MARCOS PACHECO - THE GREATEST GOAN ATHLETE GOA HAS EVER PRODUCED.

                                                            Marcus Pacheco

St. Joseph’s High School at Arpora Bardez, Goa, is the first English High School of Goa established by Fr. Lyon.  Being the first English High School of Goa, it had students from all over Goa who excelled as scholars in studies while others as genii in sports field.

The village of Parra in the neighbourhood of Arpora was known then for the rich cultivation of Water Melons and its huge production made Parra very famous in Bardez.  Similary Parra during those good old days was very famous for producing some of the top sportsmen of Goa.  Marcus Pacheco was one such great sportsman son of Parra excelling in Athletics.  He was during his school days at Arpora especially during the Portuguese rule in Goa was the champion runner athlete of Goa topping in 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres, 800 metres and even in one mile at school level and at Goa level as well.

His best item was One Hundred metres in which he defeated even the best Portuguese "Pakle and Mestizos" athletes in Goa. While running hundred metres at Arpora School Annual Sports Meet in 1959 I saw him how speedy he was and seeing him thus I as a small boy was inspired to imitate him which I did at the later stage from the same school.

Marcus Pacheco was my hero, like Ben Johnson he was very muscular athlete, slow at starting point but accelerating his pace, strides and speed at the later stage and finishing first.  To see him running was a thriller and sheer excitement. When I joined Arpora School in 1962 June after the annexation of Goa by Bharat, he was doing his SSC but later on when he came to know of my prowess as an athlete coming from the same school, he came especially to see me running at Arpora School Annual Meet and congratulated me saying "Anthony Veronica, now you carry forward where I left".

In early 1962 at Lisboa in Portugal there was a scheduled Sports Meet of Portuguese sports persons from Portugal and from its colonies. As a Portuguese colony it was mandatory for Goa to send its best athletes for this Meet. As a best athlete of Goa Marcus Pacheco should have been an automatic choice but Portuguese Pakle dominated selection committee of Goa dropped Marcus Pacheco from the selection list with an excuse that Marcus Pacheco as a Goan having weak physical structure will not be able to manage to run in Lisboa. 

Fr. Mendonca the then mighty and knowledgeable Principal of Arpora School sensed the racial discrimination of the Portuguese dominated selection committee members and argued forcefully the case of Marcus Pacheco to include him in the Goa selection team which otherwise comprised all Pakle and Mistizos athletes.

Said Fr. Menonca, if Marcus Pacheco as a Goan is weak physically, then how he defeated in the selection trial all the so called physically strong Pakle and Mestizos competitors while conducting the selection trial?  In the selection trial Marcus Pacehco defeated all his opponents and yet he was not selected to go to Portugal.  But later on it was because of Fr. Mendonca’s intervention that finally our Goan Marcus Pacheco was given a green signal to represent Goa in the Athletics Meet to be held at Lisboa in Portugal.

After confirmation of his selection, Marcus Pacheco was given rigorous training at Campal even Road Running on the Streets of Panjim – Campal – Miramar & Dona Paula with Military Jeep of Pakles in front controlling his moves.  

When everything was done and finalised to fly to Lisboa during Christmas Week, unexpectedly for Marcus Pacheco on 18^th December itself India sent its mighty Military to annex Goa and on 19^th December officially and forcefully grabbed Goa thereby dashing all the hopes of Marcus Pacheco of winning Medal for Goa in the Portuguese Sports Meet.at Lisboa. 

May be if it materialised, Marcus Pacheco would get an opportunity to represent Portugal in  the Olympics and win a gold medal there making Goa proud. But it was not destined to happen like that.

Very shortly Goa is going to host Lusofonia Games in Goa where Goan athletes will be selected to represent Goan squad.  What Marcus Pacheco missed in Lisboa in 1962 will any of the Goan athletes win in Goa in 2013 ? By the way, will there be another Marcus Pacheco representing Goa in this Lusofonia Games in Goa?

Marcus Pacheco in Sixties worked for Chowgules Mining in Goa where he also represented Chowgules soccer team at Bardez level in the Second Division of GFA, he was a bustling forward scoring lot of goals with his both legs. As a student of Arpora School, I was also playing for that team along with him in 1965.  It was a sheer pleasure to play along with him where he provided me lot of support required on the field for a very young footballer like me.

In Seventies and in Eighties he worked in Abu Dhabi from where he returned to his home place Parra Goa and expired there about 15 years back.  May his Soul Rest In Peace and may Goa produce more and more Marcus Pachecos to bring more and more laurels for Goa in athletics field.

Befitting his stature as a great Goan athlete Goa has ever produced and having a very good sporting history behind him, I feel the organisers of the forthcoming Lusofonia Games in Goa should HONOUR him by naming one venue of the Games after him. 

A. Veronica Fernandes,

Kuwait.   

THE LATE AMERICO VIVIANO REMEDIOS. DIED ON 22.08.13.

It is with deep regret and chagrin here in Kuwait I received the sad news of the sad demise of our dear the late Mr. Americo Viviano Remedios from Saligao, Bardez, Goa. He was a very good colleague of mine in many of the activities we organised in Kuwait for the causes of community development, Goa and Goan causes in general.  It was a seer pleasure and honour personally for me to work with him for the Goan causes because of his sincerity.  

He was one of the highly respectable, highly reputed, highly dignified and highly sincere men among Goans in Kuwait.  He was free of any type of scandal, vulgarity and chicanery. Being a long timer in Kuwait he carved a special niche for him in the community for being the most sincere, most truthful and most upright man.

