READING REGINALD: EDGAR WALLACE AND JESUIT SAVANTS

In my very first review of Reginald Fernandes’ writings, I had made the suggestion that to know what animated the works of writers like Reginald one had to know the range of influences on them. In this article I will discuss one such influence on Reginald with reference to his novel Sat Chavieancho Darvontto (1964).

When translated, the title indicates that the novel is about a door that can be opened by seven keys. A quick Google search revealed the existence of an English crime fiction novel named The Door with Seven Locks (1926) by Edgar Wallace. This was later made into an English movie called Chamber of Horrors (1940), followed by a German remake in 1962. Wallace is also credited with being the co-creator of King Kong, providing the screenplay and story for the film. Reginald’s title which appears to be an exact translation of Wallace’s, would make us think that Reginald had lifted the plot wholesale from the prolific British crime fiction writer. However, upon comparing Wallace’s book and the movie that was subsequently made, one can say with certainty that as far as Sat Chavieancho Darvontto is concerned, only the motif of the door with seven locks and the dead man’s tomb can be noticed in both the works.

Reginald’s Sat Chavieancho Darvontto rather than being in the mould of a regular crime fiction novel, shows more similarities with the structure of his previous writings. There is Rudolfo, who is a doctor/scientist by profession and who has the ambition of inventing a drug that would bring the dead back to life. To that extent, he spends long hours in his laboratory. This experiment, however, goes horribly wrong. The drug that he manages to create causes others to be poisoned if they come in contact with Rudolfo. Soon Rudolfo’s daughter, Inez is also ‘poisoned’ in a similar manner. Inez is in love with Valento, who is aspiring to be a doctor and has returned after spending five years in Europe. He decides to find a cure or an antidote to the ‘poison’ that is now coursing through the veins of Rudolfo and his beloved Inez.

When Valento decides to take it upon himself to find a cure for Rudolfo and Inez the story takes an interesting turn and Reginald introduces the Jesuits and their College of St. Paul that was operating from Old Goa. The link in the novel is that since the Jesuits were known for their extensive knowledge on various matters, they would best be in a position to help Valento to find an antidote. Accordingly, a Jesuit and a much learned man, Fr. Vasco Amorin directs Valento to the forest of Colem. There is also another way Reginald makes use of history. He tells Valento that the Cadanbas, who were in Goa before the Portuguese, had devoted themselves to finding cures and antidotes. Thus, Valento sets off on his quest, armed with the knowledge provided by Fr. Amorin.

What is significant here is that Reginald is not inventing a simple yarn, but is drawing from known historical facts. It is a well-known fact that the Jesuits had devoted themselves in reporting about the flora and fauna, as well as the customs and manners of the people amongst whom they worked. Their letters today are a major source for historians working on the period that roughly stretches from 1540s-1800s. The Jesuits had access to knowledge about curing diseases and providing antidotes against poisons and this is the reason why many of them based in Old Goa were in demand in the courts of the neighbouring polities.

Further, I would suggest that when Reginald uses a term like the “Cadanbas” (which is very close to Kadambas) as well as the Muslim presence in Goa, he is probably drawing on a history that places the role of treachery in the transfer of political power at the center of its narrative. This ‘treachery’ actually is the horror that is locked behind the Sat Chavieancho Darvontto. Apparently, an ancestor of Rudolfo and Inez belonging to the Cadanbas had committed treason against his Goa “ganv” (homeland or kingdom) by selling it to the neighbouring king who happens to be a moor (or moir zaticho). Thus, a curse is placed on this particular ancestor and it now comes to haunt Rudolfo and Inez. This use of ‘treachery’ as a trope to bind the stories of the Cadanbas, moors, and Portuguese  with an afterlife of this  ‘treachery’ allows us to see how history writing influenced the writing of Romi Konkani novel in general and Reginald’s corpus in particular. Interestingly, the moors are not the ones who commit this treachery being the usual suspects, as it were. Nonetheless, such strands in Reginald’s works need to be carefully and critically studied.

So in the end, how much can we say that Reginald borrowed from the work of Wallace? In my view, only the motif of the door with seven locks can be clearly seen as borrowed either from the book, or the movies, or both. This is because the cemetery or the tomb, or the resting place of the dead is very much part of Reginald’s plot and imagination. Further, the miracles or magic that is produced by special plants and the almost mythical, dense and dark space of the forest is part and parcel of Reginald’s corpus. The bringing of the dead to life and the fear that is associated with it is something that Reginald time and again exploits. So what now emerges is that, a Reginald romans has (obviously) romance, it has magic (or the willing suspension of disbelief), it has crime and adventure, it evokes fear, it has life and afterlife, it borrows from other sources and reworks it in a Goan cultural milieu, and at the end there is a ‘happy ending’ in vaguely keeping with norms of Christian morality. Where else do we find so much packed in one small book?

