anu was an ultra-dedicated Ear Nose and Throat specialist and consultant surgeon. He travelled the length and breadth of Kenya as a medical philanthropist to thousands of Kenyans who otherwise would have gone without. Most of these services were free of charge.
I think, at one time, Manu was the only ENT specialist and surgeon in Kenya and every Goan knew him. If not as a doctor, they knew him as a champion of all things Goan. He was the founder of the Goan Cultural Society. He played a major role in the Kenya Goan Sports Association and the powerful Kenya Hockey Union. Above his social love was the Nairobi Goan Gymkhana. He was president/chairman on many, many occasions. If there was a committee position to be filled and no one to fill, Manu usually put his hand up. He played a little badminton and he loved his glass of Tusker beer. He attended virtually social and sports occasions at the club.
Outside the club, he was an outdoors fanatic. He loved camping, fishing and celebrating the millions of stars on show in the Kenya bush. He put his surgical skills to good use when it came to skinning the night’s dinner.
Others join in paying tributes to the late Dr Manu
JERRY LOBO (Moira): We all have very fond memories of Dr Manu. I still recall a trip to Mombasa in early 1980. I went with Dr Manu and Dr Clara in his white Volvo 244 “KQT 243”. He was a very skilled and fast driver I must say. We left early and were in Mombasa for lunch.
During this trip and while we were at the Mombasa Institute, I felt a sore throat coming along and told my mum about it. She suggested I speak to Doc and so I did. He looked at me and said come with me. I thought he was going to his car to get me some medication. Instead, we headed for the MI bar and he ordered me a nice shot of Brandy which did the trick….
I did a few trips to Nairobi recently and wanted to meet Doc Manu. I was told best to be at the GG at 12:30 pm sharp on a Saturday. Like clockwork, Dr Manu arrived and ordered a cold Tusker and some hot Samosas! We enjoyed our meeting and he insisted he buys me a drink instead of the other way round – that is Doc Manu. Before long he was gone. Dr Clara was waiting for lunch.
JOHNNY AND MAURA LOBO (Moira): In the 1920s in Kenya we were close family friends and neighbours with the D’Cruz family and our friendship has continued with Manu and Clara till today. I am reminded of one afternoon in our earlier years when we saw Mrs D’Cruz carrying Manu in her arms, running towards our house and screaming to my mother that her little boy was dying. My mother opened the door and Mrs D’Cruz told her Manu had stuffed acorn seed in his nose, stopped breathing and turned blue. My mother who was crocheting at the time had the presence of mind to use the crochet needle and with a steady hand dislodged the seed and Manu began breathing again. Manu told us while growing up he heard that story many times from his parents, and it was one of the reasons he was inspired to become an ENT.
When Manu practised as an ENT Consultant our memories of him were of a loving, compassionate gentleman. We had six children who he was very fond of. Whenever I took them for a checkup he would come out and say “my girl what’s the problem and which one of them is it this time”. He was always so kind with his words and deeds and looked after us all with such care. Our family till today has very fond memories of our dear friend Manu.
Dr Manu founded the Goan Cultural Society in Nairobi, Kenya and contributed to the success of uniting the Goan community under the umbrella of cultural and social gatherings. These included the Annual Mando and Theatrical Festivals promoting and showcasing our Goan and Portuguese heritage through music, song and dance. He also presented them with an annual trophy in the shape of copper gummot (a traditional Goan clay pot with a leather tied firmly at the opening and another at the bottom. It is often referred to as the national instrument of Goa.)
Through this society, we inclusively and for the first time in our history, reached out to the local Kenyan people and trained them to perform and participate in the singing of the Mando. A notable record of Manu’s contributions to our Goan society in Kenya.
MERVYN MACIEL: My own recollections of Manu go back to my childhood as we were neighbours in Nairobi. It was to the D’Cruz household that we were taken to when my mother died. I met Manu briefly when we were both schooled at St Paul’s in Belgaum. He later left for Bandra and we lost touch. We were to meet again when he returned after completing his medical studies in Edinburgh.
Manu was a great help to my late brother, Wilfred. We were to meet again during his regular trips to London when visiting Lillian. Manu and I are of the same age and I am already missing him.
CYPRIAN FERNANDES: When I first met Manu D’Cruz not many Goans actually knew what a medical consultant was in those early days. Neither did I. I would pop into his office in Vedic House on my way to the Court House, City Hall for coffee with the lawyers or a snack at one of the nearby outlets.
We had long hours of talks about the Kenya Hockey Union and his passion for improvement. He had a huge imagination and lofty ideas. Once, he even thought that game, could go professional, like English soccer already had. But “in Kenya and one murram ground at City Park?” and his answer was: You never know. Time will tell.
We rekindled our friendship when he was on a brief visit to Sydney. I was president of the local Goan association and he seemed to spend every moment encouraging me to greater deeds in the service of the local Goan community… that elephant stubbornness.
I am sure he infected everyone he met with his passion and enthusiasm, especially in medicine (healing the sick) people generally but especially the Goans, their music, their food, their dances (although I can’t remember him dancing very much in those early days) and of course their sport.
Doc was that kind of a guy, just one of kind, the very good kind, and the world is surely the poorer for his passing.
BrazMatatabooks Menezes (Saligao): Manu was senior to me by about 10 years. I knew him growing up as his father was very active in the Goan Gymkhana. He left for boarding school in Goa or Bangalore in about 1948 and didn’t return to Nairobi for about 25 years.
Thereafter, we met each other regularly at the club. He was always very involved in the club’s activities, on every committee, and was never short of ideas for moving the club forward. I enjoyed the early days as we all had time on our hands, and until his dear Clara came along, his evenings were free.
He was the first responder at my mum’s last hours she collapsed on the GG’s dance floor on December 26, 1967 (as I described in my latest book Among the Jacaranda.)
FELIX & HAZEL NAZARETH (Moira): Doc was born on December 25th and christened Manuel J D’Cruz. He was the founder of the Kenya Ear Foundation. He used to travel the length and breadth of Kenya in his beloved Volvo checking the ears of everyone who would let him especially in the bush. He charged them nothing. This was his passion and labour of love. He also used to bring doctors from India to help on his mission to help the poor.
He was also a Rotarian. He was also almost the permanent president of the Goan Gymkhana and was involved with the Goan Welfare Society (which survives well to this day) and he was a staunch supporter of Goan sports in Kenya.
He was a very generous and kind person. He would not let anyone sit alone, he would take them to his friends and introduce them.
He was very much the son of the earth because he loved going camping all over Kenya. He used his surgical skills in deftly skinning whatever was going to be on the menu that day.
VICTOR AND MONICA NAZARETH (Moira): Doc Manu as he was known to his friends, which was a very wide circle in Nairobi, Kenya, in the Goan Community and beyond.
He was greatly involved in his Medical profession and after hours he had a finger in every pie. For starters, he was involved with the Goan Gymkhana, just like his father did. Manu was responsible for starting up the Goan Cultural Society and organised the first Mando Festival. He had a hand in setting up The Goan Welfare Society. His next venture was to start clearing up the cemetery, which he happened to discover, in Nairobi South ‘B’ which was the resting place of the early Goan Pioneers. Manu was a great Goan going back to his roots in Saligao, Goa and was very much involved in celebrating the Saligao feast in Nairobi.
He was a Rotarian and helped a lot of organisations that needed help financially or otherwise. Manu was a sportsman played badminton and got himself in the hockey administration. At the weekends he would accompany us into the ‘bush’ camping. He loved fishing and would help with the cooking. He also loved his glass of beer.
