300 IS NOT A CROWD!

300 IS NOT A CROWD!

by Jacqueline Colaco - 2014

     Clans aren’t much in vogue these days, but ours is still going strong – the P.G. D’Souzas’ of Vittal Mallya Road, winners (during the 1940s) of the Polson Butter ‘CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN’ award because of their 17 children. Peter and Rose, my grandparents, are no more, but lived to the ripe old ages of 83 and 96 respectively and are still a legend in the old Bangalore/Mangalore community. They loved to have their progeny around them, and opened their home to many others in need. Till today, the close family ties they forged continue among the surviving four generations.

     My mother, Tilly, their eldest, passed away in 1998, aged 86. Since then some more of her siblings have passed on too, leaving the present number living at 4. Aunty Irene who lives on Walton Road is 95. She is the current matriarch, with Blanche the youngest at 77. I rank 21 in the hierarchy of 64 grandchildren and have 51 living first cousins, all of whom I know pretty well. That’s apart from about two dozen first cousins on my paternal side! A couple of my sisters are older than my youngest aunt and a few of my nephews and nieces are older than my first cousins. My eldest sister Muriel, her son Loy and his son Nishadh, continue to hold pride of place like my mother, as the first born in each generation. No generation gap exists in this family. There just cannot be one, as all generations overlap in terms of age. I had the privilege of Nishadh being my escort (pusher!) in the Mumbai Marathon wheel chair event in 2011 to raise funds for The Association of People with Disability, Bangalore where I’ve served as a Hon.Trustee and Treasurer.

     Three generations have crossed the borders of community, religion and nationality through their marriages to Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Parsi, Dutch, French, Danish, Japanese, American, English and Vietnamese, to name a few! Room for many more with social networking the order of the day and and every country so easily accessible! My then Mumbai based niece Nyna met her San Francisco located film maker husband Gino almost a decade ago now, courtesy the Internet! The fourth generation therefore has a mix of blood that even the United Nations would be proud to endorse!  But for all family members, their roots are still alive at Oorgaum House on Vittal Mallya Road, formerly Grant Road – the ancestral two acres where a number of the family still have their homes and apartments built on inherited sites.

     The clan now spread across the world, numbers more than 325 at present, with about 100 of us resident in Bangalore. Family celebrations of all descriptions from births to religious observances, engagements, marriages, milestone anniversaries happen with regularity, and occasionally so do deaths to mourn a dear departed. Each has a mega presence of D’Souzas’ and more D’Souzas’ mingling together – though some bear other last names through marriage. And out-of-town relatives, even those abroad, keep in touch and strengthen the bonds, through their ‘home’ visits and interaction on the clan website. Their spouses too from whatever different backgrounds have blended in and have become part of the close-knit culture of our clan. Perhaps it’s because as an initiation rite they have to learn the ‘Litany of the 17’ – Tilly, Sonny, Gerry, Mary, Bullu, Tittu, Irene, Otty, Xavy, Gussie, Tony, Joey, Alphy, Corinne, Noel, Louise, Blanche!!