Dear Goanetters,
I am going to venture into some pretty dangerous territory here.
What follows is entirely my opinion. It is not meant as a criticism
of any individual or community. In fact , many of the points I will
make are critical of myself , my religion / caste and the views that
I have expressed on Goanet over the last few weeks.
While I am trying to be unbiased in what I say , some of the issues
I raise may well be tempered by the strong political and other views
I hold. Also , I am far from all- knowing and there may well be many
factual inaccuracies in my observations.All constuctive criticism is
welcome. Rheotorical opposition based on bigotted thinking not so.
There has been increasing volume of debate on this forum on how
Goa is going to the dogs and how to prevent it. Also, there has
been much talk about preserving Goan identity.
Before we try to even attempt the above , I sincerely feel we need
to do 2 things.
1 ) Stop being in denial about some harsh realities which apply to
every one of us ( including myself )
2 ) Forget the past ( however painful it may have been ) , analyse
the present ( however complicated it may be ) and plan for the future.
And to do all this , we need a starting point to calculate what is the
past and what is the present.
I suggest we keep the starting point as 1961 ( simply because we
had charge of our destinies from that point ) and analyse things from
then on.We keep the period from 1961 to date for analysis. And plan
for the future from now on.
And the absolutely central point to my arguments that follow is :
FORGET WHAT HAPPENED IN GOA PRIOR TO 1961.
Which means :
# Let us forget the inquisition and all other wrongdoings , some true,
others fabricated , that the Portuguese colonial rulers were involved
in. We cannot reverse them.And what is the point of harping on what
happened many hundred years back.
# Let us forget about the religious conversions ,some forced , others
voluntary.We cannot ( and should not ) change what happened many
hundred years back.
We should , however , remember one fact.
IF IT WAS NOT FOR THE ACCIDENT OF HISTORY THAT GOA WAS
RULED BY THE PORTUGUESE ( UNLIKE MOST OF INDIA WHICH WAS
BRITISH ) and IF NOT FOR THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CULTURE WHICH
WAS AN INTEGRAL PART OF GOA BY 1961 ( AND ALONG WITH THE
WELL PRESERVED HINDU CULTURE MADE FOR A UNIQUE RECIPE ) ,
GOA TODAY WOULD BE NO DIFFERENT FROM THE CHARACTERLESS
SOUTHERN MAHARASHTRA OR NORTHERN KARNATAKA COASTAL
AREAS WHICH HAVE SIMILAR GEOPHYSICAL PARAMETERS AND ARE
NO LESS IN SCENIC BEAUTY THAN OUR GOA.
Let us all ( espescially the Hindutva proponents in Goa ) accept that
indisputable fact. Only then, can we move on.
.......to be continued.
warm and sincere regards,
anand
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