DSa Family: Witness and contributor to the growth of Belle in many ways

By Dr. Eugene DSouza, Moodubelle
Bellevision Media Network

Moodubelle, 28 November 2010: It is indeed a matter of great pride and satisfaction for a family not only to witness but also be part of the growth of an institution, organization or even a small township like Belle. The D’Sa family that had migrated from Shirva to Mattar and later to Belle at the turn of the twentieth century witnessed the establishment of the parish of Belle around which the small township commonly known as ‘pethe’ gradually developed. Without being quiet spectator, this D’Sa family contributed in one way or the other not only to the growth of the parish, but also to the growth of the township. 

 

Beginning with a small ‘beedi-beeda’ shop, the D’Sa family gradually opened a provision store, later a textile and tailoring shop and eventually a bakery, in all respects first in Belle. By these bold steps, the D’Sa family showed the way to many others who in turn contributed to the growth of Belle. According to William D’Sa, the third generation of the D’Sas in Belle, the family was the first not only to start shops in grocery, textile and tailoring and bakery but also first to own a bullock-cart, a bicycle and even a car. This is the amazing story of the D’Sa family.

 

According to William D’Sa, his grandfather, Alex D’Sa had migrated from Sorkol in Shirva to Mattar near Arbi Katta around the beginning of the twentieth century and took up cultivation. He had four sons and two daughters. All got married while he was in Mattar which along with Belle was then part of the Shirva Parish.

 

When Alex D’Sa came to know that a chapel would be built at Nerlatte as modern Belle township was then known as, Alex D’Sa along with his third son-Calisth Kajetan D’Sa (father of William D’Sa) and fourth son-Joseph D’Sa came to Belle and built a small thatched roofed house where the present Grotto is situated. His second son-David D’Sa moved to Belle later and the first son-John D’Sa moved to Palimar.

 

The chapel at Belle was located at the present parish hall. At that time there was no road and houses were very few. In Thirlapalke there was a house belonging to Seena Kamath, some of whose descendants are doing business in the Belle township. At that time as agriculture was the main occupation, most of the people had their houses closer to the rivers-the Belle River towards the south, the Arbi River towards the north and the Alevoor River towards the west. Thus, Belle was surrounded by three rivers and there were no bridges and people had to cross these rivers, especially the Belle and the Alevoor by country boats.

 

After the establishment of the Belle parish in 1910, Alex D’Sa, who was a devout Catholic, volunteered to bring the host, wine and communion particles needed for the Masses from Mangalore. Accepting the voluntary service of Alex D’Sa, Fr. Casmir Fernandes used to give him two rupees for the expenses while going to Mangalore and coming back. As there were no proper roads, Alex had to go to Mangalore and come back on foot which took him two to three days to make the journey to and from Mangalore. While proceeding to Mangalore, Alex would take the route from Belle to Shirva, from there to Belman and further to Kirem, Kateel and Bajpe and there on to Mangalore and took the same return route. Alex used to carry jaggery and water to quench his thirst on the way. Initially he used to carry rice which he got cooked from some known families for his meals on the way.

 

Later, priests from churches on the route to Mangalore sometimes used to request him to get hosts and wine for their use as well and return would provide food and shelter when needed. Knowing the difficulties of  Alex travelling such a long distance, the then Bishop of Mangalore Most  Rev. Paul Perini used to give him shelter as well food for the night. Rendering service to the church, that too going to Mangalore to get the host, wine and communion particles was considered by Alex D’Sa a privilege and would feel very proud about the good voluntary work that he was doing.

 

At the time of the blessing and laying of the foundation stone for the church building on 2 February 1915, it is said that realizing the faith and sacrifices of Alex D’Sa, Most Rev. Paul Perini asked him to lift the blessed stone and lay it in the pit. Alex considered this gesture of the Bishop as a great honour and felt himself as a lucky person thinking that of all the people he was chosen for this noble task. During the construction of the church building, as he was staying closer to the site, Alex used to be present while the construction work was in progress and would carry on any kind of work that was assigned to him by Fr. Casmir Fernandes.

 

For livelihood of the family, the third son of Alex-Cajetan D’Sa had started a small ‘beedi-beeda’ shop along with other smaller items in the front portion of their small house. While, Cajetan’s wife – Remedia Martis looked after the shop, Alex and Cajetan would go out to earn their livelihood. Gradually, Cajetan D’Sa acquired the land from the church on rent near modern Sante-katte opposite to the modern rickshaw stand. He also helped others to acquire land from the church on rent for residential purpose. After rendering fruitful service to the church and seeing that his sons were doing fairly well in their lives, Alex D’Sa passed away at the age of around 60 years.

