From Goa To Patagonia

by Alfredo F. de Mello

This book is by Alfredo Bachmann de Mello, the Uruguay-based Goan-bon son of renowned doctor-scientist Dr. Froilano de Mello and his Swiss wife. Some years back, I ran into Alfredo Fred via cyberspace, and we had many an interesting exchange till (I think) we disagreed in our perspectives and lost touch. He had then also drawn my attention to a book he published, explaining who the real Columbus was. (Frankly, history not being one of my favourite subjects, I found that text a bit too complex to adequately follow. That book of his is called El Verdadero ColOn in Spanish, and in English it’s The Real Colon: Columbus is a misnomer.) Head of the Lisbon-based Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias history department Dr Teotonio R de Souza, while welcome the growing number of Goan memoirs and autobiographies, gives a preview of the book s content. He also refers to De Mello s father s possibly misunderstood role in representing colonial Goa in Lisbon. Of the book, de Souza write