OPINION Pg8

HERALD
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o= HERALD o=
Vol No CIX No: 325
Bhôrpis (Gypsies) in Goa
Goa, Saturday 21 November, 2009 TEOTÓNIO R DE SOUZA examines the history of the gypsies in Portugal and in Goa, and the age-old negative perceptions about them
Ageing Princess, J
ust as I was hesitating about what theme to authorities were effective in checking the
take up in this column, I received in my inbox a movements of the gypsies in Goa, so that they were
message from Binaya Jena, the national award- dissuaded from finding their way and circulating

fading beach winning film-maker, seeking documentary

assistance for her script Goan Sonata, to be screened
more confidently within Goa territory? Very likely,
because from the time of dated presence of the

T
he Disaster Management Authority’s sub-committee on
River Princess on Thursday rejected both the bids submitted
for removal of the grounded ship at Candolim Beach, on
‘technical grounds’. Two companies had submitted bids for cutting
up the ship into sections and floating it away. These were G M
Services of Mumbai, and the old, unsuccessful suitor of the Princess,
Jaisu Shipping. For the latter, it was its fourth bid. Apparently, a
clause in the tender that the ship has to be cut into not more than
five pieces for salvage deterred potential bidders.
The government had floated tenders for removal of the ship,
grounded since 2000. The technical bids were opened on Friday
13 November. This day seems to have proved unlucky, because
both company’s bids have been rejected on technical grounds. G
M Services submitted that it can complete the job only by breaking
the ship on the spot. This is unacceptable, and it was therefore
rejected. Jaisu, on the other hand, submitted options to either tow
away or to break the ship on the spot. Why its tow-away bid was
rejected remains to be seen.
Both companies naturally claimed that they were technically
qualified for the job. Tourism Director Swapnil Naik said that the
government would have to verify the claims before considering
either. This sounds strange, considering that the government had
earlier awarded the contract for salvaging the ship to Jaisu Shipping,
a company whose expertise is in dredging, not in salvage. Is this
a subtle admission by the government that the company may not
have been qualified to do the job?
The tragedy is that with this new development, tenders will
have to be floated afresh for the salvage operation. It is already
mid-November. Even if the government moves quickly on the new
tenders, it is unlikely that they can be opened before the end of
December or early January. This means it may be end-January by
the time the contracts are awarded. That would leave only three
months of fair weather for the task, an impossible time frame in
the circumstances. This means that the chances of removing the
vessel before the onset of the monsoon in 2010 are bleak to non-
existent.
What does this development mean for Candolim Beach, which
has suffered from alarming erosion as a result of the grounded
ship? Last year, large chucks of land adjoining the beach were
swept away by the angry waters. The government’s attempt to
stop this, by sand-filled ‘geo membrane tubes’, recommended by
the Central Water and Power Research Institute (CPWRI) and
implemented by the state Water Resources Department at the
exorbitant cost of Rs6 crore, failed to protect the heavily eroded
1.5 km section of beach from further devastation.
with a background of Goa of the 1950s and with
Oscar-winning actors. She was particularly
interested in knowing more about the gypsies in
Goa. Binaya Jena had read my Unwrapping Goan
Identity and that’s when she seems to have
connected in her mind the Goan identity with that
of the wandering gypsies. Not a very far-fetched
conception of the Goan diaspora, whether seen as
outward- or inward-oriented since its relatively
distant past.
However, Binaya Jena will find it difficult to find
traces of the gypsies in Goa in the 1950s, because
that was a particularly worrying decade for the
Portuguese administration. The satyagrahis had
become a nightmare for it, and any roaming gypsies
were likely to face zero tolerance from the
Portuguese authorities.
I first heard about the gypsies from my dad.
Recounting his own “gypsy” past that took him
from Goa to Hyderabad, where he initiated his
expat career in the palace of the Nizam, to the
time it would nearly 50 years later in the palace of
the Sheikh of Kuwait, he was forever impressed by
a gypsy who read his fortune. He was more
impressed because she had told him that he had
very recently lost a brother! That was a reference
to his late brother Calisto, who had drowned at
the tin manos (triple sluice-gates) in Moira, where
he had gone fishing.
