Saligao Serenade

by Fr Nascimento Mascarenhas

Many years ago, a young man named Felix D’Souza, from Mudd’davaddi in the village of Saligao, was prone to question just about everything he encountered, using a single  Portuguese word — porquê (why). After a while, his entire family was nicknamed Porque – pronounced ‘poorkhe’, although Saligao folk prefer to say ‘porkey’.

The Porque house is very easy to find, for it is today the residence of the former Chief Minister of Goa, Dr Wilfred D’Souza. His Aunt Estefânia from Anjuna married a D’Souza from Saligao – the Porque of this story. Eventually Estefânia gifted their house to her nephew Dr Willy. Of course there was no question of porque in this matter. Read the rest of this entry »

by Mel D’Souza

The villagers of Saligao have always revered any of their sons and daughters who either excel academically or achieve success in their chosen careers – generally in the white collar field. And this remains a sure-shot way of obtaining “famous” status, at least in the eyes of the village.

In the early and middle twentieth century, an era when matriculating from high school was looked upon as a passport to a relatively secure career as a clerk, anyone with a college degree was deemed to be a noteworthy cut above the rest… and even more so if the individual held a prominent position in the then British Colonial Civil service. Read the rest of this entry »