What's so special about the history of the Railway Goan Institute, now long gone, to merit a display on this Web Site. The primary reason can be found in Joao da Viega Coutinho's book "A Kind of Absence".
He says,

To have a history is not simply to have a past. To have a history is to struggle with the past and wrest from it its meaning. The purpose is to define oneself, to find one's place.
.......At a personal level it means: what am I heir to? What does our past promise, forecast or forebode? Of course the past does not predict the future. The past can throw some light on the present, out of which the future will emerge.

The secondary reason is more personal. My father worked for the railways in Nairobi for 45 years (1913 -1958). In the post war period, although nearing retirement, the elders who founded the Institute, especially Mr. J.F.L.Gracias, M.B.E., where highly respected in the their place of work, and by the community. They paved the way for many of us in the railway neighbourhood to grow up self-confident, despite the uncertainity of life in the country at that time.

Interestingly their influence is still reflected in today's information age. On August 17, 1995, when the first Goa Internet Seminar was organized here in Toronto, it was Maurice Gracias, son of Mr. J.F.L. Gracias who gave the keynote address. Maurice, himself was an accomplished sportsman, and has played a leading role in Oakland, California at state and federal level.

This R.G.I. display only portrays the history of the first 50 years of the Institute.. The information is taken directly from the Golden Jubilee brochure. The is still much to be done. We at GOACOM have done our part in this relay of information. It is up to others more knowledgeable to come forward, take up the baton and do the best they can to pass on our values and our sense of history to those who follow us.

John J.D'Souza
Toronto, Canada.