Goa, Dec. 19 -- The first spark of Goa's revolution was lit by Dr Ram Manohar Lohia on a Tuesday, June 18, 1946, along with his host and comrade Dr Juliao Menezes, a dermatologist. It was a revolutionary Tuesday in 1946, and so it was a Tuesday yet again on December 19, 1961.

Goa was liberated from the shackles of colonialism and the foreign yoke of Portugal that had begun way back on the island of Tiswadi, aka Ilhas, on November 25, 1510.

Undoubtedly, Goa was not uniformly under Portuguese rule for 451 years, as is often told. It was the island of Tiswadi that witnessed Portuguese rule for exactly 451 years, while the rest of Goa came under Portuguese rule in stages. In 1543, Bardez and Salcete came under Portuguese rule, while Ponda, ...