A Street Named D'Souza (by Doris D'Mello, from Songs of the Survivors, edited by Yvonne Vaz-Ezdani)

[Frederick Noronha [फ़रेदरिक नोरोनया]]

A STREET NAMED D'SOUZA

By Doris D'Mello
Interviewed by Yvonne Vaz

[Doris D'Mello worked as a nurse in Rangoon, Mumbai, Magwa (Kuwait)
and the Southwell Kuwait Oil Co. Clinic at Ahmadi. She will be
remembered as a gentle, soft-spoken lady who passed away in October
2005 a few months after this interview, at her home next to Lourdes
Convent in Saligao (Goa). Shortly earlier, her husband Faust D'Mello
passed away. They were married in Ahamadi, Kuwait where all her five
children (Angela, Cedric, Belinda, Elizabeth and Gerry) were born. All
her children are now based in Canada and Kuwait.]

* * *

Your family was one of the many Goan families living in Burma. Can you
tell me who first went to Burma?

Doris: My grandfather Anthony Francis D'Souza was the first member of
our family to venture to Burma. He settled in Thaton in Lower Burma .

What was his occupation there?

Doris: He was a merchant. He opened a general store and did well for
himself. He also raised a family of seven children, four girls and
three boys.

My father John Vincent D'Souza was his son. After completing his
studies, he started a shop of his own on the same street. The road was
known as D'Souza Street.

So there is even a road named after your family in Burma?

Doris: Yes, my aunts and their families too lived on the same street,
except one aunt who became a nun.

What was life like for you in Burma?

Doris: I remember having a happy childhood, plenty to eat and drink.
The education we received was good.

That was until the Indo-Japanese War broke out right?

Doris: Yes. The bombing was more in Rangoon and later Thaton was also
bombed. We were told to evacuate to India . Fortunately we managed to
get seats on the last ship that carried refugees to India .

Can you recall anything of that trip?

Doris: The Portuguese captain (we were told later) didn't know the
way as he had to take a roundabout route to avoid the torpedoes . So
the voyage which would normally have taken three or four days took 15
days.

The ship was overcrowded and we could not get a cabin so we had to
spend all the time on the deck. Toilets were not sufficient for all
the people and neither was the food which ran out in a few days. We
survived on Marie biscuits for the rest of the journey. But when we
landed at Madras we were given clothes, food and money.

The British helped to relocate the refugees and we were given tickets
to travel to Goa by train.

Did your family settle in Goa since then?

Doris: No we stayed for a year at my mother's family home in Donvaddo,
Saligao . We were given a lot of aid by the British ; I remember
getting books and pencils too.

But later we went to live in Bombay where my father worked in the
Army and Navy Store. In December 1947 we returned to Burma.

What was it like to go back to war ravaged Burma?

Doris: It was really sad to see all the shops razed to the ground,
everything, even our homes had disappeared. All that was left was
rubble. But would you believe it? Our dog came running out from
somewhere and jumped on my mother, and then greeted all of us.

How did you all pick up the pieces and start over again?

Doris: We left Thaton and went to live with some cousins in Rangoon .
The airport was being rebuilt and my father got a job there as
time-keeper. We continued our studies in Rangoon .

I later trained as a nurse and worked in the Dufferin Hospital. The
others got jobs in offices in Rangoon too.

How long did you stay on there?

Doris: We left Burma for good in 1952 and gradually established
ourselves in India . I worked for some years as a nurse in Bombay.
Then I got a job in Magwa Hospital in Kuwait. Later, I joined the
Southwell Kuwait Oil Co. Clinic in Ahmadi. I met and married Faust
D'Mello of Saligao in Ahmadi (Kuwait), and all my five children were
born there.

Source: Songs of the Survivors
Yvonne Vaz-Ezdani (ed)
Dec 2007, Goa 1556
Sole distributor in Goa: Broadway Book Centre, 18th June Road, Panjim
Rs 295. Pp 289.
--
Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org Ph +91-832-2409490
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