Just a few years ago, I wrote a foreword to Alfred
de Mello’s book of memoirs, entitled From Goa to
Patagonia (2006). In the book, he too writes about
a Hindu astrologer, who drew up his horoscope
and had predicted that he would end his life in
Patagonia. He took it as a joke whenever his father
would warn him to behave well if he did not want
to reach Patagonia. However, all said and done, he
has been living in Uruguay (near the region of
Patagonia) for the greater part of his life. The
soothsayer inspired the title of his memoirs. Gypsies
too know how to exploit the general human fears
of facing the future and capitalise on them.
I know that there were Bhôrpi in Goa. They
occasionally scared us as kids during the Portuguese
times. Bhôrpi was equivalent to uncouth or ill-dressed
Tongue in Cheek
HISTORICAL EXPLORATIONS
in common Konkani parlance till very recent times. S R
Dalgado’s classic Konkani-Portuguese Dictionary of
1893 lists the term as meaning trickster, robber.
Today’s Goa has made a big cultural turnabout
and we can visit a gypsy mart or a gypsy boutique
near the Calangute football grounds, or view the
bull dance by roadside as in http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=ACYzZ-Wa8zk where a traditional bull-
dancer gives instructions to his bull in English, or a
westernised metallic high-decibel ear-mistreat of
Gypsy music associated with the Anjuna freak
festivals.
Victor Rangel-Ribeiro posted the following
information to the Goa-Research-Net cyber-forum
on the 16th of this month, drawing from the
unpublished memoirs of his father in 1930s: “A group
of bôrpi came to Saligão when I was about five
years old. We lived at that time in ‘Filpa Tio’s house’,
which faced a field that led to a toem and was the
second house east of the crossroads where the
Mapusa-Verem road via Pilerne met Saligão’s main
Learning from Sachin
street. Joaquim José Campos and his family lived
some houses farther to the east of us, and closer to
the pond. The gypsies, men, women and children,
prepared to set up camp in the field opposite our
house and some neighbours came to our house in
a panic, asking my father to intervene. The fear
was that they would steal whatever they could,
including livestock and children! However, when
my father prepared to go out, my mother became
quite concerned and almost hysterical; I have a
faint recollection that a knife fight had already
occurred or been swiftly aborted. Anyway, in the
middle of the turmoil, a cabo (Portuguese police
officer) showed up from Mapusa with no weapon
but a whip in his hand, and he ordered the group to
march before him on the winding road up the
Saligão hill. They surrounded the man and there
was a bit of an argument, but he showed absolutely
no fear and the group eventually did as he
commanded.”
Could it be that the Portuguese colonial
Spanish gitanos in Portuguese Estremadura and
some other regions, there are repeated royal orders
banning the gitanos from entering into Portuguese
territory. Such orders continue throughout the
following centuries, proving obviously that the royal
orders had little or no effect, until King John V (1706-
1750), who for whatever reason disliked gypsies
heartily, took tougher measures and deported them
in regular batches to African colonies and to Brazil.
There is one of his orders in 1718 indicating India as
one likely destination. Historians will need to check
that up in the surviving documents.
One of the royal orders issued to the governors
in Brazil and Angola was that the gypsies should
not be allowed to return to Portugal or to use their
language ‘Gerigonça’. This word continues in the
Portuguese vocabulary, and from it derived the term
gíria (= calão, jargão). Konkani too retains the
word ‘gerigons’ to mean tudkibhas, but also false
promises or something alike.
Curiously the gypsies or ciganos of Portugal,
related to Spanish gitanos, speak a language that
contains words of Indian origin, such as pani
(=water), cani (kan=ear), chalar (chalunk=to
walk), chardó (chadar=), chor (=thief), churi
(suri=knife), dai (mother), boque (bukh=hunger),
chaló (=go), dicaló (deklo=saw), etc. According to
a study by Adolfo Coelho in Portugal, the rom
(gypsies) of Portugal are culturally closer to the
Indian origin than the East European branches.
The earliest gypsy groups may have arrived in
Portugal in the fifteenth century. They were given
the legal classification of ‘vagabundos e marginais’
(nomads and marginals). The classic Portuguese
dramatist Gil Vicente has a play entitled A Farça
dos Ciganos wherein he characterises the irksome
begging practice of the gypsy women and children.
He also points to their skills in black magic and
fortune-telling. Due to this latter practice, in
particular, they were persecuted in by the
Inquisition. It is yet to be checked if the Goa
Inquisition did not have such victims in its records.
