Fernando

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Memoirs of Goa. Excerpts. Alfredo F. de Mello

...In those times (1930s) there were no automatic washing machines, and Mother engaged a "mainato" or washerman ( "dhobi" a Hindustani word commonly used in British India) to pick up our dirty linen, every fortnight, to have it washed and ironed. Like many other occupational trades, there were guilds, and even today in traditional India, the washermen and washerwomen form a guild, whose huts are usually situated near a river or stream, so their job was to scrub, soap, wash, dry and iron the linen of other people. Big slabs of stone are placed on the riverside, and the women wet the linen or clothes in the river water, scrub the cloth on the stone, apply the soap, and then wet it again, before scouring and leaving the linen to dry.

One day , our "mainato" did not arrive with his huge bale of clean linen, balancing on his head. Mother was worried because more dirty linen was piling up. Finally she had one of the servants go to the village where the washerman lived to find out what had happened. The "mainato" finally arrived and excused himself for the unforeseen delay. It happened that his wife was washing the linen as usual on the riverside, and a crocodile had approached stealthily, and with its tail had whipped and thrown the poor woman into the river; the unfortunate woman, unable to swim was bitten by the jagged teeth at her midriff. She was eaten up by the crocodile. This turned out to be true, so the job of being a washerman or woman had its hazards !

Another daily ceremnoy was in the early morning, when a "gauddo" shepherd brought his buffalo and tied it to a casuarina tree outside our house next to the secondary gate.(the gauddos were an underprivileged sub-caste in Goa, who are generally shepherds, and caretakers of cows and buffaloes). My father was wary of cow’s milk in India because many cows developed tuberculosis, whereas buffaloes provided healthy milk. there were no shops selling bottled milk, in those days; so he engaged a shepherd to bring his buffalo to our house daily, and had our butler watch how the udders were soaped and washed, and the buffalo milked in front of our eyes. The foamy milk was then boiled, and we had our breakfast..

.....One of the milestones of the life in Goa, was on the 24^th of August when there was a feast to celebrate the cutting of the tassel of the ripe rice: the benediction of the tassel offered to the Patron Saint of Goa, accompanied by the folkloric dance called addau, celebrated by both Hindus and Christians.

The fact that the Hindus participated together with Christians in this ceremony goes to shew the tolerance of the Hindu religion, willing to embrace all within its fold. It occurs to me that this festivity to offer the first sheaf of grain to the deity of Abundance appears in all civilizations, and it existed prior to the arrival of the Portuguese. The Romans also offered sheaves of the first harvest to the goddess Ceres.

The privileged gaunkars of the village of Taleigao, after cutting the tassel of rice, accompanied by jugglers carrying swords (potekars), to give this offering to the altar of the Cathedral (Sé) in Old Goa, and then to the Governor General a gift of "avel", grounded rice toasted with sugar. The potekars carry one or two long swords ( potés), and juggle them in the air faking a fight, jumping all the time mimicking a duel. This is the dance called "addau".

In the evenings a smashing show was enacted on the river Fontainhas, when barges and boats colourfully decorated with arches, and manned by boys and girls in fancy dresses, as if it were Carnaval, floated down the river, passing under the bridge which connects Panjim with Ribandar and Old Goa. The festivities went on as the boats were rowed back in full panoply of flowers, papier machê, and crepe paper streamers.