Maria Aurora Couto | |
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 Couto at her home in Carona,Aldona in 2015 | |
| Born | Maria Aurora Figueiredo (1937-08-22)22 August 1937 |
| Died | 14 January 2022(2022-01-14) (aged 84) |
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| Notable awards | Padma Shri (2010) |
Maria Aurora Couto (22 August 1937 – 14 January 2022) was an Indian writer and educator best known for promoting literature and ideas in the English language within Goa and beyond. In addition to her books, she wrote for newspapers and magazine, and also taught English literature atLady Shri Ram College, Delhi and Dhempe College ofPanjim. She also helped start the DD Kosambi Festival of Ideas in 2008.
Couto was a recipient of thePadma Shri, India's fourth highestcivilian award in 2010.
Couto was born inSalcette inSouth Goa on 22 August 1937 to António Caetano Francisco (Chico) de Figueiredo and Maria Quitéria Filomena Borges. Her parents were both natives of theVelhas Conquistas district of Salcette. Both her paternal and maternal origins were from theRoman Catholic Brahmin community of the erstwhilePortuguese Goa and Damaon.[1][2][3]
She moved as a child to the neighbouring city ofDharwad, then in theMysore state, and a centre of education and opportunity for Goans, with her parents and six siblings in an attempt to control her father'salcoholism.[4] Following their father's abandonment of the family, the seven children were raised by their mother as a single parent.[5]
Couto studied at St Joseph's High School and later studiedEnglish literature atKarnatak University.[6][2][7] In a later interview, she would later recollect that her growing up days were centered around her identity as an Indian, as a Goan, and as a Catholic. The college at the time had students from all over the then Mysore state. Some of her classmates at university included playwrightGirish Karnad and authorShashi Deshpande.[2][8] She later completed herPhD in literature studyingreligious humanism in the works ofFrançois Mauriac.[8]
Couto went on to teach English literature in colleges[9] such asLady Shri Ram College, Delhi and Dhempe College,Panaji[10] and also contributed to periodicals in India and the United Kingdom.[11]
Couto's writing career began with her 1988 book about English author and literary critic,Graham Greene's works,Graham Greene: On the Frontier, Politics and Religion in the Novels.[9] She had met the writer earlier during his visit to Goa in 1963.[2] Her 2004 book,Goa: A Daughter's Story, was "neither history nor biography" due to its non-factual nature, but her autobiography combined with a description of the lifestyle of theRoman Catholic Brahmin community in Goa.[12] In 2014, Couto released her bookFilomena's Journeys, which delves into the life of her mother, Filomena Borges, covering "Goa's dying Catholic elite" as it showed the shift of society and culture in Goa.[9] In this third book she described her father's battles with alcoholism, life in the changing times, and growing up in multicultural India.[13][14]
As the Chairperson of the DD Kosambi Centenary Committee in 2008, Couto helped initiate the DD Kosambi Festival of Ideas, a lecture series sponsored by Goa's Department of Culture.[15] She was also actively involved withGoa University.[10]
Couto also spoke about environmental issues and on various social justice causes pertaining to her home state of Goa. She spoke against the attacks and vandalism of Catholic crosses in Southern Goa in 2017.[2] She was also a supporter of theGoenchi Mati Movement, a people's movement that protested the mining activities in Goa.[2] Couto was amongst writers who asked theSahitya Akademi to condemn actions including theM. M. Kalburgi killing and other violence in the country in 2015.[2]
Couto was awarded thePadma Shri, India's fourth highest Indian civilian award, by theGovernment of India in 2010.[16][17]
During her stay inMumbai, Maria Aurora Figueiredo met an Indian civil administrator of Goan origin named Albano Francisco Couto. They got married in 1961 and had three children together.[10] Due to the nature of her husband's work, the family would travel and live in different parts of India, as well as other countries.[18][7] The couple initially planned to retire inChennai, before finally choosing to live in her husband's ancestral house inAldona, Goa.[19] Couto enjoyed listening toSouth African jazz and was passionate about films, having started a film club when she was a teacher.[10] Albano Couto died in June 2009.[20]
Maria Couto died of pneumonia on 14 January 2022 at the age of 84.[11][21][2][7]
The works of Couto include:
The town, then a part ofBombay state, was well known as a centre for education, but the crucial factor was that the sale of alcohol was prohibited. The law was observed strictly, she had heard – she hoped this would contain her husband.
Eventually Chico did go to Dharwad with the family; but he was increasingly restless there, and made frequent trips to Goa. Finally, he went to Goa one more time never to return.
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