It was a windy evening as the sun set beyond the reach of
the Tejo, in Lisbon as many a Goan (with his/her trademark brand of swagger)
dressed in a crisp suit or a in a perfectly draped saree strolled up the wooden
walkway that led to the entrance of Casa de Goa, just off the Calçada do
Livramento. The evening held much promise, as the members gathered to have a
chat with one who could perhaps enlighten about matters closest to the heart.
The matter in question, was home i.e. Goa. The person who might enlighten was
none other than Archbishop Felipe Neri Ferrão.
Before the evening got underway, Edgar Valles, the President
of the association spoke a few words on what the association was all about,
“The Goan community in Portugal is very strong and we are committed to
strengthening ties with Goa. In doing so, we aim to bring Goan individuals to
Goa, while possibly highlighting talented individuals from here in Goa. As the
current President, the onus of the representation of Casa de Goa in terms of
building relations with various entities to encourage Goan culture abroad is on
me.”
While the club was established in the year 1987 in an attempt
to assemble members of the community under one roof, the openly ‘hidden agenda’
of Casa de Goa was purely to celebrate Goa in a way that only Goa knows how:
through music, dance, food and all the people that make it so.
“Portugal is home to approximately 20,000 Goans. A lot of
these are second generation Goans. As such, our aim should be to promote the
Goa of 2014. The Portuguese rule in Goa ended in 1961. We can’t live purely in
the past. Of course our culture has Portuguese influences, but Goa has an identity
of its own that needs to be highlighted,” Valles added.
In keeping with this philosophy, Valles decided that the
best position to speak on certain Goan issues would be a person of position in
the state that serves as the motherland for many Goans abroad. As such, he
invited the Archbishop of Goa and Daman, Felipe Neri Ferrão, who was in
Portugal in an official capacity in October, to answer the queries of the
members. Allaying any doubts and freely answering questions put forward to him
on a conversational evening, his Excellency said. “There is no doubt that Goa
is plagued with many issues. However, having said that, there are many ways in
which the people themselves find solutions to a lot of the problems they face.
This in itself is what makes Goa unique. Even in terms of faith, there are
voluminous numbers that represent the population at large.”
As the evening came to a close, amidst conversation,
merriment, song and dance, one thought that indeed presented itself, was that
you can indeed take the Goan out of Goa…but the other way around, not a chance!
