Ten years from now will Goans who fled Goan identity, Goan food, caju fenny, fish curry rice, sorpotel, and Goa, be viewed as smart people?
I'm only asking the question. Please tell me what you think! Since the sixties a lot of industries have come to Goa, and some have even gone away to other parts of India for various reasons, all negative. Few Goans, however, have gotten jobs over the decades in the industries set up in Goa. Slippery politicians (are there any other kind …?) have assured them jobs in industry from time to time. Unfortunately it is bad in law and belongs to the field of literary fiction, and story land. The voter is able to read and decipher the text only after it is clear s/he cannot get the job. But, then, what can you expect from politicians who have been dangling the proverbial carrot for decades in front of the gullible voter? The late Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar once remarked how Goans are more artistically inclined than interested in science. Aside from the study of medicine which has a long history in Goa, a small percentage of Goans get engaged in scientific pursuits - research or applied science. The late Chief Minister was an IIT graduate who stood out like a sore thumb. Bringing in advanced science programs and advanced technology on a fast track is only an invitation to people from outside the state to settle in Goa asap. It will and can provide employment to very few Goans. Low skilled jobs in factories can be beneficial to Goans only if locals are trained in the skill prior to the setting up of the factory. Goans are good in English and use of computers and there is some scope in this field. Mining is never going to be a thriving sector again as it has been in the past (a gold mine indeed for the owners in the past and progeny). Stakeholders, in future, will and can hope to make a good living, however not much more. The golden age of mining is over for everyone. An English man and a friend of mine told me the other day the worst offenders (or the smartest people?) are Goans who get a Portuguese passport, and guess what? They head not to Portugal but England with maybe three generations of the family in tow. They are able to survive on sometimes a lakh a month - curtesy of the government - until some members of the family get a job. Is it any wonder some pro-Brexit people are acting like mad dogs and Englishmen even when it is raining? Are these Goans bad people, betrayers of Goans? Or only poor and not well educated people who want to make a better future for themselves and their children? Well off Goans generally do not choose to go to England although a few run off to Portugal in search of their roots. Are these runaway Goans worse than our politicians who remain in Goa only to bleed the Exchequer? No need to wait for a reply as the answer is as clear as a kop of fenny on a nice summer day. If they remain in England for a decade and then return to Goa because they want to eat some chorus pao, what will happen? We Goans and sons-and-daughters of the soil will be surprised to see how Santan has changed - and the children, too. His children can speak better English than even upper middle class children who attend school in Goa. The British school system is one of the best in the world, and our runaway Goans are beneficiaries of it. We should be jealous of them even if we are not! All the same, don't forget the mad dogs and Englishmen, and Big B for Brexit. What will their future be like - we will have to wait and see - the whole story is yet to unfold!
