THURSDAY, MAY 09, 2024
DOLCY D’CRUZ
PANJIM/MARGAO: Author of ‘Patriotism in Action: Goans in India’s Defence Services’ in 2010, ‘Soaring Spirit - 450 years of Margao’s Espírito Santo Church (1565-2015)’ in 2015 and ‘Goa, 1961: The Complete Story of Nationalism and Integration’ in 2023, Margao-based Valmiki Faleiro was a prolific writer who spent years of his life researching for his books. Each word in these three books has been historically checked and educated a generation about their history and helped in tracing their roots.
It came as a shock to the entire community of researchers and writers in Goa and across the world when the news broke of Valmiki’s sudden demise on Thursday afternoon. Goa had lost an illustrious son who made his pen always mightier than the sword.
Valmiki's contributions in the world of literature are irreplaceable and Goa is deeply saddened by the silencing of the stories that he would have loved to share with his fellow Goans.
Jnanpith awardee Damodar Mauzo was shocked to hear the news of losing such an illustrious writer. “We have very few intellectuals who we call liberals and Valmiki’s passing is a great loss at such an important point of time. I was very fascinated with his writings and he was very open minded and outspoken.”
Mauzo said, “Though his books were non-fiction, they were on a different level. He was very much in touch with what was going on and grasping every detail that he could find. It was too soon for him to exit,” says Damodar.
Frederick Noronha, journalist and the publisher of Valmiki’s earlier books, mentions that their equation went back decades, said, “40 years to the month to be precise, when, in 1983, he was interviewing the first batch of staff for O Heraldo, which was being relaunched as an English-language broadsheet. He had a deep interest in understanding Goa, and wrote a lot on the place. Before my time, he already had a reputation for his contributions in ‘The Navhind Times’, ‘West Coast Times’ and publications in Bombay (including ‘Current’ and ‘Indian Express’). He shifted to books with his sold-out ‘Patriotism in Action’ (Goa, 1556 2010), which highlighted the role of Goans in the Indian military, often at very high ranks. Later, he published ‘Soaring Spirit’. His ‘Goa, 1961’ was only recently published from New Delhi, and getting the traction that a Goa-published book is usually deprived of. He also helped many others to complete and publish their work, and was generous in sharing what he knew, and pointing many authors, and even PhD scholars, to the right resources.”
He further adds, “He would say that he had six-to-seven books in the pipeline. I would sometimes tell him to finish it fast or we would be attending one or the other’s funerals with a tinge of regret. Of course, completing a book is not an easy task, and can be stressful.” The books that Valmiki was working on include ‘Monuments of Old Goa’, ‘Konkani Proverbs’, ‘From Mathagram to Margao’, ‘The History of the Konkani Language, related to proverbs’. Frederick informs that he was also working on a second edition of ‘Patriotism in Action’.
Adv Uday Bhembre worked closely with Valmiki in the late 1980s and they kept in touch through the years sharing camaraderie over their books. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Valmiki had a fear of Covid-19 and hardly moved out of the house and was very cautious to meet anyone in person.
“Valmiki was very thorough with his writings, deeply studying the subject of his books, which he chose carefully. There was no scope for any errors or misinformation. He had an historical bent of mind which can be seen in ‘Soaring Spirit’ which can be modern history and he minutely described the things very authoritatively that nobody can point a finger at his work. That is the success of the writer and it becomes reliable information. If anybody wants to quote history they can do it through his book. He had a very lucid style of writing. I worked closely with Valmiki when I won the 1984 elections as an independent candidate. Valmiki won the Margao Municipal Elections and was elected president and we went along very well for the constituency,” shares Adv Uday Bhembre.
Cedric Da Costa, writer and journalist from Margao respected Valmiki as his elder brother and expressed his loss. “Valmiki Faleiro was a good senior journalist friend. He was always full of life, keen and eager to share, correct, direct and guide anyone who knocked on his door for any guidance, especially in the Goan literature space. His books including ‘Goa 1961, The Complete Story of Nationalism and Integration’ which was released in July 2023, highlights various unknown aspects of Goa’s Liberation and various unsung heroes.”
“Valmiki Faleiro for Margao is a hero under whose years of mayoralty, Margao ushered in a reformative era of civic sense. He lives with us forever through his profound legacy of his various newspaper columns, his work with The West Coast Times, one of Goa’s former dailies during the 1980s and his many books, which have been meaningful and well received for future generations of Goans. It's a great loss of an illustrious son of the soil,” says Cedric.
Artist and author Clarice Vaz from Saligao vividly remembers Valmiki driving from Margao to her house to discuss books and art. She says, “Valmiki helped me a lot while I was working on my book, ‘Romalina’. I couldn’t afford an editor and Valmiki doubled up as my historian to check historical facts. I still have his notes marked on the right side of the column in red corrections. I was confident of the history in the book because of him. He was such a humble man that he gave me credit in his book, ‘Goa 1961, The Complete Story of Nationalism and Integration’. I have his signed books with very humorous notes for me. He left his work as his legacy and he also had a lot of things in the pipeline. He used to tell me that he spent 20 years of his life researching and that he should have started earlier. Coming from an affluent family and his house was like a museum yet he lived such a simple life and drove a rickety Maruti 800 car.”
Another noted author, Carmona-based Savia Viegas knew Valmiki even before she arrived in Goa from Mumbai through his writing. “I knew him through his writing when I was in Mumbai and I met him when I relocated to Goa. He was a very conscientious and upright journalist, a shrinking tribe, no doubt. But he passed after writing his dream book. What a way to go! May he rest in power,” says Savia.
