iBRIDGE OVERDRIVE
SIX NEW BRIDGES HAVE BEEN PLANNED FOR GOA, AT AN OPTIMISTIC ESTIMATE OF RS 650 CRORE. THE PARRIKAR GOVERNMENT HAS GONE INTO TOP GEAR UNFOLDING A HOST OF NEW INFRASTRUCTRE PROJECTS. WHILE SOME OF THESE MAY BE NECESSARY, OTHERS, LIKE THE TIRACOL, RACHOL AND BETIM BRIDGES HAVE ALREADY RUN INTO CONTROVERSY. ONLYA HANDFUL OF PEOPLE LIVE IN TIRACOL. IS THE PROPOSED BRIDGE MEANT FOR THEM OR THE NEW LUXURY HOTEL PROJECT? AND WHAT WOULD BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF OPENING ANOTHER CORRIDOR TO
MAHARASHTRA CLOSE TO REDDY WHERE MINING HAS BEEN INTENSE? HERALD REVIEW INVESTIGATES
LISA ANN MONTEIRO
In its hurry to ‘develop’ the state, the government has six new bridges costing over Rs 650 crore in the pipeline which it has entrusted to the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC). Chorao- Salvador do Mundo, Panjim- Betim, Amona- Virdi, Tiracol- Keri, Rachol- Shiroda, Tuem- Camurlim.
Question is, are all these bridges essential and are they being built for the people or to serve private commercial interests?
For residents in Chorao, the bridge is long overdue and comes as a huge respite. “In these modern times, a bridge is very important to us. There are three ferries, the fourth is not reliable. Since everyone today has two wheelers and four wheelers, it is absolutely terrible during peak hours with fights taking place. No system is followed and the whole exercise is a big waste of time for us,” says Antonio Salvador Fernandes resident of Madel. Tender for the Chorao bridge being built at the cost of Rs 136 crore has already
been floated says GSIDC. Tenders for the other bridges will be floated in a month’s time.
Bridging Maharashtra
Move to Tiracol bridge and the residents there too have been asking for a bridge for many years. But with Leading Hotels planning a golf course and trying to evict the tenants, the villagers have their doubts about who the Sydney-style signature bridge is actually being
built for.
An ACN Newswire report puts things into perspective here. The report claims, “Web Structures Pvt Ltd a Singapore and London-based firm, which has a strong track record in engineering projects, is assisting the Jatia Group to developing a high-end luxury resort to
be operated by the iconic Toronto headquartered Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.”
It goes on further to say, “As part of the development, Web Structures is designing a stunning 500 mt road and pedestrian bridge crossing the Tiracol River which will be one of the most picturesque in Goa which will form a new transport link between the neighbouring states of Goa and Maharashtra. The engineering challenge is to build the
long-span bridge without touching the water and allowing boats and yachts to pass underneath. Further engineering challenges include a 40 mt difference in height between
the banks of the river and the type of ground the bridge’s foundations will have to be laid on.
Dr Hossein Rezai, Web Structures group director, said: “One of the main challenges of this project is working in such a way that the existing community is not disturbed by its new neighbour. It is about striking the right balance. We do not want to disturb the village and its people who work the local land and fish the waters.”
Dr Pramod Sawant Vice Chairman of the GSIDC denies that the bridge is being built for the benefit of the golf hotel. “We have our own consultants who will design the bridge,” he says.
Francis Rodrigues ex-Sarpanch of Keri Tiracol says the bridge is badly needed as the villagers get electricity and water from Maharashtra. “If it really comes in the interest of
the people it is good. But if it is coming up in the interest of Leading Hotels then that’s not fair. A simple bridge will serve our purpose. We don’t need a high end Sydney style
Bridge,” he says.
Congress Spokesperson Reginaldo Lourenco calls it a series of scams. “Leading Hotels has bought 12.5 lakh square metres of land of which most is agricultural tenanted land. Many of the locals haven’t given up the rights to the land. Under the agricultural Tenancy Act land cannot be sold, neither by the landlord nor by the tenant. This is a blot on the Agricultural Tenancy Act. They’re trying to evict the tenants and expect the government to build a bridge for them? This is not a scam but a series of scams.”
Minister for Health, Panchayat and Rural Development Laxmikant Parsekar says the bridge was part of his manifesto for the past three elections. ‘When I construct a bridge can I debar someone from using it? The people of Tiracol will benefit from it
so what’s the harm if someone else also benefits from it? People crossing the border from Maharastra can also use it. Why are we making this like the Mopa issue?”
When asked why the need for a fancy Sydney Style bridge, he said, “Tiracol is a tourist destination. So while putting the infrastructure in place, if it can enhance its tourist attraction then it should be encouraged.”
Illusion of development?
