SIOLIM: Over the past six decades, Rosy Baretto Britto has trudged the same road from Morjim to Mapusa to sell coconut feni and cashew feni. While such a journey would probably become monotonous for most of us after a while, it gave Rosy a purpose.
The youngest of six children, Rosy’s father lovingly called her Laxmi, after the Hindu goddess of wealth, because the day of her birth coincided with someone gifted him a plot of land covered with coconut trees, and a pair of cows.
Keen on providing a decent life for his growing family, her father began tapping toddy from the trees on the land, distilling it and selling it. Though the business kept the family afloat, it wasn’t enough to afford an education for the children.
Rosy never went to school, but she loved to learn. When the neighbouring landlady, Flavia, noticed her interest, she began teaching her to read and write. Soon enough, Rosy picked up basic reading skills. Once she was able to read well, she made it a point to religiously read her Bible as it was something she never could do before.
In her late teens, Rosy was married off to a man from her neighborhood who was based in Mumbai. She began to dream of a new life, one where she would be whisked off to a new place with her betrothed. But life was never meant to be rosy for Rosy. What she hoped was a new dream, would soon turn out to be a nightmare instead.
Rosy was stunned to discover that her husband was in a relationship with another woman in Mumbai and was even more aghast when he confessed that he had married her only because his mother had pressured him to wed a Goan girl. Her life was set to get even more difficult as she began to endure mental and physical torture from her husband and his partner while she lived in Mumbai.
Her husband even took everything that Rosy was given by her family during her marriage and spent it on his partner.
Things reached a tipping point one night when her husband and his partner mercilessly thrashed Rosy, leaving her just a whisper away from death. Assuming she had died, they dumped her mangled body by the side of a gutter in a slum area and fled.
But Rosy was not to die that day. She was rescued by a kind Hindu woman who brought her from the brink of death and nursed her back to health. She subsequently bought Rosy a ticket back to Goa.
With the worst behind her, Rosy recounted her ordeal to her brother no sooner had she set foot in Goa. He was deeply saddened and decided to support her. He also prodded her to stand her ground in her marriage and helped her build a small hut next to her husband’s maternal home.
It was then that Rosy began selling feni that her brother would distill. And thus her journey from Morjim to Mapusa market became her new normal. She would walk with 20 bottles of liquor on her head to the Morjim jetty and wait for a canoe to get to Siolim. She would often encounter dozens of children waiting to be ferried across to school. Most could not
always afford the fare so Rosy would often pay it for them: 50 paise per person.
Once in Siolim, Rosy would walk the rest of the way to the Mapusa market and would earn Rs 3 for a bottle of coconut feni and Rs 5 for cashew feni. Beggars and street kids would wait until she arrived at the market because she would often treat them to a breakfast of bhaji-pao as she ate hers.
Over the years, the benevolent woman, who believes there is more happiness in giving than receiving, has sponsored the education of many children, orphans and seminarians, remembering with fondness that once she too was given the same gift of learning.
Her good deeds revisited her unexpectedly when her sister was facing legal issues and Rosy tagged along with her for moral support. When she reached the court, several lawyers rushed to her. To Rosy’s surprise, many of them happened to be the kids whose education she had once sponsored.
They offered to sort out her sister’s issues pro bono as a gesture of gratitude and they kept to their word. Side by side, Rosy’s earnings and the blessings she received from all those she helped gradually led her to transform her hut into a small house.
She is older now, but still diligently goes to the market. She never divorced her husband nor did she ever consider remarrying.
Despite all the darkness the world had shown her, Rosy chooses to focus on doing good instead.
She believes that the road to life needs to be walked alone, no matter how dark and dangerous, as God provides all the strength one needs to walk it.
