Every time I am in Goa, I can't help but be amazed at how facile and
superficial our Goan Catholic society has become. We have created and embraced
a culture of wine and song; an endless round of celebrations be it weddings,
anniversaries or funerals. Every weekend is an occasion to numb oneself in
mindless conversation, graduating the banal to great heights of intellectual
curiosity.
This is a typical conversation..
Hello, hello, my God have not seen you for so long..
How is Uncle Carmo?
How is Uncle Carmo's grandmother?
How is Uncle Carmo's cat?
Ok then bye hanv..
And to go along with these conversations, perhaps in a attempt to further
anesthetize any semblance of intelligence in our society, we have to have a
healthy dollop of excessive drinking, food bingeing and frenzied dancing.
I really wonder what it would take, especially for our women, to show some
interest in conversations that don't revolve around babies and babas, where to
find good bebica (swear to God this is a conversation in Goa) or what they
bought at the Panjim exhibition sale?
What would it take for our society for just one second to stop spinning on this
vacuous merry-go-round and invest instead perhaps in the reading habit, buy a
good book, discuss the paper, take up a hobby or visit a museum?
Best,
selma
