A piece of Portugal

In a nondescript Bengal village, the ancestry of the population links them to a small band of Portuguese mercenaries who saved the people from bandits in the 17th century, reports Snehangshu Adhikari

Mirpur, in Bengal’s East Midnapore district, is unlike any other village in the state. Many of its residents are of Portuguese descent.

The village has 140 Christian families, 90 of them Catholic, the rest Protestant. So in the two weeks before Christmas, Mirpur bustles with activity.

Preparations are on in full swing to usher in the Yuletide spirit.

The two cathedrals in the village – the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of North India – are being dressed up for December 25.

Residents tell us that Mirpur has another equally important annual festival – the birth anniversary of the Blessed Virgin Mary – on September 8.

Sitting on the steps of the Catholic Church, 13-year-old Bittu Nunez says: “We do celebrate Durga Puja and Kali Puja with our friends, but it is only for December 25 and sometimes for September 8 that we get new clothes.”

The free morning classes have just ended in the church as we enter the village. We find Bittu sitting on the stairs in the company of Simon Nunez (17), Saikat Tesra (10), Jacob Rosario (9) and a few others.

Francis Anthony, 43, arrives with a pot of tea in one hand and a plate of boiled eggs in the other. It’s time for a quick repast.

Francis was Benu Bhagat till August 5, 2005. He says: “It’s really tough to say when and how someone is drawn to Jesus. Eight years ago, my nephew embraced Christianity. He asked me to follow suit and something happened to me – I just offered myself to Lord Jesus. Today, I feel complete and happy.”

The residents of Mirpur do not look any different from the residents of neighbouring villages like the Muslim-dominated Shuklanpur and the Hindu-majority Bethkundu. And they speak the same language. Yet Thomas Tesra (13) and Nuno (52) are proud to grandly refer to themselves as ‘members of the Portuguese community’.

Legend has it that in the 17th century, a handful of Portuguese soldiers had arrived here to fight the borgees (a nomadic tribe of plunderers) and never went back. So, could Bittu, Augustine and Simon actually be descendents of those brave Portuguese warriors?

We ask village elder Anthony Rotha. “Yes, we are Portuguese,” he asserts without batting an eyelid. “But now we are all servants of Lord Jesus.”

His surname, he informs us, is a distortion of the Portuguese family name, Rocha, which literally means ‘rock’.

Both Anthony and his wife are bed-ridden, but he's all too willing to share with us his community’s chequered history. “I know only what my ancestors told me,” he says.
The story, clearly apocryphal, goes thus: many centuries ago, the ferocious borgees used to terrorise the villages in the region. The bandits would arrive on ships in bands of 50 to 100 and ransack the villages.

The people were at their wit’s end. It was either local ruler Queen Janaki or the King of Mahishadal – Anthony isn’t quite sure – who requested the Portuguese government to send some soldiers to fight the Borgees.

Portugal sent 15 men – basically convicts serving life terms – to protect the villages. The local Queen gave the mercenaries 100 bigha (about 35 acres) of land and the weapons that they needed for the fight. Astonishingly, this ragtag army sent the borgees packing.

Having done their job, the Portuguese soldiers unleashed their own reign of terror. They forcibly married local girls and made Mirpur their home.

“I love Lord Christ, so I don’t flinch from speaking the truth,” says Anthony. “I accept that my ancestors did resort to acts of tyranny... That’s a fact.”

As we part, he requests us to go and have a look at the space that he has booked in the nearby cemetery for tombs for himself and his wife. We cannot turn down what is clearly the final request of an infirm, dying man!

At the Roman Catholic Church, we speak to Father Michael Adesar. He tells us that after the Portuguese mercenaries settled down in Mirpur, a bishop followed and spread the faith. Many happily embraced Christianity.

But the prime debate is still alive, hovering around the dual identity of the ‘Portuguese Bengalis’. On one hand, they are known as children of dangerous pirates, and on the other hand, they claim to be a group of freedom fighters and saviours of the society.

