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Sunday, September 10, 2017

The Memoirs of an Eighty year Old- Episode XXIII

Episode: Other Aspects

Hi readers. This is the last episode of Lasur life. So it is going to be more of a salad bowl as I write about both their personal lives and the changes in the country.

Goa as we know now is a part of India, but it was ruled by the Portuguese till the 1960s. People protested, fought and tried to overthrow them since 1910 after the monarchy was abolished. 1928 was the year Goa National Congress was formed and by 1940s the independence movement gained momentum. Even after Indian Independence in 1947, Goa continued to be under the Portugal rule.

From the year 1953 the fight intensified and many organizations were formed which worked together for freedom from Portuguese. The United Front of Goans along with National Movement Liberation Organization, RSS and Azad Gomantak Dal led an attack on Nagar Haveli and won.
In 1961, the Indian military was ordered to enter Goa and seize the place. Finally the the Governor-General of Portuguese surrendered and Goa along with Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu were declared as Union Territories of India. In 1987, Goas was declared a full-fledged state while Daman & Diu remained a UT.

(In case you are wondering why you have just been through a history class, Grandpa wanted me to include it as he feels it is equally important to know about the history of our country and I agree.)

Coming to their personal lives, I asked grandma if she went around the place on her own.

“No, I didn’t. It was always with your grandpa or with the wives of other railway employees. I was brainwashed that the people there perform a lot of black magic on women, especially good-looking ones. Also, our place was surrounded by huge trees, mostly Raavi (Ficus Religiosa) and various other plants. The elders pointed out that I lost my first baby because I roamed among the trees instead of sitting inside the house all day. I was young, so I thought it would be better to listen to them. Next, when I was pregnant with V, I was very careful.” She replied in a matter-of-fact tone and I did not want to ask more.

V was born in Nov 1962 in grandma’s maternal home. She came back to Lasur carrying her precious three months old bundle and had her mother-in-law, brother-in-law tag along to help her settle with the child.
“They stayed for three months and by then I learned to manage with a child.” She added.

Tell me about V’s childhood activities, I asked and grandpa replied. “She was a baby when we were in Lasur, so there isn’t much to tell, now. I’ll tell you many incidents about all the girls as we go ahead with the story. But yes, she was the only child in the area as the other railway employees were much elder to us. So she was the star of the place. People always wanted to cuddle her. She looked so cute, like an angel.”

What next then? They got transferred to Basara, for just 3-4 months after which they went to Medchal for three years. Grandpa was specially posted there on the order of one of his superiors who also happened to be his training head during the initial days.


Let’s meet in Basara for the next episode. See you all soon. J

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