Joseph Furtado the poet of Pilerne

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Joseph Furtado the poet of Pilerne

As children when we went to Goa from New Delhi, Dad always sat us under the mango tree at the back to take his numerous photos. Mum stitched our 'frocks' and what a talent that was and Dad settled us down behind the house to take photos. As he set us up he would always joke and laugh about Poet Furtado who lived in the house diagonally opposite ours. There was a Gulmohur tree growing out of his Living room and Dad would tell us about how people laughed at his simple poems and literally ran him out of the village. 

But it was nice to hear Dad recite a few of his poems, especially about one about The Mango tree and the other about the Goan Fiddler. They were simple childlike poems about his beloved village of Pilerne and about Furtavaddo where we Furtado gauncars lived.  Infact Dad has given me a first edition of his Songs in Exile book of poetry signed by Furtado and gifted to Grandpa Hipolitho and given by him to Dad. It's treasured by me and will go down to my granddaughter who is a writer like me!

 

A little about his background --Joseph Furtado was a Goan poet and novelist who wrote primarily in English, praised as one of Goa’s best yet largely forgotten literary voices. Active from the 1890s to the 1940s, he published poetry, prose, criticism, and fiction, often blending humour, irony, and local themes. Notable works include A Goan Fiddler, The Desterrado, Songs in Exile, and the novel Golden Goa. He was among the first to explore Indian English in poetry. 

The Goan Fiddler

Now I am busy writing a paper which will be included in an Anthology of Goan Literature, with mine being on Poet Furtado. The least I believe we can do to preserve his writing. I'm writing using the Post-Colonial Literature Theory lens to analyse his poems. It's sad that his own village people did not see him for his gift. But that's a common failure with us humans. It was only after he published in the UK that he was recognised and published in India. And best of all being studied along with Wordsworth in the ISC Literature curriculum.  But now through the Pilerne Parish priest and a publishing house, a volume has been published of his famous poems! And the cousin whose wife is not really a Furtado is spreading his fame in her academic circles. They say a genius is never recognised in his own country.

Joseph Furtado

His patrician looks remind me of my priest Uncle Fr. Simon Furtado SJ.

My Bella Vista and its Chickoos

 My Bella Vista and its Chickoos

The old, solid, Convent gate I had erected!

Bella Vista my farm in Hoskote Has two types of chickoos. The Cricket Ball and the Oval. Both are lucious and sweet when ripe and both were bought as grafts from Lalbagh. I have over 25 trees in Hoskote and they fruit like the measles after being fed in the rain  with chicken waste from Godrej. The farm is totally and completely organic with no chemicals entering the gate -- ever.

Graft just bought from Lalbagh  -- already fruiting.

The grafts from Lalbagh are true and never fail. Infact its quite exciting to see them fruiting as baby plants in the nursery. I bought 15 oval and 15 cricket ball and planted in one area of the farm. Over time we have lost some young plants stolen by the surrounding farmers. However we have around 25 now which fruit heavily and even though we have a lot stolen, we still get plenty for us to enjoy and sell.

They fruit thickly like the measles

I have been told by grafters, that graft trees live for only 25 years, so let's see if these stop fruiting. Can already see the lower crop in the mango orchard, so I know what to expect soon with these. But as of now they are fruiting really well and giving us all a lot of joy.

  Of course we harvest ONLY the mature fruit every week.  And barely do we harvest when buyers que up for 2 and 4 kgs.  Organic fruit have the true flavour and one cannot imagine how delicious an organic chickoo or mango is compared to the bought carbide ripened ones in the market. Try organic beans and vegetables too! Youll never go back to the store bought, chemically grown veggies again.

Caretakers of Hoskote

 Caretakers of Hoskote

Shampoo Ginger

Its so interesting to see the different caretakers we have had over the years in Hoskote. For 20 years we had one man and his family - Narsimappa and his wife and two baby sons. They grew into strapping young men, but then trouble erupted when Narsimappa decided to build a bigger house on our land for his sons. That was when we forced him out and he now lives in the village paying a hefty rent. But that's fine  as the boys are qualified- one an  electrician and the other an accountant. One boy Naveen was keen on becoming a Police Officer but his leukoderma prevented him from   getting selected. By the time they left they were selling all our fruit to the apartment residents around and living the good life collecting a salary from us as well.

The fragrant Shampoo Ginger.

 

Then came Rajanna who had worked in a Nursery. He brought in Chrysanthemums and planted them all over the property. They bloomed beautifully especially in the rains and it was a new experience having a man who was professional in his upkeep of the farm. 

