Dear Antonio, or should I be more formal and say Justice Colaco, Your views are noted and while I and Goans of my generation, specially those in the Diaspora will agree, some of those living in Goa with the original Goan identity as you defined it, will disagree.
In the current context of India’s gigantic population numbers, Goa in my view can happily accommodate a 5 million population. Given the continuing migration of Goans to other lands, a phenomenon that existed much before the Portuguese left, it was natural that hordes of other Indians washed ashore. That in itself is not a problem. What is a real problem is that Goa is more affluent that the other places in India, originally (not any longer) more law abiding and honest. But given the thoroughly corrupt and greedy politicians they continually vote in (who happen to be original Goans by the way) the dirty water flowed in and mixed in with the clear water, making everything filthy. What you are seeing now in Goa is the transition. That will continue until all the once crystal-clear liquid already much tainted, turns to the sewage that exists in the land in which it is surrounded. As you know, water seeks its own level and it is only a short matter of time for the land-grabbing, cheating, dirty politics, little care for the law and population density to exceed the 5 million it can bear. A look not at Indian big cities but at smaller towns in the rest of the country that groan under densities of 10 million or more will give you an indication of how much Goa has room to bloat, it being much larger than a small town. Nature dictates that the quantum of filth when encouraged or even ignored, tends to grow larger than all surrounding filth. A clear example of this is the Sonsddo phenom outside Margao. And people who matter in the sense of being able to contain the rot, are busy piling some of that rot into their own pockets. Then they die of pancreatic cancer and suchlike with no provision in their will that the rot be buried with them. There are of course some good things that have arrived on Goan shores in addition to the filth. They are some of the best of Indian society that were attracted to the Lusitanian heritage of the Goan people, traits that you of course know about and need not be explained to you. While some these newcomers may be crass, others uplift Goan society. However the problem is that such society is fleeting. When the sewer of Goa overflows, they will flee to other undiscovered but still beautiful small places in India that may not be as wealthy as Goa is now, but with their wealth, that would be of no matter. Roland. Toronto. > On Aug 31, 2021, at 7:10 AM, António Colaço <pimentelcol...@gmail.com> wrote: > > ---------- Forwarded message --------- > De: António Colaço <pimentelcol...@gmail.com> > Date: segunda, 1/03/2021 à(s) 11:46 > Subject: Re: [GRN] How long will ... (or some ideas on the so-called 'Goan > Identity' > To: Goa-Research-Net <goa-research-...@googlegroups.com> > > > Concerning Goan Identity I do respect all the expressed perspectives. I'm a > goan, 82 years old, born and bred in Ribandar - which I visit every three > years, until recently. I came to Portugal, when I was 19 years old, to > proceed with my Law studies, having ended up as Justice of the > Supreme Court of Justice (jubilado) - Lisbon. At that time, there of > course existed a goan identity, coinciding with the original goan > community.during the long period of portuguese colonialism. However, from > the then existing 400/450.000 people, the population of Goa, since 1961 > boosted to above 1.800.000 habitants, giving rise to the formation of a new > goan identity. New human social relationships were established, new social > behaviour, customs and habits.This does not entitle us to say that there > may be many goan identities. Goan identity is one and the same, however > changeable in its composition in accordance with evolution and time. The > least we can afford to say is that of an *absorption* of the goan identity > existing in Portuguese times by the uprising identity from 1961. > Let me explain my idea in more detail. Groupal identity is a *dynamic > social reality*. This identity is sustained by successive *generations. *Based > on the average span of time of each generation being more or less that of > 30 years, we can assume that, due to the colonial impact being unaltered > (same colonizer and the same social local stratum) the > successive generations (15) brought insignificant changes in the social > sphere, and as such one can refer to a an homogeneous identity on the goan > people - hence the goan identity of that epoch ( it must be remembered that > that colonialism inGoa lasted 450 years, whereas the historical Empires > (Mauryan <Emperor Ashoka>), Kadambas or Vijyanagar) lasted less time). But > with the annexation of Goa, the incoming non-goan migrants from > the other parts of India, contributed for an increase in population 4,5 > times superior than the one existing during the portuguese occupation. This > process, that started circa 58 years ago covers practically 2 new > generations, mixing harmoniously the original goans and the new-comers > migrants, giving rightfully rise to the actual goan identity, is certainly > to last long. So, if one wants to refer to the goan society existing > during the portuguese time, it would be more correct to express it as > the *goan > community. António Bernardo Colaço * > > . > > >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>
