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Goanet mourns the passing of Jorge de Abreu Noronha in Portugal - Nov 27/07
http://tinyurl.com/2dk2bl
http://tinyurl.com/29kpdx
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To Goanet -
My meanderings in the past 4-5 days in Goa have taken me to the mining
heartland of of the state: Shirgaon, Amona, Lamgaon & Pale (Bicholim
taluka), Pissurlem (Sattari taluka), Darbandora, Codli & Usgaon (Ponda
taluka), Sanvordem and surrounds (Sanguem taluka).
I was on Vetal's trail. There are 49 surviving temples of Vetal in Goa,
according to Dr. Pandurang Phaldesai who has listed them in his book,
"Kaleidoscopic Goa - A Cultural Atlas." There are none in the talukas of
Bardez, Tiswadi and Salcette as they were destroyed by the Portuguese. But I
digress.
Yesterday, on my second visit to Usgaon in as many days, I was unprepared
for the extraordinarily hellish sight that lay in store. Eight kilometres
of bumper-to-bumper trucks one way and an endless chain of trucks coming the
other way. I quickly did a 'Fermi calculation' (after the great physicist)
for the approximate number of trucks one way assuming a 6 metres length for
each truck to account for clearance between two vehicles. You can do the
math yourself.
This looked like a war zone, the very definition of hell. I dared not step
out of the car for fear of dust (dust is a great enemy of dSLRs), but the
true picture could only be had from a helicopter. There was no traffic
police in sight, no nothing. This ought to be an illegal use of Goa's
roadways.
It took us over an hour from the Usgaon junction to the Vetal temple, a
distance of less them half a kilometre. I was told these mines belong to
one Prasanna Ghodge of Belgaum. A similar situation we encountered in
Sanvordem, this time near the Salgaoncar mines.
In Pissurlem we saw children playing cricket with the dust settling down on
them in real time. I leave the colour of the foliage in all these areas to
your imagination. It is one thing to read about the destruction wrought by
the mines. But you have to see it yourself for the crimes to truly register.
The Usgaon villagers have been getting it from all sides: the relentless
array of trucks, noise, dust, and the teeming ghatis. The mandap of the
Shri Adinath temple was grilled up like a net. Upon inquiry I was told of
the truism as regards ghatis: Anything that can be stolen WILL BE stolen.
And so our temples have to now look like prison cells.
It was dusk by the time we got to the Ponda junction, not too far from the
ancient Safa Masjid. If I didn't already know my coordinates, I would have
mistaken it for a godforsaken filthy junction typical of a town in
Karnataka. Ponda is now, thanks to Ravi Naik, a ghati nagar. But of
course, one of our Goa Bachao champions has declared that ghatis are no
threat to Goa.
My question to every conscientious Goan is: Why save Goa? And for whom?
For Dempo & Salgaoncar? For the rich uncouth North Indian who is buying out
your houses, land and apartments? For the white trash loafing shirtless on
his mobike? For Digu, Vishwajeet & Babush? For the unwashed shitting ghati
millions who will shortly outnumber you?
Warm regards,
r
