They came from various
continents and from a few metres away too.
Some still sprightly desite the grey in their hair, others mellowed with age.
Alumni of various batches of the Liceu Nacional Afonso De Albuquerque gathered
for a reunion last week, where the strains of Portuguese and Konkani language and
music filled the room, as nostalgic moments were recalled and old friendships
and acquaintances renewed.
There were 135 of them, some who had passed out of the portals of
the Liceu decades before Liberation, and others who had been studying there
even in December 1961 and beyond. It was a few hours of being together, but
where years flew by in memories.
As Ave Cleto Afonso put it, “It took me all these days, since
Sunday, to recover from the “fatigue” of the party – after all, the
distance I covered that day on the long trail of my memory was nothing short…
and so full was the bliss of happy memories during those hours of deep
emotions.”
It was of course for many a roller coaster ride, but mostly of
highs. Industrialist Ceasar Menezes said of the reunion later, “Our lives are
not the days that have passed, but the days we will remember forever. With
today’s reunion, with today’s journey backwards, all those present at the
reunion are now positioned for the journey forward. I do believe that
revisiting our happy times enhances the journey ahead.”
And a journey it truly was. The idea of an alumni meet originated
from Homen Cristo Prazeres de Costa. “I started talking to many colleagues,
inviting them for it and then many came in to help organise. The main one were
Eduardo Fonseco, Caetano Loiola Pereira and Honorato Velho,” said Prazeres de
Costa. And with these, all the others enjoyed.
The sang loudly and clearly the anthem of the Liceu, some reading
it from the papers that had been distributed, others singing it from memory
despite perhaps not having sung it for the past five to six decades. A few had
a catch to their voices, as they sang it, but a little later it was camarederie
as never before.
Four of the oldest alumni were felicitated – Adv Cantalicio Colaco,
Adv Manohar Usgaokar, Rafael Viegas and Maria Otilia de Menezes Moniz Barbosa.
There was music, there was songs, there was poetry, there were
jokes and there was dancing to the music of Harmonique, led by Omar Loiola
Pereira. The almuni were at their best on that day. Ave Cleto Afonso, retired
proferssor, penned a poem for the occasion in Konkani and translated every verse into Portuguese.
Educationist Honorato Velho Pereira spoke on what it means to be a student of
the Liceu, while Dr Bhikaji Ghanekar recited couplets in hs immitable style to
draw cheers from all around. Dr Sidney Pinto Rosario brought some smiles with
some jokes, while Dr Eduardo Fonseca and Dr Pedro Bravo da Costa set the mood
playing on their string instruments the music that as students they played to
seranade on the streets of Panjim.
Those who weren’t there, sent messages, as did Maluda de Souza,
saying, that the Liceu was the fountain. “We drank the seeds of wisdom, we
built friendships, we became a river running through the world, we split into
tributaries, beds of sand and others of stones, margins that were facile and
others harsh, we are diversified affluents, tomorrow some present others absent
it is immaterial, they get confused in the same river in the embrace to the fountain.”
This
was a first such gathering, but after the experience it won’t be the last,
affirm the Liceu alumni. There will be more, and perhaps even better.