However, today, most things have changed. Neither the royal gift of 100 bigha of tax-free land remains, nor does the Portuguese flavour. Anthony, mind you, can still utter a Portuguese word or two, though he does make heavy weather of it.

These days, the Hindus of the village join their Christian brothers to celebrate Christmas. Inter-community marriages are also common and perhaps love is all that matters to most to them anyway!

Previously, Mirpur was exclusively a Christian village. But later on, especially because of this tradition of intermarriage between different communities, the doors are now open for all comers. But the bitter truth is, while the Hindus from the vicinity are allowed to venerate the Christian palli of Mirpur, Muslims don't.

But given the enigmatic and mysterious beginnings of this quaint little Indian village, Mirpur, to this day, remains unique! The bloodline may well trace itself through oral tradition to a group of Portuguese convicts, and yet the soul, Christian or otherwise, remains unmistakably Bengali.

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Earn in UK, save in India

A luxury retirement village of NRI Patels doubles up as tax heaven, writes Manish Macwan

It’s a village unlike any other in India. Spread over an area of roughly five sq km its well-planned roads and prosperous houses speak of luxury and lifestyle no other rural hamlet can boast of. It’s far from any of the big metro cities. Yet, it has more banks than local grocery shops. And more stock brokers than a Delhi or Mumbai urban village can dream of.

In the last few years its population has risen from 15,000 to 25,000 yet the village remains what it is. But there is no shortage of necessary infrastructure and facilities. Everything is organized and in order. Not a single building is more than three stories high. Not a single shop or house is haphazardly constructed. Electricity and water is available round the clock. There is a modern English school and a ground that can accommodate the entire village on special occasions. A health centre and a grand temple. In short, its possible to mistake the place for a developed city block not a village.

Welcome to Madhapar Nava Vaas – situated on Bhujiyo Dungar (Bhujiyo hill) roughly 4 km off the Bhuj-Anjar road – an incomparable document of Leva Patel’s industriousness and economic success. The Leva Patels trace their origin to Saurashtra claiming that they migrated to Kutch some four hundred years ago. In the 1800s the oceanic trade provided opportunities in East Africa. Some of them went there as merchants, others as masons and carpenters or indentured labour to lay railway lines and work on plantations.

With passage of time a sizeable community of Patels settled in Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania), Somalia, Uganda, Congo and Rwanda. In the 1960s they moved again, taking their businesses to United Kingdom, Arab Emirates and the US.

Many of them kept close contact with their extended families and ancestral villages. Like Madhapar. But it was only in the early 1990s that Leva Patels took more active interest in ancestral land and started settling in what is now known as Madhapar Nava Vyas (lit., New Settlement) on the outskirts of the older village. In many ways it’s a ‘NRI retirement village’ – with 60 per cent of its populace above the age of 50.

There is an old age home here. It’s called ‘Apnu Ghar’ (Our Home) and includes a club. Spread over half-an acre it houses 17 inmates – all Leva Patel NRIs. These are the people that already own houses in the village but left to fend for themselves by children living in other lands, have chosen to live together as a community. Every evening they gather at the Sardar Patel Play Ground – to play games, walk or just swap stories with anyone wishing to listen.

Madhapar Nava Vaas has 17 banks. Nearly all regional, private and national banks have a branch here. Some years back, before the global economic recession hit the Patel businesses, it boasted of the largest amount of cash deposited by a village. In 2005 the banks reported that nearly 2,000 crore had been deposited by the NRIs in its coffers.

It is said that per capital income is not less than 13 lakh per annum. Says Bhavesh Parekh owner of a jewellery shop, “There must be a minimum of Rs 20 lakh per head in the banks.” Banks here face a unique situation while deposits are high there is not much that it lends. Says a manager of a PSU bank, “Last year we received Rs. 77 crore as deposit but we succeeded disbursing only Rs. 5 crore as loan.” It would look as if Patels prefer to put their earnings in Indian banks.

There is not a single day that a deposit is made in one bank or another. It is estimated that around Rs 10-15 crore is deposited as FDs annually by Patels that continue to reside in London, East Africa, Canada or the Middle East. “People are in the habit of saving here,” offers Parekh helpfully.