I can only wish all success to Binaya Jena’s Goan
Sonata and her Goan gypsies! May these bring
good luck to her and to us in the coming years.
By Adelmo Fernandes

Each geo tube was about 20 metres long, 3 metres in
circumference and designed to rise to a height of 1.8 metres after
being filled with sand. Each tube could hold about 24 to 30 tonnes
of sand. They were supposed to be laid in the sea and on the
beach, to form a double barrier; the line of geo tubes in the sea
would break the waves’ velocity and help deposit sand in between
the two barriers. However, said the contractors, cross currents
made it very difficult to lay the geo tubes, so they put down only
one line, to protect the beach. Half measures rarely work. The big
monsoon waves simply battered the high-cost tubes till they were
in tatters.
Endless delays have made the removal of the River Princess
very costly. The estimated cost has now been calculated at a
staggering Rs75 crore. Of this, only Rs25 crore can be recovered
through sale of scrap. It may seem like a huge sum, but every
monsoon will only raise these numbers, not lower them. If at all a
new tender is floated for the Princess, it should be for the post-
monsoon season in 2010. Let us get the formalities over before
the monsoon starts, so the contractor can get started as soon as
it ends and take this ageing Princess away.
T
his week saw the whole country and indeed the entire cricketing
world shower accolades on Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar on his
completion of twenty successful years of playing cricket at the
highest level. And why not? Over the years Sachin, on his way to
breaking several records, has given every Indian something to cheer
about, something to be proud of.
Completing twenty years in international cricket is comparable to
celebrating one’s hundredth birthday. It takes resilience, motivation,
passion, determination and, above all, physical endurance to achieve
what Sachin Tendulkar has achieved. Many of us may not have played
the game of cricket, or for that matter any sport, at even the school
level. But there are a lot of things we can learn from the life of this little
‘master blaster’, who can now also be called ‘master laster’. He has
lasted in international cricket for so long that younger team-mates
like Yuvraj call him “grandfather”.
How could Sachin Tendulkar have lasted for so long in a competitive
sport like cricket? Sachin says that it is passion for the game which
has kept him going. Indeed passion can be a great driving force for
anything we wish to do over a period of time. “Only passions, great
passions, can elevate the soul to great things,” wrote Denis Diderot.
Nothing great has ever been accomplished without passion. Our very
own Leander Paes plays the game of tennis which intense passion.
That is probably the reason why he has been playing on the circuit for
so many years.
You need not be a sportsperson of international repute to show passion
for something. People like Baba Amte have show a passion for social
service. Others have shown a passion in religious matters. Some have a
passion for writing – I have been writing for newspapers for the past
twenty-five years. The same enthusiasm is there in writing an article
today as it was when I wrote the first article a quarter of a century ago.
One need not do great things but should strive to do small things in
a great way. Determination is a quality the master-blaster has shown in
great abundance. You should be determined to accomplish whatever
you have set your heart to achieve. Many great personalities have not
lived to their full potential because somewhere on the way they gave
up. They showed very little determination to achieve their goal.
Many times success goes to one’s head. As a result of the pride
that follows, the person meets failure. Sachin Tendulkar has been an
epitome of simplicity. He has his feet firmly on the ground, even
though he has achieved success of unimaginable magnitude. That is
what separates truly great persons from the mediocre. People tend to
get carried away by their temporary success. That contributes to their
downfall. We should be humble even if we have achieved success.
Indeed humility is one of the greatest virtues that one can possess.
Sachin puts his heart and soul in his game. He is one of the most
intense players around. He enjoys his game. That is the trait we
should possess if we are to achieve something in life. We should enjoy
whatever we do. The more you enjoy doing a thing, the more are the
chances of you coming up trumps. It is only when you enjoy doing
something that you can give a hundred per cent.
Sachin has been able to achieve greatness because of his physical
endurance. A tennis elbow almost ended his career. But his
determination to get back on the field, which resulted in him working
on his fitness after an elbow surgery, speaks volumes of his reslove.
Sachin said that while recovering from surgery he could not even lift
his son’s bat. But he came back more strongly from the injuries. We
may not be called to go through a physical endurance test. But we
often require mental endurance. Many a time we lose a battle much
before it is fought because of our mental attitude.
