Asif Currimbhoy's ‘Goa' -A Study

 Asif Currimbhoy's ‘Goa' -A Study

ASIF CURRIMBHOY'S Goal (1964) deals

with the Indian takeover of Goa2 in

December 1961. The play reveals the

unique stand taken by Currimbhoy in

assessing the worthwhileness of the

political event. It opens with the encounter

of the dramatist with his friend Mario, the

Portuguese local Administrator who is

proud of Goa and who praises a Goan

village "nestling amidst green hills and

valleys." It is evening and the "regulars"

meet at the "patio" benches. Senhora

Miranda, a fair-looking woman of about

forty, splendidly dressed in the latest

Portuguese fashion, with colourful parasol

in hand, comes down the steps of the

tavern on the west side of the stage, walks

across the long "patio" walk, and enters

her house on the east side of the stage.

While the woman walks into her house, a

young man at the "patio" looks at a girl

who is "dark looking and about fourteen 

with a beautiful innocent face and a

strange voice." 3 The girl seems to tell the

young man :

It's getting dark now. I can see your

lips no longer: I do not know what you

say. . . . But my heart is full of love . . .

and I would love . . . this secrecy 4

The boy moves his lips, and the scene ends

with the girl's strange voice.

The action in the next scene takes place

in the house of Senhora Miranda. The

woman is in love with Alphonso. She has

migrated to Goa where she leads a happy

sexual life with the natives. She receives a

necklace as a present from Alphonso.

When she introduces her daughter Rose to

him, he calls her the fairest flower in the

whole world and says that "Rose is Goa.

Goa is me." 5 These words are significant

in as much as they alert the mind to "the

coiled symbolism of the play."G

As the plot develops so do the

characters. The Indian boy, Krishna, who

is introduced to Senhora Miranda, is

found declaring his love for Rose :

I've waited for her too long. It took

care and patience, and long years of

understanding. You see, we had

something in common. It rhymed; it

matched. But it was more than that. I

love her.7

But, Miranda, a veteran prostitute, wants

Krishna to pass by her first :

Nobody's going to stop you, Krishna,

but you'll have to get by me first. . . .

(Her hands go up to his black hair) 8

Thus, she lures him with her passion.

The action now takes a new turn. The

Portuguese Administrator assures the

Goan nationalist of very good

administration in Goa, but the Goan

nationalist is not the person to be

convinced of the arguments of the

Administrator. He says :

You could float this enclave in milk

and honey and yet we would want for

ourselves that abstraction with all our

hearts, and nobody, no one will ever be

able to stop us, even though we may be 

ruthless to ourselves and others in

getting it.9

These words reveal the attitude of the

Indians towards white colonialism.

In Act I, Scene iii, Miranda calls in the

dark boy, Krishna, and makes amorous

advances, but the boy turns a deaf ear to

her persuasions. Instead, he recalls his

love life with Rose :

She's tender to the touch, though I

never touched her. She watched my lips

. . . speak through the night, afraid to

close her eyes, and be embalmed in the

terrifying stillness of it all.10

Miranda becomes cruel and asks Krishna

to leave her house immediately.

In Act Il, Scene i, Krishna is physically

won over by Miranda whom we see

"caressing his black hair and holding it in

her hand behind the nape of his neck from

time to time." 11 He makes it explicitly

clear that the way to Rose's love should be

open and that Rose should decide it for

herself. Rose "advances and is almost in 

his arms. "12 Miranda proclaims that she

has blem ished Krishna's pure love for

Rose. As a result, "Rose raises her hand

to her mouth to stifle the agonizing

scream. Krishna's face contorts with fury.

. . . He flings himself towards Rose,

crushing her in his arms, trying to kiss

her frantically." 13 Krishna is beaten by

Alphonso. He leaves the scene with

"blood flowing from his face.

The next scene takes place on December

18, 1961, during the invasion of Goa. By

1961, Goa had lived through 14 years of

slavery even after India had won her

independence. Krishna enters Miranda's

house after murdering Alphonso in the

bar. He attacks Miranda for having been

vengeful towards Rose :

You . . . dangled Rose before us, not

through competition for you, but for her.

