Saligao Serenade

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.

O D’Mello

First up is O D’Mello. He has been in government service and was the Postmaster General of Rajasthan during much of the 1970s. Subsequently he was transferred as Postmaster General of Maharashtra and Goa. However, his daughter Janet, who studied dentistry at Grant Medical College in Mumbai, chose to settle down in Jaipur after marriage.

Gracias Saldanha

In the midst of grave reports of downturns and slowdowns and meltdowns in the world economic order, there is the heartening news that a Goan with roots in Saligao, Gracias Saldanha, featured in the US-based Forbes magazine list of the world’s richest persons at No 785, at the end of last year. He’s also the 38th richest in India with a net worth of Rs 4,000 crore. Saldanha founded Glenmark Pharmaceuticals in 1977 and was at its helm until 2001. He is currently the chairman and non-executive director at Glenmark. He holds a Masters degree in Science from Bombay University and a Diploma in Management Studies from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. Prior to setting up Glenmark, he worked with a number of multinational pharma companies from 1964 to 1977. If my memory serves me right, Mr & Mrs Gracias Saldanha and family celebrated the feast of Mae de Deus in 2004.

Justin Francis

In 2003, I received a newspaper cutting from a friend working for a daily in Goa. It was about young Justin Francis, with ancestry in Saligao, doing Goa proud in Canada. Justin was honoured with the Spirit of the Capital Youth Award at the Ottawa Congress Centre. His resume of success is as robust as his inventory of musical instruments. Justin Francis is the son of Fiona Francis and Glen Francis, hailing from Saligao. Justin was born in Canada and brought up in Canada.  “It was a huge surprise for me to get the award, it was a shock,” said 17-year-old Justin, quoted in the report. He has travelled from Toronto to China pursuing his passion for music.

He started playing the piano at the age of three. He played the double bass for about six years and can also play the guitar and electric bass. Beyond Justin’s musical endeavours, the teenager aspires to pursue a career in neurology. Justin believes in one theory: “If you have a dream, work hard and you’ll get there.”  This is a story from the year 2003.  We are now in 2009. How far has Justin Francis progressed since then? Do drop me a line or write in a comment if you can fill us in!

Lyndon da Cruz

It was refreshing to read in the Times of India, Goa edition dated February 23, 2009, the news item “Goan doc pioneers bionic eye”. A UK-based ophthalmologist of Goan origin, Dr Lyndon da Cruz, son of Albert and Florinda da Cruz from Cruz-vaddo in Saligao and Perth Australia, is credited with conducting the first three successful operations to implant artificial electronic retinal devices in the eyes of the blind.  The device is called a bionic eye.

On a visit to his grandfather’s house in Saligao recently, the 44-year-old University of Australia graduate told the Times of India that he was also part of another project – the pioneering work of transplanting stem cell-derived retinal cells for restoring sight to the blind patients.  Both projects are at the trial stage.

Da Cruz is chief investigator and surgeon for bionic eye implants in London.  There are a total of 18 bionic eye implant operations that have been done all over the world, including 12 in the USA and Mexico and six in Europe.  Da Cruz has done all three bionic operations in Britain. Says da Cruz in the report, “Since these patients were totally blind, after the operation they don’t see like you and I do.  But they receive light to see where objects are, so they can navigate without the need of a stick or guide dog.”

Da Cruz explains that bionic eyes are a pair of video glasses to capture objects that wirelessly transmit the signal to the device implanted in the eye. The device stimulates the residual retina to generate a signal which the optic nerve carries to the brain. The trials will continue for three years. If doctors can prove that patients benefit from the bionic eye, the device will become widely available, according to da Cruz.

Da Cruz is also working on another revolutionary project – transplanting stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelium cells into patients suffering from age-related macular degeneration (AMD).  Da Cruz said, “We have succeeded in turning stem cells into retinal pigment epithelium cells.  These are presently being tested in animals to see if they are safe and stable to be implanted into humans who have lost those cells due to diseases.”

Da Cruz, who was born in Mombassa, Kenya, migrated with his family to Australia where he studied medicine, obtained eye surgery training and eventually a doctorate in gene therapy. In the UK, he trained further in retinal surgery.

Many years ago, while I was attending a Portuguese literature class at the Saligao Seminary, our erudite professor of Portuguese was explaining to us a literary work of the famous Portuguese author Camilo Castelo Branco (1825-1890) called ‘Amor de Perdição (Love of Perdition).  Suddenly he stopped, and pointing to yours truly said, “Here is a story for you!”

“Camilo Castelo Branco had a history of failing vision and as a last resort consulted Professor Dr. Cláudio Caetano António Júlio Raimundo da Gama Pinto (1853-1945), the internationally famous ophthalmologist from Saligao who had consulting rooms in the Instituto de Oftalmologia de Lisboa (renamed in 1929 as Instituto de Oftalmologia Gama Pinto) in Lisbon.  After Branco’s eyes were examined, Dr. Gama Pinto informed the author he could never be cured. Highly distressed, the famous literary romanticist committed suicide soon after.

While in Portugal, visiting the Institute of Ophthalmology Gama Pinto, I met with a number of senior ophthalmologists at the Institute (Travessa de Larga, 2, Rua do Passadico, 37, 1169-019 Lisboa), but none could either confirm or refute this story of the link between the diagnosis and the suicide of Branco.

Nevertheless, a century later, another ophthalmologist with roots in Saligao, Lyndon Da Cruz, has pioneered the bionic eye, potentially providing rays of hope and light to many with impaired eyesight.