as soon as possible. The kids really must get their colostrum within 1 hour of birth. Once the kid(s) are up and walking and nursing on their own, leave the mother and babies alone to bond. This is where we would be called in to see the goat's young kids but in the meantime I had already witnessed their birth hidden from a corner! I was able to do this - hide and watch the kidding - because my father was not around; he was in Kuwait. The kids conceal themselves in small places and lay immobile for hours at a time while their dam feeds. As soon as our doe delivered, our "mam-maim" (maternal grandmother) would prepare and feed her "metyanchi pez" (a sweet dish made out of rice, coconut milk, fennugreek and jaggery). It is considered very nutritious and healthy; it was also given to mothers after delivery of a baby. Upon dam's return, she bleats and calls for her kids and they come out to nurse and play. For about a week, our mother would prepare pudding out of the colostrum which she would serve us at tea time. Oh! How beautiful the kids looked! We had seen pictures of Jesus with a small lamb in His arms but what we were witnessing was real! It was indeed very interesting to see a young kid try to stand up. The poor thing had no strength to stand up and would fall to the ground several times; at the beginning it looked as if it was deformed but it would gradually pick up strength, stand up on its legs and take the first shaky steps. Sometimes it takes a couple of days for the baby's legs to straighten out completely and/or work properly. We would touch and caress the kid and within no time it would become our friend. Oh yes, we had found a new live partner, a natural joy to play with. The kid being too small, we were able to compete with it easily in running races - the goats are not that fast runners anyway. We would hold the young kid in our arms, hug it every now and then, kiss it and treat it just like a small child. When our parents noticed us catching the kid most of the time, they would say: "Deva khatir taka matxem soddat re papieanim, tache paem tori soddsodit zanvdhi." (For God's sake, leave it for a while so it can at least stretch its legs!) The best thing was when it kissed us on our lips; it seemed as though it was nibbling at our lips. Did we mind it? Not at all! It is sad nowadays the present generation does not get to enjoy the company of live animals, which for us in those days were the only available natural toys! Here is how we brought and lost our goats. My mother had an abscess on one of her breasts when my sister was born; she couldn't breast feed her. So, 'Mogru' was brought and she provided milk for my sister. When I was around 9 years old, my father who was employed with the KOC in Kuwait, came home on vacation. One fine Thursday evening, our goats entered neighbor's "porsum" (garden) and ate their flower plants. The lady from the house shouted at the top of her voice and fired bad words. Obviously, we were at fault for letting loose our goats. My father did not say a word; he listened to the abuses and bore them quietly; we knew he was upset and didn't like what had happened. The next morning when we woke up, the goats were missing, and so was our father. We came to know later on that he woke up at around four o'clock and marched to Mapusa with the three goats. Yes, he sold them at the Friday bazaar where they would be slaughtered. We had lost 'Mogru' forever; we were very sad but couldn't do anything; it was too late! CAT (Mazor) A cat is a carnivorous mammal long domesticated and kept by man as a pet or for catching rats and mice. The cat has been living in close association with humans for at least 3,500 years! Most of our ancestors were farmers. As such, every family in those days harvested quintals of paddy and stored it in their homes. It is a known fact that wherever there are grains, there are rats, and the only medicine to get rid of rats in the olden days was to have a cat in the house. Thus, every Goan house had at least one cat whose duty was to catch rats at night. Rats are so irritating that they drive people crazy; they sometimes even make people set their houses on fire! No wonder, our ancestors have left us a piece of advice in the form of an adage: "Undrachea ragan ghorak uzo ghalinaka" (Don't lose your mind over a rat and set fire to the house!) A group of cat is referred to as 'clowder', while a male cat is called a 'tom', and a female is called a 'queen'. An immature cat is called a 'kitten'. The gestation period for cats is approximately 60 days. Kittens may be born at any time of the year. The size of a litter averages three to five kittens, but there may be only one or as many as seven. They are born one at a time, usually about half an hour apart. Each is enclosed in a thin transparent sac, which the mother immediately