 

 

While the family was residing at Mattar, Cajetan D’Sa had chosen to work as ‘botler’ in Belman and other churches where he got an opportunity to learn reading and writing Kannada as the schools were attached to the priests’ residences. He also could learn English alphabet and could read Latin without knowing the meaning as till 1960s Latin had been the official language of the liturgy in the churches and Cajetan used to read passages from the scriptures in Latin during the absence of the sacristan, Salvador Barboza.

 

At that time Belle-Kattingeri villages were under the jurisdiction of the Shirva Panchayat. After the D’Sa family migrated to Belle and as Cajetan D’Sa knew how to read and write, he was chosen to represent these villages in the Shirva Panchayat. As the member of Shirva Panchayat, with the support of Fr. Casmir Fernandes, Cajetan took keen interest in laying the Belle-Udupi Road. Following the acquisition of permission from the Shirva Panchayat for the road, Cajetan took the leadership and along with the villagers as well as the departmental workers contributed to the extension of the road.

 

Cajetan D’Sa built the first tile-roofed building at Sante-katte where he opened the first grocery shop. As the road was almost ready, Cajetan D’Sa acquired the first bullock cart to bring the provisions from Udupi. The provisions were supplied by the Katapady Nayak Store at Rathabeedhi, Udupi.

 

As the Katapady Nayaks owned a lot of land down below the present Santé-katte, they asked Cajetan to take the land on the ‘chalgenni’ basis. However, as he was not interested in acquiring more land, Cajetan took only one acre of land where presently his son-William D’Sa is residing. However, he helped other people in acquiring the remaining land on both sides of the road belonging to the Katapadi Nayaks. As the people at that time could not pay the land revenue and ‘chalgenni’ rent which were considered to be exorbitant, they took only half or quarter acres of land where they could build small houses of thatched roofs. At that time the ‘chalgenni’ was eight rupees per quarter acre of land per annum.

 

After acquiring land from the Katapady Nayak Brothers, Cajetan built the first one storied tiled house on the newly acquired land. Gradually the business increased and he shifted the provision store to the residence allotting two front rooms for the purpose where as the family resided in the back-rooms and the first floor. At that time there were four provision stores catering the daily needs of villagers of Moodubelle, Padubelle and Kattingeri. These four shops were-Boliye Angadi of Shenoys in Padubelle, Raju Master’s Angadi at Edmeru, Mattaru Angadi of Kini Brothers and D’Sa’s Angadi at Belle.

 

After shifting the provision store to the new residence, Cajetan D’Sa converted the earlier shop at the Santé-katte into a textile cum tailoring shop, once again the first in Belle. The stitching was done by the family members. While, Cajetan used to do the cutting, his brother- Joseph D’Sa used to stitch and Cajetan’s wife would prepare button-holes and fix buttons as well as do other hand-stitching.  After some years, Thimma Shetty started tailoring in the corner of the provision store of Keshav Kini and Madhav Kini of Mattar. However, he used to get cloth for stitching from the D’Sas textile store.

 

As there were no cloth and tailoring shops in the adjacent villages, Cajetan and his brother Joseph would take the cloth and sewing machine to the Kamballa at Ninjoor, Varasare at Kattingeri and Shasti at Sooda and stay there for around a month stitching clothes for the villagers on demand. Other family members used to look after the provision store back home. There used to be mobile shops at various such occasions selling equipments especially needed for agricultural purpose. According to William D’Sa the Kattingeri Varasare was famous for locks which used to be produced locally.

 

With road being laid, Cajetan bought a bicycle which was once again the first in Belle. According to William D’Sa many people would come to see the bicycle as it was a novelty at that time as people could not understand how a thin vehicle with two wheels could be driven.
Formerly Cajetan, his wife Remedia and children as well as Joseph and his wife Catherine D’Souza of Mudarangadi used to stay in the same residence. Later, Cajetan acquired a piece of land and built a house opposite the present petrol pump for Joseph.  Later, when David D’Sa came to Belle from Mattar along with his wife Cecilia of Belman and children he was also settled on a piece of land adjacent to that of Joseph’s.

