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OHERALDO
OPINION
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O HERALD O
Vol No CX No: 145 Welcome the Pope and the Gays
Goa, Saturday 5 June, 2010

portuguese temperament was at its ambivalent best during the recent visit of the pope, says Teotónio r De souza
It’s all about the
money, honey! T he folksy Portuguese tend to voice their
opinions loudly about everything under the
sun, and the more ignorant amongst them
go to the length of describing the move in terms
of 30 silver pieces that proved sufficient to sell
Jesus to his killers, but implied it in many words

I t’s no longer a sport; it’s a business. The Board for Control
of Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) decision not to send a team
to the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, later this year
is in many ways a logical extension of the financial scandals
that have engulfed the body that is supposed to be in
charge of India’s most successful sport. Officially, the BCCI’s
excuse is that the Asian Games clashes with the New Zealand
tour of India. It says the tour is vital for India to retain its
No: 1 rank among test-playing nations and that it therefore
cannot afford to field a second-string side against the Kiwis.
According to the BCCI, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)
has already made it clear that it will not accept a second
string side from India in the Asian Games. Therefore, it
says, it has had to choose…
But note the choice. The Asian Games offers honour and
a medal, but no money. The New Zealand tour, on the other
hand, fits perfectly into the BCCI’s ongoing financial arrange-
ments. In short, the BCCI has chosen cash over country. There
are other cricket-playing countries in the sub-continent. There
too, cricket is a moneyspinner. However, both Sri Lanka and
Pakistan will send teams for the Asian Games. So will minnows
Bangladesh. India, alone, will not.
If recent events are any indication, the BCCI is a giant mon-
eyspinning machine, and nearly all its top officials seem to
have their hands in the till. After the shenanigans of former
IPL supremo Lalit Modi, yesterday’s newspapers reported
that companies in which BCCI President Sharad Pawar has a
significant stake had bid for the Pune IPL franchise; a clear
conflict of interest. All professional sport bodies do operate
like businesses, but most do not lose sight of the fact that
basically, they are running a sport and not a business.
Here, the BCCI seems to have comprehensively lost its
way. It appears as though there is no control over income,
expenditure and receipts. No one is accountable. And every-
body makes money.
Look at other sports. Football is played by around 150
countries, compared to the eight that play cricket. A Football
World Cup is a real global event. In comparison, a Cricket
World Cup is a small club of just over half a dozen countries
pretending to be ‘the world’. But most countries still make
sure to field a football team for the Olympics. Clubs release
players that they pay lakhs of dollars a week to do national
duty. That shows honour and patriotism. On the contrary,
the BCCI wants to see the cash first…
Tennis is another huge moneyspinner. Top tennis players
make millions of dollars a year. Yet, most take time off to
are generally the loudest. By and large, it is a
people that boil in very little water (ferve em
pouca água) but bear no malice. As they call it, it
is all “de boca para fora”. This is generally accepted
by the Portuguese themselves as their national
trait of má lingua (love of gossip), to which could
be added the other trait, of mutual jealousy.
The Portuguese chronicler of Discoveries and
author of the classic Decades of Asia João de
Barros has recorded his characterisation of the
Portuguese, who suffer more with the well-being
of others than with their own misfortunes. It can
be relished better in his original version: “Ao por-
tuguês mais dói o bem do outro do que o mal
próprio.”
On 13 May, like on most of those monthly un-
lucky dates, sizeable crowds of Portuguese rushed
to Our Lady of Fatima to seek solutions for the
crises that their politicians generally contribute
to aggravate the existing ones. So it has been
ever since the birth of the first Portuguese Re-
public, which this year completes 100 years, half
of these spent under Salazar’s dictatorial regime
of doubtful republicanism.
But even the first Republic, like its ground
model – the French Revolution and Jacobinism –
proclaimed Liberty, Fraternity and Equality with
a generous dose of high-handed legislative meas-
ures and use of a variety of pressures, without
having to resort to the French expertise of the
guillotine. It is just like saying that Goans were
converted to Christianity with no use of force.
Admirers of the enlightened despot the Marquis
de Pombal, the republican free-masons, erected
for him an eye-filling statue in the middle of the
capital city of Lisbon. They too resented the
clerical influence upon the popular masses, which
they preferred to see bullied by their own ‘en-
lightened’ ways.
