26 Jan 2020  |   04:22am IST

DID THIS BECAUSE WE'RE GROWING VERY OLD AND WE MAY NEVER MEET AGAIN," -HOMEN CRISTO PRAZERES DE COSTA

Education at Liceu better than what was taught even in America and Europe at that tim,

Nadia Menezes

Reminiscence often fuels action. That and

the acceptance that “we’re growing very old and we may never meet again,” says Homen Cristo Prazeres de Costa.

The 77-year-old’s brainchild recently saw a gathering of alumni of the Liceu Nacional Afonso de Albuquerque—Goa’s secondary public education institute run from 1854 to 1961 by the Portuguese.

A decade ago, Prazeres de Costa and two friends had organized a similar gathering, albeit restricted to the batch of 1960. That event’s camaraderie spurred a larger desire and a mammoth challenge.

“We started working on this year’s event in August-September last year. We didn’t have a list of alumni. We just knew we wanted batches before and after us to attend,” says the former engineering manager, who shuttles half-yearly between Goa and Portugal.

What followed was a WhatsApp group, Facebook connections and personal networking including phone calls across the world. By November, the figure of possible attendees touched 180 (including spouses).

“There was a deluge of memories and personal updates being shared online,” recalls Prazeres de Costa. In the end, 135 turned up, with some dropping out because of prior family commitments or sickness.

Noting that many alumni felt the education they had received was better than what was taught even in America and Europe at that time, he says, “The Portuguese taught us the way they taught their own children, in their own country and in their other colonies.”

Calling his former institute a “cultural passport”, the man who has lived and worked on three continents, says, “Unfortunately we did learn more about Portugal’s history and geography than Goa’s, but this enabled us to join colleges and get jobs across the world.”

The gathering inspired a wish for not just more such events but also generated talk to do something to propagate the Portuguese language. “Like Honarto Velho said, we are intellectually a special ‘caste’ because of the education we received,” Prazeres de Costa signs off.