20 Aug 2019  |   03:55am IST

Adeus Percival: ‘Um goes exemplar’

The chronicler, the historian, the informant, the civil servant and above all a fine human being with a repository of everything Goan, Percival Noronha is no more

Maria de Lourdes Bravo da Costa Rodrigues

When today (Monday) in the morning I

received the news of Percival Noronha’s death, it took me off guard, though I knew he was ailing for some time after he had a fall and a fracture of his hip bone. He underwent an operation but did not recover from it. I was told that he was feeling exasperated for not being able to move from the bed. In his death we have lost a link with the past! A civil servant, hard working and honest to the core, he retired as Under Secretary in the Goa Government. His honesty led to a remark from Mario Miranda, who was then heading INTACH’s office in Goa and Percival was the treasurer: “Percival even puts 25 paise in the bill! I have told him to round off the figure!”

I used to go to him like many to find out whatever I did not know. He accepted that all of us have limitations and he would also call to find out an answer if he wanted information on something. The two of us maintained a good rapport and were on friendly terms. On his birthday, July 26, the feast of Saint Anne, my husband, Leonel, and I would visit him, where we would exchange along with his close friends and relatives, pleasantries and knowledge, always Goan centric. Those were meetings where I learned about many Goan people.

Sometimes he would talk about his childhood and growing up. How, though not good in Math he learned enough and gave tuitions to earn some money. He would also describe how he fared at the interview to get a job. Many who had difficulties and wanted to know some information, knocked at his door! When the main doorbell rang, he would pop up his head from the first floor window of his house in charming Fontainhas, to see who it was. He would come down to open the door but in later years when it was physically difficult, he would throw the key and we had to open the door and climb up. Always smiling, ready to share knowledge, he opened his house to everybody, from professors to students, research scholars to journalists. You could ask him about the houses or things that adorned a house and he would go on telling you about the architecture, history of the house and its owners, the furniture, the artistic relevance and all.

He also knew many people of the past and would comment about them and tell who was a great personality and who was not.

Some years back, when I wrote an article on the personalities who made Fontainhas famous. It only included those who had lived in the past. The only exception, though was Percival. I could not write the article without the iconic personality that he was. Indeed, Fontainhas has now lost one of the most prominent bairista of this century. He was a self-made historian. No degrees, no doctorates but he knew a lot of the past and the present and was proud to be a Goan. A goenkar to the core, the Fundação Oriente honoured him with a biographical publication, which also contained some of his interesting writings. It was aptly titled Um goes exemplar (An exemplary Goan). Having lived an eventful and long 96 years he was a witness to what happened in the last century and the modern times. The memory did not fail him, though he would grumble: Não lembro nada! Esta memória esta a falhar! or Já estou surdo! However, when the questions were framed prompt came the answers. Of late he was complaining of his old age Esta velhice!

His childhood love for astrology was responsible to make him work in earnest to set up the astrology centre in Goa and raise interest in the subject for thousands of youngsters. Some 35 years ago, he was not keeping well and was expecting his death. However, fortunately, that never happened and he lived all these years surrounded with care and love of his family. At that point of time, he had once come to the Central Library and in the corridor he told me: Não estou bom. Parece que vou morrer. Venha para o meu funeral! Yes, I will definitely be there to say goodbye to you. Adeus Sr. Percival. The Indo-Portuguese research fraternity lost another friend! Paz a sua alma!

(The writer is a retired senior librarian and has authored various books on Goan culture)