One day I mentioned to him that he should plant unusual flowers in the land. He dug up a small patch and I thought he had planted ginger as the leaves looked like regular ginger. Suddenly, one Sunday I noticed red strange spiral shaped flowers popping out. I was truly shocked as they are very expensive flowers and here he had planted a whole patch! I was thrilled to see them popping straight out of the soil. It was such an exciting feeling to see a brand-new flower growing on the farm. 

Straight out of the ground

The flowers first pop out green and then turn slowly red. Squeeze them slightly and a strong ginger smelling liquid smears your fingers and drips into your palm. I just love it and decided to pick just the red ones to bring home. How excited my tenants and friends in the building were to get a handful of them to put in their vases and scent up the room.

Turning red

But we had to sadly ask Rajanna to leave as he was having drinking sessions with his buddies in the farm and charging them an entrance fee! The village folk resented that behaviour telling us to take care
because if incase there was a physical fight the cops would hold us responsible. Get rid of him said Lokesh the village headman and I'll get you someone else. I was sad to let him go as he was very good with his hands and the farm was looking up with his care.

  

from Shillong

Now we have Jaffer who is a grass cutter by profession. After watering the trees when the electricity come, he spends his time making bales of grass to take to sell and for his goats. He's an older man and thankfully seems clean and not an alcoholic. My CCTV on the farm shows him working through most of the day so I'm happy and so is he. 

The Heliconias in Hoskote

 

The Heliconias in Hoskote

My friend Bela from Mulberry Lane sent me a few Rhizomes of her Heliconias. I did not want the normal ones which Dad had planted in Hayes Road and the smaller ones which Jacqueline Colaco had shared. I wanted the big, monster heliconias which Bela had! So three years ago I put down a few in Hoskote, infront of the house and with the chicken waste we have been harvesting the large blooms which I share with friends.

Jaffer hacks them down

Jaffer hacks them down as they're taller than the house.  Periodically we cut them down because then they can regrow to a more manageable height. Plus, they can become invasive like bamboo. A friend of mine -- Priya Mascarenhas has Heliconias from across the world. I have been sent her rhizomes but Ive not had much luck with them. But I bring these flowers home and put them in a great big vase and the rest just share in the building with my tenants.

 

Bringing joy everyday

This species needs a lot of space to grow and I'm glad its happy in Hoskote. Of course, it's the Godrej Chicken waste that make them grow to this magnificent size!

Fixing the pump in Hoskote

 Fixing the pump of the borewell

Pump nahi chaal rahe hai!

Nearly 35 years ago the first borewell was sunk in Hoskote. We knew that without a regular water supply we could not start any planting of the orchard I wanted. So one night after the water diviner had marked the spot where the bore had to be dug, Bonny and Dad went off to stand and watch it happening. Sadly I could not go as I had baby Steven to look after.

Must have been exciting to see the machine hit water at barely 80 feet back then. Then they kept drilling upto 300 feet and stopped. When the plume of water bloomed out with great force, jetting up into the skies, Dad shouted with excitement he said and was sad I was not present to see it happen. After that the farm started taking shape beginning with all the broken bucket fruit trees Dad had collected in Hayes Road. We hired the next door farmer to water the young trees and because all around root vegetables were being grown, Kanikraj with his home-made gun roamed the land shooting the rabbits which were found in plenty. 

The pump has to be left on day and night as the government gives us electricity only at certain time of the day. Could be @ 2 am or could be at 1pm. So, the pump has to be left on to pump whenever the electricity comes. That's the reason for problems occurring says Shyam the neighbour on the other side. Yes! we get free electricity, but we suffer on the other side with burned out motors and pumps.

 

Fighting the tenants in Goa

                                                             Fighting the tenants in Goa

As absentee landlords in Goa we face terrible issues of trying to assert our rights on the land belonging to our ancestors. Originally our ancestors lived on the land and in a house, they had built, but slowly over time, their children did not want an agrarian lifestyle and so left for greener pastures. My Grandpa Hipolito was one such landlord who left for Nairobi to find his fortune. He was educated and decided to be an accountant and not a farmer anymore.

Can you imagine our shock to see what they have done??

The heirs of the original tenants who were meant to till the land not "grow" double storied buildings and join the panchayat decided to split the large property between the four of them! Lucky the talati of the village alerted me knowing we two old souls keep coming to look after and maintain the ancestral house in Furtavaddo. The talathi had filed SIX cases with the deputy collector and so we decided to jump in and fight back when we heard the crazy value the land had gone up to.

Stylish double story building, demolishing our family home by half.

