It is true that to free ourselves from the well-worn caricatures created by "bhaile" from the "Indian swamp" we have to educate ourselves about our indigenous culture, which stretches over three millennia. The irony is that in doing so we will find out how deeply moored we are in the Indian swamp, and who among us are the "bhaile" and "ghantis" of the past. We will also find out how the settlements of the past became the orchards and fields of today, and vice versa.
The greatest irony of all, however, is that the caricatured bhitol'le of today love to concoct burlesque portraits of the bhaile themselves. I heard recently that even the extremely bhailo Robert Newman, who arguably knows more about Goan culture than any other contemporary bhitol'lo or bhitol'lem, was not spared in this regard. Cheers, Santosh --- "Rajan P. Parrikar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Or consider the silly images of Goa one encounters > in > articles, magazines, books etc. For this state of > affairs, > we have ourselves to blame. True, we are too small > a > community that always runs the risk of a wipeout in > the > Indian swamp. But we have let ourselves, our land, > our religious and cultural traditions be defined by > others and wholly within the framework of tourism. > Goa's fantastic heritage is read like a comic strip. > > We have ceded ground by not asserting ourselves > appropriately and widely enough. Many Goans > themselves remain ignorant of the wealth in our > midst. It is absurd that today the "go to" people > on > matters Goa and Goan are bhaile who think they know > it all after a few years of domicile here. > > In the latest issue of Parmal (Goa Heritage Action > Group's > magazine) is reproduced an essay by Robert Newman > (*). > Dr. Newman makes very good observations on this > issue of Goa's caricature. The essay has been > posted here earlier. >
