Inside St Francis Church, Fort Kochi Moraes Zogoiby (Moor), the narrator-protagonist of Salman Rushdie’s iconic novel The Moor’s Last Sigh , carries in his genes a richly variegated lineage. His mother, Aurora da Gama, belongs to the da Gama family of Kochi, who claim descent from none less than Vasco da Gama, the historical Portuguese Catholic explorer. Abraham Zogoiby, his father, is a Jew whose family originally belonged to Spain from where they were expelled by the Catholic Inquisition. Kochi welcomed all the Jews who arrived there in 1492 from Spain. Vasco da Gama landed on the Malabar coast of Kerala in 1498. Today’s Fort Kochi carries the history of all those arrivals and subsequent mingling of history and miscegenation of races. Kochi’s history is intertwined with that of the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British, the Arbas, the Jews, and the Chinese. No culture is a sacrosanct monolith that can remain untouched by other cultures that keep coming in from all over the world. ...
Great message!
ReplyDeleteMay we all get new light!
Happy Diwali!
Thanks, Anita, and wish you and all your dearest ones the joys and blessings of Diwali.
DeleteNice message conveyed...Happy Diwali to you too.. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt came from some frustration, in fact, Mani. Wish you too a very enlightening Diwali.
DeleteI wish I find the new light before I die. Happy Diwali. :)
ReplyDeleteYou will, Namrata, I assure you. Take it as a prophecy from me. It may not be in the form of a political leader or any person from outside you!
DeleteWish you Happy Deepavali.
ReplyDeleteMost happy to receive your greetings, Rajesh, and happier still to extend the same wishes to you.
DeleteA very happy Diwali to you and your family !
ReplyDeleteThank you Paresh. Let us wish you and family too on this occasion.
DeleteSimple and thought provoking.. Happy diwali!
ReplyDeleteHappy Diwali to you too. I have extended the thought in a new post. Most welcome.
DeleteHappy Diwali to you and your family!
ReplyDeleteHeartiest greetings to you too.
DeleteWish you very very HAPPY DIWALI..............
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Thank you and may you have a very enlightening Diwali too.
DeleteWishing a very happy Diwali to you and your family :) :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Deepa. Wish you and family too the blessings of Diwali.
DeleteDear Sir
ReplyDeleteHappy Diwali wishes to you. Sir just now first time i saw your blog and due to this reason today i gave this comment for your Diwali post.
Sir please look into my Lamps of India message which i shared in my Heritage of India blog and give your comments.
http://indian-heritage-and-culture.blogspot.in/2013/09/lamps-of-india.html