Read the following passage carefully and answer the
questions given below:
India's history is dotted with tales of legendary
lovers who embraced death immortalising not only their love but the places
where they lived, loved and died.
Submerged in popular legends like Heer-Ranjha, Soni-Mehiwal,Shirin-Farhad
and Laila-Majnu, is the little known love story of a poor Goan boy and a Portuguese
princess both of who preferred death to separation.What is even more haunting
is the fact that unlike other more popular leg endary lovers, Paula and Gaspar
continue to draw tourists to Goa from all over the world.
Legend has it that Paula was a beautiful princess, the
niece of one of the Portuguese Governors. The family lived in a ‘palace’at a
place in Goa called Cabo. Gaspar frequently visited the workshop in order to
assist his father and it was here that he met Paula.
Paula, fond a swimming, sailing andthe out doors,
often visited the workshop on her way back to the palace from the beach,so that
she could acquaint herself better with the functioning of sailing vessels.
It is said that Paula and Gaspar met for the first
time just as dawn was breaking, filling the sky with those very special colours
that only the first fingers of light can bring.Paula was on her way to the
beach and Gaspar followed her, sitting on the sand while she swam.
Deep inreverie, his fingers almost playing with the
sand grains,Gaspar discovered a beautiful conch shell half buried on the
beach.He bley into it gently and Paula came out of the water towards him.They
did not speak .Words were unnécessary.
Walking back to the workshop, Gaspar blew once more on
the conch shell and said, “whenever you hear this, remember, I need you. ‘‘Paula
did not reply. She couldn't have even if she had wanted. Gaspar spoke Konkani
and it was incomprehensible to a girl who had been brought up speaking Portuguese.
However, despite the communication gap, love-flowered
silent yet strong .As if to prove their love, they found time to learn the
languages they did not speak.
For two years their romance went unnoticed. But as
their visit to the workshop increased so did the gossip and eventually someone
told the Governor's wife. Paula's movements were now
restricted.
But whenever the conch shell blew, Paula managed to go
for a swim and picked up or left a letter for her beloved at a given
rendezvous. Then suddenly one day a letter was intercepted and brought to the
Governor. The sagacious old nobleman was furious. He thought of many ways in
which to teach Gaspar a lesson, but in the end decided the best course of
action would be to send Paula back to Portugal.
The night before her departure, a conch shell blew-
rather like the wail of a tormented soul. Paula was restless, there seemed no
way she could leave the palace. The sound of the conch rent the air again and
yet again. It was only around midnight that the hapless girl was able to give
the palace guards the slip, carring with her a bale of silk.
Sitting on the banks of the river Mandovi, Gaspar
pointed to the two shores.“ They never meet,” he said,“ Neither can we. You are
a princess, I am a pauper. You are Portuguese, I am Goan,” But love knows no
boundaries. It does not recognise status, language or race. And finally when
the time came to part, Paula and Gaspar preferred death to separation.
The lovers tied themselves together with the silken
bale:Paula had. brought and jumped into the swollen Mandovi. Before the sun was
up in the sky, a Hindu priest, walking out of the river after his bath,
stumbled across a conch shell. He lifted it to his mouth and blew a pure note
in praise of God. Suddenly, he was surrounded by people who first looked at him
and then at the bodies washed
ashore near his feet.
And from then on, the spot where the lovers were found
was named after Gaspar: it is called Gaspar Dias and the place where they met
so often is referred to as Dona Paula.
So if you happen to visit Goa, take a trip to Dona
Paula and Gaspar Dias. Share the legend, and discover that love does not die,
not at least, in Goa!
Questions :
1. On the basis of your reading of the passage, answer
the following questions as briefly as possible:
(a) Who were Paula and Gaspar?
(b) When did Paula and Gaspar meet for the first time?
(c) Did the communication gap create any problem
between the lovers as both spoke two divergent languages?
(d) Name the river where both Paula and Gaspar jump to
end their life?
(e) Name the place where Gaspar and Paula met so
often, called?
2. Find the words in the passage which mean the same as
the following:
A traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as
historical.