They spend& some of this money on building facilities in the village. Property prices are high and land not that easy to come by. A realty agent, on condition of anonymity says, “The current rate of land is around Rs. 35,000 per square metre and continues to rise.’’

A former officer with Axis bank, who now runs an electronics retail shop Vijay Rabadiya explains, “The NRIs here are not only prosperous but have a strong spending power. Most of them are interested in branded items.”

There is no shortage of high-end flat-screen TVs, washing machines or refrigerators in this village, since every house has an NRI member.

In 1990 when Joravarsinh Jadeja was elected for the first time for the post of Sarpanch (village head), the Panchayat office was a mud house. Six years down the line, the Panchayat office wears a modern look. It has comfortable AC rooms to sit in and state-of-the-art administrative machinery including computers.

Jadeja served as a supervisor at the Al Naser Arabian company in Oman before shifting back home. He says, “In our village everybody is like me. We have returned to our native land to serve.”

Interestingly, the 2001 earthquake that devastated nearby Bhuj did not affect Madhapur adversely. But the government nonetheless deposited Rs 2,000 crore for reconstruction with the Madhapar Postal Department. “No one has claimed it till date,” says Jadeja.

Could there be a more affluent village in India? We doubt.

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Brahmins of Mattur take on the task of reviving Sanskrit language in a small remote village

But the study of Vedas is reserved for the high caste males only, find Kumar Buradikatti and Smitha Ranganath

A small village of around 200 families has earned fame for reviving an ancient language no one in the modern day urban metros wants to speak. And it's happy about it.

Situated seven kilometres away from district headquarter, Shimoga and 285 kms from state capital, Bangalore, on the bank of river Tunga, Mattur is located in the middle of vast sky-kissing areca nut plantations and green paddy fields stretching as far as the eye can see. As you enter the hamlet, you feel as if you were walking down the streets of an ancient Brahamin Agrahara. On one hand you have a pristine river Tunga flowing. People can be seen taking a dip here and there. On the right side of the riverbank, stands a temple abutted by a yagna platform. The houses in the lanes front Sanskrit mantras painted on its walls. Tiny tots frolic in the green expanse. As you walk through the village you hear children reciting the Vedas It’s confusing. Has one walked into a Ramayana serial on TV??

Villagers shun western attire. A man wearing shirt and trousers is likely to be an outsider to the community. Everyone here wears a dhoti – white cloth around the waist – and a sacred thread slung across upper torso.

Muttur has produced number of scholars, some engaged in spreading and promoting ancient Hindu culture in far away places and some settling down in the village to teach the younger generation. The president of Bharatiya Vidhya Bhavan, Padmashree Dr. Mattur Krishnamurhty hails from this village.

It all started when Samskruta Bharathi, an organization committed to promotion of Sanskrit, organized a 10-day workshop in Mattur to teach the language to villagers. Twenty-five years of hard work has started to yield results, Sanskrit today is the preferred language of most households here.

Muttur’s scholars practice the gurukul system with many teachers instructing a set of students at their own house.

Children from far and near come and stay with their guru till they complete their study. During their stay they are treated as members of the family and have to do the daily chores – washing clothes, fetching water or taking cattle for grazing in the fields. The gurus neither charge anything nor do they accept anything in return. “Western education system is expanding the horizon of job opportunities and English medium schools are mushrooming even in remote villages to cater to the people’s demands. If a parent resists the attraction of western education and allied benefits and agrees to send their children to a gurukul, it is a big thing. How can I expect anything more than this?” asks Dr. MS Sanath Kumar, one of the Sanskrit scholars in the village.

Dr Kumar has a PHD in Ancient Hindu Law and has a very good command over Hindu religious literature including the Vedas. At present four children from different villages are studying at his home. He has given them a separate room in his house. His wife, Savitri prepares food for all. The children take holy dip in Tunga early in the morning before setting off for day’s activities.

