JOURNEY … REFLECTIONS OF A WRITER

by Diogo Mesana Fernandes
diogomsf@yahoo.com

I was born in a village in South Goa, where there was an abundance of verdant tropical growth. The coconut plantation was one of the most important crops of the village, with the slender leaning palm trees rising to a height of up to 80 feet. Mango was one of the most important and widely cultivated fruits in my village. The mango tree is evergreen, often reaching 50 to 60 feet in height, and attaining a great age. Beautiful green young rice plants ripen to golden at harvest time.

My childhood was spent in the village. We had no electricity, running water, or the conveniences common today, yet we were happy. I would fly kites or play with wooden toy cars. I was taught at a tender age to play the violin by the village mestri who also taught me to read and write. I played the violin in religious ceremonies at our village church. It was in the village church that I first saw a book called the Biblia Sagrada (Holy Bible), which aroused my curiosity to read it.

At the age of eight I was enrolled in a Government School – the Escola Primaria Oficial. The teacher who taught me Primeiro Grau and Segundo Grau was a woman named Maria Visitaçao. She was the most enlightened teacher I met who taught me the joys of reading. In teaching the young, she never seemed to age by a single day. She was a virtuous woman and virtue does more to preserve youthfulness than all the ointments in the world. Even after I started my working life, I stayed in touch with her until her death.

I became an altar boy when I was eight, serving mass at St. Rock’s, our village church. On the patron's feast day, the Bishop of Goa was invited to celebrate the Solemn High Mass. While I was taking the wine cruet, it slipped from my hand and dropped on to the marble floor with a loud bang. People in the crowded church looked at me aghast, as if I had dropped a bomb below the altar. Seeing the terrified looks of the people, I was frightened almost to death.

After I completed Segundo Grau in the Escola Primaria Oficial, I was enrolled as a boarder in St. Anthony's High School, Monte de Gurim run by the Franciscan Fathers and Brothers. They were excellent teachers, given to discipline. The school and monastery lies on a hillock with a legend behind it. It is said that Hanuman, the divine monkey chief, was asked by Rama to fly to the Himalayas to get medicinal herbs to heal the wounded warriors. Hanuman flew to the Himalayas and carried the mountain of medicinal herbs to restore the wounded amongst Rama's army. While flying, a part of the mountain fell in a field, thus forming a hilly village, which came to be known as Guirvaddo or the fallen village.

Every year, in order to invite the public to witness the school’s cultural activities, the students presented a theatrical play. I had no theatrical ability, but Brother Salvador, who was in charge of the school’s dramatic activities, felt that somehow or other I had to be in the play because my father had donated some money for the programme. The title of the play was ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’. I was given a role as captain of the robbers. After I came near a huge rock I had to utter the magical words, "Open, O Sesame!" and forthwith would appear a wide doorway in the face of the rock. While leaving the cave, I had to speak the magical words, "Shut, O Sesame!" whereupon the door would close itself.

In the month of April when I was at home for the summer holidays, I would go climbing the hills with my father, to pluck cashew apples grown in a small plot that my father had inherited from his godparents. As we climbed, the majesty of the high hills impressed me, their wildlife enthralled me, and the peace relaxed me.

At the end of a long life, one generally hears two things said - that things are too good to be true and that things are too bad to be true. As I cannot fathom the meaning of the saying, I wrote this essay in the hope that someone may find the truth in the above saying. Over seven hundred words make up this essay. Though I read it often, it never reads the same. The more I lift my eyes from it, the more I feel the need to write my own autobiography that all might see what I want them to see.
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Diogo Mesana Fernandes was born and brought up in Goa. He completed his Primary Education in Portuguese and Secondary Education in English in Goa and his University education in Bombay. His fourth and latest book entitled ‘ABBE FARIA – the Master Hypnotist who charmed Napoleon’ was released in October 2006. He recently retired from Macau Government Information Service where he worked as a publicity writer.