Made us whore with you, not for

yourself, but for her. Used us, not to rape

one who had already been raped, but to

rape one who had not been raped

Krishna is now filled with hatred both

for the mother and the daughter. He

corners the mother thus :

Pour your hate not on me but on Rose.

Relieve yourself of this guilt through

Rose. For she was the cause of it all. Then

remember; did she scream like you? Feel

your pain and horror. For then only she

becomes you. 16

This logic drives Miranda into a delirium

and she helps Krishna to rape Rose.

The last scene presents the change that

has come over Goa after its liberation.

There is an atmosphere of absolute silence

everywhere. Miranda and Rose, who have

become whores, "see each other . . . as

patches of darkness. "17 Krishna goes to

Rose who now "wants only darkness. She

wants to hear . . . only silence. "18 As Rose

ascends the stairs, Krishna follows. Then a

voice is heard as though it was from the

empty balcony. Suddenly Rose recognizes

Krishna by touching his body. Her voice

changes. She gains courage and implores

her mother :

Take the blind off, mother! Take the

blind off! I want to see

I want to see . . . I won't have to wait

any longer.19

The mother removes the blind. Rose

walks up slowly to her room and

shifts the curtain aside "as Krishna's nude

body falls out, with a dagger in his heart.

Thus, Goa is the story of an Indian boy's

love for a Goan girl, caught within the

complex relationships of a half￾Portuguese mother and her Portuguese

lover. To the usual triangular

relationship, Currimbhoy has added a

fourth character. Both Krishna and

Alphonso love and want Rose but it is

Rose's mother they are obliged to court.

Within the framework of a story centring

round the romance of an Indian boy and a

Goan girl, the dramatist highlights

colonialism and colour prejudice in a light

ironic vein.

This seemingly simple love story

develops with symbolic dimensions into a

strange and terrifying play of deep

emotions and uncontrollable forces. As his 

name suggests, Krishna clearly represents

India. The girl is Rose, but Rose is Goa.

Rose is fourteen years old and she is the

child of a half-Portuguese mother and a

native father. By 1961 Goa, too, had lived

through fourteen years of slavery even

after India had won her independence in

1947. Krishna's waiting for fourteen years

for Rose, thus, symbolizes India's waiting

for fourteen years (1947 to 1961) for Goa

to become one with it.

Goa is finely balanced and tautly knit

play in spite of Currimbhoy's confession

that "some of the speeches in the play are

interminably long and there are certain

actions in the play which are slow.21 As

Currimbhoy himself pointed out this is

largely because over the years people have

come to expect "a lot quicker action" 22

and he said that he would not revise the

play because "It is a whole. "23

Furthermore, he expressed that he could

not "disturb the balancing forces which

are in the play."24 As it stands, the play is

by no means flabby. The scenes move with

a relentless momentum, alternating 

between fierce confrontations and

temporary respites, culminating in the

artistically wrought rape scene with its

mind-boggling intensity. A close reading

of the play reveals that "the plot does not

operate on a strictly linear progression,

but develops through transverse

parallelisms resulting in a density of

texture.

 Goa consists of six scenes in two Acts.

The first scene is balanced by the last

scene. Both the scenes open with the

"patio," though the first is gay and the last

is sombre. Both the scenes end with the

encounter of the young lovers — the first

in beautiful innocence, the last with

terrifying experience. The effect thus

created is one of completeness, of things

having come full circle.

 Yet another interesting feature of the

structure of Goa is the use of repetition

within the play whereby it is held together

by verbal echoes and visual replays. The

artistry lies in variation which precludes

monotony. Miranda, Alphonso and 

Krishna are all made to take the long

"patio" walk, but each performs in a

different way provoking different

reactions from the "Benchwatchers."

Rose's opening speech is repeated at the

end of the play but in entirely different

circumstances and with altogether

different consequences. Thus,

Currimbhoy exercises constant and

masterly control over the play, carefully

dovetailing various parts with a view to

achieving the desired effects of coherence

and organic unity.

