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Domnic Fernandes continues (Part II) his reminiscence of
Mapusa of the 1950s
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=426
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Hello Mario,
I have read you, and find that you are sometimes contradicting yourself!
I was going to write on two subjects: namely; 'Stop baiting Mario' and 'Stop
Portugal Bashing' without rhyme or reason. The 'Stop Portugal Bashingl' was
meant for poeple like you, (albeit, in your last two postings, your view on
Portugal has changed significantly) but I might still go ahead with it. But
'Stop baiting Mario' is another matter, as of now!
I proceed now to respond to your comments. :-)
Mario observes:
Whew! Nasci, now tell us what you REALLY think of
India. Aren't you glad you migrated to Australia?
Nasci:
I am glad that I migrated to Australia, the real living breathing Paradise
from the old paradise Goa, that has been taken over by uncouth people and
vagrants, hawkers and stray rabid dogs.
Mario like I have said, in one of my earlier postings, that you have
certainly read; I did not migrate for economic reasons, at all; 'cause I had
a Career and I was prosperous, in a way. I left India, for the good life and
good envirinment. I was 'sick' of the socio religious stupidities and
idyiosyncracies in practice, in India, and in Goa, the continual power
failures, erratic water supply, no road sense, no proper roads, crowded
trains and buses, crowded with human filth too, uncouth and obnoxious;
shortages of food items, queues everywhere, hopeless sanitation and
sewerage, and government incompetence, the gaunkari and other politics, etc.
All of that makes life like Hell!
Mario:
As I have said in a previous post, India should be
avoided by the fastidious and faint of heart, for
their own health and sanity. Leave it alone, PLEASE,
for those of us who enjoy going there, mainly to bask
in the incomparable warmth and hospitality of friends
and family. No one in India is going to miss a few
thousand crabby and dis-satisfied expats.
I don't know whether you grew up in India or not, but
the chaos and mess that you describe has always been a
part of the Indian scene. To be sure, some of it is
disgusting and drives me nuts, but there are other
things that more than compensate, and that's what I
tend to focus on, and enjoy.
India, believe it or not, has changed for the better
over the last 35 years since I left it.
Nasci:
Yes I agree with you here; but that does not mean, we non residents must not
give advice and or debate the various issues confronting Goa and India. You
migrated 35 years earlier; I did only 19 years earlier; so I have suffered
more on India's and Goa's shortcomings! As a result I feel the pain all the
more, that nothing has really improved, from the situ that I have described
in the first para.
I returned to Goa/Bombay for three weeks in 1989, as part of my working tour
that took me from Australia to Europe and return via N. Delhi. Since then I
have been really scared to come and live in India. Only recently on
retirement, some of my Bombay friends put some courage into me.
I went to Goa and Bombay, to meet with my friends and the few relatives left
behind; and what happens is that, the moment I step out of my hotel or
friends home , I am in third world chaos. Even when inside, the continual
interruption to power reminds me that I am in underdeveloped Goa! and I feel
so sad. 'Sorrowing Lies My Land'.
I visited India and Goa for three months, from October 2005. My first ever
visit to North India: Jaipur, Agra and Delhi; I spent a month in these
places; and was not impressed; the quality of life is far from claims about
progress etc. Everywhere I found dirt, vagrants, noisy street processions,
and the silence and beauty of night broken by rowdy noisy wedding and
religious processions, well into the early hours of the morning. This
happens in N. Delhi.
One night in my hotel, when the unbearable noise finally stopped at around
four in the morning; one European guest was 'smart enough' to open his
window and turn his TV out on to the street at a very high volume; for some
two hours, and he and his partner challenged anybody to come and stop them!
That much for life in Delhi. Except for the Parliament and Govt places, and
a few tourist areas, I was not impressed.
Thence in Bombay it was no better, after all Bombay had definitely changed
to Mumbai!. I had meals in the so called good restaurants; but one evening I
was let down; I got the 'RUNS". even from this supposedly good eating place.
In Bombays famed BEST buses, I had to kill two large size cockroaches
running wild on deck; had to kill and offend the Jains, before they could
get into my pants! There is much more, which I need not go into.
I now know the SECRET WEAPON used against the England Cricket Team last
week, for the ODI in Goa and elsewhere before that! The Indians give the
visitors the 'runs' before they can compete in the match proper! May be a
spurious concoction of Curry and Feni! How smart of the Indian cricketeers,
to win this way! :-)
I revisited Goa alone (except for a three day stay in Bombay on my return
schedule) in November and December 2005; and did not find any improvements",
the same old story confirms the horrors. When in my hotel, I felt nice with
a modern Room and 65 channel TV etc. and I met up with a lot of foreign
European tourists too, only to find their disgust, at the chaos and the
filth outside. The bus services were the same old story. jam packed with
Kannadigas and Keralites (workers) vying for handle space with locals and
the ever present Kashmiri businessmen. Why not treble the number of buses
plying? Because ministers and other officials do not travel by bus; they do
not even drive their own vehicles; so how will they know about the Driving
conditions, and the sardine packed buses?? Or is the haptha game too much to
beat?
You think Goa and India has improved; but really, other countries and
societies are improving faster, much faster, leaving India far behind on a
comparison basis. Advanced or backward, cultured or not is always
comparative. On this basis, India does not stand up much, yet. The proof is
in the pudding! I found no pudding! I could not even buy a pouch or carton
of milk, when I needed one, only Feni!
What Super Power are you talking of??
Mario:
It is we
expats who have changed far more. It is we expats who
have become accustomed to less chaotic, more sterile
and more secure environments.
By the way, the notion that India is a budding
super-power does not come just from my biased and
fertile imagination. My REAL superpower country is
betting on it. Bill Gates is betting on it. Even
Lakshmi Mittal, who avoided investing in India while
becoming one of the richest men in the world, is now
prepared to bet on it. What do these folks see that
the critics cannot?
Nasci:
I agree with the fact that India is on its way to be a Super Power, still
far away, and I have not said, India is not going to be. Unlike you, what
definitely worries me is : what quality of life will be available? what all
round discipline will be shown to the world? Will there be a Cultural
Revolution preceeding this Super Power business? I honestly feel that the
present lowly and antiquated all round Indian Culture is stiffling India,
made worse by the likes of Parrikar, Advani, Thackeray etc and the RSS, the
Sangh Parivar and the VHP and the whole Hindutva brigade. This Culture must
be eradicated or fully reformed first, for any chance of India becoming a
Classic and exemplary Super Power.
Looking at the march of China, where there is no casteeism, no racism, no
apartheid in living and eating places and in what one eats, no reigious
bigotry, etc. I feel ashamed to call myself Indian!
There are more rich people than the total poulation of the USA; but also,
there are a third of india's population living below the poverty line, with
no hope; and another third who are just hanging on.
Mario, this is the reason, I feel compelled to give advice and debate the
issues relating to India and Goa. I am not satisfied with living off the
hospitality of friends and relatives, and let everything else go to hell. I
and you have to experience it ourselves, only then you know "La Difference".
I invite you to be an active participant and be more useful to the Goans who
are residing there.
Regards
Nascimento Caldeira
Melbourne
Down Under!
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