I stood in the Deputy Collectors office, armed with just the form 1x14 showing Dad's name as owner. I was trembling but resolute. Six of them stood there with their lawyers.  I spoke up when their lawyers loudly proclaimed that they had come to 'regularise' the building! I promptly intervened, by now angry at their gall to build on land which did not belong to them. I spoke to the Deputy Collector saying " My father tried to settle with them for years, he was a Wing Commander in the IAF and tried through the ministry -- I have letters to prove it. I know, I saw all the documents Dad had drawn up and flying down from New Delhi to fight, poor guy." Today I have a legal inventory with which to fight them. 

Look at how they have broken down our ancestral house on the land   

I showed the Deputy Collector the photos I had taken. Thank God for phones today. He is a young IAS officer and immediately saw the injustice happening. He rang his bell several times and called in his staff. I want a show cause notice issued he said very calmly. Next hearing -- on --- date. See that the notices go out today. This is agricultural land -- I need an explanation."

I was trembling with his response. I knew here was an educated young man who could see us older folk fighting for our ancestral land. 

However, the fight is long and hard, and we cannot keep running to Goa. So, we spoke to Fr Valerian of the Saligao seminary who had linked us with a tough lawyer in Panjim. The case is on -- they are trying everything in the book to break us. I won't budge now, but staying in the house in Volvaddo is dangerous now. So, we live elsewhere when we go.

It's a fight, I won't give up. I understand now why my architect brother relinquished his share here and took Mums easy peasy house instead. But we are  Furtados--gauncars and I do not intend giving up in a hurry. No sibling help just threats and nothing to support us.  But I can hear the promises I made Dad on his death bed, and I hope we are able to stay their march forward and bring them to the negotiating table.  I am so grateful for the help my husband gives me. He need not, but he understands.

Hoskote in the rain!

 Look at the height of the lush grass in Hoskote

Jaffer was happy to see us on Tuesday instead of our regular Sunday visit. The grass is lush in the rains and Jaffer is happy because it will feed his flocks of goats. 

We were just back, running to Goa where we are fighting cases against Muncards who are squatting on valuable land is how we spend our trips to Goa. Now hiring lawyers will cut back on our rushing up and down to follow up cases, exactly like poor Dad did. It's scary for us older folk but someone has to do it, or all will be lost to the Ranes and Govekars, who are now squatting in the panchayat and rattling powerful swords against me.

I digress, back to happy Hoskote, I feel a sense of calm come over me when I walk among the trees we have planted in the last 35 years. The trees are all grafts and mature now, fruiting and keeping us busy selling the fruit.

Bonny taking out the ripe Nellie Kai 

It's a silly method as he rattles the branches with the fruit picker a friend gave me in the UK and the fruit fall all over old curtains we have spread out under the tree. Then the fruit plop down on the curtains and once we have taken out what we want, we gather up the ends and it's easy to slide the fruit into a bag to carry home. We took out around 1.5kg and in minutes when I put the picture up, it's bought by pickle makers! Small harvest as we have only one tree. Sadly my friend Keerti who loves to munch them fresh off the tree did not get any from this crop.

 

The ripe Nellie Kai which fall off onto the curtains

Bonny is happy taking out some mature chickoos too. We are going to get a massive crop from our 25 trees, so a tractor load of chicken waste has been ordered to feed the trees. It stinks and the farmers next door grumble, so I've decided to empty a load into the huge Rainwater pit which is dry and cover it with mud so the stink is contained. I bring small bags of it for the Hayes Road compost pit, but Robin cannot tolerate the stink he says! Look at the garden then! Its lush because of the compost!

A path in the red soil

The pump seems to have stalled so I'm helping Jaffer water the trees with water from the massive Rainwater harvesting tank. empty 5 litre bottles are filled, and we lug them to water the younger trees who are not mature yest to help themselves! A lot like little children, once they are around a year old, they are able to snake their roots to underground water pockets or aquifers or even as Jeff Dlemos told me -- underground rivers. Mainly butter fruit trees I have brought grafts from the Goa Duler nursery which Mr Dhuri, architect on my gardening group advised me to buy.

The Ashoka blooms straight from the branch

I had put down two Ashoka trees from the Hebbal nursery, and they bloom extravagantly in the rain. Strange bunches of vibrant orange flowers which pop out straight out of the branch or trunk. I saw a Redwood tree do that in Tennessee and was fascinated! The Ashoka is a medicinal tree and considered sacred. To me all trees are sacred and an integral part of the world we live in. Without trees we would all be dead but how many of us understand that?