...One of the most endearing recollections of my youth, was the occasion when during the middle of the night we awoke to a serenade of a string band, which had sneaked during a moonlit night into our garden, sat on the "balcâo" and made our sweet dreams come true, with the bars of a Strauss waltz, Toselli’s Serenade, or von Suppé’s "Poet and Peasant" They were the medical students who loved my father as their Professor and were accompanied by Renato de Sá, an admirer, friend and a writer. Goans are greatly gifted musically, probably as a result of the policy set by King Joao III, who in the sixteenth century, sent along with the missionaries, Jesuits who organized choirs and introduced western choral music, both religious and popular. Almost every Goan Christian learnt to play an instrument : violin, violas, mandolin, guitar, flute, clarinet, saxophone, cello, bass and piano. (The success of 72 year old José Pereira in his recent tour through London is a point in case)

We jumped from our beds, the girls put on gowns over their night dresses, Papa and Mama also put on robes over their pajamas, switched on the light which illumined the patio, and went out to hear fourteen medical students playing for us, tune after tune. Mama and my sisters offered them candies, sugared almonds, and Port wine, and we were regaled with a concert, so spontaneous, that in later years, I sometimes joined them with my violin, and Victor with his Spanish guitar, dressed in our pajamas.

These serenades continued unannounced , twice a year, in December, before Christmas, and

in May, around Papa’s birthday, always on moonlit nights, and were occasions of rejoicing, and for Papa, evidently , an emotive reward from his dedicated students.

The Escola Médico-Cirurgica had, of course, a number of professors, but the students never serenaded the other members of the Staff. This was due to the fact that, not only they worshipped their "Mestre" (Master) , but considered him as their Protector. Some three years ago, I have received a letter from Dr. Joao Filipe do Rego , regarding a special event involving my father, which his father, Dr. Antonio A.do Rego, Papa’s colleague in the Medical School had narrated to him when he was a High School student. It happened in 1922.

At that time there was a small nucleus of Portuguese from Lisbon who were racists, and like the neo-fascists of today, they made a lot of noise and turbulence, apart from offending the local population. There was an outspoken Goan newspaper reporter, Luis de Menezes, who wrote scathing articles on the Diario da Noite, which had been founded by him. It must be remembered that until 1926 there was total freedom of the press in Goa, and in the Portuguese Republic.

The most obnoxious racist stalwart was a Portuguese lecturer at the Lyceum,(High School) called José Dentinho. He barged into the office of the newspaper, and sought an explanation from Luis de Menezes for having dared to write a strong critical article against this small political and racist group of Europeans, and challenged him for a bout. (1) The contest was proposed to be held below the verandah of the Adil Khan Palace ( today called Secretariat). Apparently Dentinho selected this place, because he could get the backing of the staff of the Governor if required. Menezes had the handicap of wearing glasses, so he had to take off his spectacles, and thus missed a couple of blows, yet he managed to make Dentinho’s nose bleed. Whilst many people had clustered around to watch the fight, including some pakhle, and armed soldiers, who did not intervene, the fight continued until Dentinho was floored, knocked out and taken away by his pals. The journalist had scored a victory, on behalf of his Goan brothers.

A few days later, after this public fight, Dentinho who had an inclination to get into brawls, had mustered his fellow political racists, and started a confrontation with the medical students in Campal. One of the students was one Samiro Vaz who had an excellent physique and the muscles of a boxer, and when Dentinho charged against the students, Vaz boxed him with an upper cut, leaving the guy floored, unconscious. Other white racists came to his rescue, but again Vaz punched them, together with his fellow students. The fight ended with a complete victory of the medical students, but here the Police intervened, and locked up all the students, letting the white aggressors go off scotfree.

Soon my father learnt about this, and put on his gala uniform of a colonel, with his ceremonial sword. He went immediately to the Police Headquarters and layed his sword on the Commander’s table, offering it as a pledge of honour, demanding that his students, all crowded in one cell, to be set free immediately. The Portuguese Chief of Police, who was a Major, saluted the unflinching and resolute Colonel, and set the students free. Later, the Governor Dr. Jaime de Castro Morais, learnt about this untoward happening and immediately instructed the Chief of Police to return to my father his ceremonial sword, personally. No wonder why the medical students considered Dr. Froilano as their Protector and Defender.

A few months later, on the 25^th September 1922 there was a grandiose homage and farewell to Dr. Froilano de Mello, as he was scheduled to sail to Portugal, and be a Professor at the Medical Faculty in Oporto. Under the aegis of the Governor General who also made a speech, and with many other speeches from the Director of the Medical College, Dr. Wolfango da Silva, and other colleagues and students, he was apotheotisized, and carried on the shoulders of his students from the Senate of Goa (Municipality) to the Bacteriological Institute in Campal, and then again from there, going uphill to Villa do Monte, his home in Altinho. (2)

REFERENCES: (1) Article on IMPRENSA PORTUGUESA-GOA, dated May 21, 1994, by Antonio Menezes ( son of Luis Menezes)

(2) Issue Nº26 ( 1955) in memoriam of Prof. Froilano de Mello of the Excola Médica Cirurgica de Goa, pages 45-63)