‘When in doubt, refer it to Percival’

Writers, historians, researchers, journalists and the plain curious have rung the bell of the ochre coloured one-storeyed house on Rua 31 de Janeiro (31st January Road) at Fontainhas and waited. The wait has never been for long as from the upstairs window pops out the bespectacled face of the senior citizen, smiling and welcoming. 

In his 91 years on this earth, Percival Noronha has not shut the door to anyone. Nobody can complain that Fontainhas’ most famous personality has not opened his door to them or not been liberal with the accumulated knowledge of decades that finds a repository as books and papers in his house and as information in his brain. He has not only shared the information with whoever sought it but written extensively and been published in India and abroad.

Today, a compilation of his articles in English and Portuguese is being released in a book form published by Fundacao Oriente. The book titled Percival Noronha Um Goes Exemplar (An Exemplary Goan) has a selection that indicates just how varied are the subjects that Noronha has written on. From archaeology to Christian art to Indo-Portuguese furniture to Panjim and Goan artisans, there are pieces on each of these topics and more, 11 selected articles that he has written over the decades. But, as he points out and says “this is nothing”, and pushes a thick file of his writings, that is again, just a part of what Noronha has written. Some of his writings he has lost, but most have been saved and composed again and saved on the hard disk of his computer, a contraption he himself rarely uses.

For Noronha, the interest in history and heritage began when he joined government service during the Portuguese regime in Goa. “I was an officer in the Statistics and Information Department. At that time my director was Antonio de Martires Lopes and it was he who got me interested in matters of heritage and history,” says Noronha.

His interest in heritage saw him be a founder member of the Goa Chapter of the Indian Heritage Society and also an interest in the celestial bodies led to the founding of the Friends of Astronomy (Goa). All the time he wrote and spoke to others. 

“I give. I am liberal with all my writings and knowledge. Anyone who comes to me seeking information, I give it to them,” says Noronha.

Not surprising that when Herald was speaking to Noronha earlier this week, also seated at the table was a researcher from Portugal’s University of Coimbra down in Goa to complete research on iconography in Goan churches. “At the Fundacao Oriente they told me that Mr Noronha is one of the most knowledgeable people on the subject and has written a lot on history. I was also told that he is nice in meeting people and shares his knowledge. So I came here and when I saw his library I almost felt I did not need to go the State library,” said Nadia Rodrigues.

Noronha’s friendship with the delegates of the Fundacao Oriente that has its office at a walking distance from his house has got this tribute in the book form. A former delegate of the foundation, Adelino Rodrigues da Costa writes in the book of the many times he would approach Noronha with some doubt and that within hours, “Percival Noronha would surprise us with a text, a photocopy or a picture, that would help clear the doubt that had been raised to him.”

He was not the only person or delegate of the foundation that met with such results on approaching Noronha. As Paulo Varela Gomes, another former delegate of the Fundacao Oriente in Goa writes in his tribute to Noronha, if you are in doubt then ‘it’s better to ask Percival’. That’s what many have done and are still doing, seeking the nonagenarian’s house and taking their doubts on history and heritage for him to clear them.