>This is a genuine question to Sharon Mascarenhas as to what exactly > she means by saying she "is a pure blooded Goan." Is this term > somehow linked to her MSc in nursing? > Just curious. > Cornel
If I'm not wrong, Sharon is just repeating -- probably unconscious of its implications -- a cliche. One that has become part of the language of Goan chauvinism (which, ironically, is in part promoted by recent migrants to the state, who realise they can make a business of it). During the largely futile language agitation (which was more about caste and communalism rather than language) and later, we heard about "blue blooded sons of the red soil of Goa" and such cliches. Needless to say, the soil itself varies in diverse parts of Goa, not to speak about the blood (as if this is important!) My daughter asked me how some fields in Saligao have a sandy-soil, and enquired whether this area too was once "under the sea". What the young lady nurse probably means is that she's simply Goan, and feels quite alien in the Big City. Just as I felt on reaching Mumbai (then Bombay) for the first time, and encountering the morning-hour rush at Bandra station (or was it some other station?) There is, of course, no such thing as a "pure blooded Goan". If that concept is accepted, then the aboriginals (who only recently belatedly got Scheduled Tribe status) will have to contend among themselves, as to who was here first -- the Gawada, Kunbi, Dhangar or Velip. The rest of us are all migrants at diverse points of time, and we need to come to terms with Goa being a melting pot. Caste is almost another form of race. Diverse caste groups (and inter-mingling among them nowadays) reflect our diverse origins. Let's acknowledge this; it might help to make Goa a less intolerant society. My photographer friends point out that Goans come in every skin shade -- from near European to near-Afro. This, at the practical level, causes a dilemma as to what film is best stocked, to create a suitable skintone in photographs. The Japanese films are made for their own skin-tones, but given the huge Indian market, and our own (near racial) preference for a "fair complexion", they have films suited for India skin hues. But this doesn't work in all cases! Rather than critiquing this young lady -- who incidentally isn't probably reading Goanet, her article was reproduced from the Herald -- we might be better off with an attempt to understand and unmask Goan chauvinism, intolerance and racism of a home-grown sort. Just a few thoughts, with the intention not of scoring points, but taking the debate forward. -- _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ Frederick Noronha | Independent Journalist | Ph 832.2409490 _/ 784 Saligao 403511 Goa India | [EMAIL PROTECTED] _/ _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
