Nowadays, each one of us has to carry with him or her plentiful things when he or she steps out of his or her house. Ordinarily these things include among others, a driving licence, a bunch of keys , spectacles, pen, handkerchief, debit – credit cards , passbook, helmet, umbrella or raincoat, comb, money. Change, mobile, mask and sanitizer. One can’t afford to forget any of the above mentioned things. In fact specs and mask are always at loggerheads. But regrettably one needs both of them at the same time.
This reminds me of a Konkani adage which says, “ while going for hunting rabbits, one should be so prepared as if one goes for hunting tigers”! Today , while going out of our houses, our plight has become similar to those of persons going for hunting tigers!
In the past, kings, noblemen and brave persons used to go for hunting. Had King Dasharath not gone for hunting on that unfortunate day, then the tragic death of innocent young Shravan would not have occurred. During Portuguese-era in Goa, hunters here was a respectable community.
One would notice numerous hunters all over Goa during those days. This sport was also encouraged by the Government then. I remember one bold shepherd from Sattari once killed a big tiger who devoured one person and two sheep, with his wooden bludgeon! That brave shepherd was then duly honored by the State.
Likewise, the above mentioned foreign rulers encouraged the growth of population at that time. The population of Goa and even that of the colonial ruler – Portugal was very thin then. There were a number of ‘heroine’ mothers having more than a dozen children each. The Government even supported financially the families having more members. But our topic here is not population. It is hunting.
There is one impressive name for hunter in Portuguese language. It is ‘Caçador’. Our Bhavusaib, the first CM of Goa was an expert ‘Caçador’ then. Like ‘Caçador’, there are plenty of grand and weighty words in Portuguese Language (But unlike of present day, the term ‘ Keep weight’ was totally absent in that regime). For instance , the words Governador ( Governor), Adminstrador (Mamlatdar), Salvador (Saviour), Regedor (Village patil) and Julgador ( decision taker). In line with this suffix ‘dor’ tradition, there is one saying in this beautiful language of Portugal and Brazil. And this saying has become quite familiar with most of the Goans. It is “Fiador é pagador”. Fiador means surety and Pagador means debtor. And the above expression means that a surety for any debtor is responsible for repayment of the debt.
After liberation, Goa began to experience a remarkable transformation in all fields. Thus the former policy of encouraging population growth was turned into an absolute belief and population control became a new mantra. Similarly, the new system completely banned hunting. Now if any person declared that he intends to go for hunting then before he reaches into any forest , he would land up at either Aguada or at Covale. Therefore it is true that there is no any hunter amongst us at the present period of time. But at the same time it is equally true that today we all have become preys of various invisible hunters. Some of these most infamous hunters are viz exploitation, inequality, inflation, unemployment, corruption, nepotism and diseases like the new Corona virus.