We have in Goa some of Currimbhoy's

most psychologically complex characters

who are not only individuals but also the

symbols of historical and social forces.

Perhaps, the most notable among them is

Senhora Maria Miranda who has

"internalized the self-hate that comes

from white colonialism."26 Miranda

idealizes Portugal and longs with pathetic

intensity to be taken to her motherland :

Lisbon. Lisbon. How musical it

sounds. How different I feel. I hope, 

naturally. Perhaps even more because it

sounds so unreal. But I want it so.27

Part of her idealization of the motherland

manifests her heightened consciousness of

colour and race. She may have a white

skin but she has ' 'shades of black" within

her, and her tragedy lies in her inability

to come to terms with this. This is made

clear when Krishna tells her :

What you fear is only yourself, Maria

It comes from within. From the darkest

recesses of your own soul From all you

want to hide about your real self; from

all you want to tear out of others.2S

Splendidly dressed in the latest Portuguese

fashion with colourful parasol in her hand

putting on dark red lipstick, Miranda pro

jects the image of a whore of Babylon. She

turns what is pure and ideal into

something ugly and sordid. She is

unscrupulous in preying upon others. We

may say with Daphne Pan that "she is the

Geraldine to Rose's Christabel and like

Geraldine she is an enigma, an object of

fear but also of pity." 

Miranda is a creature to be pitied, a

creature torn by contradictions which

result ultimately in the collapse of her

sanity. Reminding us now of Lady

Macbeth and now of Cleopatra, she has

her own redeeming features. She is, like

Lady Macbeth, "only a woman" and

human. She has a full range of potential.

She is both soft and hard and like

Cleopatra she is as passionate in her love

as in her hatred. The preservation of her

essential humanity is a testimony to

Currimbhoy's compassionate

understanding of human nature.

Rose is clearly contrasted with Miranda.

She is presented as "the fairest flower"

and "an innocent white flower."30 With

her beauty and innocence, she stands for

Goa. This is made explicit when Alphonso

says, "Rose is Goa and Goa is Rose." Her

name suggests an innocent loveliness, but

at the same time it connotes something

different. Miranda explains : "That's why

I called her Rose, the colour of blood that

broke when she was conceived. "31 Rose is

pure in herself and beautiful but like Goa, 

her innocence is precarious. She is raped

by Krishna and so is Goa invaded by India.

With her rape she is led from a life of

innocence to a life of experience. She

becomes a prostitute symbolizing the fate

of Goa after the invasion. Lost in gloom

and despondency "she wants . . . only

darkness. She wants to hear . . . only

silence."32 With her eyes and ears closed,

she is at the end, "like some living

quivering animal that lies helplessly in the

dark.

If Rose stands for Goa, Krishna

represents India, or the Indian spirit

personified in all its contradictions. He is

distrusted and feared by the Goans for his

nature is like India's, an apparently

unfathomable one compounded of

opposites. Miranda who is able to

understand this aspect of his personality

questions him • "Why are you so full of

opposites, Krishna? Soft and hard. Love

and hate. Young and old. Peaceful and

violent." 34 Nonetheless, she is alive to the

potential in Krishna:

You have potential. You cover the full

range of the known and unknown. But

there is also that crack within you,

Krishna. You don't let your opposites

come into full play. You're pushing one

side too hard.35

Krishna loves Rose and tells Maria about

this :

I love her, Maria She watched my lips .

. . speak through the night, afraid to

close her eyes, and be embalmed in the

terrifying stillness of it all. And I felt

equally. Terrified that my hands should

hold the uncrushed flower . . . so pure . .

. and fragrant.36

From this one can infer India's longing for

merging with the Goan enclave.

Krishna, "the quiet peaceful boy," in the

beginning turns violent, kills Alphonso,

and then proceeds to rape Rose. The rape

is a violation not only of Rose, the innocent

girl, but also of his own essentially gentle

nature. He, thus, becomes the "remnant"

of his former self.

In spite of his brutality, Krishna is really

a helpless creature driven to desperation.

