He did look
frail and some of the people gathered at a very cozy gathering of Siolkars as well as some guests from outside, bathed
in music and conversations, did notice it. Wendell himself spoke for under 5 minutes
on the occasion, taking people back to a quarter of the century and narrating
tales of family and history associated with the old house, the venue of the
function.
After his
short speech he left not staying back for the whole evening. That was perhaps
the last of his public appearances, in front of many who knew and loved him,
not as a world famous designer but a boy next door, whose links with his roots remained
till his last day. The place he passed away, his splendid home in Colvale isn’t
very far from Siolim where his funeral mass was held and was attended by very
many Siolkars, including perhaps everyone who was present on that evening on
February 5. Just a week ago.
Wendell was
among friends that evening, at the Pinta Shapai Niwas at Gamsa Waddo, the house
with the statue of Beethoven, arguably the largest statue of the great maestro
composer this side of the Suez canal. Wendell’s grandmother was the
granddaughter of the patriarch of the house with Beethoven’s statue, Pinta Shapai.
So he began
his speech by stating that he was the grandson of that house, which he truly
was, a recalled the story of Pinta Shapai and how the statue of Beethoven came to
be built.
The occasion
was to commemorate the 250th birth anniversary of Beethoven with the
programme named “Noite de Beethoven”. It
was the third edition of the programme held in that house. Those who
participated included the legendary composer and musician Braz Gonsalves and
the famed Indo- Austrian Marialena Fernandez from Vienna with her Trio-Sphere.
Wendell
began what would become his last public speech or even appearance when he said “I
am here as the grandson of the house where that statue was built. I remember
that house very distinctly. One of the important figures in this village was Pinta
Shapai. (Diogo Caetano Pinto) He was so generous that he gave the
entire from part of the orchard to the nuns of the convent. He let them have it
to make a school, a boarding school or whatever they want. Pinta Shapai was from
Siolim and one of his granddaughters was my mother”
He then went
on to explain a bit of history of the family, the village and its inhabitants
and recalled a story of the Coutinho brothers from faraway Cuncolim who took
part in the famed Cuncolim revolt, the uprising against the Portuguese and
escaped to the Siolim-Camurlim area. He said
at that time two priests were also killed in Culcolim and the Portuguese wanted
revenge. Two bothers of that family escaped by boat and came all the way and
hid in the valley between Siolim and Camurlim. Camurlim bordered Colvale where
Wendell breathed his last. Wendell even remembered the date of the arrival of
that boat which sailed from Cuncolim May 27, 1958
He then narrated how his uncle Manuel Souza
Pinto the great grandson of Pinta Shapai, moved to Karachi and then Brazil and finally to the US. When uncle Manuel returned to Goa and to the
land and his ancestral home in Siolim, he said Goa reminded him of music and he
wanted to build a statue of Beethoven in the house. It was Manuel Souza-Pinto, ( Uncle Manuel to Wendell), his Russian
wife Eugenia Ignatievna Souza-Pinto (nee Napolava) and their daughter Lydia
Leopoldina Souza-Pinto, gifted the statue of Beethoven to the village.
Wendell said
that the statue of Beethoven was sculpted in Bombay by the sculptors of the Siolim
cemetery (Herald Café independently knows that the main sculptor was Cypriano Fernandes of Porta Vaddo, Siolim). Wendell even recalled
that the statue had a pen in the hand of Beethoven made by the local blacksmith of Siolim.
In that short, less than five minute presence
on stage, he was a son of the soil, a historian, a story teller with a great
memory and above all someone, inspite of his international fame, so-so
comfortable with his roots and family in these villages of North Goa.
In the midst
of an outpouring of sorrow, recalling his life and his achievements, the folks in his backyard, as it were, can’t
just come to terms with his loss. Alexyz , Goa’s best known cartoonist, a fame
he shared with the great late Mario de Miranda, was on stage on February 5 during “Noite
de Beethoven”. In Mumbai, he didn’t sleep the whole night and when he woke
up, he drew an illustration as a tribute to his friend Wendell, which we have
reproduced.
As the world
mourns for him, some of the most heartfelt tears have poured form hearts of
those who shared their lives, their memories and their roots with him.