Sachin has never rested on past laurels. There is a world of difference in
experiencing satisfaction and being satisfied. When you are satisfied is
when you stop performing. One should have an insatiable thirst for success.
Sachin said that he never discussed a game that was finished, but prepared
himself mentally for the next game. We should always look forward.
Indeed, we have a lot to learn from this boy from Mumbai who took
the cricket world by storm.

Letters to the Editor

Sack the DGP!
Peter Andrade, Vasco
DGP Bassi should be sacked from the police
force for equating churches with casinos. He
needs to realise that one does not go to church
for entertainment or for the purpose of
financially benefiting or ruining oneself. After
falling flat in the Vasco church blast case, I
wonder what the DGP is trying to prove with
such blasphemous statements.
The media has time and again said that
the police patronise and benefit from illegal
gambling. DGP Bassi has now proved that his
senior officials are also into gambling and
has compared this act of visiting the casino
with spirituality.
Can the wise DGP tell us who bombed the
Vasco Church? The Goa police need to realise
that they are testing the limits of patience of
100 Years Ago
PRIMEIRO DIARIO NAS COLONIAS PORTUGEZAS
21 November 1909
Saptah festivities begin
In the City, the festivities of the Saptah of
the Hindus, which will last 7 days, have
begun.
Wood prices shoot up
The price of wood has shot up in the District
of Bicholim due to devastation caused by
mining explorations.
Assassination plot that wasn’t
The arrest of two individuals mentioned in
OHeraldo two days was motivated by
infringements over a license to sell
gunpowder and not to assassinate Lord
Minto.
Millionaires turn smugglers
Various millionaires from New York,
Philadelphia and other American cities are
defrauding the American government by
indulging in large-scale smuggling.
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reflect the views of the Herald editor, publisher, and/or owners.
the Christian community, which are not
boundless, even though the Bible prescribes
forgiveness.
Freedom to gamble
Cedrick B Fernandes, Margao
With regard to the report ‘Clean chit for casino
cops’ (Herald, 16 Nov), I would like to know
the basis on which DGP is equating churches
and temples to casinos and why he has not
mentioned other religious institutions apart
from churches and temples. Were these police
officers trying to fulfill the Indian Constitu-
tional rights of equality and freedom of ex-
pression during their visit to the casino and
by organising belly-dancing at the inaugura-
tion of Anjuna Police Station?
Is he trying to motivate youngsters to
frequent casinos, by ruling out any action
against these seven police officers and by
saying that casinos are not illegal? What
message are the police giving the Goan youth,
when casinos and belly-dancing are not part
of Indian culture?
Belly-dancing for all!
Murad Karol, Navelim
The campaign against DGP Bhimsen Bassi
and his officers is unfair. What he originally
said has been misinterpreted by the media.
The police did not go to a rave party. Casinos
are legal, and they went there while they
were off-duty.
Some people are in the habit of criticising
others for some hidden agenda. When most
of the politicians go to five-star hotels to see
belly-dancing, then why not police officers?
Reduce the shacks
Maria Fernandes, Calangute
Cyclone Phyan has made topographic changes
in altering the Calangute, Baga beach stretch
with sand erosion. GCZMA needs to conduct
a re-survey of the beach and reconsider the
reduction of beach shacks. The media has
shown the sand erosion on this beach through
photographs.
If the Directorate of Tourism does not
reduce the number of beach shacks, more
sert that the Rs150 advocated by the Mini-
Paths of Wisdom
Letter of the Day mum Wages Advisory Board is reasonable.
Most unskilled labourers in Goa are migrants
and are paid much more than that, some-
Policing or hooliganism? times even more than some white-collared
Goan workers.
If the minimum wage of unskilled labour-
Soter D’Souza, Socorro
ers is raised, the repercussion will be that
The reports about some senior police officers partying on an off-shore casino should not skilled labourers will demand more. As man-
surprise Goans. It is sad that a couple of respected police officers got entangled in this ufacturers and industrialists raise the prices
controversy. But the behaviour in the police department has by and large been not at all of manufactured goods, there will be all-round
exemplary. A law-abiding citizen visiting the police station may end up being verbally inflation in prices of essential commodities,
abused, while thugs and anti-social elements get a dignified reception. in turn leading to unemployment.