All the families in the village depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Some own two acres, others 20. Most grow areca nut and rice, both of which bring a good price in the market. Brahmins here don’t toil on their plantations preferring to engage the shudras from the neighbouring village to do it on wage basis. “We are able to concentrate on studying and teaching younger generation since we are free from physical labour,” says Dr. Sanath Kumar.

A visit to the only Veda Pathashaala meant exclusively for study of Vedas reveals 10 students studying at the school. Inside we find a reading room that has Vedic scriptures stacked one atop another. When asked whether or not women and the people of other communities are allowed to study the Vedas at the Pathashaala, Ranganath a student promptly replies, “Vedas are not meant for women and shudras. Of course, women can learn music.” Ranganath has been studying the Vedas here for six years now.

Dr. Sanath Kumar, one of the teachers at the school, appears to hold the same view, “Learning Sanskrit and studying Vedas are two different things. While the former is open to all, the latter is restricted to some.”

In the government run Sharada Vilaasa High School situated in the middle of the village, Sanskrit is a compulsory language till VII class and it is first language from VII to X standard.

Globalisation, however, has not left Mattur untouched. There are those that want English education for their children. Fortunately, it’s not at the cost of Sanskrit. The facts speak for themselves. Over the last five years the village has contributed some 150 odd students to the IITs and IIMs. 

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Kodinji Kerala: More than twin trouble

Kodinji, in Malappuram district of Kerala, has more than 270 pairs of twins in a radius of one kilometre, a fact that has become a source of irritation for many of its residents, discovers Kavalam Sasikumar

For geneticists, it is a matter of research, for laymen a matter of intrigue, for the media a source of stories, but the presence of an abnormally large number of twins in Kodinji has turned into a menace for the people of this otherwise sleepy village.

A tranquil oasis of green, Kodinji attracts tourists in hordes, many of them foreigners, eager to spot its many twins, 270 in a population of 13,000 as per official records.

While the national average of twins in India is only 8 per 1,000, in Kodinji it is almost four times the average. The reason though is yet to be pinpointed as no agency has conducted an official or biological study.

One Dr Sribiju, who conducted a study of the phenomenon twins in his personal capacity, notes, “Genetics is certainly one reason, but the environment is just as important. Though the majority of the population here is Muslim, the twinning effect is evident among the Hindus as well. Five families here have triplets and half of the twins in the village are females.”

In the Kodinji angadi (market), people easily list many twins but if you happen to ask them for help to organise a photograph, you will invariably be told to cough up Rs 1,000 for each pair of twins.

Since 2002, when the Kodinji twins first came to the notice of the world, national and international publications and news channels have been coming to the village regularly to record their story. Just a week before we went to Kodinji, a television crew from Japan had been there to film a documentary. Acting, shooting and posing have thus become an everyday and boring affair for Kodinji’s residents.

This is especially disturbing when demands for photographs are made during school hours. The PTAs (Parent Teachers’ Association) of the three schools in this village have decided in unison not to allow shooting or photography without the consent of the PTAs and a payment of a donation to the school fund.

Some villagers have taken it upon themselves to guide the visitors. There are allegations that these people are paid by the media. One story goes that the Japanese team paid as much as Rs 2.5 lakh to the students who cooperated with the filming.

A local student, Jabir, sees absolutely nothing wrong in this exchange of money. “If the twins get some money, it can be used for their long-term welfare provided the money does not go into the wrong hands,” he explains.

In 2008, an association named ‘Twins and Kins’ was formed to ensure that no one took undue advantage of the twins by secretly conducting a study on them. The association also organises health camps for the twins.

It was examination time when TSI was in Kodinji to probe the phenomenon and the school authorities were understandably reluctant to disturb the students for a group photo. Hence we could get together just three pairs of twins to pose for us - Jabuba and Jubana from Class 3, two-year-old Afra and Afna and six-month-old Afrah and Ansah.

Many Kodinji families have members in the Gulf. But not everyone here is well off. Yousef, father of Afna and Afra, is an autorickshaw driver who barely manages to make ends meet for himself and his family. He says, “The media makes money from our story. If only we could get a share of what they make, we could have a much better life.”

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