Rajan's post below provides interesting insights into Goans. My response is to his post; and not to the original thread. While Parrikar's response was revealing, a few responses on this thread caricatured the caricature.:=)).
Here are a few thoughts to Rajan's wise commentary. I have selected four pertinent points which are mentioned below: 1. The "caricature itself is the reality of Goa" is not by non-Goans. That "reality" is often held by Goans themselves. Most Goans, and the many posts seen on this web site, present Goa as a caricature. Few know the specifics of what Goa and Goans stand for. For many Diaspora Goans, the native language that is a common bond, in most ethnic groups, is foreign. Goans are loath to concede the reality of progress and fearful about counting our blessings. Yes, there is the wearying intransigence of the behavior of the politicians with repeated elections or threats there off. 2. The above brings me to the second point. The caricature is not for tourism. It is indigenous, because of a lack of knowledge of Goa by Goans. "Goa's fantastic heritage is read like a comic strip" happens because most Goans do not know "Goa's fantastic heritage". And the many who quote the heritage, only do so to demagogue it. Hence no surprise, the heritage will look "like a comic strip". So let's not blame the "bhaile" for our shortcomings. 3. Rajan's third point below reinforces the above. We "ceded ground by not asserting ourselves appropriately and widely enough". This is because most of those who occupy the "ground" are Goans, who take pride in being "anti-Goan" on any-and-all issues. Being articulate by being "anti-", with no constructive solutions and comments, leads us 'spinning our wheels'. This occurs on many topics pertaining to Goa. The most recent ones were about caste and religion. The protagonist on 'widespread practice of casteism' could produce no "casteism data" when he maligned Goa's institutions. And his sources / lurkers could not / did not produce any posts (evidence) on this web site, even after he "offered to work on their English" in their posts. Hence there was little factual support to the never-ending discussion of Goa's casteism practices. This while the protagonist repeatedly displayed (as I showed) his own casteist writings and attitudes, including threatening us with his academic IPs (international papers). 4. The "go to" people are the bhaile, to get a feeling if atleast an outsider can make sense of Goan attitudes. As Rajan suggests, the bhaile too are confused. This was best reflected by Nehru's well known statements, when he described Goan attitudes. Kind Regards, GL --------------- Rajan P. Parrikar the line between the caricatures of Goa and reality has been blurred beyond repair. To non-Goans, the caricature itself is the reality of Goa. 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.
