Source: The Hindu
Sunday, April 22, 2001

Portugal's Goa

As SARAH JOHN discovered, the Goan connection in
Portugal is alive and kicking.

I WAS going to Portugal at last. This tiny country at
the south- western tip of the European continent held
a special fascination for me because of its place in
the history of the west coast of India, the area I
come from.
The western coastline of India is still dotted with
relics of its past connections with Portugal,
particularly in its religious influence and
architectural style. The people of this region share a
common climate, a love for seafood and a natural,
unimpeded friendliness resulting from centuries of
exposure to alien civilisations from over the seas.
The west-coast Union Territory of Goa, especially,
with its unique culture - the result of strong ties
and intermingling with the Portuguese culture - had
kindled my natural curiosity in Portugal. And,
finally, I was going there.

As we flew south, low along the west coast of Europe
in order to land in Lisbon, the straight coastal line
of Portugal, facing the harsh waters of the Atlantic
became clearly visible - hardly any convenient bays or
protected alcoves to make life easier for the
seafarers. Yet, it was from this tiny seafaring nation
that a Vasco da Gama emerged, who dared to go round
the Cape of Good Hope - discovered by another landsman
- and sailed further across another expanse of ocean
for the first time to discover the sea route to India.
Later, as I stood at the tomb of this great seafarer
who had come to my country over the seas as the first
European as early as 1498, at a time when navigating
unknown waters was hazardous, I bowed my head in
respect.
Vasco da Gama's remains lie inside one of the most
beautiful old churches of Lisbon, close to the
waterfront where a huge monument stands in memory of
all the great seafarers of Portugal.

Even while discovering the fascinating aspects of
Portugal's unique history and its legends, and
marvelling in the exciting mix of races and cultures
in beautiful Lisbon, my mind kept wandering to
Portugal's Goan connection.
It became all important for me to trace evidence of it
there. The path led me naturally to the Indian
Embassy. My initial apprehensions were put aside when
I realised that the Ambassador's Secretary had a
typical Goan name. Mrs. Wanda Noronha turned out to
be a delightfully helpful person, who put me in touch
with other members of the Goan community in Lisbon.

After a few telephone conversations and two days
later, I found myself meeting some interesting people
of Goan origin at the seat of their cultural
association, Casa de Goa, in a prime location in the
city.
Accompanied by tea and samosas and sweets, we sat
there in the late afternoon hours and chatted. It soon
became clear to me that these friendly people were
just as enthusiastic about our meeting as I was, and
even amused at this sudden new interest in them as a
community.

Although it was in Kodungaloor on the Malabar coast
that Vasco da Gama made his first landing, it was
further up the coast in Goa that the Portuguese really
eastablished themselves in the 16th Century. Their
main aim had been to spread the Roman Catholic faith
and to trade for the spices and other wealth they
found in that region. The hardy fishermen in their
little boats and the fishmongers carrying their fish
in baskets balanced on their heads were as common on
the coasts of Portugal as they were on the coasts of
India.

Over the years, not only religious but also the strong
cultural influence of the Portugese came to be
accepted by large numbers of people. Especially in Goa
and Mangalore, evidence of it is still to be seen in
the dress, music, dance and gastronomy.

The Goans who originally came to Portugal as far back
as the 18th century were the elite. They studied in
Portugal to become priests or civil servants. Some
also entered other respected professions. Many Goans
went to the other colonies of Portugal in southwest
Africa. There are now more than two or three
generations of families of Goan origin living in
Portugal. The total number is unknown: estimates range
from 80 to 100,000 Portugese of Goan origin.

Mr. Jose da Costa Barbosa, an engineer by profession
and project manager in a German multinational company
in Portugal, spoke of his ancestral family and an
older generation, of which all 18 siblings were spread
across three continents. He came to the country in the
1960s, to study engineering.
After spending more time in Germany studying, he went
back to India where he worked for many years in Mumbai
and got married to a Goan. Some years ago he returned
to Portugal on a posting by his company. His children
now grow up in Lisbon fully integrated in the
Portugese environment and culture. According to him,
the reason for the Goans not having a separate
identity in Portugal is itself evidence of their total
integration into Portugese society. Social integration
is almost complete with mostly-mixed marriages.

For the most part, the Goans have managed to maintain
a high standard of living, and belong to the upper
middle class in Portugese society. There have always
been MPs of Goan origin in the Portugese parliament
since the 19th Century. One Prime Minister, Alfredo
Nobre da Costa (1978) was the grandson of a
Margao-born doctor by the same name. The Minister of
Justice in the ruling socialist government is also a
"grandson of Goans". The present president of Casa de
Goa, Mr. Alfredo Bruto da Costa, is a professor at the
Catholic University of Lisbon. There are now
Portugese-Goan educators, economists, journalists,
engineers, doctors and managers in government or in
the private sector. They refused to be officially
classified as a minority-group in order to avoid the
inevitable ghettoisation, and have never regretted it.


I was told of a new "Indian" presence in Lisbon - a
recent development, which has relatively little to do
with the Goans. This mainly North Indian community
comprises two groups: Gujarati-families who have made
the move from the former African colonies of Portugal
and young Punjabis who emigrated from India for
economic reasons. They have yet to establish
themselves. The Gujaratis were small-traders in
Africa, having lived there for generations as they
would in a Gujarati village. Motivated and
hard-working, their children are certain to do well in
Europe.
Mr. Barbose called my attention to a revival of the
search for identity in Europe as a whole, and
especially in Portugal, as a direct outcome of the
integration into a bigger European community and the
resultant changes. The new-found mobility from rural
to urban communities has caused changes in social
commitments and values. As often happens, this also
creates a certain restlessness or uneasiness leading
to a longing, a search for one's roots, as though one
does not ever want to lose what once was. This
probably explains the founding of Casa de Goa and its
activities as an association of Goans, Damanese and
Diuese, especially the formation of "Ekvat" as a
cultural group 10 years ago. "Ekvat" is a
music-and-dance group, with typical Goan character. I
read of a parallel organisation with another name, and
another split music-group called Surya. At Casa de Goa
there is a charming little restaurant, serving typical
Goan fare. Other activities include publishing a
quarterly magazine called Goa.


Ekvat had its first performance in Bombay and in Goa
in 1999. Virginia
Bras Gomes, an active participant in this cultural
group, had taken time
off from her work at the Ministry of Labour and
Solidarity to meet me. She
heads the International Relations Unit of the General
Directorate for
Social Action. She had come to Lisbon in the 1970s to
study, and had
married into a Portuguese family. One of her children
is now a participant
in Ekvat. She described the initial apprehensions
about how they would be
accepted back in India. After all, they were now
outsiders, and they were
going to perform Goan music and dance in Goa - like
taking coal to
Newcastle! When the Indian Army marched into Goa and
took it back from the
Portuguese in 1961, no treaty was signed. As a result,
the status of the
Goans had been in question - they were neither
Portuguese nor Indian.
Families were split when some of its members decided
to move to Portugal while others preferred to stay on
in Goa. The organisers of Ekvat were eager to explain
to their Indian contacts that their intention was to
link the two communities.

A romantic dream of mine, to meet the Goans in
Portugal, had come true. As we said our goodbyes and
exchanged addresses at the Casa de Goa in Lisbon,
I felt that we had always known each other. The common
bond with the Indian West Coast is, and will always be
strong.
=========

http://www.goa-world.net/
Everything Goan!

{Forwarded by Cecil Pinto on TGF}.
http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/goa-goans/

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