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Ladies and Gentlemen, I have to concur with the points that Mr. Rui Collaco has written. They are all very valid and we would be fools not to acknowledge them. Goa is a terrible place to live in. Currently, these are the option we have: 1. Move to Portugal. Mr. Rui Collaco will arrange for visas, tickets, and white-collar employment. 2. Move to USA. Marlon Menezes will arrange for visas, tickets and white-collar employment. Now unless Mr. Rui Collaco and Mr. Menezes start providing us with visas, tickets and pocket money (to spend at the duty free shops on the way) I don't want to hear a peep from them. -Tariq On Thu, 20 Mar 2003, Rui Collaco wrote: > Ms. Helga Gomes, > > It is a pleasure to read a mail that is serious, honest and factual, > something that is rare on goanet. You ask if you make sense. Well, you do, > because you put forward your views in a rational way, without getting > emotional about it, as happens to many contributors to goanet.I respect > other peoples's views, when they are honestly expressed. > You mentioned my misconceptions about Indian Goans. Let me explain: > > 1. Brainwashing > After leaving Mozambique (where I was born), in 1977, I lived in Goa for > some time, before settling in Portugal. You cannot begin to imagine the > amount of provocations, derogatory remarks and plain abuse I had to endure > from some of my colleagues at Loyola High School, just because I was a > Portuguese national. Remarks about Portugal being a very poor and backward > country were commonplace. Some even suggested Portugal was poorer than > India, because in their minds, Goa developed after 1961 and Portugal...was > left behind Goa and India! If you try and succeed in imagining yourself in > my place, what conclusions would you draw? I concluded that such crap, told > with conviction by 10th graders who had never been to Portugal, could only > be the product of a refined brainwashing effort, carried out by the > state-controlled education system, the state-controlled media and within the > families (with people not realising that they were brainwashing and being > brainwashed, to the extent that they believed and propagated a whole bunch > of lies about Portugal). > How would you feel going through that experience? I knew both countries, so > I knew that what I had to put up with was an outrage. At that time India was > even poorer and more backward than it is today. Lisbon had as many cars as > Bombay, the largest city of India (this is a statistical fact)! Bombay had > not a single FM radio station, something we had in Mozambique since the > sixties! Goa had no television broadcasting (must have been one of the last > places on earth to get it). > Those same colleagues of mine offered to buy just about everything > Portuguese that I had (!!!!), from used shoes to used jeans, watch, etc. > In Miramar, where I lived, we used to get a 2-hour water supply per day, > from the mains, which meant opening the water tank of the building for 15 > minutes every day! The daily power cut (sometimes several a day) was as > certain as the visit of the baker. These are a few examples... > > 2. Goans's distinct identity > > You claim that that identity is well preserved. I hope you are right. Only > the future can tell. The catholics, who have more to loose from dilution > into the hindu majority mainstream, don't seem to be worried about it. I > Know of people that have traded portuguese surnames for hindu ones. Is that > a necessity in order to integrate in India? > There is a hindu fundamentalist Govt. in India and in Goa. I don't know of > any concerted effort by the christian minority, muslims, secular hindus, to > oppose the saffron agenda. > But it's nice to know that you are self-assured, that you have a great sense > of identity, "more than you need perhaps",and that I must not fear for it. > One nagging doubt in my mind is whether you perceive Goan identity as being > different / distinct (not opposed) from Indian identity, or whether you > consider yourself one with the other 1000 million Indians. If that is the > case, there is no point in discussing Goan identity, as you would definitely > have given it up. > > Rui Colla�o -- Tariq Siddiqui [EMAIL PROTECTED] ******************************************************************************* Rockets Lover! Laker Hater !!! ******************************************************************************* _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.goanet.org/mailman/listinfo/goanet
