Headline: India Dusts Off Colonial Past, Says Come to Goa. By JAMES BROOKE
Source: New York Times. June 3, 2003 at http://www.nytimes.com/ Loutulim Journal. LOUTULIM, India � Portraits of her ancestors stared mournfully from parlor walls as Maria de Lourdes Figueiredo de Albuquerque sat in a straight-backed teak chair and recounted her battles with tile-thieving monkeys and land-thieving squatters to maintain her family's 17th-century manor house, overlooking the rice and coconut lands of what a generation ago was called �ndia Portuguesa. "Our ancestors were the greatest landowners of Goa," the lady of the manor said, as her older sister, Georgina Figueiredo, nodded approvingly, serving slices of mangoes. "But now our income is not enough to live on for two months. So we have to look for other means for our survival." The two sisters believe they have hit on a renewal strategy: heritage tourism. "Fifteen years ago, what was Portuguese was considered colonial � now it is considered identity," Ms. de Albuquerque said, smoothly switching back and forth between Lisbon-accented Portuguese and Indian-accented English. As her syllables fell softly in the pre-monsoon heat, workmen next door swept cobwebs and painted walls, refurbishing four rooms in the 1606 wing for the paying guests the sisters believe will soon be wending their way here through the Internet. On Dec. 18, 1961, Indian troops entered Goa, ending 451 years of Portuguese rule of this enclave of beaches and coconut palms on the Arabian Sea. Portugal angrily suspended almost all ties with India for 15 years, and New Delhi moved quickly to "Indianize" Goa � Portuguese statues were shunted into museums, for instance, while statues of Nehru and Gandhi were erected in parks. English and Hindi were introduced in schools. Beneath the newer English-speaking overlay, however, the surnames, the place names, the churches and many of the religious festivals are Portuguese. And now, people here are realizing that, for tourism, this unique embrace of India and Iberia differentiates Goa, India's smallest state, from the 27 others. This tropical land is dotted with 167 whitewashed Roman Catholic churches. The bed and breakfast at the manor here is part of a state-wide network of about 20 "heritage house" inns, an echo of a similar system in Portugal. Portuguese television programming, newly available by cable television, is reviving Portuguese language skills among older Goans. From Lisbon and a Portuguese Consulate here, an increasing number of exchanges, scholarships and seminars link "Goa and Lisboa." In addition, there is a brisk business in Portuguese passports, available to anyone living here in 1961 � when Goans were considered Portuguese citizens � or to their children and grandchildren. Since Portugal joined the European Union 15 years ago, and union passport holders now have the right to work across the 15-nation bloc, the Portuguese passports are popular tickets out to coveted jobs abroad. The highlighting of Goa's Portuguese history does not necessarily reflect the taste of its politicians. Almost three years ago, Manohar Parrikar, the standard-bearer here for the Bhartiya Janata Party, India's governing Hindu nationalist party, became Goa's chief minister, or governor, and vowed to block "foreign" foundations from financing such projects as church restorations here. Within months, however, he quietly dropped this stance. "When they came to power, they tried to downplay the Portuguese colonial thing, to cut off money to the foundations," said Dean D'Cruz, a local architect. "Then they realized it was a selling point. That they were killing the goose that laid the golden egg." At least a quarter of a million European tourists visit every winter. When the Hindu nationalists won power here, some demanded the destruction of several Catholic churches built during the 17th-and 18th-century Inquisition on the foundations of Hindu temples. But Mr. Parrikar, the state governor, shied away from culture wars, devoting most of his time to cutting corruption, improving roads and luring high technology companies. In late May, India Today, a newsweekly, studied a host of indicators, including income, literacy levels and investment climate, and then ranked Goa as "India's Best State." Catholics have steadily lost political power and population, and now make up about 20 percent of Goa's 1.2 million people. Tourism officials and their brochures maintain a studiously impartial tone. "We want to put in very big headlines: Hindus and Christians never fought in Goa in the last 500 years," said N. Suryanarayana, state director of tourism, skipping over 250 years of anti-Hindu Inquisition and Portugal's alliance with Hindu states in anti-Muslim wars. "We are saying this is a unique blend of East and West." In this interior village, almost lost among the green treetops, is the tower of a chapel built by the great-grandfathers of the Figueiredo sisters and of M�rio Miranda, scion of another old landowning family. Mr. Miranda, who is also one of India's leading cartoonists, recalled a visit with Mr. Parrikar, discussing official Goa's ambivalence about its Portuguese past, and recalled telling him: "I saw in Lisbon two statues of Gandhi and two Hindu temples. There is nothing to fear. The Portuguese will never return." ============== Check the website for the photographs. ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
