FR. ANTONIO PEREIRA, SJ: THE JOURNEY OF A JESUIT

 

My review of Fr Antonio Pereira’s autobiography, Mhojea Hatanchi ani Vonttanchi Kanni.

Published by Fr Freddy J Da Costa (1989)

Pages: 168, Price Rs.15/-

"On August 25, 1919, in the village of Sirlim in Chinchinim, a son was born to Antonio Ludovico Pereira and Anastasia Encarnaçao da Costa. They named him Antonio Luis Pereira. He was ordained priest on November 21, 1952 and rose to become Goa’s much loved and sought-after pregador (preacher) and a Konknni writer of repute."

I had the opportunity of interacting with Fr. Antonio Pereira during a school retreat in Betul and years later at a workshop in journalism at the Baga Retreat House. Most of what I learnt is difficult to recollect now, a time-span of forty odd years casting shadows over distant events and episodes. What I do remember is the memory of a priest full of humility as he shared the ‘loaves of wisdom’ during the school retreat and one session at the Retreat House: the slide-show of Shel Silverstein’s story, The Giving Tree.

Fr Antonio Pereira’s autobiography, Mhojea Hatanchi ani Vonttanchi Kanni in Romi Konknni, at once reminded me of the boy and the tree in the story, the tree providing the boy with shade, apples to eat, branches for a shelter, and many years later, even its trunk to build a boat in which he could sail. In many a way, Fr Pereira’s life has been like that of the tree: always giving!

In his Don Utram at the beginning of the book, which he completed on his seventieth birthday, Fr Pereira says, ‘He kannient tumkam vhoddlim tufanam ani vadllam dischimnant’ (You will find neither great storms nor tempests in this story). The autobiography flows ever so gently through the pages as he embarks on his journey to become a Jesuit priest. From Sirlim, the place where he was born, to Colegio Sidonio Paes in Curtorim and thence to Rachol seminary and the novitiate in Calicut, the journey is never easy.

From the comforts of his house in Sirlim to his early days in Colegio where he would take bath only twice a week, Fr Pereira tells his kanni in his inimitable style and crisp Konknni he is so famous for: tending the sick in the Marikunnu hospital in Calicut, more studies in the cool confines of Shembaganur near Kodaikanal and then once again in Kerala, this time in Alleppey.

There would be more places to dwell in future, too. Poona, Kurseong and Hazaribag before Fr Pereira would eventually return to the land of his forefathers. But even when away from its shores, Goa is often on his mind. He keeps in touch through magazines and newspapers and writes (in his autobiography) not only about meeting Braz Gonsalves and other band members when a circus comes calling in Hazaribag but also about chovrisam (sausages) and doce (sweets) and how they would all share these Goan delicacies together, as and when such parcels occasionally came their way.

One has to be real tough to survive the Jesuit grind and Fr Pereira is determined to be one of them. While studying in Alleppey, an urgent telegram sends him homeward-bound but by the time he steps down from the train at the Margao station, it is already late. His mother’s funeral is over and all he can do is cry at her grave.

But there are times when others cry for him, too. When his stint as boarding-master at Loyola’s, Margao comes to an end and it is time for him to leave for Belgaum, some day-scholars travel as far as Sanvordem to bid him good-bye. Such indeed was the bond that existed between Fr Pereira and his students.

Like most priests of his day, Fr Pereira kept a diary to record everything that took place in his life. The book is full of names of the mighty and the meek, persons whom he remembers and is grateful to. His superiors and his subjects, editors and fellow-contributors, everyone who influenced and shaped him to become a pregador and a Konknni writer of repute.

Through the course of his journey he would greatly impact his Konknni readers, especially readers in the Romi script. Tuzo Vichar and Onvllam, two columns which he wrote for V. Ixtt, the weekly newspaper published by the Pilar Society, were so popular that they later became the basis for two books, among thirty four, that he penned during his life. Dr Olivinho Gomes in his book, Konkani Literature in Roman Script – A Brief History mentions that Fr Antonio Pereira’s biography of St. Vincent Pallotti in Romi script, Anvddeancho Monis ‘was cruelly excluded from the Sahitya Akademi award, though it had been selected for it in the final round, on the dubious basis that it was not in Devanagari script, in 1992’.

But far from the many awards which he received, vhoddlem inam mog (the greatest award is love) is what he tells us somewhere in the book. And abundant love he not only received, abundant love is what he gave to his people. His long innings of over 18 years in Bicholim where he worked tirelessly for the upliftment of the parish and the establishment of Our Lady of Grace High School and BAFF (Bicholim Association of Football Fans) earned him the title of ‘Divcholkarancho Bapui’.

The fatherly figure who commanded the respect of every community in Bicholim, would one day return back from Baga and watch silently, with tears in his eyes, ‘the destruction of the school which he founded and nursed’. A corporal punishment given to a handicapped boy was the spark that ignited the raging fires.

Retreats for the raponnkars (fishermen), major incidents like the Liberation of Goa and the ganvkar-non-ganvkar tussle in the Confraria which (briefly) led to the formation of the Independent Church of Cuncolim are remembered and recounted, though at times, the autobiography appears to touch only the surface. Was he in a hurry to somehow complete the task on his seventieth birthday considering the fact that the last chapter, Oxi Sompta Mhoji Kanni is dated 25.8.1989? We would never know.

What we know for sure is this: he came, he planted and lived long enough to see the fruits of his labour. For priests and aspiring priests alike, Mhojea Hatanchi ani Vonttanchi Kanni is a valuable book even now, thirty years after it was first published by Fr Freddy J da Costa in 1989.

Postscript: Fr Antonio Pereira died on February 25, 2004 and as per his wishes was buried in the cemetery of Our Lady of Grace Church in Bicholim. Jezvit Antonio Pereira Konknni Puroskar was instituted by Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr, Porvorim on his seventieth birthday.

On his birth centenary on 25.8.2019, the road leading to Our Lady of Merces Chapel in Sirlim from the Margao-Chinchinim highway will be named as Fr. Antonio Pereira, SJ Road followed by the release of his earlier book, Konknni Oparinchem Bhanddar. The function is jointly organized by Tiatr Academy Goa, Fr. Freddy J Da Costa Memorial Trust and Dalgado Konknni Akademi.

[Now slightly edited, this review first appeared in The Gomantak Times on 25.8.2009, Fr Pereira’s 90th birth anniversary]