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Kashti : The Goan
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Livia de Abreu Noronha
Thanks to everyone who has given us some vivid pictures of "Kashticars"
which has brought back childhood memories to one and all. As far as
I am concerned, Ben Antão's description reminded me of my school holidays
in Benaulim at my maternal grandmother's place and Pedro was the main
toddy tapper of that area at that time. This Pedru (he died two years back
- may his soul rest in peace) is the very same man who started the famous
Restaurant/Shack at Benaulim beach and I was told that the food served
there was always excellent. So, the "Liberation" of Goa,
"Civilization" (How many of us remember this song of the
fifties?), killed the "kashti" which so many of us are nostalgic
for - something that the "ferocious" Portuguese
Colonialism was not able to do. Or is it that our Goan brethren were given
to understand after sixty one that "kashti", "konkani",
and "dekh" is evil brought into Goa by the Westerners, specially
the Portuguese in the case of Goa and that this evil had to be shunned as
fast as one could so that we could come into the fold of our
"Saviours"?
By the way , I must
say that both my elder brothers and I often drank the "niro"
(the boys more than me, of course) that used to be a special offer from
Pedru in Benaulim and from other toddy tappers in Curtorim on the way to
"Muxher" near the River Zuari or even when we lived in Margão,
from the tappers of Comba, Maddel or Moghul. It was a real refreshing
drink in the early morning hours!!!
The idea I get from the reading of the various interesting postings
covering both the "Goa Flag" and the "Kashti" is that
there is a little of male chauvinism in it. Why look at "Kashti"
only? What happened to the beautiful women's dress of the bygone days of
Goa? The "Vasquin", "Kutaum", the beautifully
embroidered or laced white "lens" thrown on the shoulder?
and the "kunnbi" dress? What happened to the cotton "kapodd"
that our women wore on daily basis and the cream coloured (linen I
presume) "ol" that was worn on top of "kapodd"
on special occasions? And the small heeled "chinels"? Remember
the song? "Bai gho Idalin, paeam chinelam ani paeam chinel gan go
mana rogot kinnelam!"
Until 1959, the year I left Goa, all the above referred items were still
in use. When I first returned to Goa in 1964 they were no more, except for
a few. Could any one on this Forum enlighten me what went wrong for the
use of cotton to disappear from a land which was the heart of the cotton
industry ? Keeping in pace with the modern times I suppose.
I did ask a kunnbi couple - Jaki and Inass (Joaquim & Inácia) why he
had stopped wearing "kashti" and she was now wearing a sari? The
reply was that the materials required were no longer available and
whatever was on sale was not cotton and therefore not comfortable!!!
"Purtuguesa tempa lugott melltta tem atam menn'na ni re bai? Atam
tempa lugttam angha gan kam korunk xixiriponnai! (Do you see the word
"tempa"?)
Regarding "Shastikars - Kashtikars", I suppose this comes from
the fact that in Bardez many Brahmins proudly wore the "kashti",
worked in the fields, etc. whereas in Salcete, specially in Curtorim, as
far as I can recall (I left Goa when I was barely 23, too young maybe, in
those days, to be aware of many many things), there was a distinction made
and those working in their own fields, etc. were referred as "kashteh
bamon". But what really beats me again is, if up to 1961 the above
dresses were in force and the Portuguese rule did not wipe them out, what
happened later? What has made them disappear? In Kerala most men still go
about in "lungis", so? Perhaps just a few of many of our "favourite"
recollections do make the Goans in the diaspora that "race
apart" which too many want to criticize.
"Kashti kadd lepti kha" - what a beautiful way to describe our
very own "patolli" or what in Portuguese is known as "Pipis"
(JIP - "Jacob & Dulce"). The "kashti" is the
turmeric leaf ( Ollodi pan) in which the rice flour batter and the coconut
and jaggree filling is placed, and the "lepti" of course is the
combination of all the latter ingredients, once steamed. Although the 15th
of August celebrates the feast of Our Lady of Assumption and the blessing
of the new sheaves, and the "patoios" and the "attol"
are a tradition for "Noidad" ("Novidade",
"New"), in some parts of Goa this celebration comes earlier than
the 15th of August (for instance, on August 5th, feast of O. L. of Snows).
I hope I am correct on this, because, once again, these are my greatly
cherished childhood memories.
And what about going
barefoot? Bare footedness in my good old days was no sign of poverty or
lowliness. All the children, if not in towns at least in villages, went
bare feet to school, church, etc.. Now who goes bare feet? And does one
look upon anyone who goes bare feet? I think the Goans even scorn the
"hippies" who go bare feet. In those days there was so much
cleanliness that any water running from the brooks formed by rainfall used
to be crystal clean. Now, when one looks at the water one
feels a strong nausea. The grass growing in our "morodds" used
to be so green that one could enjoy the early morning dew drops and rub
one's feet on the grass and see them clean, but now we can only say ALAS!
ALAS! ALAS! and as says Alfredo de Mello, going... going...
gone............
As for the Goa Flag,
in some posting of mine in September last, I did say that if we Goans had
our own flag and did not have to pay homage to Portuguese, Indian or any
other "flags of convenience", Goan History and the
History of the Goans would be altogether a different S T O R Y.
Livia de Abreu Noronha
May
15, 2000
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