breaks and removes with her teeth and tongue. The newborn kitten weighs about 3 ½ to 5 ounces and is about 3 inches long. If a cat is pregnant, she carries her kittens for a little over 9 weeks before delivering the litter. Most mother cats seek their own nesting area in the last week or so of their pregnancy. The entire litter is born usually within 6 hours with kittens every 30-60 minutes. A cat gives birth to as many as 1-8 young per litter. If she is stressed or distracted she is able to stop her labor and restart the next day. So, one should not attempt to move the mother cat and the kittens to a 'better' nest spot after labor have started. This may stress her into curtailing her labor or worse may scare her into neglecting the litter. The mother cat always chooses a place of her own to give birth to her kittens and once they are born she starts moving them around. This is quite normal. It's an ancient instinct from the time the cat was a wild animal. A while after the birth it becomes obvious from the smell that there's a litter lying. That's of course not so good in the wild, because all kinds of predators are able to find them and eat them. That's why their mother will move them from place to place after a week or so. Coming from a farmer's background, we always had cats in our family and we still do. I love cats very much. As children, once we heard collective soft meowing, we knew our cat had given birth to kittens in the house. We would be restless to know their location. Once we knew, we could not resist catching them though our parents shouted at us and would not allow us to touch them until they opened their eyes. I would bother my mother and ask her every day: "Maim, mojean kednam mazrachea pilam lagim khellonk zatelem ghe?" (Mother, when will I be able to play with the kitten?) She would say: "Anik thodde dis rav puta, uprant tum tanchea lagim tuka zai titlo khell." (Wait for a few days my son and then you can play with them as much as you wish.) Kittens begin to crawl out of their nest when they are about a month old, but once they were within our reach, despite parents' instructions not to touch them until their eyes opened, I would sometimes pull the kitten while they were sucking their mother's milk just in order to find out if they had opened their eyes. At birth the kitten has no teeth, the ears lie flat against the head, the tail is short and triangular, the fur is soft and downy and their eyes are closed. The eyes begin to open when the kitten is about 8 to 12 days old. All kitten's eyes are blue. It may take several months for the eyes to change to their permanent color. The kitten begins to get its first teeth when it is two or three weeks old, and all 26 of them have grown in by the time it is two months old. These baby teeth are replaced by the 30 permanent teeth when about six months old. The cat can move each ear independently of the other. Thus a cat can move its body in one direction and point its ears in quite another direction. Most cats have straight ears pointing upward but they lie flat when small; so, we would pull them up every now and then; it was real fun. We knew the mother cat was angry or frightened, when it laid its ears back, to accompany the growling or hissing sounds it made. Once their eyes opened, I would hold one kitten in each hand and carry them with me everywhere. When kittens are small, they are very soft and flexible and you can do anything with them; they are too small to attack you and you don't have to be afraid of a bite because they have no teeth. When it was time to sleep, we would make sure that we had the kitten on our bedding, especially during the monsoon season because we knew they would be feeling cold and we wanted them to be under our blanket. The mother cat would come and sleep at our feet. Our mother scared us by telling that having a cat under a blanket resulted in asthma disease, but our love for kittens was such that we disregarded the advice. We loved kittens and we lived with them regardless of the results; they were our natural joys. Cats conserve energy by sleeping more than most animals, especially as they grow older. When people tend to sleep most of the time, in Goa they say: "Allxi khuimcho; sogllo vell mazra baxen nidon ravta!" (Lazy guy - keeps sleeping all the time like a cat!) A cat's daily durations of sleep are various, usually 12-16 hours, with 13-14 being the average. Some cats can sleep as much as 20 hours in a 24-hour period. The term 'cat nap' refers to the cat's ability to fall asleep for a brief period; someone who nods off for a few minutes is said to be 'taking a cat nap'! Aren't we all used to such cat naps? Cats walk directly on their toes, the bones of their feet making up the lower part of the visible leg. They are capable of walking very precisely, placing each hind paw