 

In order to earn their livelihood, both David and Joseph went Mumbai in search of employment. Both of them started working in a bakery in Mazagaon, Mumbai. While working in the bakery during the day time, in order to earn a little extra money they used to deliver bread every morning to their regular customers through a system of bread distribution known as ‘pantli’.

 

David D’Sa

 

While in Mumbai, being very pious and devout Catholic, David joined the Franciscan Third Order. David had four children-two sons: Charles and Louis and two daughters: Lucy and Celly. While the daughters were married, both sons went to Mumbai and David chose to come back from Mumbai to Belle. However, Joseph continued to work in Mumbai till 1953.

 

As Joseph had no issue, he had adopted one of Cajetan’s sons, Edward, educated him and Edward later became the headmaster of Church Higher Primary School, Belle and thereafter worked for some time as a teacher in St. Lawrence High School and thereafter went to Goa where he was appointed as the principal in the Pilar Fathers’ High School. Eventually, he proceeded to Ethiopia in Africa and later to Zambia working in Senior Cambridge School as Head of the Geography Department and passed away there in 1993.

 

David D’Sa was a devout person. He was always found in the church helping the sacristan, Salvador Barboza in Sunday collection, lighting and extinguishing candles with a long rod with a candle tied to the topside to light the candles and a conical top to extinguish the flames at the end of the service. He also used to open and close the doors of the church and also toll the bell. After returning from Mumbai in 1953, Joseph D’Sa took over himself the task of tolling the church bell during liturgical services.

 

As mentioned earlier, David had joined the Franciscan Third Order while he was working and staying in Mumbai. After returning to Belle, since the Third Order was not established in Belle parish till 1951, David had to go all the way to Kallianpur on foot every month to attend the monthly Tertiary meeting. It is said that he used to wear brown cassock whenever he attended festival masses in Belle or any of the neighbouring churches.

 

Fr. Peter D’Sa

 

It is a coincidence that David’s eldest granddaughter, Sr. Ethel (daughter of Charles D’Sa) became a nun in the Apostolic Carmel Congregation and his grandson, Peter joined the Carmelite Order and is presently serving as a missionary in Tanzania in Africa for the last thirty years. There were other vocations in the D’Sa family.

 

Fr. Sylvester D’Souza S.J

 

Late Fr. Sylvester D’Souza S.J. who served in the Ranchi Jesuit Province and later became the Principal of St. Xavier’s College, Ranchi was the son of Cajetan D’Sa’s eldest sister. Br. Osmond Dias (OFM-Cap) was the son of his youngest sister. Cajetan’s youngest daughter, Sr. Hilda joined Franciscan Missionaries of Mary Congregation and Fr. Ranjan D’Sa, grandson of Cajetan has also joined the Carmelite Order due to the influence of Fr. Peter D’Sa.

 

Fr. Ranjan D’Sa

 

There is no doubt that for the growth of Belle, the D’Sa family, especially Cajetan D’sa did contribute to his mite not only by starting along with his sons the first grocery shop, textile cum tailoring shop and a bakery, but also providing good education to his sons and daughters with a record number of five children (Alice, Louis, Edward, William and Sr. Hilda) having worked as teachers in Belle, Edmeru, Kanajar, Goa and even in Africa.  After living a fruitful life of 83 years, Cajetan passed away in 1970 and his wife Remedia in 1988 at the ripe age of 94.

 

 

Cajetan and Remedia D’Sa had ten children-two daughters, eldest-Alice passed away at the age of 15 and youngest-Sr. Hilda and eight sons-Francis D’Sa-married Pauline Barboza of Belle who worked in Mumbai and later returned to Belle and carried on the family textile shop, Gregory-worked in Mumbai, Isidore-also worked in Mumbai, Louis-first worked for some time in Mumbai and later returned to Belle and worked as teacher for few years in Belle and in Edmeru School till retirement. He married Theresa Noronha of Pamboor who was also a teacher. Edward (adopted by Joseph D’Sa)-married Benedicta D’Sa of Shankerapura, Benedict-married Felcy Aranha of Mulki. He also worked in Mumbai and later returned to Belle and managed the family textile shop), Urban (passed away in early childhood) and William (Willie Master)-married Rita D’Souza of Balkunje and served as a teacher in Belle and Kanajar). Among these ten children William and Sr. Hilda are presently surviving.