The Rachol- Shiroda bridge is being opposed tooth and nail by the villagers in Raia and Rachol with villagers unable to understand why the government wants to bulldoze
their way into their historic village.
Sarpanch of Rachol Joseph Vaz says the bridge is completely unnecessary and a waste of tax payers money. “If the government thinks it is going to improve the living standards of the gavda community in these areas by building a bridge they don’t know what they’re talking about. They should instead spend the money on developing these communities. These people need land, housing and money for higher education for their children not a bridge.”
He goes on to explain how land is a scarce resource among the poor in Rachol and Shiroda. The little land that they have they use for agriculture in the monsoons and do pisciculture in the dry months. “If the bridge is necessary don’t destroy the fragile ecosystem and the livelihood of the people here.”
Fr Victor Ferrao says the bridge should be built at some other location, or Rachol will be destroyed. “There are other villages with big landlords who have a lot of land.” He
further speaks of ‘development’ and whom it is actually serving. “This development is serving quick money and is meant to benefit only certain people. The only reason they’re
building this bridge is to create the illusion that Margao is closer to Shiroda so that people will buy land in Shiroda. The poor are displaced and left behind as their land is taken
away. This is not development but exploitation in the name of development. It is the economic beneficiaries who are using the politicians.”
Nobody is sure of the alignment of the bridge, but from what is known, the approach road is going to pass close to the 400-year old Rachol Seminary which is steeped in history.
“Why on earth would the government at the centre invest to protect the seminary if it didn’t have heritage value? Unfortunately our state government has not given us
heritage value yet. The monument is there. How can they just disqualify it? Rachol is not just a Pre-Portuguese fort, it has a seminary which is packed with history and has heritage value. It is not only of significance to Christians. Before he went to Chicago to address the World Parliament of Religions, Swami Vivekananda visited the seminary.”
Another bridge for Panjim
In their bridge building spree, the government’s disregard for heritage can be seen in their plans to build a signature style Rs 200 cr bridge in the heart of Panjim city to connect it to Betim complete with a revolving restaurant and all. Tourist Minister Dilip Parulekar also
plans to have a cable car connecting Panjim to Reis Magos.
“The government is not willing to open up the waterways from Panjim to Vasco and other places because they are making way for the mining lobby. These are navigable
rivers linking our cities but the government is not considering them. Bridges affect our basic space. People in Goa have links with their land. Identity among the locals is basically territorial. You can’t displace people,” says Fr Ferrao.
Review Bureau
‘This is the Gujarat model of development which is a disaster’
Well known town planner Edgar Ribeiro tells LISA ANN MONTEIRO that the government is on the wrong path to “development” with the spate of new projects
Your views on the Panjim-Betim signature bridge?
To be fair to Parrikar, he stopped the proposed bridge from Dona Paula to the airport. I think that was going to be a total disaster. With the Panjim-Betim one, I feel he’s proposing a minor disaster. Panjim’s strength has been its riverine and historical relation. Forget about the ecological and emotional impact, a bridge is going to create a huge dent to the people of Panjim. More of Panjim’s character will go if that is done. As it is, when you’ve given up the ferry wharf, a bit of Panjim went away. The place where the catamarans would land was the where people’s first impressions of Panjim were made. Now that is gone too.
Finding access to the existing bridge created so much of consternation outside the built up area of Panjim. It badly affected your wetlands– but you went ahead with it. Here you’re going to dent built up Panjim. Whatever the estimate–Rs 200 cr– it will never be completed in double that minimum cost. And you’re reinventing, rediscovering, and restructuring a very core area of Panjim. Question is, do you need it? Whom is it helping? It is helping a large growing coastal Bardez which is tourism-run so it will bring some revenue because it is close to Panjim? Just don’t put a bridge here for the heck of it.
What is the alternative to having a bridge?
did that to stop a bridge because they knew the damage it would do because that part of Italy has its identity which they wanted to retain. The launch system of transport has also given the Kochi area its character. It is a fantastic system. People come and go to work using the launches. Others use the launches simply to admire the backwaters. It’s a great way. Why lose that? The river system of transport is a much better system and should be revived.
There are plans to have a cable car from Panjim to Reis Magos…
Reis Magos has been done up very well. But let Reis Magos first get into the world heritage list before you talk of a cable car. There has to be density to justify having a cable car. Just imagine if ten people use it each day. If you don’t have people coming to Goa with Reis Magos at the top of their priority list then that’s a problem.
Are bridges going to destroy some of Goa’s heritage for example in Rachol?
The whole question is development. The national government has learnt the hard way that conservation is an integral part of development. We are refusing to learn it. Since we are an eco-system district we should have that as the first mantra of every political party
who have more to gain by saying conservation is an integral part of development. Have development where it is needed and where it can happen, but conserve also.
