By Roland Francis. Source: Goan Voice UK Daily Newsletter of 21 Oct. 2012 at www.goanvoice.org.uk
Full text: There has always been a very cherished but formal and unreal bond between the Goan and his God. In the days when it was taught that God was a generally unreachable Being, high above and sometimes beyond the pale of the pleas that his faithful sent out to him, praise and worship in the form of prayers was considered effective only in the strength of vocal chords. And that is where the Goan excelled. A few decades ago, if you were a witness to a family rosary, a village Cross feast or even Sunday mass, you would discover the fortitude and power of the human voice in rural Goa. You would almost come to believe that Goans, like their rural counterparts in Portugal and even Italy, enjoyed a special audience with the Creator. That is until the chapel pews were empty, or the feni servings ended at the Cross feast with the supplicants dispersed to their normal everyday lives, invigorated with the powerful feeling that God was with them in their fight with their siblings, their friends and everybody else. They indulged in not just quarrels, but barefaced lying and cheating, malicious gossip, and injustices towards the already downtrodden. These transgressions didn't occur to them as the very sins that were just denounced from whichever place of worship they had returned. Brotherly love and forgiveness to all who asked it and even to those who didn't was not as practical a concept as say continuing the 35 year old misunderstanding as to why cousin Antonio in Kuwait did not attend one's daughter's baptism never mind the fact that he had left Goan shores just six months before that. And then there was the regular attendance at all occasions religious. Every Angelus bell obeyed, every novena attended, every Sunday mass witnessed every feast partaken. If presence were an important factor and not compliance, then all Goans would have been saints even if till today, none has yet been granted sainthood. Thankfully, those times are over. In the Diaspora, Goans are merely a part of the general trend. If there is a need to acknowledge a God it can be fulfilled at Christmas time or when my job had just been downsized. It is more important to have a personal relationship with my Maker and that can take the form of a little chat with him just as head on pillow, I am about to drop off to sleep. Sunday church can be dispensed with, after all God is omnipresent and I can pray to him everywhere. Does it really matter that I don't even do that. And then in the Goa of today, all hypocrisy is dispensed with. Lying and cheating are acts performed without any of the previous inhibitions and taken to new heights. Bribery and corruption are the new norms. Robbery and murders just an everyday thing. Killing on the roads is just a little bump in the motorist's day. Between then and now, either in Goa or the Diaspora, we have never got our moralities right, let alone this religion thing. On a different note, visitations in funeral parlors in Toronto are not to be missed. If you are expecting a somber, prayerful event, think again. There is the lifeless body lying in a gilded coffin in front of which a few people come, say a quick prayer and quickly depart to the other parts of the large room. After that like a minor inconvenience, death is forgotten. Old friendships are renewed, invitations extended and social events promoted. Days in Africa, India and the Gulf are fondly remembered with the resting corpse not long ago a living friend or relative, totally excluded. Even the lack of alcohol doesn't subdue the noise. It's the family's money of course but I would have thought more respect and prayers would accrue to the departed with the equivalent cost given to a food bank. That's just my thinking of course. Must remember to get that done for myself. (roland.fran...@gmail.com )