FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
Yvonne Vaz Ezdani brought out stories from a small country where very few knew that Goan families, not just lived but thrived there across the borders of India. Goans called Burma their home, till it was time to live a safer life by leaving the country. These survivor stories were first recorded in her debut book. The WW2 was a devastating phase in the lives of Goans and Indians in Burma and sadly not documented until, Yvonne’s first book, ‘Songs of the Survivors’ in 2009. Having lived in the country from her childhood, she could relate to their stories. “There are stories of many Goans and Indians from Burma in my two books. People still come to ask if the books are available as they want to read about families they know. Some of them ask if there’s going to be another edition. The oral history of the survivors is also recognised as an important account of the Goan diaspora in Burma, which had not previously been known or recorded until my book was published,” explains Yvonne.
After two successful books, she is now telling her personal story of a different time and era through her new book, ‘This is my song – a memoir set in diverse lands.’ She had to delve deeper into her own being in the process. Aptly titled as ‘This is my song’, Yvonne invites the reader into her life and brings forth the different circumstances that made her what she is today, a strong woman supported by other strong women in her life. But what does the song of love mean in her life and how does it fit in her story? “Love is what our family is built on and the love and kindness from many people brought music and joy into my life. I believe that it all comes from the Divine source,” says Yvonne, a resident of Saligao.
Daughter of Lucio Alexander and Lucy Vaz in Burma, Yvonne is the only sister to Patrick, Lloyd and Gordon and they all grew up in Burma. At the age of just nine years, she lost her left arm in a dacoity incident in a remote town in the Northern Shan State of Burma near the Burma- China border. This incident is the first chapter of her book, “It wasn’t easy to start writing the chapter ‘Dark Night’ but once I started, I felt like I was just talking about it naturally to a friend and even the emotions that accompanied the telling were not very painful. It was just a narration of an incident in my life. Then the chapter on healing that followed made me realise that the world was a happy place after all,” says Yvonne, who writes the book beautifully in seven parts. She adds, “Each phase of my life was important, even the difficult ones. One flowed into the other and shaped me into who I am today. As I wrote at the start of my book, “I did not write the lyrics or plan the rhythm,” “But it was all my song, and only I could sing it.” Yvonne grew up in different towns in the Shan States of Burma while coping well with her disability. “Our life in Burma was idyllic with lovely friends and an abundance of material things. But in the 1960s and 70s, the political and social situation changed and the economy too plummeted to new lows. Many people left the country to start life afresh elsewhere. We too decided to repatriate to Goa where my family was. It was a difficult decision to leave the home we loved but we also wanted to get away from certain circumstances,” says Yvonne, a mother of two daughters, Shannon and Rachel. Moving to Goa was also not an easy transition coming from Burma, now Myanmar. “We left Burma with little or nothing. My husband, Oscar, went abroad in search of a job while my two young daughters and I had to depend on my father and my two brothers. My uncles, aunts and cousins too helped us in our financial difficulties. My first job was as a teacher in a Higher Secondary school. Later, I chose to become a school counsellor as it was a strong calling to help students. I found fulfilment in my career as a counsellor,” reminisces Yvonne, who found time after her retirement to start writing her books. She completed writing her memoirs in three months during the Covid-19 lockdown, then kept it aside for some time. In the latter half of 2022, she edited it, added more encounters and anecdotes, changed the tone of what she felt was not very interesting. “When I thought it was ready, I asked Frederick Noronha of Goa 1556 if he would publish it. He read the manuscript, liked it and agreed to bring it out in spite of the difficulties the publishing world in India is facing today,” she says. In her book, Yvonne has emphasised on her grandmothers. Growing up surrounded by both grandmothers, it certainly impacted her to write two chapters on them. “I was blessed to grow up with two grandmothers. One was my father’s mother, Natividade Vaz, a wonderful woman. The other one, I called Warrior Grandma was my maternal grandma, Harriet Talbot. She was a strong, brave woman who fiercely protected her family during the Japanese occupation of Burma during WW2. After the war, she took care of us, her grandchildren too.” Speaking about how she hopes readers can connect to her book, she says, “I have just told my story and the lessons I learnt along my journey of life. I hope readers will find it interesting and see that it was honest and came from my heart.” The book, ‘This is my song – a memoir set in diverse lands’ published by Goa 1556, is available at Broadway book store, Panjim, Varsha Book store, Panjim, Golden Heart Emporium, Margao and Dogears book store, Margao. Now spending time between Goa and Brisbane, Australia, where both her daughters live, Yvonne enjoys family life and her bonding with her three grandchildren. “My three grandchildren Elijah (12), Mayah (10) and Ze Alexander (6) bring me untold joy. They like to listen to stories of the older generation but mostly they enjoy stories of how their parents grew up in Goa and they love to visit Goa too. I hope to visit Burma with them one day when times are better,” concludes Yvonne.
