Pundalik Dattatreya Gaitonde

Pundalik Dattatreya Gaitonde (3 July 1913 – 13 November 1992) was a surgeon from Goa and an active participant in the Goan independence movement. Along with Antonio Colaco, Gaitonde was nominated by the President of India to the 3rd Lok Sabha in 1962 following the annexation of Goa, Daman and Diu into India on 19 December 1961.

Early life Pundalik Gaitonde was born on 3 July 1913 to Dattatreya alias Mangesh Gaitonde and Anandibai at Borim, Goa in Portuguese India. Pundalik Gaitonde's father Dattatreya hailed from Palolem in Canacona while Anandibai hailed from Borim. Pundalik Gaitonde was the third among nine siblings. His father Datatreya was a local landlord. His younger brother, Nanda, was also a participant in the Goan independence movement.

Aged five, Pundalik was initiated into education and he attended a local school. Aged eleven, the Upanayana ritual was performed. Gaitonde pursued his higher education at the Escola Primaria de Canacona at Chaudi, Canacona.

On 17 February 1954, while attending the farewell party of a Portuguese judge, Pundalik objected to the toast proposed by one of the invitees, saying "Eu protesto" . This incident attracted the attention of both the Portuguese rulers, who were upset with him, and the nationalists, who were impressed.

In 1960, he was elected president of the NCG at its Bombay session.

Also in 1962, Gaitonde and Purushottam Kakodkar were chosen as co-convenors of an ad-hoc committee of the Indian National Congress, with the intention of beginning work of the Congress in Goa. The book covered the history of medicine and east–west relations during the sixteenth century.

Personal life

Marriage After Gaitonde completed his medical studies, he started his practice in Portugal. He began a relationship with one of his patients, a Portuguese woman named Edila Brum Dutra de Andrade. Edila was born at the Faial Island of the Azores and had studied music at the National Conservatory of Lisbon. in 1948 in Lisbon and spent their honeymoon at Peniche.

Gaitonde selected Peniche as his honeymoon destination because it was the location of the prison-fort where several activists of the Goan independence movement, such as Tristão de Bragança Cunha, Purushottam Kakodkar, Rama Hegde, José Inácio Candido de Loyola and Laxmikant Bhembre were imprisoned. These prisoners organised a celebration in honour of Pundalik and Edila. They hosted a meal for the newly-weds. A woman journalist from France was on a visit to the prison in order to meet Tristão de Bragança Cunha. When she questioned Pundalik Gaitonde about why he had selected Peniche as the destination for the honeymoon, Dr. Gaitonde replied, "Homage to sacrifice!"

Retirement Following his defeat in the 1963 Lok Sabha elections, Gaitonde left Goa permanently for London with his wife Edila. He then worked in a hospital there till he retired and began writing.

Death Gaitonde died in London on 13 November 1992.

Works Portuguese Pioneers in India - Spotlight in Medicine (1983) The Liberation of Goa: A Participant's View of History (1986)