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Lynette Colaco - Sept 1999
[This is just a little note to introduce myself to the wide world of
TGF. I have been reading all of the interesting posts and so have been inspired to
contribute my two cents. It may have very little relevance to what the current topic of discussion is but
nonetheless, I thought it would be, at the very least, entertaining.]
The other day, while I was relaxing in the sanctuary that home is, I asked my
mother to rub some coconut oil in my hair . As always, my mother gladly
agreed to "baby" me and proceeded to massage the oil into my starved scalp.
As I sat there on the
floor of the cozy front room, the smell of the oil conjured up thoughts of Goa, that I hold so dear in my album of memories.
Thoughts of sitting on the cool tiles in our house in Velim, watching the light of the candles dance in the darkness, listening to the
crickets serenade you to sleep. And all it took was the smell of the coconut oil.
Remembering my petite grandmother standing at the grinding stone crushing morsels of coconut for the fish curry she so deliciously made. Mmmm...just the mention of it makes my mouth water.
The way the air smelled as the first chapatis were fried. And the smiles of the people who ate them.( One of them being yours truly) The way the house seemed so at peace when we said the Rosary, and the peace that it brought to me. The silly games we played when the electricity failed us and the creativity it brought to life.
Such little we had but yet what fun! And as these images pirouetted in my head I sighed, longing for such days to return. But in a certain way they did....and suddenly coconut oil was not just an oil anymore...I smiled and then sighed.
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Vivian D'Souza Sept 1999:
Thank you for sharing that little story that I am sure most of us can relate to.
It was poignant and I too was transported into time and place to that magical place of
my childhood. In a similar vein I had responded to someone else's post some months ago with my own memories about "kaalchi kodi".
With coconut oil, I remember my grandmother putting some in my ears before a
hot bath. I don't know what good it did, but it was very cool and soothing. And the hot
water for the bath came from a large copper cauldron warmed by a fire stoked
with dry leaves and brush, and we reached over through a slit in the bathroom wall to fill our
"budkulo" and poured the warm water over our heads.
Thank you again for sharing your memories with us....and keep sending more
of those memories !!!
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Jorge de Abreu Noronha Sept 1999
Regards coconut oil in the ears, one of its good effects is that it helps
soften the cerumen which many a time gets dry and causes itching, as is often
the case with me and then I ask my wife to pour some oil in. It really feels
good.
As for the hot water for bath, the cauldron is called "bhandd" in Konkani and, if I may be allowed to make a small correction to Viv's excellent post.
I am sure you didn't draw the water from the "bhandd" with a "budkulo" but with a "tambio". The latter was in
olden days made of copper or sometimes of aluminum, but nowadays unfortunately plastic ones are used.
Whenever I go to Goa, I stay at my in-laws' home in a Salçete village and,
though there is cold or hot water shower facility in the house, I always bathe myself with water from a bucket filled with warm water obtained by
mixing hot water from the "bhandd" with some cold water from a tap or from
the house well, the bucket and the "tambio" being of plastic. Indeed, every
day water is boiled in a "bhandd" placed upon three stones, firewood, coir
and other combustible material being burnt between the stones and under the
"bhandd".
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Ben Antao Sept 1999
Welcome to the Goan Forum, Lynette.
Your coconut oil piece did indeed make my mouth water too. Since Vivian D'Souza
has already dwelt on oil in his ear, I'll take up something else.
It is interesting that you have chosen coconut oil to evoke nostalgia among Goans in the diaspora. The coconut and its milk and oil are staples
of Goan cuisine.
Two houses from your house in Velim is my house. And sitting in our
verandah I remember watching mothers rubbing coconut oil into the lush black hair of their
daughters in front and beside our house. The mothers combed their hair vigorously and occasionally squashed the lice ova between
their thumbnails with shoos of delighted sighs!
Vivian wrote that he remembers his grandmother putting some in his ears before a hot
bath.
I have had that done too ostensibly to keep the water from entering the ear
drum. As oil and water do not mix, the folk wisdom had something going for
it.
Now hearing so much about rain in the Bahamas, I am reminded of the monsoon
food in Velim. A piece of the dried fillet of cod or shark roasted on glowing embers and dipped in coconut oil was a perfect appetizer for a
plain meal of curry and rice.
The coconut oil was also used in the ritual of dishtti (evil eye) removal.
For the past year or so, I have been using coconut cream in the curry I make once a week here. My wife just loves the taste of curry with the
coconut.