Whenever we had
visitors who in all probability would be staying over for lunch, people were
always staying over for lunch, there was hardly any transport and guests were
part of the daily routine. So if there
was going to be a guest, who at the moment was relaxing, been given comfortable
slippers and was staying over for lunch, the Dona-de-casa sent her young child
to the nearby grocer’s shop ‘Loja de Lataria e Vinhos finos’ for a tin of
sardines.
Carefully, the tin was prised open, the sardines were
removed and with infinite care placed on a travessa, the cat meanwhile
delicately licked the remnants of the brine or oil still lingering in the now
open tin. Onions were cut in very fine rings, if the guest was lucky and there
were tomatoes these were cut in roundels, a delicate vinaigrette added to the
onions. The onion and tomato salad surrounded the sardines placed in the centre
of the travessa. The edge of the travessa was wiped very carefully for any fingerprints
of oil.
Of course, the sardines were not the only food at the table, the
food that was always eaten for lunch was there too, rice, fish curry, fried
fish, a beef dish and maybe a dish of vegetables.
The sardines were in honour of the guest who taken the trouble to
visit the family.
There was nothing
special about the shop selling all these fine goods, they were definitely not called
gourmet shops, it was our next door neighbour, Militão Fernandes, who ran a shop selling not only these fine goods but everything that was required
in the village, a grocery shop.
Militão Fernandes a
very tall gentleman ran the shop with his wife; his house was overloaded with
gourmet goods rubbing shoulders with ordinary stuff like soap and kerosene. It
was not considered special to sell all types of olives, olive oil, tinned
sardines, salmon and even tinned peas, wines such as Macieira, Granjó,
Tinto, Whisky and of course Genebra were always available.
Who
knew anything about Gourmet goods?
But Militão Fernandes’ foray into entrepreneurship began much before his Loja,
he and a group of nine partners pooled in a princely sum of Rupias Eight
Thousand and bought a Batliboi rice husking machine from Bombay. The story goes
that the Manager at Batliboi regretted selling the husking machine to Militão and partners; he even offered to pay them an additional sum of
Rupias Six Thousand if they would return the husking machine. But our dynamic
partners refused the kind offer.
At that time,
there was a tremendous need for a husking machine, Militão and his partners plunged into this opportunity, this husking machine
ran from 6 in the morning to Midnight, with staff working on shifts. It was a
tremendous success with people from neighbouring villages coming in droves to
get their rice polished.
Militão Fernandes
however was not really happy with just a husking machine, that too in
partnership, he went to Bombay slogged as a compounder of medicines in a
Doctor’s Clinic, saved every penny and got his ‘Loja de Lataria e Vinhos finos’
going in 1924. Whatever Militão Fernandes touched
turned to gold, no wonder then that his shop was another huge success.
At the Doctor’s he had picked up a great deal of
information, he started mixing his own Ayurvedic potions and ointments.
If you had terrible burns, you did not rush to the doctor or the
chemist, you rushed to Militão who gave
you an ointment which you rubbed oh so gently on your burns and voilá you were cured with not even a scar to show.
If your baby had tummy pains,
Militão to the rescue with an ointment that
left the little guy smiling. Oh yes, Militão was doing exceedingly well.
And then you realise with a pang, there is no longer a ‘Loja
de Lataria e Vinhos finos’ and you wonder why, what really happened? To these
questions, Militão’s son Caetaninho
replies,
‘It closed in 1954’ ‘the year my brother João Pedro said his First Mass.’
We discuss this troublesome happening and although we do not say it in
so many words, we realise the reason.
The setting was that of a Portuguese Colony, all around
the village there were only Catholics. Having a business was not really a
wholesome activity. If you were brave enough to ask,
‘Why are Hindus so successful in businesses?’
A ferocious glare was
directed your way and somebody said in a harsh whisper,
‘They know how to rob, they bend the rules, and they
have no morals and principles.’
Forget the streak of entrepreneurship that Hindus have, or the money
sunk in enterprises, or the risks taken. All that was said was ‘they were good
in business because they know how to bend rules.’
So you can well imagine Militão’s pride when his son became a Priest. The respect his family now
had in the village was immense. No longer would it be called the Shopkeeper’s
house but the Priest’s house.
But on the other hand, it must have been a terrible, terrible wrench
for Militão to close an
enterprise that he had built single- handedly from scratch with his hard earned
savings.
Militão’s lived in an
age of repression as well as envy and jealousy. A Doctor who lived in the
village and who had the most abysmal
practise, with hardly a living soul in his Consulting room complained to the
authorities that Militão was selling
spurious drugs, that is an offence as we all know.
Militão feared the worst
and discontinued his Ayurvedic drugs.
He must have been a really dispirited person to see so much of his
effort and work washed away through no fault of his.
They say that
genetic traits skip a generation and so it is in the case of Militão, his grandson, Joseph runs a very successful Chemist Shop. But
what really would have made Militão gloat with
pride is that his Ayurvedic potions and ointments are sold openly with pride
and nobody thinks of complaining to the authorities. We in India know all about
Ayurveda...
I must apologise
deeply to any Hindus reading this blog. I most definitely do not believe Hindus
are successful in business because they know how to rob, they bend the rules,
and they have no morals and principles. It was ignorance talking and a great
deal of envy. Nevertheless I do apologise deeply.
