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A compelling family memoir, Filomenas Journeys is also a revealing examination of Goan society and culture. Filomenas Journeys is a daughters moving tribute to the mother who held her world and that of her six siblings, together through long years of insecurity and hardship. It is also an often heart breaking attempt to come to terms with the painful memories of her father. In 1935, Filomena Borges, aged twentysix, married for love and moved from her grandmothers village, Raia where she had arrived as an orphaned child to one of Goas most prominent and fashionable towns of the time, Margao. This move, from rural peace and simplicity to urban buzz and formality, from a modest landowning family to one of formidable eminence, was to transform her life, but in ways she could not have imagined. Chico, the man who had charmed her with his wit and intelligence, turned out to be as troubled as he was passionate. An unusually gifted musician, he lacked the discipline and conviction to rise above the limitations of great but vanishing privilege that was the bane of Goas Catholic elite in the twentieth century. The frustration broke Chico and his decline threatened to destroy his family. Until Filomena took a leap into the unknown and moved with her young children to Dharwar, a town across the border in Karnataka. Here, in unfamiliar surroundings, with no source of income apart from a share of the harvest from dwindling family lands back in Goa and rent from students whom she took in as lodgers, Filomena raised her seven children, shielding them from tragedy and gave them the best opportunities to fashion secure futures for themselves. In her last years, when they were all settled the period of her quiet triumph she chose to live alone, sustained till the end by the qualities she had absorbed as a young girl from her grandmother: pragmatism, faith, compassion, love of family and a strong connection with the land and Goas ancient traditions.A compelling family memoir, Filomenas Journeysis also a revealing examination of Goan society and culture. And like all enduring stories, this testament to resilience and hope makes the particular universal.
Interesting Facts
A revealing examination of Goan society and culture in the twentieth century.
Weaving together autobiography and history, this story shines a light on Goas Catholic elite during a time of great social change.
Maria Aurora Couto is the author of the widely acclaimed book Goa: A Daughters Story.ISBN - 9789382277040
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Pages : 314
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