directly in the print of the corresponding forepaw, minimizing noise and visible tracks. We had learned this trick from our cats. Whenever we wanted to scare someone, we would walk on our toes until we got to the person and then scare him/her off! It is believed that the cat is the most sensual of all mammals. While its smell and hearing may not be as keen as, say, those of a mouse, its highly advanced eyesight and superior (by human standards) aural (sound) and olfactory (smell) senses combine with highly evolved taste and touch receptors to make the cat arguably the most sensitive of any mammal. Testing indicates that a cat's vision is superior at night in comparison to humans, and inferior in daylight. As children, we played with cats' whiskers. Cats have about a dozen whiskers in four rows on each upper lip, a few on each cheek, tufts over the eyes and bristles on the chin. Whiskers may also be found on the cat's elbows! Whiskers are an indication of the cat's attitude. They point forward when the cat is inquisitive and friendly, and lie flat on the face when the cat is being defensive or aggressive. If at all the cat was angry, we knew it through its whiskers. The unique sound a small cat makes is written onomatopoeically as 'meow'. A kitten's call first starts out as a high-pitched squeak-like sound when very young, and then deepens over time. Some cats, however, do not exercise their voices a lot, so their call may remain similar to that of a kitten through adulthood. When cats meowed, we knew they were either requesting our attention because something was wrong or they were hungry or wanted to play with us. Whenever our cat produced a purring noise that typically indicated that it was happy, but it sometimes also meant that it felt distressed. Cats purr among other cats - for example, when a mother meets her kittens. Purring is a result of rhythmic impulses to the cat's larynx. It is possible for a cat to call out and purr simultaneously, although this is typical only in very vocal cats. In addition to purring, happy cats may blink slowly or partially close their eyes to break any possible stares and communicate their ease in the situation, and, boy, did we enjoy their blinking! If our cats growled or hissed, we knew they were angry or in danger. Sometimes they engaged in nipping behavior or batting with their paws, either with claws extended or retracted. This behavior sometimes resulted in inadvertent damage to our skin but we did not mind it at all. Cat scratches can easily become infected but nothing happened to us. When our cats came across any crawling insects, they would make chirping noises while observing their prey; it was a means of expressing interest in an object to us. If our cats twitched the tips of their tails we knew they were angry or on a hunting mission, while larger twitching indicated displeasure. If they held the tail high up in the air, we knew they were happy, while half-raised tail showed less pleasure, and unhappiness was indicated with a tail held low. A scared cat may puff up its tail and the hair along its back to increase its apparent size. Touching noses is a friendly greeting for cats, while a lowered head is a sign of submission which is what cats do when you pet them. When our cats were happy, they would paw us with a kneading motion. Cats often use this action alongside purring to show contentment and affection for their owners. The action is often referred to as 'making muffins' or 'treading paws'. It is instinctive to cats, and they use it when they are young to stimulate the mother cat's nipple to release milk during nursing. Cats, especially young ones, are known for their love of string play. We loved to play string games with our cats. We would dangle piece of string, or randomly draw a piece of rope enticingly across the floor. Nowadays, this notorious love of string is often depicted in cartoons and photographs, which show kittens or cats playing with balls of yarn. This propensity is probably related to their hunting instinct. Cats are intelligent animals and they make very good companions to whoever adopts them as pets. Cats are known for their cleanliness. They rarely dirty the house. They groom themselves by licking their fur. Their saliva is a powerful cleaning agent, but it can provoke allergic reactions in humans. Many cats also enjoy grooming humans or other cats. Cats' feces are usually dry, and cats prefer to bury them in sandy places. Whenever they have to answer nature's call, they go out of the house, do the thing and immediately hide their feces. In Goa, whenever one comes across a miserly person, they say: "Mazor jiv diit punn aplo ghu divchenam!" (A cat may give up its life but not its feces!) Before we retired to bed, we would place a "kail" (metal container) in the hall containing sand so our cats