Mario de Loiola Furtado

Mario de Loiola Furtado was one of Goa's premier journalists. His family ran a newspaper titled the "India Purtuguesa", which was an avenue for Goans troubled by the Portuguese rule.[1] He was known to his friends as “Alu”.[2]

Though, neither the news paper nor his columns can be classified as anti-Portuguese, he brought about a new chapter where Goans could criticize and lash out at the Portuguese regime and bring its lapses to the fore. Coming from the Loyola-Furtado family, which was instrumental in assuring civil rights to Goans, equal to the rights enjoyed by people in Portugal, he worked extra hard is ensuring that Goans were treated in equilibrium with the "Pakle" or, the "white people".

While Jose Inacio de Loiola and Francisco Luis Gomes ensured that legislations were passed to ensure civil rights, Furtado ensured that enough Goans were aware of such legislations and enough Goans worked to uphold them. His stature normally arose to greater cultural heights at carnival times, with "khell tiatres" staged all over the place, specially from the balcao of his ancestral home at Chinchinim. A lawyer by profession, he died in 1946 at a young age of 33, but was remembered by his surviving contemporaries as a legal luminary. He left behind his widow and three minor sons.

  • Of his three sons, the eldest, Miguel (Mick), was South Goa's cultural hero, leading many a carnival parade, making sure that Goa's great "antique" culture stayed alive. With many a painting, public show, and amusement extravaganza, he did all he could to keep Goa's and Chinchinim's great cultural presence alive. He was known for his carnival "out of the box" performances and vignettes. He died in 1998.
  • His second son, Rajendra, a lawyer, took a different route, when he en route to establishing a good legal practice, accepted the post as the Court Receiver of the Sociedade Agricola dos Gauncares de Cuncolim, also known as the Cuncolim Condade (County of Cuncolim), In this capacity, he took it upon himself to ensure that the age old system of the Sociedade Agricola dos Gauncares de Cuncolim stayed alive, specially in times when there was a danger of the same disappearing as evacuee property. People in Cuncolim, specially the ever-decreasing politically conscious senior citizens still remember Rajendra as the person responsible for keeping Cuncolim and the Cuncolim way of life alive, as it is today. Rajendra died suddenly on 30 November 2011, much to the dismay of the people of Cuncolim, dependent on the Sociedade.
  • His third son, Guido, took the modern route as he became a civil engineer and a real estate builder. Guido is known as one amongst Goa's top entrepreneurs.

References
  1. "Loyola-Furtado-House-Chinchinim". Houses of Goa Museum. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  2. "Some houses take you by surprise. Some houses take you by storm". Archgoa.org. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
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