But don’t just focus on development and say conservation is all nonsense. That is exactly what they’re doing.As for the Rachol bridge are you trying to retain its heritage or open it up to lose its character? It is a very wrong impression of development which is emerging. I regret to say it is the Gujarat model, which I know is a disaster, because I have been working in Gujarat. I have seen how the Dharuhera belt is has been destroyed. I have seen one of the finest heritage areas going.
Do you think the Tiracol bridge is being built for the luxury golf project?
If they decided to take a dedicated bridge for the golf course then that’s not on. You can’t use government money. Let the golf course subscribe to it and build it. Let them put in their money, form their association, and finance a bridge and ask the government whether
it will agree to have it. Let them have a bridge which they will afford. Just like your Vanxim island where the party wants to have a golf course. If he wants someone
else to build a bridge for him (Divar bridge) that’s not right. He brought Churchill Alemao to talk about the advantages of bridges.
SPOTLIGHT/GOA FILM CITY
Shooting in the dark
Will there be takers for a film city in Goa? Goan filmmakers don’t think so. KIMBERLY COLAÇO finds out why
Vice Chairman of the Entertainment Society of Goa, Vishnu Wagh’s ambitious plans for a film city in this State hasn’t gone down well with Goan film makers who consider it a waste of money.
There are presently two major film cities in India – Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad sprawled over 1,666 acres of land and Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagri in Goregaon in Mumbai. What then would attract filmmakers down to Goa to shoot?
Filmmaker Rajendra Talak isn’t convinced by the idea. “When most of the expertise in cinema is based in Mumbai, shifting the crew to Goa will create a hole in the pockets of the producer. There will be expenditure for travel, accommodation, food and other daily costs which would not arise if the shooting was in Mumbai. It will be three times more for a film maker to shoot in Goa than in Mumbai.” Wagh says the film city would be built in three phases. First the basic infrastructure including sets would be erected where plans are on to build a temple, a church, airport, hospital, jail and court room. The second phase will involve fixing of equipment for sound and lighting. The third phase will provide higher facilities like editing, recording and dubbing. “The entire movie can be done in Goa. I wish to see the producer walk in with a bag and leave with a film,” he says. The cost of the project would be Rs 20- 30 cr in its beginning phase but once it’s ready the total cost would be around Rs 250–300 cr. “The more we spend, the better returns we will get,” says Wagh who is confident that the entire amount spent on the film city will be recovered in a year’s time. He hasn’t decided on the location yet but prefers to build it close to a railway station as most of the crew will travel by train.
Talak however has his doubts about film makers coming in. “Why would producers come to Goa to shoot in a set up when they can easily do it in Mumbai? Most directors come to Goa to shoot natural beauty.”
Domnic D’Costa visiting faculty at Kala Academy’s School of Drama says the film city will help students study and understand film and cinema better. But he feels
there should be more schemes and facilities which will help increase the number of films produced in the state in the first place.
Sharon Mazarello who availed of the Film Finance Scheme in 2009 to make her first film ‘Tum Kitem Kortolo Aslo?’ says instead of investing such a large sum in a film city, the money should be given to film makers to produce more films.
The Film Finance Scheme was introduced in 2008 which could be availed by any Goan producer and would grant upto 50 percent of the cost of production of the film. “It’s been four years since the government has stopped the Film Finance
Scheme. With high expenditure producers do not want to invest in films anymore. We should make our film industry stronger and then only think of having a film city.”
Wagh says the film city could employ local artists, painters, sculptors and carpenters. “Goans have a lot of talent which can be seen during Christmas, Ganesh Chaturthi, Carnival and Shigmo.” He also claims the film city will bring in much revenue for tourism too. Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar seconds this. “We should have a film city first and then many people will start flocking in
providing a lot of revenue for the state.”
-Review Bureau
MUSIC AS LANGUAGE
Santiago Lusardi Girelli believes music can change lives, whether it is of the underprivileged children in India or those of the tribes of the Amazon. In Panjim currently on a Goa University visiting professorship, Girelli spoke to NISHITHA NAIR SHRIVASTAVA
Musical notes fill the air at Hamara School in St. Inez. Every room has its own
little party with various instruments and little children whose enthusiasm peaks with each rising note. Little Aditi participates in the musical game her new instructors have introduced them to, but her creative imagination wants
more.
“Can I change?” she questions with twinkling eyes. “You need to change,” stresses one of the instructors, a statement that hits so many chords.
This is Professor Santiago Lusardi Girelli from University of Seville in Spain and Anthony Gonsalves Visiting Professor at Goa University.His humble, passionate demeanor is a perfect mask for Girelli’s achievements. Apart from his active contribution to the field of music all over Europe and South America in the role of a choir and orchestra conductor, performer and composer, he is also a scholar of theological philosophical traditions of the East and West.