could make use of it as a toilet, just as we would have an "un'nel" in the house for ourselves. Cats are able to remain motionless for long periods, especially when observing prey and preparing to pounce. It was interesting to watch cat fights because fighting cats make themselves look larger by raising their fur and arching their backs. Attacks usually comprise powerful slaps to the face and body with the forepaws as well as bites, but serious damage is rarely done, and usually the loser runs away with little more than a few scratches to the face. Sexually active males engage in many fights over their lives and often have decidedly weathered faces with obvious scars and cuts to the ears and nose. Not only males pick up fight; females also fight over territory or to defend their kittens and even neutered cats will defend their small territories vigorously. Cats don't need big meals; so, people don't have to cook special food for them. Cats are very fond of fish. Since our ancestors were also fishermen, there never was shortage of fish in the house. People did not cook special food for cats. Women, who clean fish, feed the cat(s) with "imsann" (heads and other throw away parts.) As soon as a cat smells fish, it comes running to the person, rubs its body against the person's body holding the fish, twitches the tip of its tail, goes around the person in circles and keeps meowing until it gets its share of "imsann". When a person is addicted to alcohol, drugs, etc., and is unable to give up his/her habit, in Goa we say: "Mazran kednam imsann soddli xi assa?" (Does a cat ever give up eating fish remnants?" As for rice, people take an "unddi" (handful of rice) from the plate and place it in a corner for the cat to eat. Cats are also fed milk which they always drink with closed eyes, and this is immortalized in Konkani saying: "Mazor dudh pietannam aple dolle dampun pieta ani sozmota apleak konnuch pollenam" (A cat drinks milk by closing its eyes and thinks no one is looking at her). Cats are wonderful pets; they are very friendly and get along very well with human beings. Cats walk majestically. No wonder, a fashion parade mainly consists of a catwalk! In the middle Ages, cats were often thought to be witches' familiars, and during festivities were sometimes burnt alive or thrown off tall buildings. The human killing of cats in the middle ages has also been cited as one of the reasons for the spread of the plague, which was spread by the increased rodent population caused by the death of so many cats. It is a common belief that cats have a 'sixth sense' and can sense ghosts, spirits, or evil. Even today, some people believe that black cats are unlucky or that it is unlucky if a black cat crosses one's path, while others believe that black cats are lucky. In Asia, the cat is one of the animals in the 12- year cycle of the Vietnamese zodiac. However, it does not appear in the Chinese zodiac. Legend holds that the rat, who invited the animals to the Jade Emperor's Palace to be chosen for the zodiac, forgot to invite the cat, so the cat declared the rat its natural enemy. Another version of this story involves betrayal. As the mice and the cat were crossing a river on the back of an ox to the Palace, the mice pushed the cat into the river so the cat would not beat the mice to the palace. In the olden days, there was nothing called "animal cruelty". My house is situated at a "tikttear" (T-shaped road.) Somehow, every now and then people brought kittens and left them at the "tikttear" - I still don't know why they did this. When we returned from play in the evenings, I would see some of my friends beat up the kittens with sticks and stones and threw them in the gutter thinking they were dead; sometimes, I too joined them. To my surprise, late that evening or the next day I would see the same kitten crawl up the gutter and walk about. No wonder, they say: "Mazrak sath jiv!" (A cat has seven lives!) A cat basically belongs to a tiger family which is why it is capable of jumping and biting at your neck. Therefore, never try to close a room and attack a cat unless you wish to be attacked! Well-cared-for, neutered house cats may live into their teens. Some may reach the 20s, and a few have been reported to live into the 30s. In captivity, cats typically live 15 to 20 years. Oh! What a wonderful time we had with kittens during our childhood! Yes, they were our companions and one of the few natural joys that we could own! CHICKEN (Kombi) A chicken is a type of domesticated bird which is often raised as a type of poultry. It is believed to have descended from the wild Asian Red Jungle Fowl. In the olden days, almost every household in Goa, including landlord families, raised chickens. Female chickens are known as 'hens'. Male chickens are known as 'roosters' or 'cocks'. Roosters can be