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This appears to be a sort of bonus or incentive which is provided to the participants and is meant to cover expenses for transport, food, etc. Most of them were farmers, so all the people who gave talks either spoke part English and part Konkani, or if the lecturers spoke only English then Oscar would translate into Konkani.
Mark too the hurried steps of the brocade-worker from Surat, and note the contrast of colour as the grimy fitter or black-smith passes through the porch side by side with the spotlessly-clad Konkani Musulman, whose high features and olive skin betray his Indo-Arab origin. Rich and poor, clean and unclean, all pass in to prayer.
I found nobody stiff individually, but society very much so in the mass. The order of precedence seemed to be uppermost in every mind, and as an outsider I thought how tedious "ye manners and customs of the Anglo-Indians" would be all the year round. I found the native populace much more interesting. The great mass consists of Konkani Moslems, with dark features and scraggy beards.
This party in turn yields place to a band of pipers and drummers, accompanying men who whirl torches round their head so skilfully that the eye sees nought but a moving circle of flame; and they are succeeded by Musulman men and boys, disguised as Konkani fishermen and fishwives, who chant elegies to Husein and keep the rhythm by clapping their hands or by swinging to and fro small earthen pots pierced to serve as a lamp.
My grand uncle J.S. Alvares who was a very well known Konkani writer passed away a few years ago. I was meeting my aunt and cousins almost for the first time. After the introductions were over and we had had tea and snacks Dad showed me around the city.
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