I spent three years of my college life in Panjim. Being of Shasti origins, my
best friend from San Jose d'Ariel and I, would routinely make a trip to Margao
every weekend. There we would spend endless hours at Peter Stores, buying
knickknacks we didn't need and then heading to Loughinos for a falooda and
sausage pao. On our weekend binge into town, being hormonally-charged teenagers
at the time, we would try to elicit as much eve-teasing as possible from
teenage boys, feeding into our insecure budding egos. The fear of being
accosted or assaulted rarely entered our minds.
Those days are long-gone. Today, eve-teasing in Margao is occasion for
full-scale communal riots and anticipation of these riots, is reason enough to
bring in swords by the dozens. The Goan Catholic cannot cope with this. The
male of our species has been emasculated by centuries of Sunday Mass sermaos.
He has neither swords, nor koitos nor the inclination with which to rise in
protest. The female of our species is educated and emancipated. She wants
nothing more than to get on with her professional and family life. In this
morass that Goa has become of hurt religious sensibilities and communal
tensions, Goan Catholics have no place. Sadly, I urge you to go to the nearest
embassy you can find, whether Canada, Portugal or New Zealand and apply for
citizenship. Don't let the fear of the West keep you for applying. You are
already bi-cultural. Your children's transition to a Western culture will be
fluid. It is the best thing for your children's safety.
I write this with all sadnes for my beloved Goa and Goans.
selma
