Well said Ana Maria ! The ground realities here in Goa is that without the thousands of migrant workers, life would come to a stand still. We can rave and rant about the migrants in Goa. However, nature abhors a vacuum. As people have left Goa for better opportunities elsewhere, migrants from outside India find Goa to be an El Dorado and have poured in. Goan laborers ? Where I live in Bardez I have yet to see a Goan laborer. The ones around are elderly and too old for the type of work they used to do. They made sacrifices and educated their children. The Government has also helped these low socio-economic classes to get an education. Now the children of the laborers of old hold office jobs, drive cars and scooters and are building beautiful homes. Good for them. That is progress.
In the meantime migrants have filled the vacuum, learnt and have become fluent in Konkani, and perform the chores that native Goans can no longer do. Our rice fields are lying fallow because there is no one to till the fields. I have two migrant workers from Karnataka who perform myriad jobs for me on my property. They are fluent in Konkani, very congenial, and very willing workers. No shirking. I get my rupee's worth. I pay them the going wage, on time, and treat them with the respect that they deserve. In return I get excellent service. My fellow villagers are constantly coming to me and asking me if I can spare them for a few days to pluck coconuts from their trees, to split firewood or to do other back breaking chores. My workers straddle two worlds. When the monsoons arrive in Goa they return to their native villages in neighboring states to tend to their fields and return several months later only after harvesting their crops. In their absence I sit in my balcao admiring the monsoon rains with a glass of the finest Feni in hand. Aah Goa !!! Goans who have emigrated should hold on to the memories of the good old days, which will never return, just as they will never return to Goa except perhaps to visit. I am sure in each of the countries that Goans have emigrated to, life has changed, at least for the people who lived there before the immigrants poured in. I say this in a positive sense, as Immigrants with their strong work ethic and adaptive abilities tend to enrich the countries of their adoption. In time with succesive generations the bonds that tie Goans to their native land will loosen, kept tenaciously alive only in the Goan Associations all over the world. Viva Goa !