differentiated from hens by their striking plumage, marked by long flowing tails and bright pointed feathers on their necks. Both the male and female have distinctive wattles and combs. These organs help to cool the bird by redirecting blood flow to the skin. In males, the combs are often more prominent, though this is not the case in all varieties. >From our childhood until our mother passed away, we always had chickens in our house. Early in the morning, we would wake up to the rooster's crowing. Just like an alarm clock, which keeps on ringing until the button is pressed, roosters kept on crowing, but unlike alarm clocks, they stopped their crowing by themselves. Most of the time, we wished they didn't crow and we didn't have to wake up early in the morning. Contrary to popular belief, roosters may crow at anytime of the day. Their crowing - aloud and sometimes shrill call - is a territorial signal to other roosters. Chickens are omnivores and will feed on small seeds, herbs and leaves, grubs, insects and even small mammals like mice, if they can get them. Chickens often scratch at the soil to get at adult insects and larva or seed. In the past, most people fed their chickens with paddy or wheat. When it was time to feed them, we would call them out by saying: "ba-ba-ba; ba-ba-ba", and they would obediently gather around us and look up until grains were strewn on the ground; you won't believe, we had even named some of our chickens! Chickens are gregarious birds and live together as a flock. They have a communal approach to the incubation of eggs and rising of young. Individual chickens in a flock will dominate others, establishing a 'pecking order', with dominant individuals having priority for access to food and nesting locations. Removing hens or roosters from a flock causes a temporary disruption to this social order until a new pecking order is established. Domestic chickens are not capable of flying for long distances, although they are generally capable of flying for short distances such as over fences. Chickens will sometimes fly simply in order to explore their surroundings, but will especially fly in an attempt to flee when they perceive danger. In the olden days, chickens made use of this quality in them whenever a fox tried to fox them in order to prey upon them. During our childhood, there were no airplanes flying in the air everyday like we see today. Therefore, whenever chicken flew - sometimes they flew over our head - it was a great thing for us; we just watched them fly in awe! Chickens will try to lay in nests that already contain eggs, and have been known to move eggs from neighboring nests into their own. Hens can also be extremely stubborn about always laying in the same location. Sometimes a hen will stop laying eggs and instead will focus on the incubation of eggs, a state that is commonly known as 'going broody'. A broody chicken will sit fast on the nest, and protest if disturbed or removed, and will rarely leave the nest to eat, drink, or dust bathe. Many a times, when we saw a hen lie idle in a "panttlli" (basket made of bamboo), we thought it was resting there. Little did we know that it was hatching eggs. When we tried to move it away, it would spread out its wings and get ready to attack us. If we tried to move it forcibly, it would peck us; so, we would leave it there. While broody, the hen keeps the eggs at a constant temperature and humidity, as well as turning the eggs regularly. At the end of the incubation period, which is an average of 21 days, the eggs (if fertilized) will hatch, and the broody hen will take care of her young. Since individual eggs do not all hatch at exactly the same time, (the chicken can only lay one egg approximately 25 hours), the hen usually stays on the nest for about two days after the first egg hatches. During this time, the newly-hatched chicks live off the egg yolk they absorb just before hatching. The hen can hear the chicks peeping inside the eggs, and will gently cluck to encourage them to break out of their shells. If the eggs are not fertilized and do not hatch, the hen will eventually grow tired of being broody and leave the nest. We had the best fun when chicks were born. Oh! They looked so beautiful - yellowish in color! Though just born, they were enthusiastic and quick in their movements. They were very tiny but when it came to running, they proved to be faster than us. We thought we could easily catch them and so we would run after them only to lose our balance and fall down, and those tiny chicks didn't even bother to look back and say 'sorry'; they kept on running under the guidance of their mother and we kept on crying bitterly with bruises on our knees! The worst moment was when sometimes the mother hen would turn around, tower over us - the fallen prey - spread out its wings in anger and