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New goals, new prayers
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R.V. Smith recalls a lovelorn Sunday when the kick of romance made him pray for a Portuguese footballer
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The 1966 World Cup comes to mind, though it was played exactly 40 years ago. Portugal had some outstanding players, among whom Eusebio was the most fancied. Youngsters took him as their hero and for this scribe he was much more than that because his girlfriend, a Convent of Jesus and Mary student, had a great liking for Eusebio.
Amy Fernandes was a Goan, who had grown up in Goa when it was a part of Portugal, so all the more reason for her and her ilk to back that country with heart and soul. Amy and her friends prayed for their favourite team night and day. There was no shrine to a Christian saint in the Capital then, as even now.
In Goa they had the Bom Jesus Church, where the body of St. Francis Xavier was enshrined. But that was too far away from Delhi. And even for Goans staying in Bombay in the pre-1960s it wasn't so easily accessible.
Amy and her friends contrived to go on a picnic to Agra and roped in this fledgling journalist to be the male escort. The reverend mother superior was reluctant to grant permission to the girls for the outing, but was eventually convinced that time spent in Agra in the shadow of the Taj would certainly not be a wasted Sunday.
Father Santus
Having missed the Taj Express, we boarded the Punjab Mail from New Delhi station and alighted at Raja-ki-Mandi in preference to Agra Cant junction as it was closer to the first and foremost place Amy wanted to visit. We caught rickshaws from the station and were off to the Martyrs' Cemetery where is situated the mausoleum of Father Santus.
This Portuguese priest came to India in the third decade of the 17th Century and was able to make an impact at the Moghul Court. Shah Jahan was on the throne and the Capital was in Agra, as the emperor was still to move it to Delhi. There were a lot of Portuguese traders then who vied with the English, French, Flemish, Dutch and Italian merchants for preferential trading rights.
Unfortunately for the Portuguese, the emperor's ire was aroused as some merchants of their factory in Hooghly had abducted two slave girls of Mumtaz Mahal, when he and his consort were fugitives during Jahangir's reign, and refused to return them. This was followed by other acts of insubordination. Shah Jahan gave orders for an attack by the imperial troops on the Portuguese fort.
After a brief skirmish, Hooghly was sacked and a large number of Portuguese prisoners were brought in chains to Agra and kept in captivity. That was in 1632, a year after Mumtaz's death.
Their vicar was Fr. Santus, a very holy priest. One day while he was celebrating Mass in Akbar's Church, a mob from Wazirpura attacked the church and killed several worshippers, including Fr. Santus and the 12 boys serving him at Mass.
Attracting worshippers
Soon after the priest's body was buried in a mango orchard, which had been gifted to the Jesuits for a cemetery during Akbar's reign by a pious lady, Mariam Pyari. Slowly Father Santus began to be venerated as a saint, not only by Christians but also Hindus and Muslims. People from all communities come to his grave and tie threads on the trellis of the mausoleum. If their vow is fulfilled, they untie the string and offer "malida," a pudding of fine flour sugar and desi ghee, at the grave.
Well Amy, her classmates and this scribe prayed at Father Santus' shrine for victory to Portugal in the World Cup with special favour to Eusebio. Later we proceeded to the Taj, where Amy and I had the opportunity to pass some intimate moments in the shadow of the second minaret facing the Yamuna.
Back to Delhi. The prayers did not go entirely in vain. Eusebio's brilliant flag kick brought the all-important goal to Portugal and, if memory serves right, they finished third in the World Cup, behind England and Germany, but ahead of the Soviet Union. Eusebio lives in Lisbon, as an elderly man, but his goal is still remembered, despite the `Hand-of-God' one by Diego Maradona of Argentina, which came much later. Amy must be a grandmother now, but when this scribe visited Fr Santus' grave recently he did find the time to spare a thought for her Eusebio and the 1966 World Cup. However, this time the prayer was: "May the best team win". Naturally, since there was no romantic interest involved!
Errata: In last week's piece the couplet should have read "Jab Saiyan Bhaya Kotwal Tab Kahe ka Dar Hai"... Kotwal Philip came dressed in malmal kurta and matching (not malmal) pyjamas.
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