The Unsung Lives Of Goan Poders

Nandkumar Kamat
 

THE pao - the crisp, aromatic, traditional leavened, oven-baked Goan bread - unites Goa every morning. There are villages where the crows might be waking to the ring of the poder (traditional baker) making his door to door delivery visits as the dawn breaks. The Goan economy has changed. The landscape has been transformed.

Traditional architecture has been replaced by comic odd forms which the former principal of Goa College of Architecture, Mr Cho Padmasee calls "Micky Mouse" architecture. The general food habits of Goans are changing. Traditional diets are getting replaced with readymade, exotic and fast foods. There are many new commercial units which are flooding the stores and the shops with sliced breads fortified with vitamins and minerals. But people still identify bread by the local term pao.

Given the choice of regular, fresh and quality supply of the local bread many would opt for the pao instead of the chemicalised sliced bread. So far nobody has gone into the details of the cultural and economic aspects of dietary transition in Goa. The poders are least interested.

Many of them are still continuing in their congested, hazardous, unhealthy and unhygienic old premises which remind you sadly of some scenes in Charles Dickens' novels. Theirs is an institution which has managed to survive against all the odds and by weathering unfair competition.

The five centuries old institution of the poders is Goa's simple swadeshi answer to globalisation and monopolisation of the consumer tastes. The poders know that as long as there are people who love various type of Goan breads - the pao, undo, poyi, katre, the pokshie and the unique, crisp kakon - a patentable product of purely Goan origin, they would be able to continue with their traditional business.

After Goa's liberation, people used to say nostalgically in Konkani- "Te poder ghele anim te undhey ghele" (the Portuguese bread vanished with the poders). This is not true. Poders have managed to survive. Because they have perfected the art of door to door delivery service - Goa's much neglected and unappreciated micro enterprise. The poders pick up the knowledge of breadmaking from traditions in the family. There are bakeries where three generations in the same family are found working. We have lost the trace of the first western type bread maker, the first baker in Goa who made the first padeiro or pao. The leavened, oven-baked bread is a gift of the Portuguese to India. This is a historical fact researched and acknowledged by the eminent chronicler of India's food ethos, cultural historian - Mr K T Achaya. Writing on the breads of India, in his widely acclaimed monograph titled Indian food, a historical companion (OUP, 1998) he concluded that "Pao is a Portuguese contribution, rather like an elastic bun, which is baked to form four sections that can be broken apart."

It would need a doctoral student in cultural history to explore the origin and evolution of the Goan bread making enterprise. There are regional variants of the art of bread making. The pao of the poders of Bardez, Salcete and Tiswadi would be slightly different in texture, flavour and taste. Perhaps an imaginative state-level competition of traditional bread making organised by the tourism department may be able to tell us about the best breads of Goa. But such imagination is lacking. The government is not true to its' bread. Many diabetic politicians are known to solely depend on the poyi -the locally made brown bread with a good content of fibre. But what has the society and government done for the cultural and economic institution of the poders? Practically nothing.

The government determines the standard weight of the breads and fixes the minimum prices. The poders realise that for many poor families the local pao or undo is the cheapest food available. Although the minimum price is Rs 2, you can still get six crisp breads for Rs 10. For thousands of parents worried about the early morning breakfast of their children, the poder is like an angel, a divine messenger. And he is really one, as I have experienced as a child in the village of Calapur. Cold winter mornings, torrential showers or cyclonic winds - I remember the poder on his bicycle with a basket full of breads, making his rounds with a smile and always prepared to give some credit.

Today, as an adult I feel that I have done injustice to this very noble profession which has nutritionally sustained generations of Goans. There is something very moving, very sad, very shocking when I stop by a poders' bakery cum house. The rooms are full of dust. Even the walls and cobwebs are coated with white particles. Many poders store the firewood in or behind their houses. The presence of the dust and firewood makes their places hazardous. Generations of poders have grown up in such congested and occupationally hazardous and unhygienic premises, to produce our favourite Goan pao. I have never shed a tear for them. But when I explored their living conditions more, I found that they have no support from the state, no free health checks, no subsidies or subsidised loans, no insurance policies like the toddy tappers or ramponkars and absolutely no appreciation of their five centuries old art and the science of traditional bread making.

The risk in their business is high - the risk of falling demand, competition, risk of skin and chest diseases, fire, accidents. There is unrecognised direct and indirect employment in their business. In the city of Panaji itself at least 20-30 poders are servicing various wards. Their income is based on the total daily turnover. Many hotels and restaurants depend on the poders for their supply of bread as the customers do not touch the sliced variety. Very few bakeries in Goa like Cafe Central in Panaji have perfected the art of converting the local bread into the packaged sliced variety palatable to the people. Few hotels have their baking ovens where leavened bread is produced. But there is still no match for the bread produced in the old style bakeries. Goans true to their pao, undo and poyi would agree with me.

There are a number of local spicy recipes (Humon, tondak, sukhem, balchao, sorpotel and so on) which would taste bland without the accompaniment of the pao or undo. With the onslaught of globalisation, the institution of the poders and the varieties of the Goan pao are likely to be affected. The poders need practical support for their profession. They need to be given a economic, social and family health welfare package. There needs to be full documentation of the art and science of Goan bread making with toddy or activated bakers' yeast. More than 800 tonnes of bakers' yeast is annually sold in Goa. It is a vast quantity for a small population. But it shows the high consumption of bread in Goa.

It may not be a staple food but the pao is an essential item in many households and it is our duty to respect and acknowledge the contribution of the poders in our daily lives. They are doing an unsung service through their micro enterprise and it is high time that the educated civil society looks compassionately at their pitiful working conditions. Let us be true to our pao, undo, poyi and loyal to our poders. We must save their economically useful cultural profession from extinction. Before it is too late to act!



Dr. Nandkumar Kamat
November 15, 2002

back to Nandkumar Kamat page

back to Front Page