Hell "descends"? I think you got your tense wrong, mate! And for someone trying to use photography to play an unabashedly pro-BJP role, would it be wrong for me to suspect motives here?
Check out who is the politician behind land rackets in the Pilerne area (a certain Parulekar) and his links with the BJP, apart from the already-notorious Congress. While the Congress gets blamed (rightly, in my view) for all the land-rackets, we are repeatedly glossing over the in-a-hurry-to-get-to-power BJP's role in propping up all these dubious players. Is this accidental? The late journalist Norman Dantas has done excellent exposures, while Rajan Prabhu Parrikar was probably doing his doctorate in the USofA, about how politicians like the Alemaos have played around with real estate around Pilerne, specially during and after their stint in the PDF experiment of the 1990s. Pages were torn out of old records by certain politicians, and land ownership changed overnight, we have been told. Are we just happy to look at the superficialities... to look at the symptoms rather than the deeper ills? But the Alemaos and the Monserrates and other honourable Christaos are all very nice guys worthy of doing business with... provided they support the 'right' parties. Then, they become the devil incarnates when they are in the 'other' camp. As Alemao himself said, "I become a smuggler when I'm not with the Congress." The reverse is true, in the court of public opinion, when he is subtly supporting the BJP or one of the many governments it choses to prop up on the road to gaining a long-awaited majority on its own! While Rajan Prabhu Parrikar is doing a good job in pointing to the concretisation of Goa, questions need to, and have already, been raised about the selective manner in which issues are being highlighted. Architect Ketak S Nachinolkar, a professional who worked on the farm-house in Batim, has asked questions about the impact of a 300mm zoom lens and the resultant images these throw up. See: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/goaheritage/message/700 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/goaheritage/message/690 After all the close-up pictures of doom and gloom in Goa, some who have visited the place (I think it was Roland Francis) have actually voiced surprised that the reality isn't as bad as the zoom-in pictures make it to be. Others, of course, have thrown up their hands from a distance and spoken about Goa as if its death warrant has already been signed. Goa has been 'invaded' by various forces many times. It has survived. It will fight back. Both during Portuguese rule, and before. It depends whose definition one takes of "definition". An architect was arguing the other day that the 'mundkars' (homestead tenants) had "invaded" the properties of the 'bhatkars' (landlords) in the sixties. Probably true, depends on the frame of reference one adopts. In my view, landlords, specially the ones owning huge areas spread across many villages, had themselves invaded the region in the past. Why are we turning a blind eye to this? And, various caste groups have "invaded" Goa at differing points of time. The aboriginals probably being left the worst off. Can we deny that reality? I also do not feel comfortable with Rajan's repeated focuses on chapels and churches ... It strikes me as a make-believe 'secularism', meant to promote the "your religion is in danger" paranoia. But in this case meant to only take us all a step closer towards the ultimate saffron goal (of ousting the Congress in power, and cutting into its support base to get a majority that has long eluded it. Will mind games succeed where electoral ones haven't? Probably....) Let's not pretend that these homes are only for Sharmajis and Sabarwaljis pleasure! They are also for the DeSouzas, the Sequeiras and, the Dessais and the Prabhu Parrikars. Let's not forget to mention that some of this concretisation is happening for the armies of government servants who have been resettled in Altinho (Panjim) and suburbs of Porvorim (including Pilerne). Because of the fact that they can't be given jobs closer to where their traditional homes are and Goa has such a broken transport system, that travelling even eight kms each day can be a pain depending which route one lives on! Not to forget that allocating jobs in today's Goa is also a very political and hardly merit-based activity! With pho*%gr*(Ars like these, we have to think twice ... FN 2008/6/6 Rajan P. Parrikar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > To Goanet - > > I have posted several pictures here in the past > about the large construction project coming up > in Pilerne. > > I am sorry to report that it is proceeding at a > furious pace. Only yesterday I got a bird's eye > view. The damage it will do is - well, see it for > yourself. > > I inquired with the locals if there was any > resistance brewing and was told, yes, but they > are up against powerful interests beginning > with the sarpanch. They will need the support > of the people of Goa. The fraudulent and > GBA has done, and will do, diddly squat. > > This is the sight from the ground level. If > you remember my earlier pictures, you will > reckon the rapid progress - > > http://www.parrikar.org/images/Pilerne/pilerne-1.jpg > > > Now, if you take the path around the property > that goes up the hill towards the Chapel of Our > Lady of Candelaria, a panoramic view of the > devastation is on offer - > > http://www.parrikar.org/images/Pilerne/pilerne-2.jpg > > http://www.parrikar.org/images/Pilerne/pilerne-3.jpg > > > Of the two large swathes at the foot of the hill > that have been depleted, this is the second one - > > http://www.parrikar.org/images/Pilerne/pilerne-4.jpg > > > For Sharma-ji's and Sabharwal-ji's pleasure - > > http://www.parrikar.org/images/Pilerne/pilerne-5.jpg > > > On the hill above the upcoming atrocity, the > exquisite Chapel of Our Lady of Candelaria - > > http://www.parrikar.org/images/Pilerne/pilerne-6.jpg > > > To get a better sense of the what and where (note > the tin fencing below the chapel). These f**#%s > are going to finish off Goa while the rest of you > critique, debate, and dissent. > > http://www.parrikar.org/images/Pilerne/pilerne-7.jpg