In Goa, as part of the Goa University’s Visiting Research Professorship Programme, which was launched on July 5, Girelli honestly believes that music can make this world a better place. Hence, in addition to the university lectures,
he will also be closely working with the NGO Child’s Play to teach underprivileged children the language of music.
“When I first started to work with children, I was a little disappointed and stressed, because when you are a professional musician, you want to play professionally. But with children, you have to change your mindset. You are teaching them how to speak, so you need to get into their world and speak their language. It requires a lot of hard work and patience. It is much harder than working with professional musicians. You need to create new tools and games every time, because you never know what will work,” says the 33-year-old.
Incidentally, this is not the first time Girelli has worked with children. He has been an integral part of El Sistema, a publicly financed voluntary sector music education programme in Venezuela. The programme was instituted to keep underprivileged children off the street, drug abuse and crime and instead engage them in music for almost five hours a day.
“This is what I would like to do for these children as well,” says Girelli. He believes that the children who studied music for five hours a day began to understand music deeply and it became the language they communicated in.
“There is a beauty in music and children are pure. They will reflect this beauty and I am sure it will be the dawn of many new beautiful beginnings in society,” says the musician, who is currently pursuing his PhD in music at University of Seville.
This is what he plans for his lectures and concerts at the Goa University as well. While there will not be any active instrument lessons, he intends to create an audience that learns to appreciate music and not just listen to it blindly.
“They are not coming to become musicians. We want them to experience how to listen to western music. Listening to music is not a passive situation; it is active. You need to improve yourself to get involved in a concert. If you appreciate music, it can change you. Music is not like television that plays in the background,” he states.
The fact he was born in Argentina to Italian parents and lives and teaches in Spain currently has given him the ability to imbibe every culture, the musician who worked with children from the indigenous tribes in the Amazon, believes. “It is very interesting working with children from different cultures. It was hard to work in the Amazon, but also very interesting. We learnt a lot from them.”
– Review Bureau
Johnny Depp swaps pirates for wild west in Lone Ranger
Romain Raynaldy
Johnny Depp and the makers of the Pirates of the Caribbea” franchise have swapped the high seas for the wild west in “The Lone Ranger, as they seek
to reboot an American pop culture icon.
Having earned more than $3.6 billion at the box office with the Pirates blockbusters, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and studio giant Disney wanted to give a new take on the traditional western adventure.
The Lone Ranger, a masked crusader who rights wrongs in the name of justice, was born on the radio in 1933 before being turned into a popular US television series from 1949-1957.
The film, released earlier this week, is the fourth big-screen adaptation of the story of the mythical hero and his faithful sidekick Tonto. Depp — whose Pirates character Captain Jack Sparrow was famously inspired by Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards — plays the native American Tonto with his usual quirky brio.
He personally insisted on Tonto’s idiosyncratic look, notably basing the make-up on a painting by native American artist Kirby Sattler, with a winged crow as a hat.
The title role is played by Armie Hammer, the 26-year-old actor who played the Winklevoss twins — with a little computer-generated imagery (CGI) help — in the 2010 Facebook movie The Social Network.
Hammer admits he didn’t know much about the iconic character before he made the movie.
“The character is before my time. The only reason I was familiar with
the Lone Ranger character at all was because my dad was such a big fan,”
Hammer said ahead of the film’s release.
“He would enjoy watching the show on re-runs every now and then,
stuff like that. I watched it a little bit with him but I was very loosely,
loosely, aware of Lone Ranger.”
In typically explosive Bruckheimer style — and with a budget estimated at over $200 million — the film tells the story of why lawyer John Reid swapped his suit for a black mask and white hat, to become the anonymous hero.
Hammer says he was intensely aware of the iconic nature of the character. “There’s a sense of respect, more than anything else. I know that this character means a lot to a lot of people,” he said.
The young actor said he learned a lot from Bruckheimer, Depp, and director Gore Verbinski, who won an Oscar for 2011 animated film Rango, which also starred his 50-year-old A-list co-star, in voice at least.
“From Jerry I learned: stay calm, you’ll figure it out, it’ll be OK,” he said. “From Johnny I learned to pay attention to everything that’s going on around you and remember it. And from Gore, I learned that anything can be done, it just might take a little more hard work than you think,” he said. –AFP
EXCLUSIVE TO HERALD REVIEW
A CROATIAN PRIEST IN GOA
Letters From Beyond
LORA TOMAS In ZAGREB
From East Indies to Zagreb, v i a first route opening, says the neat and elaborate writing on the yellowing Indian paper. The paper feels fragile under my fingers, as if it could crumble at any second, but it is redolent with a lush, saturated
smell. In the main reading room in the Croatian State Archives in Zagreb I can hear the late spring showers falling rhythmically outside. For a fleeting moment, the sound reminds me of my impending departure for India where the monsoon
will be drumming down in all its fury. I take another look at the letter before gently placing it back next to the others in the box. There are six of them, written in Latin, and sent back home by the Croatian nobleman and missionary Nikola Ratkaj from 17th century Old Goa, mostly to the Zagreb Jesuit Collegium. There
were other letters as well, lost along the way or still perhaps lying somewhere undiscovered. Extensive research and study on Nikola Ratkaj’s letters, both philological and contextual, has been done by a Croatian Indo-Europeanist and classical philologist Mate Križman as well as by Croatian Indologists Karmen Bašić and Zdravka Matišić. This article is based on their findings.