 For more Reading Reginald, click here.

(First published in  O Heraldo, dt: 10 December, 2014)

GÕYCHI MUKTI ANI MOG

“Gõyank suttka mellunk thoddinch vorsam urlolim. Doxim vattamnim suttke zhuzari chollvolli choloytale. He chollvollintlo ek zhuzari aslo, Zuzart. To bhiyenastanam Purtugezam add zhogoddlo. Sogllo lok tachi toknnay kortale. Tachi toknnay aikonuch Catharina tachea mogant poddlem. Gõychi suttka korunk zhuztanam Zuzartan aplo jiv vompun dilo. Hech karonnank lagon ‘Catharina’ hem sobit nanv ‘Kotrin’ zalem,” oslea utramnim Willy Goes-achea Kotrin kadom’boricho attap (blurb) vachlo ani dekhunuch hi kadom’bori vachunk mhaka chodd umollxik lagli.

            Hi kadom’bori Gõychea Suttke ani rajbhas andolonache fattbhuimyer attaploli asa. Kotrin don ostoreanchi kotha: Catharina jem eka suttke zhuzareachea mogan poddta ani Venisha jem Mon’xastr xikta. Venisha aplea xikxonnak ani eka yogayogak (chance) lagun Catharinachea jivitacher obheas korunk pavta.

Catharina/Kotrin apunn gorbest asam oxem somzota. Hem bhurgem Kotrinak Zuzartachem dista karonn tachi mansik stithi pirdear zaloli asta. Kotrinak khobor asta Zuzartak Purtugez pulisvale, ani odik korun Agente Monteiro piddapidd ditale mhonn. Venishacho bapuy-i ek pulis odhikari asta ani durdoivan tacheim nanv Monteiro asta! Dekhun jednam Kotrin aplea pisantt bhesar Venishachea bapaik sobhemazar hinnsaita tednam Venisha Kotrinachea jivitacher obheas korunk pavta.

Kotrin pixem kiteak zaunk pavta? Hi kadom’bori vachlea uprant amkam kollun yeta ki Catharina Zuzartachea mogan poddta karonn tannem ganvche lok Zuzartachea dhaddxiponnachi khobor kortat tem aikololem. Punn Catharinan Zuzartak kednanch polleunk nam ani mellunkui nam. Catharinachea bhurgeaponnachi ek sonvõy mhullear taka konneim, koslea-i vostuchi tust-tokhnnay korit zalear taka ti vost zaich asli ani tem oslem tem’ gheun bostalem. Mhojea mota pormonnem hanga Willy Goes-an Catharinachem patr anink sudravunk zatalem. Mon’xastrache nodrentlean hem patr ubem korta astanam aninkui jiv funkpachi ani mitt-mirsanganchi goroz asli kiteak Kotrin hench zaun asa ‘keystone’ he kadom’boricho. Ek bhurgeponnachi sonvõy pixeaponnachea bhesar pavounk xokta, hem dhoronn matxe dubllem dista.

            Hi kadom’bori Gõychea Suttke ani rajbhas anodolona vellar guntloli asa dekhun Romintle borovpi oslea vixoyancher aplem borovp kortat tem pollounk borem dista. Punn hachi dusri bazu mhollear itihasachea veg-vegllea surank ani talleank ami tor parkhunk xokonant zalear ami khoim tori chukonk xoktat ani hi gozal bori nhoi. Oslea vixoyancher zori ami boroytat zalear amkam itihasacher ani vosnnukponnacher (colonialism) ttika-i korop bhov gorjechem tharta. Punn hem kortanam mat ami huxarkayen ani choturayen korchi goroz asa. (Zoxem Salman Rushdie Midnight’s Children he aple kadom’borint korta).

Dekhik, Willy Goes jednam Gõyche Suttkechi ani suttke zhuzareanchi khobor korta tednam tachem dhoronn oxem disun yeta: tea kallar Purtugez vosnnukponnacher virud’dh soglle asle mhonn. Punn tem oxem asonk nam. Kaim zonn fokot Salazarachea hukumxayecher virud’dh asle ani nhoi sogott Purtugezancher.       

Hi kadom’bori Kotrinachea mornnacher sompta. Venishachea nhovreak Zuzartachi ‘part’ korchi podddta karonn Kortin mornnachea vellar pasun Zuzartakuch usketa. Kotrinachem moronn zorui ‘dramatic’ toren dakhoilam torui Willy Goes amchea kallzak hat ghalunk yesosvi zala.

Willy Goes Konknniche Romi lipientlo ek moladik borovpi oxem hanv mandtam ani tachem borovp naslem zalear Konknni sorospot khuim tori dublli thartoli asli oxem-i hanv kollit kortam. He kadom’borint zaitim Purtugez utram asat ani tim asat mhunnon he kadom’borik ek vegllich ruch ailea. Willy Goes-an oxench boroit ravchem, hoch amcho anvddo.

