--- rene barreto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I would like to take this opportunity of sharing > with you my thoughts on Goa and Goans -the question > I often ask is - If a Goan decides to settle in > Kerala or Maharastra - does he call himself / > herself a Kearalite or Maharastrian ? and why does > he refrain from doing so ? > > I believe that one needs to be PROUD of what one is > born into - and one needs to make the best of the > situtation we are put into ... enjoy the good and > help to overcome the bad. - BE HAPPY ! > Mario opines: I'm not sure whether you want the Goan who settles in some other state to call himself or herself a Goan or not, but I agree wholeheartedly with your advice to make the best with the hand we're dealt.
Ancestry is the result of a biological crapshoot. As the saying goes, one cannot choose one's biological parents. So, being a Goan, Keralite, Maharashtrian, etc. is a biological fact, or not, and the only options seem to be to look in the rear-view mirror and be "proud" of this accident of nature, or look forward to achievements of one's own making. My sense is that, even in India, it will be harder to determine one's ancestry as we go along because of the boom in "mixed" marriages worldwide.