When Nikola Ratkaj arrived to India, it was in continuation of the Christian missionary tradition that had started centuries before, but which gained new momentum with the arrival of the Portuguese and the establishment of their rule
in Goa in the early 16th century. It was the missionaries’ duty to send reports on their work and circumstances to Portugal or Rome, a custom set in motion by St. Francis Xavier in the 16th century whose letters to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, St. Ignatius of Loyola, started the ‘intelligence system’ of the Jesuits. According to the historian Donald F Lach, this system surpassed anything Europe had at the time, except perhaps the one operating in the Republic of Venice. These letters and reports were later published in an edited and polished form in the so-called Book of the Letters, and distributed around Europe for education and propaganda. Ratkaj’s letters were no exception. We know that they were also read aloud in the echelons of Croatian nobility as well
as among the novices of the Jesuit Collegium in Zagreb. However, because of the slow mail of the times, the letters would often take a yearand-a-half to arrive at their destinations.
Nikola Ratkaj studied theology in Rome, and it is probable that this is where he found out the details about missionary outposts in India. It seemed that the decision to go to India was based on his own personal desire and initiative. His concerned mother Eufrosina Palffy Ratkaj sent him two letters when he was in Rome in 1622. The letters mention India as an area of ‘terrifying places and states’, but also as among the ‘realms ripe for harvest’ and for the lily to ‘shed its fragrance among the heathens’:
And since I realize you have decided to live in the grace of the merciful God and that your desire is to thread the path he has ordained for us that want to follow Him, let all the opposing thoughts to God’s will be far removed from me … I am more thrilled by your desire to leave for those terrifying places and states than if you wished to return to this our native land, wherein our eyes, though teary, could revel in the sight of you … do not be afraid, you will not exhaust yourself completely–it is, after all, not alike to Ratkaj men to live too long …soon you will finish the race in this ephemeral world … In the end, I beseech you to write to me often …so that my eyes could at least behold your letters.
…let the blessings of the great God be upon you, and you remain under the auspices of the Blessed Virgin, so that with her help you may safely reach the destination of your journey, as is your heart’s desire–the regions for which you so yearn and the realms ripe for harvest: be there a worthy reaper and gather wheat
for God’s granaries, so that you could, on your return from India to that Heavenly Jerusalem, show your useful work to the dearest Jesus and Holy Virgin Mary, and could withalreceive the rewards, together with that blessed father, St. Francis Xavier, Apostle of the Indies … I consider you lucky, now that you have chosen
a better path; and myself, my son, I count among the blessed ones, seeing the lily that had sprung from my garden will shed its fragrance among the heathens…
From Rome he first travelled to Portugal in 1623, where he boarded for India. That same year, a Portuguese missionary Antonio de Andrade penetrated Tibet from India, across the Himalayas. He was the first European to do so. He went on to found a mission in Tibet, for which Nikola Ratkaj was designated as well. In is letters from Goa, Ratkaj describes the work of missionaries in Tibet, along with
the plateau’s religions and customs, but he himself had probably never been here–the descriptions are based on Andrade’s accounts. Ratkaj’s own journey to India was tiring and difficult, and lasted almost two years, during which he fell sick, but later recovered. From his first letter back home to the headmaster of the Jesuit Collegium in Zagreb, dated 5 February 1625, and sent from Old Goa, we find that
he was ordained as a priest on 22 September 1624 by the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Church, Alfonso Mendez, in the main Jesuit church of Old Goa:
Last year the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Church ordained me as a priest, and on St. Matthew’s Day I delivered my first mass, in a festive way, accompanied by music of Santa Fe Seminary, and on behest of all the fathers and brothers of that seminary, although it was my desire to do so over the relics of St. Francis Xavier.
Then he writes about the trials and torments of the Christians in Asia and mentions the martyrdom of Jesuit missionaries in Japan in 1622, when fourteen of them were burnt alive. In the end he adds that he had, for some reason and with the permission of his superiors, renounced his family name and that, from now on, he was to be called only Nicolaus Georgii or, in Portuguese, Nikolão Jorge. His mother, Eufrosina Ratkaj, died in 1623, very soon after her son’s departure for India. In this first letter, he writes about how shaken he was by the
event about which no news had reached him:
Not one letter from home about the passing away of my Illustrious Mother, not even from Father Faro; maybe the letters have perished. I note to Your Excellency that, when you wish to write to me, it would be wise to choose two or three different mail routes, so that letters could be carried by different ships, and if one of them is lost, not all of them will perish together, but at least one of them would be saved on other vessels.
