... Carnaval usually took place sometime in February. These pre-Lenten festivities, as in most Catholic countries, took place from Saturday through Tuesday, and it was all over on Ash Wednesday. There were balls in the various clubs, with all night dancing and frolicking for the grown-ups who went with domino masks and disguises, whereas the children could participate in the parades, with allegoric floats, blaring music bands, fights with water, sprays, confetti and coloured paper serpentines. These parades took place between 5.00 p.m. until sunset, and we boys participated in such joyful pranks.

I rememember three Carnaval festivities of 1934 through 1936, as later on I was in a British boarding school, far away in Bangalore, where Carnaval was unheard of.

Our parents let us have the car, – the Citroën - with its top folded at the back, and and we boys loaded the car with barrels of water, and jugs for wetting people on the sidewalks, while downtown we ourselves got wet from buckets of water which were thrown at us from the first floor of the houses. Ibrahim, our chauffeur, with his Fez cap, drove stoically, getting himself wet, while we exchanged dousings.

Our car joined the parade, which cruised along the main streets at a snail’s pace, and when we passed the house of Dr. Domingo de Souza, or the Velhos, or other people we knew, who lived in the main square, or along the route of the parade through town, there was a fierce exchange of confettis, serpentines and water. It was really clean fun, in an excited atmosphere of Brazilian music, d’Souza marches, and popular music. Most people dressed in masquerades,and their painted faces soon became a mess after getting doused with water.

Excerpts from Alfredo de Mello's "FROM GOA TO PATAGONIA", containing a history of Goa, biographies of personages and his own personal experiences in Goa. The book will be available in early December, with all royalties going to Ishaprema Niketan. Those interested in acquiring a copy please send an email to gdefigueiredo@yahoo.com.au or contact the author.

Alfredo de Mello, son of Dr. Froilano de Mello (an eminent doctor and a luminary in Goa's Public Health who also was a Member of Parliament representing the Estado da India Portuguesa in Lisbon), lives in Uruguay.