Remembering: Reginald Fernandes...

[Frederick Noronha]

Romans: A Konkani term for a novel or fictional work.  Elsewhere, in literary and literary critical terms, a  ‘Romance’ refers to any narrative in verse or prose,  written in a vernacular language in the Middle Ages,  dealing with strange and exciting adventures. In   Konkani, the parallel term is spelt as ‘Romans’ and  refers to a mass-selling and inexpensively priced novel  written by a popular author, not necessarily with a  romantic theme. Prominent Konkani authors of the  ‘Romans’ genre included Reginald Fernandes of Siolim  and Caridade Damaciano Fernandes of Aldona, among  others. Reginald Fernandes, 1914-1994, was a writer  from the Goan village of Siolim, who moved to Bombay  at the age of 18 and then began writing “to get over  homesickness while performing for the Maharaj[a]’s  band in Gujarat” (“Reginald Fernandes...”). He is  credited with having written “over 160 novels” each with  a print-run of 2000-3000 copies. Lindorf, his first novel,  was serialised in the Konkani weekly Ave Maria. while the last, Perdida, was published by Joseph D’Souza of  the Jack of All Stall, which is still a remembered  landmark of the expat Konkani community in Byculla,  Bombay or Mumbai. Like D’Pietro, discussed below, he  too “took off as a compositor” and penned “thrilling narratives” despite being a “rather simple and  unassuming person”. His readers imagined his  personality based on his portrayal of “the grandeur of  mansions and their aristocratic owners” and “expected  him to be a gregarious and impressive person”. He is  believed to have been impressed by the work of  Alexandre Dumas and H.G. Wells. His books had their  titles set in alphabetic sequence. Today, his books are  largely untraceable even to refer to. One exception is the  collection of Brazinho Soares Kalapurkar of Santa Cruz,  on the outskirts of Panjim (Soares). Fernandes staged  tiatr, the popular Konkani form of theatre, began playing  for his village church choir when just ten years of age  and was a musician in the palace of the Maharaja of  Mysore. He was a court musician of the Maharaja of  Palitana in Kathiawar, Gujarat. He played in the Hindi  film industry, and with other prominent Goan and other  bands such as Mickey Correia and Vincent Carmine and  his Orchestra that was popular in Poona, Johnny Baptist  and his Band and Alfred Rose’s ‘Rose Buds’, and   Billday Becks’ in Karachi. His band was called ‘Reggie  and his Melodians’. After returning to Goa he joined the  then Portuguese-run Emissora de Goa radio station  where he would compose at least one play a month and  three Konkani songs. These songs were often rendered  by the singer-announcer Allan Costa, as was the much-  recalled farewell song ‘Adeus Korchea Vellar’. For six   years, he played the violin for Fr Freddy J da Costa’s  mando troupe, ‘Saliganvchim Mannkam’. His golden  trumpet is believed to have been autographed by the legendary Louis Armstrong (Via 'From Text to Print', 2020).

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