Focus on Kanara Catholic centurions in CASK book by John Monteiro
Florine Roche
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Mangalore, Oct 5: When I got hold of the book, 'CASK and Fellow Centurions', my first impression was that it is voluminous. With 424 pages and in Crown size, it is no doubt quite a huge book. Considering that Catholic Association of South Kanara (CASK) is celebrating its centenary year, its effort to encapsulate CASK’s rich and veritable history of 100 years of Catholics of undivided South Kanara, cannot be hampered by restricting the number of pages of the book. This is exactly what the compiler of the book, John B Monteiro, has done.
After going through the book, which was released on September 22, 2013 to mark the inauguration of centenary celebrations of CASK, I have no hesitation in saying that this book serves as collector’s copy for all those who wish to recall, recollect, ruminate and preserve the events of the bygone era. For those who want to go down memory lane recalling the growth and progress achieved by the Catholic community of undivided Dakshina Kannada, laced with its rich and vibrant heritage and culture and want to convey the same to posterity, this book should serve the purpose. The book gives a insightful and comprehensive picture of the bygone years by striking the right chord among prospective readers.
As a noted author and a veteran journalist of repute, Monteiro has done a competent job in compiling only the required information in the book, selecting from a huge pile of information available to him. CASK’s monthly magazine, Mangalore, which is in its 87th year of uninterrupted publication (a record of sort), was like a reservoir of information from which the author had to cull out only the relevant and manageable information for the book. And true to what is said on the cover page, this book is going to be the conduit of “100 years of linking Mangaloreans worldwide”.
The author has described his book as “Readings” as he has not altered the original views expressed by the authors in some of the articles which he has used in the book giving due credit to the authors. The book is divided into three parts. The first part titled, ‘Facets of CASK’, which has 24 chapters covered in about 270 pages, deals mainly with history of undivided South Kanara and events surrounding it. The topics covered are relevant, brief, to the point and with archival value. Apart from giving the history of CASK over the last century, this part extensively covers subjects as diverse and poignant as Tipu’s Captivity of Catholics, Fading Customs, Old Mangalorean Pet Names, CASK’s association with India’s freedom movement, Mangalorean weddings, issues concerning Konkani language, education, social and religious architecture and much more. All these articles are aptly covered in suitably titled chapters.
The book contains articles written way back in 1928 taking us back down memory lane. The subject of the first car driver in Mangalore and the electrification of Mangalore also find their way in the book, clearly demonstrating that we have come a long way since then and it gives the readers a glimpse of how the past vis-à-vis the present. The articles clearly hint that Mangalore served as a channel for Mangalorean Catholics to articulate their views, grievances, problems and frustrations as much as projecting their writing skills.
The second part, “Surviving Centurions”, features a collection of the articles written by the author for various print and electronic media in the last ten years in Mangalore, edited suitably. Surviving Centurions features century-old schools, colleges, religious institutions, business enterprises and some coffee plantations giving us a peek into their history past and present. It takes us to the zeitgeist of the end of the 19th century with nostalgia gripping us. Reading about the trials and tribulations of these people who have gone through hard times and their triumph makes it an exhilarating reading and would truly inspire the present generation.
The third part, aptly titled “Concluding Cocktails”, is the story of a Mangalorean hero of a pirated ship in Malacca and Singapore Straits and makes engrossing reading for the sheer temerity with which the Mangalorean Captain faced the situation. The incident occurred two decades ago when electronic media was not a force to reckon with and therefore most people were oblivious of the incident. Nonetheless with sea pirating grabbing many eyeballs over the last few years, the story of the Captain of the ship hijacked by ruthless pirates assumes greater significance.
One may wonder that the book has not dealt with eminent personalities of Catholics of South Kanara who have excelled in their chosen fields and have left an indelible mark in the annals of history. The author has reasoned out that considering the fact that we have enough and more people from South Kanara who have left their imprint in the world and Indian scenario, it was difficult to feature the top ten personalities in the book without being biased. CASK’s request asking people to vote for the top 10 Catholics of South Kanara, did not elicit any actionable response. Under such a scenario, it was a wise decision not to have a section on eminent personalities, lest it would have led to misgivings and heartburns.
The cover page of the book features four photographs of the good old centurion institutions of Mangalore such as Rosario Church, Fr Muller’s Hospital, St Aloysius College and Milagres Church, Mangalore, as these institutions are intimately associated with Catholic history and culture – upheld and promoted by CASK.
The only aspect which I fail to fathom is why it has been titled CASK and Fellow Centurions when ¾ of the content of the book covered in the first part deals with a variety of issues concerning South Kanara compiled from the Mangalore magazine brought out by CASK. On the whole, the book makes a lucid ‘reading’ and the author has tried to maintain the originality of the articles as much as possible.
One has to salute Monteiro for his appetite to keep writing, age notwithstanding, and also for being punctilous, as is evident in this book. The promptitude with which he compiled the book with a short lead time is a demonstration of his extraordinary ability to rise to the occasion when the situation demands. Anyone else would have refused to shoulder the onerous responsibility of going through the volumes of information in order to compile this time-bound book. I don’t think anyone else could have done a better job given the circumstances. Perhaps the front men of CASK, Dr Derek Lobo and Capt. John Prasad Menezes, were seized of the ‘qualities’ in Monteiro and never took a no from him until he accepted the challenge. If Monteiro feels that he was chosen because he was the proverbial ‘monta’ of the adage ‘Ellarannu bidi Montanannu Hidi”, it exemplifies his humility.
Needless to say Monteiro has come out with a ‘rare gem of a book’ that would inspire the present generation and also serve as a useful reference to posterity.
Incidentally, it is the second book of Monteiro to be published this year; the first being Corruption: India's Painful Crawl to Lokpal, publihsed by Strategic Books, USA. Priced at $21.5, it is available online from Amazon.com and other online majors and locally at Gerosa, Hampankatta and Biblios on Bunts Hostel road.
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