Goa, October 17: A Portuguese sailor who single-handedly navigated across four continents to reach Goa in the past fortnight, has got caught in the stormy winds of centuries-old history and colonial controversies.

After Manuel Gomes Martins (48) left back for home on his sloop, the Portuguese Consulate here has faced charges of trying to keep Goans in the dark about the purpose of his mission -- which has got entangled in the dark deeds of fifteenth century explorer Vasco da Gama.

Manuel Gomes Martins sailed singlehandedly in a eleven-month voyage which took him from Portugal to Brazil, South Africa, Kenya and Goa in 'Casvic', his single-sail vessel which only has a tiny standby engine.

Sections of the Goa Press have charged both the Portuguese sailor and local consulate quarters with trying to keep "in the dark" the people of Lisbon's former colony as to the exact motives for the voyage.

Asked whether the trip had anything to do with the voyages exactly five centuries back of Vasco da Gama -- now turning a controversial figure here due to campaigns against his role in the European colonialism venture -- Gomes Martins jokingly laughed off the question.

"Do I look like Vasco da Gama? You (may)...," he laughingly told one bearded journalist. But, conflicting reports soon emerged. Both All India Radio and reports coming in from Lisbon suggested that the voyage indeed was linked with the voyages of Gama.

In Goa, cautious over the controversy building up, Gomes Martins was given a low-key and unannounced welcome by sports minister Dr Wilfred Misquita. Portuguese Consulate sources were reluctant to state whether the sailor had followed the "route of Vasco da Gama", saying instead that he had chosen "many routes".

Unlike Gama, the twentieth-century sailor chose to first sail to Brazil, before rounding the Cape of Good Hope and then reaching Asia and this former Portuguese colony.

But Gama's voyages remain a touch subject here, after protests errupted, and New Delhi was pressurised to avoid any celebrations which would smack of celebrating colonialism in the fiftieth year of India's independence.

Freedom fighters, Third World campaigners, citizens groups, the RSS and other politicians joined the fray against holding any "celebrations" or commemorations of Vasco da Gama's voyages to India, saying that opened the floodgates to European colonialism here.

This threw a wet blanket on Portugal's plans. Hastily making efforts to mollify sentiments here and in other pockets of India, the Portuguese have already put up an exhibition on Khadi in Lisbon, and another show focuses on Goan household items of daily use.

Meanwhile, in Goa itself, there's a flood of Portuguese events, as the former colonial power here tries to build bridges with its sulking former colony of 451 years. This weeks sees the opening of a workshop on ceramics in Goa. Lisbon is also sending a number of cultural troupes here in current months.