EARTH HOUR: GOENKARS DON'T CARE! By Valmiki Faleiro Goans don’t care. About themselves, the community, or the world around them. Ninety-nine percent Margao households, as seen by my wife, two nieces and myself (fleetingly, from the wheel) between 8.30 to 9.30 p.m., March 28 – Earth Hour – were shining brightly! Margao was always Goa’s significant town. It would be hazardous to guess what percentage of its citizenry today was even aware of the voluntary protest against environmental degradation – and humanity’s own future, with climate changes on a tailspin. The symbolic ‘Earth Hour’ protest began in Sydney-Australia two years ago. People switch off home electricity for just that one hour and live by candlelight … as our forefathers did, in an age when the world was a better place to live in. During that hour, I covered as much of Margao as four wheels made possible. I set westwards, to Mungul, bordering village Seraulim. Turned back into Madel, ‘grande’ and ‘pequeno’, before proceeding to the northern extremity of Davondem, bordering Nuvem. Then parts of Ambajim, Fatorda, Gogol (bordering Raia.) Thence to Aquem, downtown Margao, Comba, and finally, close to the closing minutes, the area around Holy Spirit church. Ninety-nine percent darkness, meaning electric power, blissfully on. In the ocean of darkness, there were some ‘bright’ spots, though. Permit me to recount some such from as much as I could see from the main streets, with three pairs of eyes for help. Mungul had not a single isle of concern, including in my own creation of 32 house sites called ‘Antonio Vicente Falleiro Bagh.’ In Madel, even as the chapel cross across the road shone brightly, my former colleague-Municipal Councillor, Maurilio Dias’ house was in pitch darkness. Around Fatorda, Luisa Coutinho’s house was the only place showing concern. While ‘Canape’ was alive with manmade light, my friend, Jyoti Konkar’s house was an abode of natural solace. On the way to Aquem, only incomplete building complexes involuntarily observed the ‘Earth Hour.’ Irony is boundless. Aquem’s newly opened St. Sebastiao church had not just lights, but a stage/music performance in full bloom. Chief Minister Digambar Kamat’s apartment was in darkness – but the helpful police sentry confessed that even wife Asha wasn’t home! My office building, ‘Fatima Chambers,’ at Dando, was in absolute darkness – I reckon more because of the string of holidays. Comba, upper and lower, was disgrace … shining more than Mondays when Lord Damodar nocturnally visits on horseback on a return trip from Zambaulim. Datta Damodar Naik’s house, though, was in darkness, even if the verandah lights shone brightly. ‘Bush’ Miranda’s house at Boxetollem was in darkness, as was another Municipal colleague, Ajit Hegde’s and his widowed sister-in-law, Radha’s. Around my home turf, the only people aware seemed to be Dr. Filipe Nery Correia, Eurico Silva, Jacinto Barreto Miranda, Pilar Society (at the former Pacheco Figueredo mansion), and my next-door neighbour, Elino Colaco. As regards the rest, Margaoites perhaps think like Herald’s daily pocket cartoonist, Idhar-Uddhar, who said, March 29, “In Goa, we don’t need to switch off the lights for ‘Earth Hour.’ The Electricity Dept does it for us on a regular basis!” (ENDS.) ====================================================================== The above article appeared in the March 30, 2009 edition of the Herald, Goa
