Venita Gomes
Back in the day, parents in Goa sometimes resorted to scaring their kids into behaving themselves! Parents would tell stories of scary beings who would snatch the kids away if they didn't obey their elders or if they misbehaved.
If kids refused to eat food or go to bed on time, one of the most common scary beings that would 'snatch or attack' the kids was the Bhudaman. That's what most parents would tell their children!
A potekar was a shabbily dressed man -- who looked like a tramp -- a scary fellow who would make falsetto voices and chase kids, the result being that the children would yell out in terror!
Havko was supposed to be a scary spirit, who would come to haunt the kids! Parents in Goa, would generally alert their young ones about the fast approaching havko.
Children were often warned that if they misbehaved at night, a tall man with a long bamboo stick would come over and make a loud racket, which was enough to scare them into jumping into bed!
In almost every village, there's an elderly woman, who's wrinkled, time-ravaged and disheveled. Every so often, mothers would warn their children that she would come and whisk them away if the kids didn't behave.
On New Year's Eve, you will find many raggedy 'old men' kept by the roadside in most parts of Goa. While older kids have fun earning pocket money through this 'old man', the younger kids would be terrified of these 'old men'! This was another way many parents would get their kids into line.
These are just a few of the innovative tales used to scare children in Goa. While these seem far-fetched, they were enough to scare the daylights out of young children and into being well-behaved.