Fatima was a Church response to the republican
high-handedness that sought to delink the state
from the church. The republican free-masons were
not very coherent or consistent in their policies.
For instance, they did not renounce Portugal’s
Padroado claims overseas, particularly in India.
The anti-clerical republicans did not want to
lose the church links for their political influence
overseas. They even confirmed the budget that
was worked out under the monarchy to com-
hisToricAl explorATions
memorate 400 years of the conquest of Goa, with
a solemn and extraordinary exposition of the
relics St Francis Xavier in December 1910.
In the last month of May, the Portuguese put
up yet another show of the volatility of their emo-
tions and their compulsive desire to cut a figure
of an advanced and modern people. The Por-
tuguese masses are easily carried by their elite
gentry in the mimicry of modernism. The Por-
tuguese are not unaware of this national trait,
for which they have coined the saying: “Para o
ingles ver!” Which means: “to impress the English”.
Following the unfavourable publicity that Pope
Benedict XVI received throughout Europe, includ-
ing Portugal, alleging that he was responsible for
leniency towards clerical paedophiles, the overall
evaluation of the Pope’s visit to Portugal was un-
expectedly very positive, without a shade of the
virulence that was in air before the visit. Several
factors may have contributed to this ‘miracle’
that transformed the public image of the Pope,
who came as pilgrim to Fatima.
On his arrival, the Pope praised the historic
and glorious role Portugal played in the missionary
expansion worldwide since the 16th century. St
John de Britto’s link with India was not forgotten!
The Pope expressed his desire to see Portugal
continuing its mission in Europe and the world
today, where he saw God being replaced with al-
ternatives that led people nowhere. Such an en-
comium won over the Portuguese soul during
the rest of the visit.
The pious demeanour of President Cavaco and
his wife, who assiduously accompanied the Pope
in all his major engagements, certainly meant
much as a sign of national welcome, even though
a few days later the same President signed into
law a bill that legalised gay marriages. The con-
stitutional procedures left no alternative to his
approval, but his subdued comments were dictated
by a political strategy that could guarantee his
re-election as President for a second term.
The Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon was quick to
react, and voiced his disappointment. He did not
that questioned the incongruity between personal
convictions and political gains, usually presented
by politicians as national needs.
What Portugal is also expectantly looking for-
ward to is the winding up of the 10 year-long
paedophilia scandal that opened the millennium.
The public feeling is that the guilty with high po-
litical connections will get away lightly, perhaps
with tough-sounding admonitions not very dif-
ferent from those one hears these days from Mon-
signor Scicluna, threatening the paedophile priests
with fires of hell. Much depends on who believes
in the existence of Hell. Even if all believed, it
would not justify sending the judges on permanent
holidays.
The Vatican has already come under fire from
gay groups for linking homosexuality with pae-
dophilia. But in Portugal at least, the legalisation
of gay weddings and soft-pedalling on the pae-
dophilia scandal have coincided in time. But Por-
tugal has a long history of sodomites and
‘fanchonos’ that fills heaps of documentation of
the Portuguese Inquisition archives. Luiz Mott, a
renowned anthropologist of Brazil, has published
extensively on this aspect of Portuguese history.
But long before, it was the subject of two novels
of Abel Botelho, one of those who designed the
republican flag of Portugal. In his two novels, O
Barão de Lavos and O Livro de Alda, he pointed
to the intensity of male and female homosexuality
in Portugal as a national pathology.
The evil consequences of the separation of
males and females in a small population of Portugal
at the time of the Voyages of Discoveries appear
described in the Autos, the celebrated dramatic
performances of Gil Vicente. But it is in the Autos
da Fé and death penalties of the Iberian inquisi-
tions that we see the scale and the tragic fate of
those involved in ‘pecado nefando’ (monstrous
sin, sodomy).
The secret prisons of the Inquisition were spe-
cially reserved for these. The Inquisition records
of the sodomites cover all sections of Portuguese
society, not excluding the religious and clerics of
all ages and hierarchical levels.
By way of conclusion, it would be too facile to
attribute the scandal of priestly paedophilia solely
to the clerical celibacy. The cultural ambiance
certainly has its responsibilities.