Being a senior Goan among us in Kuwait and holding a responsible job in a prestigious organisation – Kuwait Oil Company, at Ahmadi, Kuwait where as per the KOC rules he was provided with all the amenities including a posh apartment, he was a very good social worker.  As a reputed and a responsible senior Goan, he always participated in all the activities Goans did in Kuwait for the cause of Goa and Kuwait. 

For raising funds for the construction of Cancer Hospital in Goa, he moved mountains in 1977. To raise funds for the Konkani movement, he helped a lot especially for raising funds for the families of Konkani Martyrs headed by the first martyr Florian Vaz.  His participation in uniting Goans and collecting funds for the Goa-Kuwait direct flight movement was noteworthy. For Goa-Kuwait Solidarity movement in Goa for the cause of Kuwait’s liberation his association and contribution was praiseworthy. He also supported the movement Goans did in Kuwait for the freedom of Kuwait’s POW’s.

When Gulf Goans Hotels Co. was formed from Kuwait, he was always on forefront to promote it.  Thru his personal efforts he encouraged so many Goans to purchase its Shares and himself purchased first saying "charity begins at home first".  Being one of the major Shareholders, in the beginning itself he was given the post of one of the founding directors in which capacity he did his best to help the company.   

Though he was the director, he never used Hotel Goan Heritage’s facilities free of charge for him and for his family members. Once he in the beginning stayed in the Hotel with his family but never availed any facility as a director free of charge. For this reason I always called him the most upright man among Goans in Kuwait not only among all the directors.

As his long time colleague in the Board of Gulf Goans Hotels Company, I always found his debates, discourses and arguments very constructive. .It gave me lot of pleasure to work with him in the Board as there was none in the Board like him and there was no selfishness on his part for anything. He was not crazy for cheap prominence and cheap publicity. 

He always worked and spoke for the well-being of the Hotel Goan Heritage and never shown anytime any sign of his selfishness. He was a rarity in the Board and fought against any injustice done to any of his colleagues. He was a very good unifying factor among board members and enjoying very good respect as none enjoyed.  Because of his sincerity I always liked him in the Board.

During a farewell party hosted by the Board in Kuwait in his honour when he was leaving Kuwait for good approximately a decade back, I concluded my speech saying “with his retiring from our midst, truthfulness, uprightness and sincerity will also retire from our midst”. Such pristine and genuine Goans are rarity among us now, not only in Kuwait but also in Goa.  He was the pride not only of Saligaocars but also of Goans. 

May his soul rest in peace and may God give courage to his wife and children to bear this great loss.

A. Veronica Fernandes,

Kuwait. 

"RAPE IS NOT AN END OF LIFE", SAID THE MUMBAI RAPED GIRL.

With all my might I strongly condemn the brutal and inhuman rape committed by the 5 beastly youth on Journalist Photographer in Mumbai 4 days back. Kudos to Mumbai Police to nab all the 5 rapists within 72 hours – 4 in Mumbai and the 5^th in Delhi. By nabbing all the culprits in record time Mumbai Police maintained its billing as the best Police Force in India. 

Earlier in early Seventies, Bombay Police had created a history by capturing the dreaded criminal Raman Raghao who was considered as the most difficult criminal to nab but Bombay Police within a short period succeeded in arresting him alive thus giving peaceful sleep to Bombayites. During those few days Raman Raghao had created such a fear in Bombay that some people were even afraid to sleep at home because he was known to enter your house as invisible, kill a woman breastfeeding her infant child, then suck her breast and disappear from the scene as invisible only.

‘RAPE IS NOT AN END OF LIFE’, stated the rape victim from the Hospital bed in Mumbai where at Jaslok Hospital she is recuperating.  Very courageous statement it is and very encouraging for similar victims and society as a whole.  It is a fitting answer for all the rape victims not to retire into oblivion after they are raped.  Rape victims require support and encouragement to carry on with their life as usual without pointing a finger to them that they are downcast.  Even the young boys should voluntarily come forward to marry such girls because they have done no wrong, it is the rapists who should be condemned. 

In rape there is no sexual pleasure for the victim but only a torturing and physical harm for her body. Rape is an unconsensual sex forced on the victim by the physical might of the culprit and as such the victim deserves sympathy, support and acceptance in its fold as normal person by the society.

Since rape in India is a routine occurrence, the authorities neglect it as normal happening needing no remedial measures to stop it from further occurring. Our political leaders since many of them are a party to this crime and since their daughters and other family members are not subjected to this crime, they refrain from enacting stringent laws to punish the rapists.  They see silently everything and yet pretend to be sleeping but once their daughters are raped then only they will wake up from their sleep to enact harsh laws as existed in some Islamic countries.

After the last big raping scandal in Delhi in December, numerous people came on to the streets demanding capital punishment for the rapists and fast track judgement.  To silence the voice temporarily of the vociferous demonstrators, government promised remedial laws to prevent and stop raping in India.  However, to my utter disgust government is still sleeping and will go on sleeping further because government has no wish to enact laws for harsh punishment. Thru this lethargy of government’s inaction, government is encouraging rape in India.

In view of this, I feel some body must come forward to ‘Bell the Cat’, and who will be that somebody?  According to me it will be the Mumbai rape victim – Photo Journalist – who should after her discharge from the hospital conduct a ‘A Sit In Strike ‘ at the strategic location in Mumbai to put pressure on government of India to enact stringent laws to punish the future rapists. Since time is very ripe now for this action because of public sympathy, she has to "hit the Iron when it is hot".  To take this action she is in a better position and all her supporters will surely join her in this move.  Social activists in Mumbai can encourage her to take this action and lend her all the required support.  This is what I suggest.

Besides, in the coming general election, electorate in India must put a heavy pressure on all the political parties to add this point in their election manifestos giving top priority for this point. This point must be made an election issue in 2014 general election.   

A.Veronica Fernandes,

Kuwait.