And so it was yesterday too, when Bharat Cafe, in a charming Portuguese era building in Old Margao Market, got all dressed up for Independence Day.
For 71 years and counting, a little café in south Goa has been celebrating India's freedom from British rule, even during its decades as part of a Portuguese colony, marking each anniversary with buntings, sweets and conversations on the legacy of the past and hopes for the future. And so it was yesterday too, when Bharat Café, in a charming Portuguese era building in Old Margao Market, got all dressed up for Independence Day.'
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On August 15, 1947, when the bells tolled India's freedom from the British, Subraya Sheshagiri Shetti rang in freedom in the café he had started 12 years earlier in 1935. Seven decades later, on Independence Day yesterday, Shetti's grandson Deepak Ananth Shetti continued the tradition set by his Gandhian grandfather in the cafe, which boasts a bust of Mahatma Gandhi.
¿On Independence Day, we garlanded the bust of Gandhi at our cafe, as a tribute to the Father of the Nation. The idea is to instil the spirit the nationalism and patriotism,"Deepak told PTI. "Like other years, old-timers, who have met my father or grandfather, came over to our cafe and reminisced¿ sharing the cherished memories of Independence Day being celebrated year after year in the years gone by," he said. His grandfather, he said, was a Gandhian from Karnataka who had dreamt of an India free from the shackles of colonialism. Subraya Shetty named his cafe Bharat -- a little corner of Indian nationalism in what was then a Portuguese enclave "My grandfather was an avowed Gandhian. I have heard stories from him and my father about the festive mood at the cafe on August 15, 1947.
The cafe was decorated and sweets were distributed to guests and other visitors. Every Independence Day, the mood is quite jubilant at the cafe," said Deepak. The effort is to continue the legacy, he added. "My grandfather started the cafe at the age of 21. He had moved from Karnataka. India was under British rule then and he, like all freedom fighters, wanted to see the country become free,¿ Deepak said. Goa was under Portuguese rule till early 1960s and Deepak, who was born in 1954, said he has "memories of the day when Goa became liberated".
Bharat Café hides its history behind its colonnaded front and gleaming blue façade. Inside the cafe -- situated in Sunshine Building which dates back to 1927 -- a bust of Gandhi occupies a corner, signifying its founder's adherence to Gandhian values. "The bust was installed in 1948 soon after Gandhi's assassination in Delhi, as a tribute to the 'Father of the Nation'. On October 2, some local people carry it in a procession," said Deepak.
On a pillar inside the cafe, with high ceilings, hangs a portrait of his grandfather dressed in starched-white khadi kurta and topi. The family is continuing the tradition set by the late patriarch. Deepak's son Aditya has finished his MBA and is helping him in run the place and daughter Neha is equally enthusiastic. "Our roots are in Karnataka, but I identify myself as a Goan, and so does my father. This is our birthplace. We are proud of being Goans, proud of being Kannadigas, and proud of being Indians," she said.
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