In 2005 Goa will have the opportunity to commemorate 50th anniversary of
the death of one of its great sons, Dr. Froilano de Melo. He died of cancer
in Brazil at the age of 66. He launched the first serious campaign of
malaria control, leprosy control and TB control in Goa. With make-do
equipment available to
him in Goa, he proved that much scientific research was still possible. He
was a pioneer of in the study of protozoa in the intestines of termites, who
digested celulose. His goal was to see what protozoa could live in human
digestive tract. If it could be transformed into energy as cows do by
chewing the cud, the problem of hunger in the world could be solved!
Dr. Froilano belonged to Goan elite society under colonial regime, but not
even he was free from being pinched by the Acto Colonial of Salazar from
1930. To save his children from discrimination in the midst of their "white"
colleagues, he chose to educate them within home compound with privately
paid tutors, and sent them later to choicest boarding schools in British
India. He entered politics and was elected to represent Goa as MP in the
Portuguese parliament. His maiden speech was mis-represented by some
prominent Goan freedom fighters as a betrayal of Goan freedom struggle, but
it is time now after 50 years to look at his performance more
dispassionately and do him justice. Not many have studied all his speeches
in the Portuguese parliament, and most are influenced by some tendentious
readings of his maiden speech! History is a great redeemer.
Still little known to many is Dr. Froilano's admiration for Rabindranath
Tagore. He even published an excellent book on Tagore's thought. He had
visited Tagore, and his first wife even produced the first French version
of Gitanjali. For the goanetters who may only know Tagore as India's first
Nobel laureate and composer of its national anthem (that of Bangladesh as
well), Rabindranath Tagore was a "humanist" and as such, a "universalist".
That made him an "internationalist" who never got along well with the
impatience and intolerance of the Indian nationalists. Despite his great
admiration for Mahatma Gandhi, Rabinadranath Tagore did not share Gandhi's
views and actions about "chakra" and "swadeshi movement". It is not
surprising therefore if we find many traits of humanism and universalism in
Dr. Froilano Machado's political ideals.
We may look forward to Alfredo de Melo's memoirs *From Goa to Patagonia*
due to be released by the year end. He is the eldest son, now an
octogenarian, living in Uruguay. His memoirs will make available for the
first time some
of the unknown correspondence of Dr. Froilano de Melo, including a
confidential letter he wrote to Salazar before laying down his office as
elected MP.
- Teotonio R. de Souza
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