My mother was a gracious host and an excellent cook. However, whenever any guest complimented her on her cooking, or said that Goans were good cooks, she would take umbrage at it. I did not understand it then. It was some years later that I came to know of the ABC Goans – Ayahs, Butlers and Cooks. That is how the British sahibs condescendingly looked down upon the Goans, which is probably why my mother resented the linkage to cooking!
The early Goans of Kanpur were made of sterner stuff. They had another connotation for ABC – Astute Business Capability. The pioneer of the ABC of Kanpur (then known as Cawnpore) was Manuel Xavier de Noronha (MX). Born on 30th October 1825 in the prosperous Grand Coimo Vaddo of Aldona village, MX had learnt the art of photography from the Portuguese. It would be apt to also term it a science, for there was neither camera nor film. One had to fabricate one’s own equipment. Gold and silver nitrate solutions were applied to plate glass to make the photographs, as neither celluloid nor photographic paper had been invented.
Legend has it that MX set off for distant lands with a retinue of 300 bullock carts, to photograph the high and mighty. There may have been other traders or businessmen with him, as Aldona had a history of business acumen. In a souvenir published by the Aldona Association of Bombay in 1943, Dr. Thomas C D’Silva MBBS wrote, “In trade and commerce, the Aldonense has usually blazed the trail; he may be called the pioneer among Goans”. In the same souvenir, Luis Jose D’souza MA, MSc, writes: “At a time when the so-called Novas Conquistas (New Conquests) were as unknown to the Goans as Bombay was, the Aldonense with his characteristic daring and unsurpassed spirit of pioneering, penetrated the ‘unchartered area’. He went as a businessman…. Their means of transport were the oxen. Many of us still remember the caravans of oxen with bags slung across their backs and bells jingling from their necks, trudging their way wearily over hills through malaria-ridden jungles plying their trade…. They left us a legacy of daring, love of work, integrity of character, unsurpassed qualities of leadership, and above all a marvellous spirit of self-confidence”. Surely MX had imbued that spirit.
Somewhere around 1854, when he was just 25 years of age, MX sought greener pastures. His major customers were in the princely state of Rajputana, as they were among the few that could afford his photographic charges of Rs 200/- over 150 years ago! Sometimes MX’s entourage was beaten up and his equipment smashed because the negatives looked like ghostly images and the darbaris thought that the photographer was a magician who had extracted the “souls” of their masters.
In the course of his travels MX arrived in Cawnpore circa 1856 and got caught in the vortex of the 1857 War of Independence. The 1943 Souvenir places MX on the Roll of Honour for saving 80 lives in 1857. It is not clear whose lives he saved. However, a letter dt 3rd July 1880 written by Col Mowbray Thomson, Resident with the ex-king of Oudh, states that one Col Wilson of the 64th Foot was mortally wounded in a skirmish with the Gwalior Contingent, and “Noronha behaved gallantly as well as compassionately in staying with him till he was safely carried off the field and into the fort where he died a short time afterwards”. Gallantry and Compassion are words seldom used in tandem, especially in war, when passions run high. So MX must have been an exceptional character.
Businessmen, by their very nature, remain politically neutral. MX must have been no different. By virtue of speaking English and being a Christian, he would have been acceptable to the British rulers. Being Konkani speaking, which is akin to Marathi, he would also have been acceptable to Nanarao Peshwa and Tantya Tope, the Maratha rulers of the region at that time. Even the Gwalior Contingent would have had Marathi speaking soldiers under Scindia’s rule.
Cawnpore, post 1857, was a boomtown after the British recaptured it from the Peshwas. They built a large Cantonment and established various factories. The river Ganga was still navigable for small sea going vessels from the Bay of Bengal. The next year the railway line reached Cawnpore. So MX was at the right place at the right time, and seized the opportunity to establish business. He began his firm of M/s M.X. de Noronha & Son in 1858.
From photography he branched out into contracting, auctioneering and printing. The press was known as Aldona Press. Auctioneering became the mainstay of the Noronhas for over 140 years. Military auctions were the major ones – vehicles, supplies, stores, and in later years tanks, aircraft and ships. There was also scrap from the factories and mills that were coming up. Post Independence there were the sale of evacuee properties. And finally there were the household auctions of Britishers going home. In those days there was precious little manufactured in India, and the “Made in England” tag was as valuable for new as for second hand merchandise.
MX’s only son William Constantine Sr (WC) took over from where his father left off; diversifying into tanning, hide and skin trade, brick kilns, dal milling, manufacture of coaches, carriages and furniture, running the Post & Telegraph services, supplying electricity to the Cantonments, and sale of arms and ammunition. WC also went on a property-buying spree. It was claimed that he owned 99 bungalows in the cantonments, and half of the rest of Cawnpore!
It was smooth sailing till WC’s death in 1932. A bitter succession struggle went to the Allahabad High Court for adjudication. It must have affected WC’s three sons, Peter, Willie (Jr) and Stanley; who continued with the family businesses, but they were probably not as astute as their father was. Several factors contributed to the gradual decline of the Noronhas’ fortunes.
The first was the Rent Control Act promulgated sometime during the Second World War (1939 – 1945). It reduced landlords to paupers. Then came Independence in 1947. It was not just a political change; it was a deeper attitudinal one. Socialism, red tape and the brown babu reigned supreme. Corruption followed. The Noronhas couldn’t adjust to these changes. In the auction business they charged a 5-10% commission, and ensured the best price for their principles. Post Independence, “official” commissions dropped to as low as .25% with the biggest clients – the Director General of Supplies & Disposals (DGS&D). The Noronhas got squeezed out. The DGS&D even instituted an enquiry as to why the Noronhas were no longer prepared to do their auctions. But time and tide had turned irretrievably.
Precious properties also turned to dust, as the Noronhas didn’t have the heart to arm twist their tenants. Absurd rates of Wealth Tax and Estate Duty on non-remunerative assets took their toll. The Urban Land Ceiling Act of 1976 was the last nail in the Noronhas’ coffin.
Nevertheless, a small remnant made a fresh beginning in 1982. Now only one Noronha family remains on in Kanpur; running a super bazar, promoting the city’s first Mall, and having a small export business. Where will it take them? Kanpur is situated in U.P., which hasn’t had a business friendly or corruption free Govt for the last 20 years. The power scenario is dismal. Yet even in adversity one must seize the opportunity and make the most of it.
The Noronhas were not the only ABCs in Kanpur. WC’s first cousin Louis Caetano D’souza from Quitla in Aldona also came and set up the Regal and Roxy cinema halls on the prestigious Mall Road. One Mr Carvalho from Carona Aldona ran the Bristol Hotel and made a colony, Carvalhonagar. Ignatius D’silva who came from southern Goa ran the Orient Coffee House, Hotel and Billiard Saloon. So the Goans in Kanpur did have the capital ABC – Astute Business Capability.
Today there are several landmarks named after the Noronhas – Noronha Crossing, Noronha’s Exchange Post Office, Noronha Road and Mrs Noronha Hall. In common parlance the name has been colloquiallised to Narona, just as Carvalho has now become Karvalonagar, and one Sequeira Estate has become Sakera State. Connotations may change with time, but hopefully the Noronhas will continue the capital ABC, combined with gallantry and compassion, as their forefathers did.
* The writer is the great grandson of M.X. de Noronha.
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