Goanet meets in Goa: December 27, 12 noon and January 7, 4 pm (meeting point: Kala Academy canteen). See you there! ------------------------------
On Sun, 21 Dec 2003, Radhakrishnan Nair wrote: > No, Fred! Nothing is beyond debate, and as journalists worth our salt, we > must uphold the right to debate issues threadbare. But then, what if someone > has nothing worthwhile to say and just flogs the dead horses just for the > heck of it? > > Read between the lines, some of the posts on this forum betray the slave > mentality of a handful of people, especially the vintage variety. It would > seem that they're pining for the good ol' colonial days and are nursing > hopes of the Portuguese making a Second Coming to liberate them from the > "bharatis". How do u respond to that? > > Cheers, > > R.K. Nair That's true, of course, RKN. I think people working for a better today and tomorrow for Goa have to fight multiple battles. On the one hand, there's nostalgia for good-old colonial rule (often mildly disguised with the cloak of criticising how things are run post-1961, or by using the subterfuge that Goans should be allowed to decide their own destiny, as if this would, in itself, solve our many problems). Another battle is against those who claim that since we are Liberated, everything ought to be running fine. After all, don't *we* manage our own affairs and elect our own politicians? Another simplistic viewpoint, which hides much of the current-day reality. Then, there's that class of people who will work hard to ensure that they themselves benefit from just about any situation -- Portuguese colonialism, MGP rule, Congress rule, BJP, etc. Just by a transfer of power, all things don't automatically change for the better. Neither do all the problems simply vanish. Local problems run quite deep, and these include conflicts within different segments of the home population, questions of how we define our past and future, disputes over language and script, religious-based differences which have and continue to be used by politicians and rulers for their own vested interests, and much more. People from out of the state (and also expat Goans) have both help Goa to improve for the better, and have also added to Goa's problems. To lump all non-Goans into one basket and blame them for our woes is unfair, just as all citizens -- regardless of ethnic origin or religious background -- need to carefully take note of the concerns and needs of the local society. So, eitherway, it's difficult to generalise. The nostalgia about past colonialism still lingers on. It does too among sections of 'British India', though in lesser numbers and perhaps more fadec with time. But in Goa and on the Goan corner of cyberspace, it's restricted to a tiny segment (some of whom are prolific in using pseudonyms, so as to multiply their numbers miraculously). For the majority of the population, what really matters, it would seem, is whether the current system can deliver the goods, is better than the past, or is simply too flawed in different ways. FN ########################################################################## # 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 # ##########################################################################
