Dear Pravin, For many years I knew you by name. And I have detected a sane person in you all those years through your writings. I had even chatted you on phone at times. But I could only match the face to the voice at Lohia Maidan when I attended the SVM anti-SEZ meet in December' 2007.
Your Monday Muse (Jan 7' 2008) is very much appreciated. I have felt that I am one of the Pedros that you are talking about. I started as a conscious citizen for years to clean some of the dirt created by bad governance. Then I coaxed some of my friends to jump the next step UP (not down) with me holding hands when I helped form Goa Environmental Action Group in 1997. Then I coaxed a few of Goa's friends (not mine) to help me jump another step UP holding hands when GEAG graduated to become a political party (Goa Su-Raj) in the year 2000. The progress has been slow since our jumps are against the gravity making sky-diving a much easier and fun filled job. The next jump for which we are engaged in practices and tries is the final jump to the Goa Legislative Assembly, a jump that will be achieved holding a multitude of Goan hands. When that feat is achieved, most of the conscious citizens of Goa and those Groups of people who call themselves NGOs who are doing a 'commendable job' of cleaning up the mess left behind by our political masters will exhale a big sigh of relief. For they will be able to pack their bags and go home to do better things in life which they have always wanted to do, like watering their vegetable patches in the home garden instead of cleaning up the smelly mess that somebody else has left behind. BECAUSE THE SHIT WILL STOP FLOWING DOWN ALTOGETHER. In that vein, Goa Su-Raj guarantees GOA a lot of unemplyment. Cheers and keep on writing. floriano goasuraj ----- Original Message ----- From: Pravin Sabnis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: goanet <[email protected]> Cc: gulf goans <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 12:06 PM Subject: [Goanet] No shortcuts (monday-muse) MONDAY MUSE (7 Jan '08) NO SHORTCUTS Every visitor to Pedro’s college was treated to the spectacle of his ability to jump over ten steps from the mid-landing of the staircase to the landing below. However, one visitor was not amused. He was an athlete and sought to prove that Pedro’s feat was ordinary. Pedro pleaded with him not to try it out. It was not prudent for a winner athlete to consider an ordinary person’s feat as a challenge. But the athlete would have none of it. He went up to the mid landing and jumped off only to fall spread-eagled on to the last three steps. Pedro helped him to his feet and told him an enduring lesson. Pedro had initially started jumping off the fourth step. After a few days he moved to the next step. One step at a time over four months, he was able to develop the skill of jumping from the tenth step. Pedro asked the athlete, “why did you go straight to the tenth step?” Things are not always as easy as they seem. And there are no guaranteed short cuts to acquiring the abilities of those who make it seem easy. We can cover ground faster by putting in more effort and following a well planned process. But things will not happen immediately even if we believe that we are better equipped than the one who can do it. Getting better is a process that requires time, thought and most importantly confidence that is not clouded by conceit. To ‘BE BETTER’ take one step at each instance… There are no real shortcuts to cover the distance! Regards Pravin 7 Jan 2008, Goa.