His letter ends with the typical entry, which varies only slightly in all the others: Handed over in Goa, 5 February 1625; Your Excellency’s worthless servant in Christ, Nicolaus Georgii, former Ratkaj, personally signed.
In the letter from 2 March 1627, he refers to his possible transfer to the mission in Tibet:
I am, dear Father, here in Goa, waiting for some convenient opportunity
to leave for the mission in Great Tibet or Katay. In the meantime, there is no
lack of work: continuous confessions and sermons in Portuguese. News from these regions Your Excellency can learn from annual reports that are being sent to Rome…
In another letter dated 15 March 1629, he writes about the political situation in India:
The worldly affairs in India are the same as during previous years. However, in the last year, on the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, two Portuguese war ships, though it would be more convenient to call them boats, forcefully attacked an English leviathan and captured it in the port of Surat itself, and then scourged everything with flames and swords, killing more than 80 Dutchmen and Englishmen. The rumor says that the loot, as our side estimates, amounts to 6000 florins. This much about India!
It is evident from these lines that he had identified himself with Portuguese rule, and that politics and faith were inextricably interconnected in his mind. In subsequent letters, Ratkaj writes about his hereditary right to a part of his mother’s inheritance, a predominant concern of his letters to the Zagreb Jesuit Collegium. On 15 March 1629, a notary of Old Goa, Francisco Roderigo, compiles a statement of inheritance for Ratkaj which Nikola signs in the presence of other notable men of church and state. However, a year later Ratkaj ceded his hereditary rights to the Jesuit Collegium in Zagreb. On 27 March 1629, he again writes to the headmaster of the Collegium, indicating he has petitioned his aunt in Croatia for a donation to his Indian mission:
I am writing a letter to the illustrious and very powerful noblewoman Barbara Palffy, my aunt; in it I ask, in the name of charity for the mission I belong to, four or five thousand talirs: she is, after all, very rich, so she will part with that amount easily and thus immortalize herself here in India … if she is willing to give that money away, let her transfer it by a commercial letter to Rome, and from there it will arrive here without any difficulties, via the same route.
Although Ratkaj was preparing himself for the Tibetan mission he was chosen for, he for some reason, stayed on the western coast of India and worked in villages and schools around today’s Mumbai. He died as a parish priest of Thane on 25 February 1662. His letters remain a significant document on the spread
of Catholicism through missionary work, as well as on the political atmosphere surrounding it.
The question that naturally arises while going through his writings is why he, unlike the other European travellers of those times, never wrote about Goa, its people, customs, landscapes, or about his own feelings while he was there. It
would, of course, be unwise to expect such insights in official reports which had their own coded language and set of customized phrases. Also, issues of inheritance and money for the mission appeared to be more pressing matters. Perhaps such was his missionary zeal that even the Goan surroundings didn’t dilute his focus, or were even shunned. On the other hand, more personal letters or notes scribbled in diaries might have been lost or the thoughts and observations only exchanged in private conversations. Thus they remain entirely elusive, but still the language of the surviving letters abound in metaphor and
ornamental idioms, evoking some insights into 17th century Goa.
The writer is an indologist, translator and editor from Croatia. She is currently in Bangalore working on a selection of urban Indian poetry and prose.
CULTURES
Breaking bread
The Chardo-Vaishya caste gaining exclusive rights to bake bread may have its origins in the ‘Pinto Conspiracy’ of 1787
Radharao F Gracias
Courting Controversy
To atam poder. Ami niza poder. Amgea cheddvak fotovun kazar kelem. Undde
bazpak Portuguesan direito amkanch dilolo. This translates into: ‘He is a modern baker but we are bakers by origin. The right to bake bread was granted only to us by the Portuguese. Our daughter was cheated into marriage.’ That was the plaint of a middle-aged lady, who visited my office years ago in a white saree with a blue border and a scowl on her face. She wanted to apply for a divorce for her daughter.
I found it difficult to explain to her that divorce could be granted only on prescribed grounds. As she insisted, I got around the situation by urging her to bring her daughter along, But that never happened.
The remark “To atam poder” carries a meaning beyond what most people may now comprehend. Bakers in Goa have always enjoyed a strong community bond and have been assertive of their status as Chardos. Among the Catholics in
coastal Salcete (except for Benaulim village), there are just two castes,
the Chardo and the Sudhir.