He bursts out :

I've got a heart that yearns. But I've

been stopped too often. It develops

callouses. Not dead callouses, but

callouses that burn ! 37

In the final scene, when he goes to Rose,

who has now turned prostitute, he is

overwhelmed by pity :

She can only give . . . everything! Not

knowing she will give, to me, like to any

other . . . (Whisper) you . . . you say she

is still warm and tender . . . like some

living quivering animal that lies

helplessly in the dark, with her eyes and

ears closed, unable to withhold . . .

(Whisper) . There can be no violence

about it then. I revert . . . to my forrner

self. As I always wanted it, not as I was

forced to take it. 38

Currimbhoy's handling of the element of

conflict in the play is effective. There is

inner conflict in Senhora who is obsesed 

with her Portuguese identity. She becomes

nostalgic about her "Mother Country"

and her happy days with her husband in

Portugal. She is worried about Rose who is

born brown :

She came from my womb. Dark and

bloody as the night when she was

conceived. Oh the pain; the dreadful

pain. They say it

should give rise to love when it's cut out

from your own flesh. But the colour is

different. A constant reminder 39

The outer conflict is manifest in the

confrontations between Krishna and

Alphonso, the Portuguese Administrator

and the Goan nationalist, the Vicar and

the Goan Hindu, and the smuggler and the

old woman. Rose is pitted against various

forces about her— the vengeful mother

and the possessive lovers, Krishna and

Alphonso.

Goa is notable for its poetic value.

Miranda is poetic when she speaks of her

husband and her happy years together

with him :

Oh, he sang beautiful love songs. It was

one long happy moment . . . of youth,

when no one ever believes that there can

ever be an end . . . till it comes.

(her voice hardly a whisper)

He died, Alphonso. He merely died.

Unbelievably he died. And there was

never anything — nobody . . . who could

do anything about it.

( softer)

Not even I. Nor those great white

churches that stand like spectres in the

moonlight.40

The smuggler reacts most poetically on

seeing Krishna in the balcony :

What matter? M/hat matter?

Sometimes there are ghosts, they say,

that whisper through the night, clear as

a silvery shaft of moonlight, in that

balcony bare 41

Alphonso becomes virtually a poet when

he calls Rose "an innocent white flower"

and also says that "Rose is Goa and Goa

is Rose." M/hen Miranda tells Krishna, 

"Dark you are, Krishna; darker your

thoughts are too, in spite of the light which

you claim to shed on her "42 we are

reminded of the light imagery in

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Currimbhoy's prose often soars to lyric

beauty as, for instance, he gives a graphic

description of a Goan village :

At eight, the Church bells chime again.

. . . The labourers wend their way home,

as the village is enveloped in the dark

folds of the night.43

Thus, Asif Currimbhoy

admirably succeeds in

dramatizing the "motion" of the

whole country just before and

after the end of colonial rule.

He is at "his best when he

writes about public or recent

historical events such as the

Indian takeover of Goa, the

Naxalite movement in Calcutta

and the Pakistani war that gave

birth to Bangladesh "44 The

brilliant success on the stage

that Goa registered is a solid 

proof of Currimbhoy's capacity

"to make good plays out of

political events that boggle

the moral imagination."45

Acclaimed as "a masterful and

an exciting theatrical

event,"46 doing "honour to the

western theatre,"47 Goa clearly

demonstrates Currimbhoy's fine

sense of the theatre and his

skill as a dramatist.

NOTES

1 Asif Currimbhoy, Goa

(Calcutta: Writers Workshop,

1970).

Goa was attacked in March 1510

by the Portuguese under

Albuquerque. The city

surrendered without a

struggle and Albuquerque

entered it in triumph. A

crisis was reached in 1955

when Satyagrahis from India

attempted to penetrate the

territory of Goa. Tension

between India and Portugal 

came to a head when on 

December 18, 1961, Indian 

troops supported by naval and 

air forces invaded and 

occupied Goa, and the 

Portuguese India was by 

constitutional amendment 

incorporated into the Indian 

Union in 1962.