Saligao Serenade

by Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas

As my friend Salvador Mascarenhas and I continued to walk through the vaddo (ward) of Cotula in Saligao, we found ourselves at the house of the late Sebastian Pinto. He was an Africander, a social worker, and always smiling. Opposite is Amanda Lopes e Souza’s residence—she is now in Portugal. She was a good pianist and a very amiable character. She was senior to us at Mater Dei, and we were also acquainted with her brother Jerry, and Gloria. Read the rest of this entry »

by Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas

As my friend Salvador Mascarenhas and I continued walking through the Cotula ward of Saligao, we noticed the Bank of India branch, which has been serving the industrious people of Saligao since the sixties. Moving further we noticed a hair-cutting saloon. In days gone by Madulo the barber used to operate from this small house. In addition to giving his customers a haircut, Madulo, who seemed to know more than the TV news channels of today, would update anyone who cared to listen on current events and day-to-day happenings in the village and other parts of Goa. This saloon is now run by a different person, whereas Madulo’s son, who is working overseas, has his saloon in the supermarket building at Mudd’davaddi, near Marque’s private chapel of St. Jerome.

As we proceeded ahead we noticed the old Patrocinio Vaz e Irmãos bar.  Patrocinio, who was commonly known as Patru, had two brothers, João and José Vaz. Next to this bar, there used to be the Casa Tipri shop selling various household articles, but this has shifted to the locality of the new tinto (market). In its proximity there was the old tinto. In fact at that time, prior to Casa Tipri, the premises was known as Pakleachi Garage, which was later on converted into the shop run by Ornelas Souza Tipri. He was also correspondent and local reporter for The Navhind Times. Read the rest of this entry »

by Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas

This essay describes my walk through the famous Cotula ward in the village of Saligao, Goa, in the month of April 2008. A document of the Saligao Communidade dated 27 March 1759 gives the names of the nine wards originally existing at that time in the village: Salmona, Arady, Sto. António, Dondo-vaddo, Mollebata, Murdavady, Cotella, Vaddlem Marada and Dacutem Marada. The other wards, with which we are familiar nowadays, had their origin much later.  

As you might have noticed, the document I specified mentions the ward “Cotella”. This was later lusitanised into Cotula. In Konkani it is written as  Kotula or Khotla. The chauri or chauddi (that is, the Communidade House of Saligao) was located at Cotula, which was the seat of the village administration. Here was the residence of the Khot, from which the name of the ward ‘Khotla’ is probably derived. According to some, however, the name is derived from Kotwal, the village patil, the forerunner of the regedor of the Portuguese era, who had his office there. The post office and later the telegraph office as well as the first Latin Portuguese school and the Lourdes Convent school were initially set up in Cotula. Read the rest of this entry »

by Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas

Saligaokars have made their mark in various fields and professions in different parts of the world. Right now, I’d like to highlight the achievements of four such successful Saligaokars - O D’Mello, Gracias Saldanha, Justin Francis and Dr Lyndon da Cruz. Read the rest of this entry »