The reply of the DIG to the casino incident and the belly-dancers speaks volumes about Several unskilled workers have eventually
the sick mindset prevalent at the topmost level. Visiting a casino could have been compared become skilled workers. Rather than putting
to a visit to the toilet, bar or a brothel. In no way can it be equated to a visit to a place of the government to shame, we need to
worship and prayer.
Nirodha and Ekagrata
blame the workers who choose to remain
If the argument that casinos are legal holds good and there is nothing wrong in police unskilled. Attention, contemplation and meditation
officers patronising them, does it mean that it would be appropriate for senior police officers are anterior to and not immediately
to indulge in booze parties after office hours, as alcohol consumption is legal? Are senior Women to the fore productive of that kind of meditation in
police officers not meant to be mentally, spiritually and physically fit for duty 24 hours of the which the distinct cognition of the object is
day and therefore avoid places where they can become vulnerable to compromising R Fernandes, Margao lost, which is called meditation without a
Two-wheelers are doing roaring business in seed.
behaviour? What example do these officers set for their subordinates?
Defensive arguments that the police are only human may find favour in other states but Goa. Their advertising theme is ‘macho’, and There are two trains of self-reproductive
not in Goa. We have a sizeable population who have been abroad or at least have relatives this is fueling reckless driving. The ads are thought, the first of which results from the
who narrate experiences about the fitness levels and sober social behaviour of policemen taking a toll on young Goan lives. mind being modified and shifted by the
in other countries. Policing, which is a sacred duty, has unfortunately been reduced to a Girls are more level-headed and under- object or subject contemplated; the second,
mere hooliganism in Goa due to increased politicisation. stand that this type of ‘macho’ behaviour is when it is passing from that modification
Senior police officers need to find positive and constructive avenues of entertainment and just not worth it. It is time they take control and is becoming engaged only with the
coping with stress, other than boozing, gambling and gaping at foreign belly-dancers. and cock a snook at show-offs. truth itself; at the moment when the first is
The greatest ‘macho’ quality a young per- subdued and the mind is just becoming
sand dunes and greenery will be destroyed ite restaurants. son can show is disciplined driving. Create a intent, it is concerned in both of those two
to accommodate the additional beach shacks. What made our holiday so special was revolution on Goan roads. That will be the trains of self-reproductive thought, and this
being able to walk the length of the beach mark of a man. state is technically called Nirodha.
Sena vs Sachin without falling over sun-beds or having no In that state of meditation which has
room at times to walk on the beach due to been called Nirodha, the mind has a
Yogesh A Shivji, Pernem
the number of sun-beds. We had no hassle on
Uneasy heads
The statement by Shiv Sena Supremo Bal uniform flow.
the beach and found a nice restaurant further Blossom Cabral, Nagoa When the mind has overcome and fully
Thackeray on Master Blaster Sachin back than the temporary shacks normally are, It is said, “Uneasy is the head that wears a
Tendulkar is in a really bad taste and has hurt controlled its natural inclination to consider
which was fine for us to eat, drink and be crown.” A helmet cannot be termed a crown, diverse objects, and begins to become
the sentiments of millions of people in India happy. Though the weather was not perfect, but it can protect the rider’s head from an intent upon a single one, meditation is said
and abroad. it really was blissful to walk on that gorgeous injury in case of an accident. After all, preven-
The Shiv Sena is playing the game of politics to be reached,
stretch of beach. tion is better than cure. When the mind, after becoming fixed
in the name of ‘Marathi Manoos’ and hurting I am sure if things remain like this Goa will upon a single object, has ceased to be
the Indians’ sentiments and feelings. attract a better clientele who enjoy peace Letters should be 150 words or less in concerned in any thought about the
and space. length, and should have the writer’s condition, qualities, or relations of the thing
Shack-less perfection name, address and telephone number. The thought of, but is absolutely fastened upon
Michelle Bradbury, UK Keep wages low editor reserves the right to edit letters for the object itself, it is then said to be intent
Aureo Fernandes, Margao size and readability, and to delete any upon a single point — a state technically
Our sixth visit to Goa was unique and we had
personal attacks or libellous /objectiona- called Ekagrata.
a perfect holiday. We met all the good friends With reference to Alex de Souza’s letter ‘Paltry
ble matter. (Patanjali)
we made over the years and ate in our favour- minimum wage’ (Herald, 19 Nov), I feel as-