The caste system made its way into casteless Christianity as a consequence of the mass conversions in the sixteenth century. It was difficult for the new converts, brought up in a discriminatory, hierarchical caste system, to acknowledge that a person supposedly inferior until the previous day suddenly became an equal by virtue of change of religion. The church also could do very little in the face of stiff resistance. So caste came to be an inherent part of Goan Catholicism, with certain modifications.
The Chardo is an amalgam of the “Kshatriya” and the “Vaishya” or “Vani”. This aspect is clear from the authoritative text on the subject ‘Ethnography of Goa, Daman & Diu’ by A.B. de Braganza Pereira, published in 1940 in which he explains:
“The caste terms Chardos and Rendeiros, whatever their etymological origins may be, are prevalent only among Christians. What is certain is that the Rendeiros are descended from the Bhandaris and the Chardos from the Marathas and the Vanis. Therefore amongst Hindus there are no Chardos or Rendeiros, but rather Marathas or Khetris (military men), Vanis (traders) and Bhandaris (toddytappers).”
In Salcete, there has always been a visible boundary between the Chardo-shatriya and the ChardoVaishya with very little intermarriage between them in the earlier years. The Chardo-Vaishya women would customarily wear a white saree with a blue border similar to the habit of the nuns of the Missionaries of Charity to distinguish themselves from the Catholics of Shudra origin. The Chardo-shatriya women dressed in a western style.
The Chardo-Kshatriya was the dominant land owning class, depending on horticultural income, or held white-collar jobs or were professionals or priests. The Chardo-Vaishyas were generally traders and bakers. So, in a manner of speaking the Chardo-Kshatriya enjoyed “poder” (power), while the Chardo-Vaishya was the “poder” or alternately one was the “bhakar” and the other the “baker”. The Chardo-Kshatriya intellectuals have long since emigrated and the remnants holding on to their diminishing land holdings are merely living on stories of their past grandeur. The ChardoVaishyas, on the other hand, are an enterprising lot and through education and economic advancement have become upwardly mobile. Today, caste is hardly a factor in matters of marriage. Thus, caste barriers have almost disappeared among Catholics and will be history in a generation or two.
But it is indeed true that during the Portuguese regime it was only the Chardo-Vaishya who were bakers and very proud of their occupation. The circumstances on how the Chardo-Vaishya came to be accorded the exclusive right to bake bread
are shrouded in mystery.
But there appears to be more than an iota of truth in the version of history that the Chardos acquired the exclusive right to bake bread in the wake of the Goan revolt termed by the Portuguese as the “Pinto Conspiracy” in 1787.
The historical fact is that the revolt was centred in Bardez-Ilhas and all the rebels, except for one, were from those talukas. After the rebels were betrayed, most of them were arrested, but Fr. Jose Antonio Gonsalves managed to escape to Azra,
in present day Maharashtra. But the Portuguese picked up the two labourers who had shown him the route. It was Fr. Miguel Delgado, a Goan missionary in Azra who hailed from Pilerne, who revealed his actual whereabouts to the Portuguese.
The Portuguese expeditionary force dispatched to Azra, managed to arrest Fr. Gonsalves, but could not bring him to Goa due to the intervention of a local chieftain who had sheltered him. Later, Fr. Gonsalves made his way to Calcutta, where he lived and preached for many years.The Portuguese tortured the arrested rebels who confessed that the plan was to poison the bread supply to the Portuguese garrison and disable the soldiers. In the aftermath of the revolt and the trial, the colonial masters took steps to prevent the recurrence of such a rebellion. The Portuguese concluded that since all the rebels were Brahmin-Catholics they were an untrustworthy lot and banned them from baking bread.
The task went by default to the Chardo, because Fr. Miguel Delgado, the whistleblower of sorts, was a Chardo and therefore trustworthy!
Historians with Brahmin leanings seem to dispute this version on the ground that there is no record that Brahmins ever baked bread. But then there is no record whatsoever of any particular caste baking bread prior to 1787. These historians
seem to believe that baking bread is a lesser occupation which the Brahmin would not stoop to undertake. However, in reality among the Saraswat Brahmins there is a group whose principal occupation is cooking. They are known as “Randpi”
and are looked down upon by the other Brahmins.
The writer is a lawyer and politician
Pacific Paradise
HANSEL VAZ travels to the remote South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu and makes some intriguing discoveries
Standing on the only piece of tarred surface, the airstrip, my mom and dad nervously look on. This is my idea of an adventure holiday–the 21st century holiday, a holiday that would transcend the brochure inspired, lazy week by the pool, and move into a whole other world.
We had just landed on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu; an island nation so small you wouldn’t have heard of it. Tanna is one of the many tiny rock chip islands scattered in the blue expanse of the South Pacific that make up the erstwhile
French colony known as the New Hebrides. A documentary by Sir Attenborough had captivated my boyhood imagination, and now I had finally set foot on this tropical island that had an active lava spewing volcano, pristine beaches and an island ritual that would inspire a Kiwi to “invent” the Bungee jump.
