For children: A short history of how the Portuguese became the first colonisers of India
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In the early hours of December 18, 1961, Lieutenant Noel Kelman and a group of fresh recruits under his command were aboard a small Indian naval vessel slicing through the Arabian Sea, headed towards the Portuguese-held Anjediva island, off the Goan coast. They were part of the Indian Navy’s 80-member beach-landing team. Their mission: to capture the island from the Portuguese. This attack was a crucial part of Operation Vijay, the Indian armed forces’ three-pronged assault by land, sea and air to take back Goa after 450 years of Portuguese rule.
Kelman and his crew were not expecting too much trouble. Earlier, when they had been aboard the INS Trishul, a British-built anti-submarine warship, lookouts noticed that the Portuguese garrison on the island had hoisted a white flag on top of a hill. In war, a white flag is a universal call for truce, surrender or a desire to communicate peacefully. But as Kelman’s boat made towards the shore, the Portuguese opened fire with machine guns from the rampart overlooking the beach. Five sailors were killed, and Kelman was shot in both thighs. Bleeding and in pain, he continued onward, zigzagging to make it difficult for the gunners on shore to...