THE 18TH JUNE EPISODE
(free verse)

Above, overcast skies
black ominous clouds
threatening storm and thunder
Below, khaki clad soldiery
glistening guns, a few cannons,
bristling bayonets and batons
in readiness to cut asunder
the storm of people’s rage
civil disobedience and open rebellion;
yet they all looked askance,
as hordes of people from all corners
stormed unarmed, defiantly
chanting slogans, clamouring for their rights,
challenging undauntedly
the fiery wrath of the Dictator.

What mysterious factor
impelled such a vast multitude of all denominations
to come into the streets
fully determined to resist, to defy?
these very people, who in yesteryears
lived in a cocoon, complacently indifferent,
doing their master’s bidding meekly,
accepting oppressive laws timidly!
And well aware were they of Salazar’s black deeds,
the brutal fascist means he took
to curb and crush all opposition.
And still they came pounding, in numbers astounding
men and women, young and old,
ready to sacrifice for the Cause,
to do or to die …….
No news flashes in the papers
no advance announcements,
no tom-tom of the drums,
just a word, a whisper perhaps
along the grapevine –
that an outstanding national leader,
in the evening of that memorable day –
the 18th June 1946, in the historic town of Margao,
would, at the peril of his safety and life,
make a bold bid to break the shackles
that bound his Goan brethren
to such humiliating servitude;
and so spontaneously they came, unafraid,
to bid him a hero’s welcome,
to give Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia a rousing ovation.

With hopes soaring high,
enthusiasm unabated,
they saw the one horse open carriage
roll on to the square gracefully,
with the two doctors seated, side by side,
clad in Khadi, pure white
No weaponry they brought,
on their heads they wore white Gandhi caps-
Symbols of Truth and Passive Resistance
the two weapons that shook
the might of the British Empire!
A tumultuous volley of slogans boomed
“Inquilab Zindabad
Mahatma Gandhi ki Jai
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Ki Jai”
The soldiery in sudden action
Of savage brutality,
People resilient, resisting passively.
Meanwhile, on alighting, Dr Lohia and Dr. Juliao
arrested by a clownish Goan official
with a pistol in trembling hands
piteously bleating “I shot, I shoot”,
Contemptuously, Dr. Lohia brushed the pistol aside,
exhorting the people to put up a valiant fight
whilst revolutionary slogans resounded endlessly.
The events of the day and after, throughout Goa,
are a saga of sacrifice, courage, heroism,
as much blood was spilled, lives lost,
jail birds, saboteurs, martyrs,
The start of the Struggle for Freedom.

Thus was ushered Goa’s Revolution Day.

We, the fortunate to witness and participate
are getting fewer, year by year,
but we carry the memory vividly
and shall carry it with pride to the last.
as we salute the known and unknown heroes,
the living and the dead, of the memorable Day.

- Froilano Machado
machadogoa@machadogoa.com
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Founder of Machado & Sons Agents and Stevedores Pvt Ltd, Froilano Machado is probably best known to the Goan public as a prominent freedom fighter and ex-Speaker of the Goa Assembly. A graduate in History and Economics, he earlier held important positions including that of Vice President of the Federation of Stevedores, India, Director of the Goa Urban Cooperative Bank, Member of the Indian Standards Institute, etc. Froilano loves Goa and has been actively involved in protecting its ecology and environment. He has written articles and poems in English, Portuguese and Konkani.