parents: Your best friends

play for their country in the Davis Cup and Federation Cup. Tongue in cheek
They even play in the Olympics. Let us remember that the
only Olympic singles medal India has won in tennis − a By Adelmo Fernandes
bronze − was by Leander Paes in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

He lost to the then top player in the world − Andre Agassi
− in the semi-final.
Even those who make much more money than our cricketers
have the pride and humility to represent their countries,
even where only honour and a medal are forthcoming. What
differentiates the BCCI is its greed!
One finds it hard to believe that the likes of Sachin Tendulkar
would be averse to playing for an Asian Games medal. In
fact, former India captain Anil Kumble has said he is disap-
pointed with the BCCI’s decision not to send teams to the
Asian Games in China. Obviously, a number of top players do
not share the BCCI’s exclusive obsession with lucre. But does
it care for players’ feelings?
Let us not forget here, that the Asian Games is a competition
India participates in as a country. If the BCCI will not send
teams, it is depriving the country of potential medals. Does
it really have that right?
M
ay God defend me from friends; I can defend myself from
my enemies, wrote Voltaire. The other day, I happened to
come across a poem written by an undertrial who is still
behind bars. The poem, titled: ‘Parents Love – The Ultimate’ says:
“Why do children sometimes decide
Everything bad that they do, from parents they hide
In all these things, they take extreme pride
No rules or regulations they intend to abide
Friends and girls sitting by their side
Careless, high speeding, motorbikes they wish to ride
Posing like heroes and dons, they wait by the roadside
No parents but friends they want as guides
Friends they will always be by their side
Not often do they realise, when down popularity glides
Fast friends disappear with the high tide
Whether blunders like suicide or homicide
Only parents always remain by their side.”
By the tone and tenor of the poem, it appears that the chap has
been ditched by his friends. Indeed, with friends like these who
needs enemies? True friends are a joy to behold, more precious
than diamonds and pearls. The Bible says: “Greater love has no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend.” (John
15:13) But true friends are hard to come by. If you happen to have
one, see that you do not lose him/her at any cost.
We seldom give much thought to friendship. “A true friend is
the most precious of all possessions and the one we take the least
thought about acquiring,” wrote La Rochefoucauld. But there is
also a dark side to friendship. This is the type of friends one should
guard against. They are a blot to the fair name of friendship. They
are your side when everything is rosy and fine, but when trouble
arrives they desert you like rats on a sinking ship.
Some so-called friends are even worse than deserters. They are
the cause of the trouble you are in. They take sadistic pleasure in
putting you into deep trouble. These are the types of people one
should not touch even with a bargepole.
It is very difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff – to tell
true friends from trouble makers, because the latter are like wolves
in sheep’s clothing. One way to test true friendship is in money
matters. “The holy passion of friendship is so sweet and steady
and loyal and enduring in nature that it will last through a lifetime
if not asked to lend money,” wrote Mark Twain.
How important friendship is over money will determine how
true a friend really is. Happy are those who have found a true
friend. Cherish a loyal friend. See that the friendship is not lost.
Stick to it with for dear life. You may not find another in your
lifetime.
Indeed, your parents are your first friends; your best friends.
They are the type of friends who will be by your side in good
times, as well as hold your hand when you are in trouble. A true
and loyal friend is the only one who compares with parents. Even
if the whole world puts you down, or snubs you, it is your parents
who will always be your true friends. So, the next time your best
friend ditches you, go give your parents a big hug. They will never
let you down, come what may.

Letters to the Editor

Caranzalem park
Melwyn Pereira, by email
With hardly a couple of days to go for
schools to reopen, and with the rains in
the back drop, I decided to complete some
important work in Panjim. I had plans to
spend the entire day out in Panjim with my
family. After completing my work we left
for Caranzalem to visit the park, about
which I had heard a lot. As we entered my
daughter went straight to the end where
there are rides for the children to play. I
must thank the authorities concerned for
keeping the park in proper order, which
otherwise is hardly seen in Goa. I would
like to remind the concerned authorities
that the park is also a place for relaxation
for adults likewise who often come to such
places. The park which has benches at the
100 Years Ago
PRIMEIRO DIARIO NAS COLONIAS PORTUGEZAS
5 June 1910
Smallpox epidemic
Virulently spreading in the Village of
Velim is the Smallpox ailment, which is
daily claiming some unfortunates. The
free inoculation service, which is being
rendered promptly, is a boon for the
public.
