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100 FRUITFUL YEARS
A man with many talents and not one to ever give up, Agostinho enjoys the privilege of having made all the furniture in his house by himself. Besides carpentry, he also picked up tailoring and ever since he has stitched each and every piece of clothing worn by him, including the suit that he wore for the felicitation programme. Quite often he volunteered to stitch the uniforms of poor school children free of cost. He loved music and has composed several tuneful mande as well as church hymns besides training the village choir for every feast. He is known to reach out to every sick person in need on the island, and was often found at the bedside of those awaiting their end. As his gift of charity, he would dress the dead for the burial.
It was fascinating to watch the parish priest, maestro Fr. Antonio Cotta, play the violin and the guitar, besides conducting the choir, who rendered several classical pieces, for the cultural programme, watched by a churchful of admiring parishioners. Perhaps, for the first time one saw and heard a ghumot being played in the church for the mando, composed by Fr Cotta in honour of Agostinho In a more touching gesture, his daughter Nina, son-in-law Philip D'Souza (originally from Bodiem in Tivim) and grand daughter rendered one Agostinho's mande on the occasion. Caetano Fernandes proved an excellent compere for the function as he spoke on the life and work of the centenarian. JOEL
D'SOUZA
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CENTENARIAN...
Agostinho
Eleuterio Mathias de Menezes from the green island of
Divar, figures among the few who enjoy the good fortune of living to celebrate
a centenary of anniversaries. Moreover, Agostinho didn't just live for
so long but did a lot of social work through the talents and abilities
bestowed on him by divine providence. For all his good work, the parish
of St. Mathias felicitated the centenarian at the Church on February 20.
Agostinho
was the youngest son of the six children of Inacio Antonio and Maria Quiteria.
He attended the Portuguese school at Divar till Primeiro Grau and then
studied upto the 6th Standard at St Joseph's High School in Arpora, Bardez.
With this education, he became an apprentice in the Great Indian Peninsular
Railways in Bombay. He worked for a couple of years at Basra to return
to work in the Railways. In fact, he was among their first employees and
retired at 56.