I was still in my pre-teens when a team of nurses visited our school and all students were lined up for vaccination. Many of us were frightened and resisted the attempt. So the elder students caught and immobilised us. It was not an injection but was a painless incision on the upper arm with a sharp edged instrument.
More than half a century later, as I rested at home after the first dose of the COVID vaccine I picked up ‘Cuncolim Down the Ages’ by Fr Planton Faria, from my library. It is a deeply researched and referenced book running into nearly 600 pages and contains details about the village, not found elsewhere. The book provided me an opportunity to confirm my long held belief that Cuncolim is the one and (perhaps the only) village in Goa where members of same clans (vangor) live together but practise either the Catholic or Hindu faith. The records of the 12 clans who are founders of the village (Gaoncars) are meticulously detailed and maintained both in the temple and church.
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Cuncolim was a village of which I had heard much but never seen until I was into my late teens. The Dessais of Cuncolim had a deadly and fearsome reputation. So, on my first visit to the village I had expected to find tough looking muscular figures. As I entered Cuncolim at Biunsa I was greeted with an intense smell of cow dung which seemed to pervade the air. There were herds of cattle everywhere and the unpaved road was plastered with cow dung. Fragile looking shepherds young and old tended them. To my disbelief I learnt that the shepherds were the feared Dessais and they were essentially cowherds.
While conversions are being officially frowned upon and ‘converts’ denigrated, Cuncolim provides a case study of the impact of conversions on the descendents of the converts vis a vis non converts. And the book by Fr Faria provides uncontroverted material for a comparison. Those who continue to be Hindus are hereinafter referred to as Dessais and the Catholics as Gaoncars.
How have the Gaoncars and Dessais claiming common descent fared down the centuries? Liberated from parampara the Gaoncars began working on ships or overseas. For generations they worked in the shipping lines mostly doing low end jobs in the earlier eras. But their earnings helped them improve their living standards, build better homes and above all provide better education to their children.
How have both groups fared? The book provides minute details of the lives including their follies and achievements. The observations that follow are based largely on the material from the book published in 2006 and a little from my own inputs (in italics). Let us now examine how the Dessais and Gaonkars have fared.
Field of Medicine. Dr Agostinho Moraes was the first doctor from the village who qualified in the year 1829. In between 1829 and the publication of the book ninety five Gaonkars have qualified as doctors. And to add to these figures we have the celebrated Dr Alex Godwin Coutinho whose grandparents had migrated to Uganda. He received the Hideyo Nagochi Africa prize worth five million dollars from the Govt of Japan in 2013 for his contribution to combat infectious disease in Africa.
Dr Umesh F Dessai was the first Dessai who passed out a few years after liberation. Only 10 Dessais have passed out since then.
Doctorates in various fields: Twenty-five Gaoncars have obtained Ph. D degrees from Universities the world over including Claude B Coutinho recipient of Cambridge University scholarship and several awards from USA, Historian Dr George Moraes, and Dr Verissimo Coutinho who was instructor at Loyola University Chicago.
And in Karnataka Dr Venito Coutinho has retired as Vice Chancellor of Gulbarga University. Two Dessais have obtained Ph D degrees both from Goa University.
Judiciary: Two Gaoncars, Justice Ferdino Rebelo (retd. Chief Justice Allahabad High Court) and Justice Nelson Brito (retd), Bombay High Court have reached the top Judicial positions in the State. Frank Coutinho retired as judge City Civil court and Sessions Judge in Bombay. Edgar Fernandes is presently Additional District and Sessions Judge Goa.
Sarika Dessai is at present civil Judge Sr. Division Goa.
Law: The number of lawyers from the Gaoncars is 20 including former Govt Pleader (equivalent to Advocate General after Statehood) late Joaquim Dias, Gilman Fernandes and Ferdino Rebelo (later Chief Justice) who cut out a name for themselves in the field. The number of Dessai lawyers is ten.
Master Mariners: Twenty nine Gaoncars have qualified as Master Mariners and captained Ocean going ships. No Dessai has qualified in this line.
Pilots: Two Gaoncars have passed out as pilots. No Dessai has flown a plane. Actually in the last three or four years Hezron Fernandes and Keziah Fernandes son and daughter of my friend Captain Branny Fernandes have also qualified as pilots.
Engineers: Fifty seven Gaoncars have qualified as engineers as against 14 Dessais.
Indian Administrative Service: Bevis Coutinho is the only villager to have got through IAS. He has retired as Additional Chief secretary Karnataka.
And now back to the vaccine, I had received in my school days. It is the vaccine that immunised us against Small pox and was part of the process that ultimately eradicated the dreaded disease. The State enforced it because it was good for individual and society. Centuries earlier the Portuguese did a similar exercise and enforced their faith and way of life on us because they believed it was for the good of the people.
Is it not ex-facie clear that the environment created by conversions has had a beneficial effect on the converts and enabled them to reach higher and further than others?
Maybe, one may still argue the subject needs a further detailed sociological study. Still, the truth stares you in the face.
(Radharao F. Gracias is a senior Trial Court Advocate, a former Independent MLA and a political activist)