Qualifications check
It is baffling to know that only now
the authorities have remembered to
demand competency certificates from
school teachers and headmasters, irre-
spective of whether they are working
or not.
Salary unpaid
It is reported that a Cable Guard and
his servant of the Telegraph Station of
Quepem are yet to be paid for a period
of four months.
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authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Herald editor, publisher, and/or owners.
entrance and at the far end is covered by
lawn to around 70% area of the park. It does
make sense as any park would look incom-
plete without the lawn. What really doesn’t
make sense is that in the park there reads
a board ‘lawn, do not enter’. Of what use
is this park if the public in general cannot
make use of this lawn? Of what use is this
park if our children cannot run around?
There is more pleasure in squatting on the
ground rather than sit on those benches.
Will the concerned authorities take a deeper
look?
Princess still floats
Cedric da Costa, Margao
June 6, 2010 will mark the 10th anniversary
since the River Princess got grounded at
Sinquerim. It is indeed a sad day for Goa
and Goans. It is also a day when Goans in
Goa and the world over should sympathise
with the residents of the Candolim-
Calangute beach stretch. However, one per-
son who will be singing like the proverbial
Fiddler will be the damager in chief…Anil
Salgaonkar as he has managed to make a
small fry of all the babus in Goa. After all
the efforts in removing the Princess failing,
the Government must now in fact celebrate
this day. Digambar Kamat, Mickky Pacheco,
Manohar Parrikar and Mathany Saldanha
who have dragged their feet in tackling
this, must be felicitated. The NGOs in Goa
too also should be honoured. I am sure
Remo will oblige by performing and Digam-
bar Kamat will rush to be the chief guest.
He can also ensure steady participation
from the crowd by getting bus loads of his
supporters. This is the sorry state of Goa
and the reality hurts…not just the present
generation but also the coming ones. All
for the aam aadmi of Goa!!
Saving Goa
Rina Fernandes, Ponda
Brilliant job done by Praxy Fernandes in the
open letter addressed to the CM in the col-
umn Opinionated dated June 1. The message
is loud and clear. Digambar Kamat, I hope
you read newspapers. I strongly agree with
every view mentioned in the letter. It is sad
to see outsiders coming to Goa and over-
powering us. What are we doing seeing
our beautiful Goa getting destroyed in the
That explains why national political parties,
Paths of Wisdom
Letter of the Day IAS officials and migrants boss over us. This
would also imply that since our democracy
is a failure, 'We the People' are absolutely Trust in God
Contribution of Catholics
Dr Francisco Colaco, Margao
unfit to act independently. What a shame
after all the education, culture and economic
progress we Goans boast of.
One cannot expect 70 years plus senior
I sorely miss Valmiki Faleiro’s column ‘All and Sundry’ in Herald Mirror. This doyen
freedom fighters to relaunch a movement
of writers with a deft touch would every week pen a brilliant piece to make my Sunday to rid Goa of the present rot. It should not
complete. No topic was too small or too big for him to broach.
be the case that someone should initiate
However, I must confess, I felt amply compensated by Valmiki’s recent series ‘Flying the struggle and we will cheer from the
High’ in Sunday Mirror. Through a painstaking study, Valmiki details the unparalleled
side lines. Thereafter, one fine day we will
contribution of Goans in India’s armed forces. As I read, the real tales of virtue and also do the disappearing act, leaving the
valour by our own Goans, I shed tears of joy and pride. To further learn that among
initiators of the movement with the sole
those who laid down their lives for our country there is an overwhelming number of responsibility of nursing their own creation.
Catholics, made me feel even more fulfilled.
