Dear Joao, Do you have a blog? The idea being to point people to a link where they could read your splendid thoughts, those who are not on Goanet.
Venantius On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 7:17 AM, Joao Barros-Pereira < [email protected]> wrote: > Will the Goa of our dreams, the Goa of our ancestors, our grandparents, > parents, and this generation of the setting sun, be here in the near > future? Will this generation hand over a nightmare to our children? And, > will they forgive us? > > At the speed mindless development is succeeding, will the beautiful Goan > houses set in lush surroundings exist only in the paintings of Akeru, the > Japanese painter? > > The greed of the miners of Goa, among others, have devastated our hills and > changed the landscape of Goa forever, destroying the natural beauty of some > places in our state, an ugly scar for the whole world to stare at and cry! > How could we have done this to ourselves and our children? And, is there > more to come? > > The villagers of Cansaulim have decided to take their future into their own > hands. I'm sure the panchas will support them wholeheartedly. As someone > who is from the village of Cansaulim and who returns every year, I must go > on record and say I admire their love for their village. If only all Goans > were the same! I hope other people from other villages will also fight > single-mindedly to preserve the greenery, the pure joy of living in a house > surrounded by nature, banana, papaya, and other fruit trees which is a way > to calm the mind. > > Goans, unfortunately, who live in Calangute and Candolim have sold their > souls and future for quick money. They have thrown away the baby with the > bathwater. They could have made money, even more money, and enjoyed a much > higher quality of air, water, and beautiful surroundings. Instead, they > chose to invite everyone from whom they could make fast money, making these > two villages the model of how a village should develop in the wrong > direction, a hell hole in spite of a few five-star hotels in the villages. > These villages are shopping malls and housing projects for people from all > over India. What a nightmare to even drive through it. Anything is okay as > long as there is money in it. My tears cannot wash away the ugliness of > this mindless anti-village development in these two formerly beautiful > villages. I suspect the easy availability of drugs makes these villages > look beautiful! > > Development is no magic mantra, and if it is, it will only lull us to sleep > until we wake up to a reality of another Calangute, a case of not being > able to put the genie back into the bottle. We need to differentiate > between pro-village and anti-village development. We, the villagers, have a > choice to make: save our villages now or they are gone forever! The soul of > Goa lives in the villages, and every development has to be viewed in the > light of pro or anti development of our villages. What does a human being > gain if he loses his soul and gains the whole world asked a famous man in > history. How many times do we need to be reminded that a man does not live > by pao alone? > > The villagers of Cansaulim are against five star hotels, and for a good > reason. They do not keep to the rules and regulations to the detriment of > the villages and villagers, the location of their five star hotels! The > hotels don't bother about where the sewage goes or proper access to the > beaches so long as they make money. This sort of anti-village mindless > development which has been going on all over Goa for far too long has to > come to an end. The people of Cansaulim have voted: enough is enough. > > With our limited resources, what can the ordinary man and woman do to > foster development and not destroy the village, the soul of our Goan > lifestyle? The answer is, strangely, a simple one. Save enough money to > build only one extra room in your house with an attached toilet. Allow this > single room to power the engine of development of your family and village. > In the world of tourism in Goa today, a single room is equal to a job. And > income from the single room can make a dream come true, a single room which > is well designed using simple traditional materials, can build you a few > more rooms, making you some day the proud owner of a guest house. Open home > stay websites, and don't tell the government your idea as they are > committed to supporting big hotels for obvious reasons, and the average > Goan does not fit into their plans at all. What they want are five star > hotels and golf courses. > > We need to act now while our villages are still villages or it will be too > late. If we don't then we will have to settle for the virtual reality of > Goan houses amid lush greenery which can be seen abundantly in my wife's > paintings. Virtual reality, however beautiful, is not life! > -- +++++++++++++ Venantius J Pinto
