I address this post primarily to the admin team of Goanet. I was truly horrified to just read the testimony of a Goan lady, on Goanet, about the physical assault, requiring emergency treatment, on her husband within the sacred space of the basilica of St Francis Xavier. I am also amazed that the sod taking tourists around, got away with it, and not one person among so many witnesses came forward to stop such utter nonsense.
I now want to suggest that Goanet should find out more about this public incident. It should be possible to ascertain the time of the incident, which group was being taken around and who the culprit was. The culprit's tour company must be ascertained and the Company banned from the tour circuit until the culprit is sorted out. This definitely can't be that difficult. Just get on with it immediately please. If it is a British Company, please let me know with maximum data ASAP. For such incidents to take place is an utter disgrace. In the early 1980s, the truly pristine Benaulim beach up to Varca was absolutely infested, by adult white male and female nudists (in toto) who walked around to the absolute contempt and disregard of the Goan men, women and children visiting the beach. I notified the police about this but they were not interested at all. However, I recall that, there was a board saying that, nude bathing was prohibited on this beach. The next day, I watched the nude display for a short while and then told a particular guy to put on some clothes. He swore at me saying I was an ignorant Indian and that, public nudity was common on European beaches. Well, I well knew that this was not so, as only specifically demarcated areas tended to be reserved for nude frolicking on much of the European beach. My wife warned the guy next, but he swore at her angrily in French which I understood fully. At this point, I whacked the guy really hard across his lower face. To my amazement the force of the whack lifted the guy completely off his feet and made him fall with a thud flat on the sand. Even more amazingly, he begged for mercy, but in English this time! His girlfriend, who was with him, begged me not to hit him again. I was pretty enraged and about to do so with both fists this time. The guy then got into his shorts sheepishly. This was witnessed by many, including my whole wider family. Word went round, and it temporarily stopped the scourge of blatant display of nudity on the beach which had effectively constrained Goan women and children, in particular, from enjoying the beach. It also empowered others to take on these neo-colonial nudist nuts who had plagued the place previously. I have never regretted what I did and felt totally justified in my action on the day, even though I have definitely not hit anyone before or after this incident. There clearly are times when one has to be counted, and especially, if one's wife is sworn at by some damned foreigner, on Goan soil, and who should have known better. However, on a totally different point, I believe that Zinadine was entirely wrong to butt the Italian player on the chest at the final of the 2006 World Cup. I very much hope that Goanet will be counted on, re this issue, and something concrete will be done regarding the public assault in Old Goa. I also believe that it is incumbent on Goanet to get moving on this point without delay, and if necessary draw on appropriate resources to help put an end to disgraceful behaviour by visitors to churches in Goa as is normal in Europe. Cornel _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