It was no surprise that there is only one dirt road on the island that snaked through tropical jungle, a ride that was slushy-slipperybumpy, as we crossed streams and went over volcanoes, finally leading to our jungle lodge, a hideaway
with our own private beach. The sight of dark skinned Melanesian tribals in pandanus skirts chanting and hammering their feet on the ground was captivating. The earth reverberated as the men danced, the air filling with the drumming of hollowed out tree trunks and the cowbell clunk of seed shells on their feet. The vibrant colours and sounds, the pungent scents–that’s the pristine beauty of the island, not a packaged, ersatz and hyped holiday destination. It’s all there for you to appreciate it for what it really is. The lure of paradise beckons
from all corners of the islands, and so it was just a matter of choosing which corner you want to be in. But how do you choose an island?
Besides the active volcano, Tanna is famous for its coffee. But I also wanted to find out more about a little known custom that is unique to these islands. While the rest of the world has grown to accept paper, plastic and metal as currency,
this island still trades in pig tusks. Over the ages, tribes have reared pigs that would sprout spectacular concentric tusks that could be shaped into bangles or pendants as well as be indicators of status and wealth. Cleverly extracting the upper canine of a male pig allowed the lower canine to grow unhindered
into a full spiral. The longer the spiral the higher the value of the tusk. Even today one can make a local bank deposit with a handful of pig tusks! Capitalizing on the tourists’ fascination with this pig ivory, this hoary tradition of the southern islands now brings in money to add to their subsistence level of living. I was quite horrified when I learned the price of a 15 cm boar tusk spiral that would perfectly bangle my wife’s wrists. I took a deep breath and forgot how much I paid for it!
But it’s sad to see the widening gap between the races: the Caucasians running all the highend enterprises–the yacht safaris, the classy resorts and boutiques while there is a noticeable number of enterprising Chinese who run all the groceries and the cheap tourist shops, and then the Melanesians themselves who are now relegated as sideshows–a string band, a war dance troupe, taxi drivers.
The weekly market, however, is an explosion of colour. Islanders from all reaches of Tanna and neighouring islands too, come to share, trade, flirt and fill in with
some gossip. Each islander brings items from his island, something like a world travel fair. The market is full of hustle and bustle, colour and chaos, and like in any market, much haggling and dramatic salesmanship. I was quite taken up by a coconut crab–a crustacean with enormous claws that have the strength to break open coconuts! Gorging on coconuts, these crabs develop a distended liver which is considered by many as the foie gras of the Pacific!
Ten days too short, we were not prepared for the sheer cascade of experiences in this island paradise. Every destination is probably as unique as the other. But some like Vanuatu are more unique than others.
Maiden flight
An ICG Dornier handled by an all women crew makes history for the Indian Coast Guard
About ten days after the Japanese chartered vessel MOL Comfort broke
into two off the coast of Yemen, sending containers towards the Indian coast, a team of three women Coast Guard pilots from Daman flew to Goa to investigate the case. The three women officers were also marking a milestone for the Indian Coast Guard as their first all women flight in an ICG Dornier touched down in Goa.
Captained by Neetu Singh Bartwal, the Dornier was piloted by Neha Murudkar and co-piloted by Shristi Singh (all of them assistant commandants). The maritime reconnaissance aircraft set off from Daman, where the women are currently posted. This is the second time the women officers had flown together; the first trip was an hourlong trip around Daman and back on June 18.
Until five years ago, there was no course available to train female coast guard pilots. In 2009, this changed with the passing out of 1st Short Service Entry (observers) course. Their training involved vigorous sessions in various Naval
and Coast Guard establishments for qualifying as an air borne tactician. The course also trains women officers to gain proficiency in handling Dornier aircraft and sensors for safeguarding the maritime borders of India.
The coast guard’s routine is to monitor activity and security issues along the coast, keeping track of vessel movements to identify suspicious activity. Ships in distress, oil spills, smuggling, rescue– are all part of the surveillance undertaken by coast guard aircraft at low altitudes.
Meanwhile, the aft (rear part) of the MOL Comfort sank about 400 miles away from the coast of Goa, while the fore (front) part of the ship has been taken to Oman, coast guard sources said. The 316 mtslong vessel had about 4300 containers on board rumoured to be carrying arms for Free Syrian Army (FSA) from the US. The coast guard says that none of the containers were found either, implying it may have sunk along with the aft. The ship operated by Mitsui O S K Lines was sailing from Singapore to Jeddah when it suffered a crack amidships in bad weather about 200 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen and eventually broke into two.
-Kimberly Colaco
