| Saligao -
A Picturesque Goan Village
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MEL D'SOUZA Mel D'Souza is a Canadian Goan living in Brampton, Ontario. He is a self-taught illustrator and cartoonist who pursues his artistic talent as one of his many hobbies, primarilly for fund-raising purposes. Mel was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika, in 1937 to parents who came from Saligao, Goa. He started his schooling in St. Joseph's Convent in Dar es Salaam, but completed high school in Mater Dei, Saligao in 1952. After going through one year of college at St. Xavier's, Bombay, he returned to Dar es Salaam where he started working for an oil company - a career that lasted 17 years. Mel also contributed cartoons to the Tanganyika Standard in his spare time. In 1964, Mel married Lineth Fernandes (Chorao), and they have two children, Helen and Gillian. In 1971, Mel and his family emigrated to Canada where he started a new career in manufacturing. One day, Mel was telling some of his friends about his early life in Saligao when he got the idea of complementing his stories with some drawings. It would be his way of putting the listener right on location, so to speak. Thus, "THE DAY OF THE FOX" was conceived. This illustration depicts the feast of 'Mae de Deus' which is celebrated on the first Sunday in May, both in the village and in several cities all over the world where Saligaocars (or 'foxes' as they are more popularly known in Goa) reside. Mel positioned the church as the centre of an imaginary city made up of prominent landmarks from many of the countries to which Saligaocars have emigrated. In the foreground, he composed a scene of a social get-together like the ones held after the church service, but he drew all the celebrants as foxes dressed in the costumes commonly identified with their new country of adoption. Because of his fascination with Saligao's folklore and unique customs, he started working on his second poster depicting the village's colourful family nicknames. He called this illustration "FEAST OF NAMES". The scene centres around the front yard of the Mae de Deus Church on the feast day. Gathered around the bandstand are villagers of Saligao in the form of their family nicknames. There are about 45 nicknames of the many he remembers from his childhood days in the village. Saligao is noted for the nicknames assigned to various families, and Mel's illustration provides a thought-provoking insight into the origins of the amusing nicknames. The third poster in the crow's-eye-view series features a typical scene of a Goan village, with the local church as its hub. With the help of the computer, Mel has been able to feature different churches (Saligao, Moira, Aldona, Candolim and Anjuna) as the focal point of the poster. The fourth poster in the series is titled "CHURCH CONGREGATION". This is a crow's-eye-view of the complex of churches in Old Goa based on photographs taken by Mel at ground level in 1990. The general layout and architectural detail of each church is authentic; however, the surrounding trees and other vegetation have been subjected to artistic licence. If and when time permits, Mel would like to expand on the documentation of his childhood experiences with illustrations of the village market (tinto), the monsoon game of marbles (goddeh), the summer version of the game of marbles played with cashew seeds (bhotteh), the bullfight (dhirri) and many other gems of Goa's rural life that have either faded into oblivion or succumbed to a false sense of 'progress'. Mel is an avid traveller and has motored extensively all across Canada and the United States. He has also visited Mexico, Northern and Southern India, Bahrein, Australia and New Zealand and has tried to see as much of these countries as time would permit. Among the countries he plans to visit in the coming years are China, Egypt, Israel, Greece and Italy, among others. In addition to his many volunteer activities in the community of Brampton, Mel writes and illustrates for The Downhomer, a magazine about the Canadian province of Newfoundland which Mel calls his 'little Goa'. He has been involved with the magazine since its inception eleven years ago when it was just a newsletter for expatriate Newfoundlanders, and has seen its circulation grow to 45,000 nationally and internationally. He also founded the CFA(Come From Away) Club, a fraternity of non-Newfoundlanders from Canada, the United States and Britain who enjoy and promote Newfoundland's unique culture and hospitality. Newfoundland is Mel's home away from home, and he is recognized as one of the province's goodwil ambassadors. Through his crow's-eye-view series of posters, Mel is looking forward to contacting some of his Goan contemporaries and renewing old friendships. E N D Editors Note: Mel can be contacted via e-mail at mel.dsouza@sympatico.ca |
