Expert: Abhijit - 11/18/2006

Question
Hi my name is clara and I was born in the U.S. Im Malayalee and Christian by birth. I am one of the lighter ones in my family and sometimes get teased about it. Its all in good fun I know but I was wondering, how is it that I am lighter, or that my parents are lighter than most of our intermediate family? I wanted to kno culturally/Historical wise.

I guess this question popped up when I was reading for my European History class. I was reading about Portugal and their arrival on Indian soil around 1510. What intrigued me is that I learned that Goa's original name is Malabar before Portugal came to India. It caught my eye because my christian sect/branch is Syro-Malabar, Syrian Christian. It also made me wonder if perhaps if I had Portuguese ancestery? I wondered perhaps when my ancestors were converted from I guess Brahmins to Christianity, is it possible they were closer to malabar than kerala??And then I also wondered about the similarities between Punjabi's and Malayalees. A lot of my friends joke that Malayalees are the  Punjabi's of the South. Is it possible that the two types have a connection with Portuguese influence?  

Answer
Hello there,

eventhough, i dont deal with the portugeze rule in india, still i will try to answer your question. I think the information you got about goa being called as malabar is completely wrong. malabar is a part of kerala, it is a hill which is called "malabar hill" famous for its tea plantation. so you are not goan but malayalee christian and you are right about your ancestors converted from brahmin to christian, forcefully by portuguese. because, if you will try to find out your 5th predecessor, i am sure he will be a hindu.

if you have any more querries, plz do ask, will try to answer them.

with best regards

Abhijit