<Wendell is holding forth on the Delhi invasion of Goa. "I welcome them if they buy old houses and restore them with their money," he says. "But I draw the line when they make marble and granite palaces in the garish style of Greater Kailash (a South Delhi suburb known for its kitschy homes)." More and more people in this idyllic state are beginning to feel like Wendell.....The colonisation of Goa is a problem, because it ignores the local traditions and culture...Everyone wants a house in Goa....While most Goans make them feel welcome; some are beginning to ask questions. Visitors and settlers alike form their own little ghettos in which local people are not included...Never mind Belgians, Germans, Russians and Israelis, even Indians from Delhi and Bombay are setting up enclaves that block out the local culture. They build real and virtual walls; as such, they go against the grain of the inclusive local culture of this wonderful haven...These are the people we didn't see at the Black and Red Dance in Panjim on the last night of the Carnival....What could be more community-minded than a Conga line at the street dance in Panjim, where strangers, men and women alike, held hands and swayed to the music? No drunken lewdness, no fights, no sexual harassment; only fun and dance and occasional shouts of "Viva Goa!" >[Rajiv Desai]
Wait a minute. Is this a Goan Desai or a non-Goan one? The guy I know is originally a Gujju and operated out of Delhi (whose denizens are being despised in the above account). So he has a holiday home or retirement place in Goa. Great! Seems like a good strategy -- drop good Goan names like Wendell and yell 'Viva Goa' every now and then at no one in particular. And who are the "strangers" in the Conga street dance line in Panjim? Only Goans or Goans and non-Goans alike? Deliciously ambiguous, right? Maybe mixing at Carnival is enough (or at least OK for starters). Viva Carnival.