 

Sr. Hilda D’Sa

 

The family business of the textile and tailoring shop was continued by the eldest son of Cajetan, Francis. Louis who had been working as teacher in the Edmeru School used to help him in his free time. After the death of Francis in 1953, the shop was looked after by Louis with the assistance of William who was teaching in Church Higher Primary School. Later, Benedict who had returned from Mumbai was given the shop who managed it along with William.

 

Meanwhile, William D’Sa started a bakery in 1957, the first in Belle. He hired a trained person for the bakery and gradually learnt about the bread and pastry making business. Later, William surrendered the bakery and the textile and tailoring shop to Benedict. Later, Benedict joined politics and even became the president of the BellePanchayat as well the Cooperative Society. As a result of negligence on the part of Benedict due to his preoccupation in politics the business suffered and had to be closed down. The bakery was sold to others.

 

Old House of Willie Master

 

The D’sa family was the first one to own a car in Belle. According to William D’Sa, Francis, who was working in Mumbai and running his own laundry in Mazagaon sold his business and with the proceeds he revived the business of his father in Belle and also brought a De Soto car to Belle in 1950s. Being the first in Belle, the car also became an object of curiosity to the people.

 

William D’sa narrated an interesting tradition that was told to him by his father Cajetan. He said that in olden times, the arrival of the Bishop to Belle used to be an elaborate event. As there were neither proper roads nor bridges nor vehicles, the Bishop would travel by a horse cart till Udyavar and from there would come up to the Belle ferry (kolov) in a boat. At the Belle ferry he would be welcomed by people belonging to all faiths and would be taken in procession up to Kelamane Gutthu, the residence of the Ballal, where presently Dr. H.B. Shetty resides. At the Kelamane the Bishop would be offered tender coconut and some snacks following which he would take rest for sometime before starting the grand procession to the church. The procession used to be accompanied by drums and trumpets with people dancing in the front. It was like a carnival and a matter of great respect to the village. Willie Master said that this good relation between the Kelamane and the church still continues due to this age old tradition.

 

William D’Sa

 

The tradition of teaching runs in the D’Sa family. William D’Sa taught for many years  in the Church Aided Higher Primary School at Belle and later at the Lourdes Higher Primary School, Kanajar. For his service in helping a physically challenged girl named Malini to complete her education up to graduation and get a job, William D’Sa was honoured by the Karnataka Government by presenting him the Rajya Prashasthi in 2009. Sr. Hilda worked as a teacher for many years. Besides late Louis D’Sa, his wife, Theresa D’Sa had worked for 22 years in a school at Bantakal and 18 years in the Church Aided Higher Primary School, Moodubelle and retired from service in 1992. One of their sons, Dr. Alwyn D’Sa is a lecturer of English in St. Aloysius College, Mangalore. His wife Dr. Kusum is the Academic Coordinator of a reputed educational institution in Manipal.

 

Louis D’Sa and Theresa D’Sa

 

The D’Sa family tree went on expanding with the fourth and fifth generation since the arrival Alex D’Sa in Belle. Among the sons of Cajetan-Francis had three children: Gracy, Priscilla and Thomas; Gregory and Isidore were not married; Louis had eight children-five sons: Patrick, Jeffrey, Prakash, Joel-presently President of Bellevision (Bahrain) and three daughters: Philomena, Gretta and Nirmala. Edward had six children-Maria Goretti, Oswald, Juliet, Richard, Judith and Seeba, all of them are in Bangalore; Benedict had seven children: Cynthia, Sylvia, Diana, Maxim, Aldrin, Jyothi and Fr. Ranjan; William has three children: Mark (Florida-USA), Sunil Kumar (Bahrain) and Prema (Canada)

 

Joel D’Sa

Dr. Alwyn D’Sa and Dr. Kusum

 

Though few members of the D’Sa family live presently in Moodubelle, many youngsters are working and residing in different cities of India and abroad. This generation of the D’Sa family and for that matter many Belleans may not be fully aware of the contribution of the D’Sa family when Belle was just a hamlet with few houses and just growing up with the establishment of the Belle parish. As the Belle parish celebrates the centenary of its foundation, knowing the contribution of certain families to the growth of Belle would make the celebration more meaningful and a tribute to the pioneers of Belle.

 

Willie Master and Fr. Peter

 

(I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to Willam D’Sa (Willie Master) without whose assistance I would not have been able to put together this article. Willie Master has been an important source of information for me in writing a number of articles and profiles in Bellevision-Dr. Eugene D’Souza)