Pradeep Lawande
Recently an organisation – People for the ethical treatment of animals (PETA) has appealed to Goans that the latter should give up eating fish. The above ‘people’ argued that since Goans are lovers of fish, they should abstain themselves from eating them and thus save their lives.
The aforesaid appeal prompted me to examine the relation between Goans and fish. Many maintain that just as fish cannot live without water, Goans cannot live without fish. Rice and fish is the staple food of our beloved land. ‘Kate ani gote’ is a humble requirement of any true Goan. Kate stands for fish and gote stands for rice. Every morning, the first thought that occurs in the mind of any Goan housewife is that of fish. This is because without the entry of these water creatures in the kitchen, the routine process of cooking would not start. Besides, fish tops the list of topics that are discussed daily in our golden Goa. Perhaps politics is the
next one.
Fish can be broadly classified into two: Saltwater fish and freshwater fish. In our Konkani language, there are numerous figures of speech over this cold blooded animal. For example, an unfortunate or unlucky person is often compared to ‘dodyaro’ – a lowly fish that has three stones in its head ! There is mention of fish in our ancient puranas. In Mahabharata, there is one character named Satyawati, mother of sage Vyas. She was born to a fish and possessed a distinct fishy odour. Therefore she was called “Matsyagandha” in Sanskrit meaning fish smelling. Also the first of many incarnations of lord Vishnu was of fish. Reference to fish is also found in the sacred Bible. Lord Jesus used to call his four disciples namely Simon, Andrew, James and John as fishermen !
Goans in general are fish enthusiasts. They cannot live without fish. Hindus here are required to remain sans fish during their religious ceremonies.
Together with Goa, Tripura, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and Manipur have the highest percentage of people eating fish. In West Bengal, people eat fish also for breakfast. Fish is even offered to Gods and Goddesses! Dolphin is the National Fish of India. It is called ‘susu’ in Hindi and it lives in freshwater. The state fish of Goa is striped grey mullet and is called ‘Shevto’ in local language. Shevto is very tasty. But Goa’s most popular fish is mackerel. It is called ‘bangdo’ in Konkani and it is a
saltwater fish.
Numerous proverbs have been formed on this aquatic being. I would like to cite here five of them.
1. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
2. Guests like fish begin to smell after three days.
3. Big fish eat small fish
4. Be patient and calm for no one can catch fish in anger.
5. There are plenty of other fish in the sea.
Now let us come back to our fundamental point. As PETA asserts, do Goans really love fish? The answer to this question is an emphatic ‘no’. Goans do not love fish. They love only to eat fish!