"One man's meat is another man's poison"

Livia de Abreu Noronha
24 May 2002

Re: the above subject, plus the elections in Goa and "Is Goa Liberated?", let me give my humble views.

It is generally accepted that "One man's meat is another man's poison" and that "What is good for the gander is not good for the goose", and therefore to some Goa is liberated and to others it is not.

I just came across the following  passages transcripted from "Goa and Ourselves" written in 1955 in Bombay by the Indian lawyer B.K. Bohman-Behram, M.A., LL.B.:


Political Aspect:

"...There are about 4500 Goan Civil Servants in Portuguese India, whilst those who come from Metropolitan Portugal are said to amount to a few dozen. As against that it is pointed out that there is a substantial number of Goans in Portugal itself who hold public offices or pursue liberal professions and are allowed to do so as equals.

The fact seems to be incontrovertible that Goa is not a source of employment for the sons of Portugal, but that, on the other hand, the whole of Portugal including its overseas possessions in Asia and Africa is open to and flooded with the sons of Goa."


Cultural Aspect:

"...Portuguese India with a population of 600,000 is partly Christian and partly Hindu by a half to half proportion - a proportion that tilts in favour of the Christians if the thousands of Goan immigrants, who still retain their Portuguese nationality, are taken into account.

The Christians are an orientalized Neo-latin type. The Hindus, by reason of their customs and usages having been protected by a special Portuguese law and by the fact that they constantly intermingled with their neighbouring co-religionists, did not integrate so much in the sociological ethnography of Goa and it cannot be said that the process of lusitanisation is complete in them.

But, it is pointed out, the Hindus of Portuguese India, linked by centuries of political tradition to things Portuguese, are a Portuguese type. A particular system of Government and certain environment prevailing for centuries naturally changes the character of a people and the Hindus of Goa definitely differ from Hindus inhabiting the adjoining territories.

One has to meet them to notice their Western mannerism, one has to enter the homes of the prominent amongst them to find in them a past or present Portuguese Baron, a Viscount or at least a Knight Commander with the venera displayed in a conspicuous place by the side of a photograph of the President of the Portuguese Republic.

"Goans as a result of a cultural process of centuries are different from their neighbours. They generally feel that Goa cannot therefore merge if it is going to preserve its soul, its identity, its ethos.

They know that India has throughout its hoary past absorbed several cultures and passed them through the filter of Hinduism. From the Aryans to the Greeks, from the Greeks to the Persians, they came and conquered and were conquered and absorbed, except the Muslims. Pakistan was the result of the fear that Muslims had of being politically dominated and culturally absorbed by the Hindus.

"Our own Government implicitly recognised the cultural distinction between the Goans and the peoples of the Indian Union when it once stated that «The Government of India demands a transfer of Portuguese possessions in India with the guarantee of respecting their culture, language, laws and customs and not to change them without their consent».

"Look at any facet you like of Goan life and you will see Portugal deeply reflected in it. Ethnically and culturally, the Goans have been moulded to the Lusitanian type and true to that type they remain by tradition and choice."


I wonder how much the Salazar government paid to Bohman-Behran to give the above evidence. And how well it applies to our present days! Is Goa liberated? No. It is still in bondage.

Last Monday, I was at the "Conservatoria dos Registos Centrais" in Lisbon and I met a couple from Goa who had arrived the previous day to make their IDs and Passports and travel as Portuguese to other parts of the EU. The woman didn't know a word of English, and she told me she knew Konkani and Marathi. She was going to Sweden to join her husband who has been there since the last four months. Looking around at the big crowd that was in the hall, she told me " Mojea govan sanglam ho lok boro mhunn". I asked her "Ani Indian bore nhoi?" "Baie, tankam zok marum ani amche Goenkar samke holke zaleat".

How many such curses are being thrown on the people of Goa?! As I was leaving the place I saw a group of around ten or more Goans who had also arrived the previous day and were there for the same purpose: obtaining birth certificates to get IDs and Passports and travel to their final destinations.

Why are these Goans leaving Goa? We know they will be going through hard times and big sacrifices.  One may say that Goans always worked  abroad and left their families behind. But in those days, quoting  Bohman-Behran again, "the hardships are a great deal minimised by the fact that they have a Government which governs the least".

After seeing the proclamation of Independence of East Timor, the major part of the ceremony being conducted in Portuguese, and the presence of representatives of Independent Portuguese ex-colonies, I got myself singing with the great Brazilian Carlos Jobin: "Este Povo ainda há-de cumprir seu ideal, ...... será ainda um grande Portugal".

Goa is now a black pimple on the colonial map of Portugal. All the other former colonies are members of CPLP (Commonwealth of Portuguese-Speaking Countries) but their citizens do not enjoy the same status as do the Goans and their descendants. 

Perhaps this is the only blessing to the sons and daughters of Goa and of other former Portuguese settlements in India, for not being independent. God does write straight  even if the lines are sometimes crooked.

Livia de Abreu Noronha
24 May 2002

Back to Front Page