It's with a heavy heart I write a few words on the life and times of Fr Bolmax Pereira who passed away on May 26. A towering personality, with high standards of activism, having being involved at the grassroots of Goan politics, he did his bit to cleanse the system.If he had lived longer he would have transformed the political landscape for the better. In one of his penultimate sermon's wherein he described the political system as being rotten inside out, which needs thorough cleansing, thereby clearing cockroaches infesting the political thoroughfares. He further explained that we need not go after these cockroaches but to get rid of the rotten stuff languishing within, then only will the cockroaches be eliminated. Fr Bolmax was a multifaceted personality, a dedicated priest, a professor of Botany after his love for mangroves, having earned a Phd in botany, he took to activism seeing the endless destruction of hills and forests, railway double tracking was another issue that troubled him and he joined the movement. It will take years to fill the void left behind by Fr Bolmax, who was instrumental in captivating the true Goan ethos.
