Partition of India

[Rochelle Fernandes]

Good day! 

I’m working on a project concerning the Partition of India with a focus on Goa. Do you know anyone of Goan origin who has been affected by the Partition? I’m specifically looking for first generation victims/survivors. 

I’m hoping to have them recount their experiences. 

Thank you! 

Regards 

Rochelle Fernandes 

[William Robert Da Silva]

Goans settled in Karachi before Partition and independence were affected. I had contact with five families about thirty years ago. At present, I do not have any hint about their whereabouts. They had narrated to me all about their plight during Partition. I was working on Goa and the spread of Konkani in those decades.

You could inquire around for such Goans settled in Karachi and elsewhere there and their dispersed families after Partition.

William Robert Da Silva

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[Helga Do Rosario Gomes]

Could Fausto Jules, the genealogist also help? His family has deep roots in the Goan Karachi community. 

And Rochelle, you do choose some interesting topics of research. 

Best,

Helga 

Sent from my iPhone

On Nov 2, 2024, at 12:26, William Robert Da Silva <wrds...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Frederick Noronha]

The expat Colva-linked Karachi writer Menin Rodrigues has written a book length work describing the Goans of Karachi. It's called Footprints on the Sands of Time.
When you say "affected by the Partition", I'm not sure i understood right, but the Goans were affected in different ways because their migration to Karachi was neither political or religion based, but mostly pre-1947 (or surely pre-1961) and for purely economic reasons. Those who decided to opt out after Partition mostly moved West. A few returned to Goa.
Many are still affected by  blocks to get visas sometimes even to just visit Goa (except in group 'pilgrimages'). Recently one Goan got citizenship under the changes CAA rules and much was made of it.
Our senior group member Dr Celsa Pinto, former Director of Education, Government of Goa, is Karachi born, and she could perhaps give insights into how this sometime was treated here.
FN

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[Eugene Correia]

Rochelle 

I will ask around as there are sme seniors who migrated from Karachi to Canada. Yes, Menin is a good source. I am told he divides his time between Karachi and Toronto.

Do you want me check with him, if i gind out if he's in Toronto or not?

Eugene

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[William Robert Da Silva]

The Goans I mentioned in my earlier post were migrants from Goa in the early nineteenth century and were, like Mumbai migrants, economically oriented for a secure living. Once they settled, they found it congenial until the partition when difficulties arose for them to continue. They shifted away to India and, later, some of the family members landed in Gulf regions. I have no contact any more.

W R Da Silva

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[Eugene Correia]

I have Menin's book, Goans of Pakistan.  By first generation means Goans who remained in Pakistan during Partition?

Eugene

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[Rochelle Fernandes]

Thank you, William, Helga, Fredrick and Eugene. 

I have spoken to Dr. Celsa as well as Fausto Jules and have read Menin’s extremely informative book.  

I apologise for not providing much context. Goa was, as is known, a Portuguese colony when the Partition took place. At this point, were Goans in Karachi affected by the Partition? This is one question I’m dealing with that William's research has answered. Then, after Goa’s liberation in 1961 and subsequent annexation/merging by/with India, were Karachi Goans affected? We know about the Enemy Property Act of 1968. After watching Dinesh Bhosle’s film Enemy? (2015), I can’t help but wonder whether Goans affected by the Act are still around. I’m sure their families are. But how do I find them? I came across an interesting LAQ on the internet but that's not very helpful in locating victims/survivors. Nonetheless, attaching it to this email. A third question I am grappling with is how the Enemy Property Act of 1968 and the Evacuee Property Act, 1950, intersect. 

@William: This is exactly what I'm looking for. Would you have any more information you could share? Perhaps some published research I could read? Please let me know. 

@Helga thank you! Memory Studies and Goan Cultural Studies are my areas of interest. I am always looking to represent and re-present marginalised voices concerning Goa. In fact, I mentored my Third Year B.A. students while they worked on how Goans were affected by the Partition. At the time, this was an area of interest that I could not pursue as I was working on my PhD. So I introduced my students to the topic and they were very interested. However, by virtue of being third year students, I could push them only so far. But they did a fabulous job and I'm hoping they will publish their work at some point. 

I'm hoping my research leads somewhere and will see the light of day. Once again, thank you for your inputs. 

Regards 
Rochelle 

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[Cliff Pereira]

My own genealogical work points to an early migration of Goans to Karachi (as early as the 1820's) that increased after 1869 when the Suez Canal was built and with the rise in cotton production after the US Civil War (1861-65). It was a substantial community by the time St. Patrick's Cathedral was built in 1881. But there were other Goan communities besides Karachi, in Lahore and Peshawar. The Goan community in Pakistan was in regular contact with their ancestral families in Goa and Bombay. 

How the 1947 partition impacted the estimated 15,000 (Portuguese estimate) Goans in what would be Pakistan is an important and less documented subject. So I would welcome further research. We have to remember that Portugal or France were not party to the British partition process (unless we find proof otherwise). Formal Pakistani-Portuguese relations were established in 1949.

With regards to post-partition, family history points to the fact that air and sea entry to Goa just before 1961 from India was difficult and I have documentation that shows that Goans (from the Gulf or East Africa) would sail directly from Karachi to Goa as they could not do so from Bombay. The changes brought about in 1961 would therefore have severed movement between Pakistan and Goa. 

From what I have heard the level of education, social and economic life was very high compared with that for Goans in post-partition India with enclaves within the better areas of the growing city of Karachi, until the political scene changed in the last thirty years. Pakistani Goans are now found in Canada, the USA, the UK and Australia. 

Clifford Pereira (in HongKong)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

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From: goa-rese...@googlegroups.com <goa-rese...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Frederick Noronha <frederic...@gmail.com>
Sent: 03 November 2024 1:56 AM
To: goa-rese...@googlegroups.com <goa-rese...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [GRN] Partition of India

 

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[Jules Fausto Mendonca de Sa]

Hi Richelle,

Hope that you are well!

I do recall speaking to you on the subject a couple of years ago as well as to some students of yours at the Goa Library. 

During my recent visit I did have a conversation with one of the MLAs from Goa and have recently sent him a write up including parts of information that you are looking for.

I am free to have a chat with you and post that can share the information. I might also be able to give you further answers that you seek. I can further confirm to you that until early 1970s approx.60% of the Goans were Portuguese nationals who were forced to naturalise or risk being ejected from the country.

Please do share your contacts details via my email fausto...@hotmail.com.

Kind regards

Fausto

Sent from Outlook

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From: goa-rese...@googlegroups.com <goa-rese...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Rochelle Fernandes <rochelleann...@gmail.com>
Sent: 03 November 2024 06:45

To: goa-rese...@googlegroups.com <goa-rese...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [GRN] Partition of India

To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/CAM%3DVnWjBp1P8-wiZYrXQRvY830mnK%2Bc%2BV8%3D3qFv23PJPagvp_A%40mail.gmail.com.

[William Robert Da Silva]

I have not kept up with Karachi Goans. So, I am not able to respond with much information. I hope you get enough information for your research. All the best.

William Robert 

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[Rochelle Fernandes]

Thank you very much for your inputs Cliff and Fausto. 

Regards 

Rochelle 

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