This reminds me of the popular Goan phrase,
Recently, at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, a large crowd gathered to pay homage to the Tum fuddem voch re, ami tuje fattlean
late Carlos da Cruz, a great freedom fighter (who also fought against social oppression
asach.
of poor adivasis). There I met the evergreen septuagenarian Dr Damodar Bhonsle,
who graduated from Escola Médica de Goa. He preserves documentary evidence that
Filling the slot Then Jesus said to the disciples, “And
covers many historical issues. My heart was filled with admiration when he showed
Elvis Sequeira, St. Cruz so, I tell you not to worry about the
me lists of freedom fighters – one prepared by the Portuguese before liberation and
The Mahindra United Football team has food you need to stay alive or the
another by the powers-that-be thereafter. In both lists, the truth was glaring: Catholic
been disbanded and will not be seen in ac- clothes you need for your body. Life is
names figured prominently (including a number of Catholic priests).
tion in the I-League from the coming football much more important than food, and
It has become a fashion nowadays to denigrate Catholics by calling them ‘pro-Por-
the body much more important than
tuguese’ and ‘anti-national’. The art of Catholic-bashing by vested interests is being season. There are different sets of views
clothes. Look at the crows: they don’t
cultivated with militant zeal. This is abhorrent! Those who, like me, followed the and opinions as to who should occupy the
sow seeds or gather a harvest; they
freedom struggle from close are too aware of the historical facts and of ‘turncoats’ vacant slot caused due to Mahindra’s with- don’t have store rooms or barns; God
(vira-casacas). drawal. Some opine that second last team feeds them. You are worth so much
It must be re-emphasised, for the knowledge of all, that the contribution by Goan on the league table should be retained in more than birds! Can any of you live
Catholics for the strength and growth of Mother India, in every field, has been place of Mahindra whilst others opine that a bit longer by worrying about it? If
exemplary. Their sacrifices will always remain carved in letters of gold, no matter the the number of teams in the I-League should
you can’t manage even such a small
concerted attempts by vested interests to the contrary. be increased by retaining both the relegated
thing, why worry about the other
teams. On the other hand, the AIFF fancies things?
evil hands of our politicians?. These corrupt and safe. This is the time to start… This having an under 19 team tentatively called “Look how the wild flowers grow;
ministers should be kicked out of our land is the time to make our presence felt… AIFF-XI which will directly step into the they don’t work or make clothes for
and this can happen only when we Goans This is the time to write and shout aloud
boots of Mahindra United without going themselves. But I tell you that not even
unite and raise our voices. How much free- – Together, we can and will make a dif- into the actual procedure of qualification.
dom are we enjoying in our own land? Can ference… King Solomon with all his wealth had
It is simple logic that the last two teams clothes as beautiful as one of these
we really call ourselves free? I wonder if are relegated to the second division, irre- flowers. It is God who clothes the wild
the CM and his gang of looters and cheaters Time to act spective of their past laurels or the clout
have a heart. For what are they amassing grass – grass that is here today and
Soter D'Souza, Socorro they enjoy within the corridors of power. A gone tomorrow, burnt up in the oven.
so much wealth and that too, by cheating
common and innocent people? What should The views expressed in the letter 'Goa: Ba- team that performs below par does not de- Won’t he be all the more sure to clothe
happen to all the wealth when not one of nana Republic' (Herald, June 4) is a demon- serve to be retained. you? How little faith you have!
us is certain about life tomorrow? You may stration that though Goans have been So also, a team cannot be directly given “So, don’t be all upset, always con-
cheat as long as you like, but mind you, liberated politically they continue to remain entry onto the elite competitions without cerned about what you will eat and
there is an all powerful God watching over mentally and emotionally enslaved with a going into any qualifications procedure, drink (for the pagans of this world are
all our actions. It is time for us, Goans, to colonial mindset. By claiming that Goa was thereby blocking the entry of a deserv- always concerned about all these
unite as one big family and save our Goa better under Portuguese occupation, we ing team from the second division that things). Your Father knows that you
from outsiders and evil politicians. Or a are indirectly admitting that as a society meets the required criteria. In all fair- need these things. Instead, be con-
time will come when we will be outsiders we Goans are unable to manage our own ness, the team occupying the third slot cerned with his kingdom, and he will
in our own land. Let’s raise our voices. Let’s
affairs responsibly and independently. We on the second division of the I-League provide you with these things.
take a step towards making Goa, the Goa need someone with a stick and a carrot to should be promoted in the place of (Matt 6, 25-34)
of our dreams – beautiful, bright, green make us function responsibly and effectively. Mahindra.