peck at us as if to say 'keep away, or else be ready to be pecked'! Here again, little did we know that she was trying to protect her chicks! Surprisingly, she would sometimes peck at boys' private part! Even though some of us could afford to wear a "cheddi" all the time, children preferred to go about naked during the summer - keep in mind there was neither electricity nor a fan to cool ourselves. Whenever a male child hesitated to put on a "cheddi" (short pant), his mother would say to him: "Cheddi ghal re nam zalear kombi tujea pipisak tonch marteli!" (Put on the short pant otherwise the hen will peck at your private part)! Surely, no child wanted that to happen, especially if it had already happened to him! You guessed it! The only time we had an opportunity to catch the chicks was when they were placed under a "panz" (large funnel-shaped bamboo-woven basket). Once they were under the "panz", we would lie down on the floor, lift up the basket a little, place the hand inside and stretch it out in order to reach the chicks. Once in the hand, we would hold the chick tight in our palm, making sure not to squeeze it while it kept on chirping; only the head could be seen from the top opening of the palm. We would pet the chick by passing our hand over its head while it tried in vain to force its way out through the little opening of the palm. Chickens serve as one of the most common meats in the world, and are frequently prepared as food in a large number of ways. Chicken was served only on special occasions or on a Sunday, as in those days the birds were typically more valued for their eggs than meat. When a special relative visited us, it meant one of our cocks or hens would be butchered. Usually, it would be an excess cock or non-productive hen(s) that would be culled from the flock to meet the need of the hour. We mostly prepared curry of a hen or "xakuti" out of rooster. One of the free entertainments that we enjoyed during our childhood was a cockfight. Suddenly, while we were sitting and watching chickens scratch the soil for food, two cocks would pick up a fight and, boy, did we enjoy it! We would pay 100% attention and enjoy each bout until it came to an end. Usually, the fight lasted for a few minutes but sometimes it would go on until they damaged each other's crest and then departed separate ways! Sometimes, we would see a rooster run and jump on a hen and we thought it was going to pick up a fight, but to our disappointment it would climb down within a few seconds. As we grew up we learned that they didn't jump on the hens to pick up a fight but to mate! Roosters' natural inclination to fight has been exploited in staged fights, sometimes with a metal spike added to or replacing the natural spurs. Fighting roosters are fed garlic and onions to increase their aggression. The chicken egg is the most commonly eaten bird egg in the world. Hens may lay fertile or infertile eggs. Hens will continue to lay even if a rooster is not present, though these will not be viable. There is no difference in the nutritional value between a fertilized and unfertilized egg. When the egg is laid, the egg is not soft but has a hard shell. This shell protects the egg's contents, making it food source that is easily transported and stored. Nutritionally, the egg provides a rich source of protein and vitamins. Recent concerns over cholesterol, however, have caused many to question the inclusion of eggs in the diet. As I was writing about the goat, the cat and the hen I just remembered one of the old songs of M. Boyer, which was often played on 'Akashwani Pannji' and in which he talks about the three animals in his own way. Here are the lyrics of the song "KOMBI, BOKDDI ani MAZOR" by M. Boyer: I Respetachi kombi asli moji Kombe disti poddlear kori loji Kitliim tantieam ghalunk asli raji Pedruchea kombean vatt laili kombiechi Chorus Kombo roddta kok-kok, kok-re-kok-kok-kok Kombo bhair ravon kuddachem kaddta zok Mhunntta kok-kok-kok, kok-re-kok-kok-kok Hem aikon ghuddan moje kombiek ieta shock II Bokddi posleli ek panvom longddo Ti tinuch paimieanim bokddeam lagim zogddo Tichea dudan hanvem duddu kel'lo rokddo Tikai naddunk ieta Joaocho bokddo Chorus Bokddo roddtta mem-mem, korta mem-mem-mem Mhunntta bhair ieo bokddek dakoitam kitem Bokddi mhunntta mem-mem-mem, korta nem-nem-nem Mhunnta hanv zannam tuka khadd assa poi tem III Gharan amchea boball mhunn undrancho Mazor poslem jiv kaddunk cheptteancho Zaito temp avaz naslo konnancho Takai sotaita bukul Contrinancho Chorus Bokul roddtta menv-menv, korta menv, menv, menv Mhunntta mazrak voir assam tem sokla denv Mazor mhunntta menv, menv, menv, mhunnta nenv, nenv, nenv Mhunntta ghora vochon konnaimchii xempddi lenv Continued ........ Moi-mogan, Domnic Fernandes Anjuna/Dhahran, KSA -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------