Kotrin borovpi Willy Goes (Ponnje: Dalgado Konknni Akademi), 2012; panam 135, Mol 100/-; Fon: 91-0832-2221688 

(Ho lekh Amcho Avaz-acher uzvaddak aila, 27 Julay, 2013, pan 10)

Inglezintlean hoch lekh vach hanga.

MATRIMONIAL TRADITIONS IN SNAPSHOTS

Sankoll, a novel by Bonaventure D’Pietro, one of Konkani’s great novelists, dwells on the theme of Goa’s bygone traditions in Christian marriages. This novel is a departure from the signature style of the writer who is well-known for writing thriller novels in Konkani. Often referred to as the James Hadley Chase of Konkani literature, D’Pietro has a unique novel to offer to his fans and lovers of Konkani in the form of Sankoll.

            The story of the novel which tries to give its readers a glimpse of traditional Christian practices across Goa, unfolds through weddings in different regions of Goa: Bardez, Saxtti, Quepem, etc. The aim of the author is also to document the various practices, and hence a CD too of some traditional songs such as zoti, vers and saud is also appended to the book.

            The author has taken immense pains to research (with the help of many others acknowledged in the book) minute details about his subject in the writing of the book. Indeed, the reader would be immediately transported to a time when weddings were celebrated by erecting a mattov (pandal) and everybody danced through the night with the aid of petromax lamps and the ever-obliging muzg (musicians or band). D’Pietro’s concern here is to narrate the step-by-step events leading to the marriage. This includes the seeking of life-partners through a raibari (match-maker) to the planning and preparation of food such as voddes and the end of the celebrations.

            D’Pietro is much more comfortable when talking about the traditional practices of his native place and hence he is able to provide the reader with many sensory experiences when he talks about the preparation of food: how it smells, how it boils, how it looks and tastes and how it is eaten! A section where he deals with the making of soda in the bygone days is truly enjoyable as well. Thus, after reading the book the reader is able to get a fair representation of the traditional Christian wedding practices across Goa. The story flows freely and needless to say this novel is another great addition to the corpus of Konkani literature by one of Konkani’s finest writers.

            This book, unwittingly or not, becomes a project of interrogating modernity (to use the term very broadly) as our traditions and our past is projected as having a quaint beauty and charm which gets ruptured in our contemporary (or modern) times. Thus, there is a definite separation between traditional practices of the past and those of the present. One gets the sense that this book looks at traditions as fossilized and ossified entities. But traditions always change and a project of interrogating modernity also should interrogate traditions or traditional way of life and vice versa.

            If we are going to discuss the matrimonial traditions of the past one of the major issue that cannot be overlooked is caste. One need not look further than the matrimonial classifieds of today to realize the importance of caste. The author acknowledges the importance of caste in his preface when he is accounting for the differences in practices within different vaddes or wards in a village. But in the novel the categorization is regional rather than caste-based; aren’t and weren’t alliances sought on the basis of caste rather than region? Thus, what is the justification for a region-based classification?

            The social standing of the family of the protagonist Isidor (also the narrator) is nebulous. One doesn’t really know where they are located in the hierarchy despite them owning a big house. D’Pietro has included the tribal Christian wedding as well, devoting an entire chapter to it. This chapter which contains the wedding of a person from the render (toddy-tappers) community does not specifically deal with unique practices of this community. Later in the book, the author very briefly hints at these differences when a gavddi woman (whom the author calls kunnbi) tells the narrator’s mother how certain practices of theirs differed from the community of narrator’s mother and how these practices have changed and there is no difference between them now (p. 245).

            Isidor has four sisters and one of them gets married into a rich, landed family. The family of the narrator has to make a lot of compromises and sacrifices to accommodate the traditional practices of the landed, upper-caste family vis-à-vis their own. It is only here that notions of ‘purity and pollution’ are broached by the author. Isidor’s mother says, trying to explain to her husband why the rich wear gloves, “Those people wear gloves because, in the festive mood anybody can shake their hands at the function. They are aware that they can be polluted through such an act. To avoid this ‘pollution’ they wear gloves and simpletons like you consider them great.” Thus, if notions of ‘purity and pollution’ exist can we really talk about Christian weddings occurring in a Christian community?

            This book comes with a wonderful CD as well giving a sample of how the vers, zoti etc. are sung. Obviously such a project of recording and documenting traditional practices should be welcomed with open arms. But tradition is not something that is confined only to the past; it lives in us and changes continuously.

Sankoll by Bonaventure D’Pietro (Ponnje/Panjim: Dalgado Konknni Akademi), 2013; pp. 348, Rs. 250/-; Phone: 91-0832-2221688 (Available at Dalgado Konknni Akademi, Panjim)

(A version of this article appeared on Gomantak Times, dt: July 6, 2013).