Firstly, I am bit confused by the heading, Goan, be exclusionary, when the
piece calls for Goans to be inclusive, if I have understood it correctly from
the sentence -- One would have thought that we all would be trying to widen the
circle, involve more people, and be more inclusive -- at the start of second
paragragh.
In the next para, Fred says "Goa is indeed a region with heavy rate of
outmigration." I am sure he is indeed talking of native Goans or "niz" Goenkars
going out of Goa in large numbers, but the reality is that there is lot of
cross-border migration into Goa.
Another confusing statement is that Goans "they've learnt a diversity of
tongues while doing so, from Swahili to Marathi to Burmese, while doing so." It
seems that Goans learnt the languages while migrating, possibly on the ships
that carried them to East Africa and Burma, and on trains, buses and steamers
that took them to Maharashtra. I thought Goans learnt these foreign languages
after they settled in foreign lands for a considerable period of time.
This sentence, "With linguistic diversity
and skills seen as something positive that could enrich the
region", should have been combined with the preceding sentence, {So, it would
be natural to expect that
the diversity would be tolerated" with a comma. Left alone, it dangles.
Why the question mark in this sentence, "We exclude
people on the basis of caste, ethnicity, class, migration,
education and knowledge (or lack of knowledge) of a language?" Isn't Fr
Stephens Konknni Kendr one institution that conducts Konknni courses?
"At other points of time, one has attempted to pick up Hindi, German,
Kannada..." Why "one has" instead of "I have"?
"In the 'sixties, if you were an young expat returning to Goa, there was good
reason to feel excluded." Can Fred qualify this statement.
I do not understand what "bizarre medium of instruction policy" means, and I
thought it is parents who pay for their children's education. Sad that
"children not affluent enough to pay..."
>From what I have read, communalism in Goa is a post-1961 phenomenon, forget it
>being an "invention." I don't know how things were complex during the
>Portuguese rule and how "class and caste" can determine communalism.
>Communalism is based on religion, as I have learnt. Discrimination on class
>and caste is vastly different from communalism.
I do not think "language can be tied up with communalism" The example of the
Marathi press raking up issues over conversions is not directly linked to the
languages groups speak, such as evangelical groups that Fred has cited.
The issue is conversion and the issues around it can be "fueled" in any
language.
Caste is part of India's varna system from centuries ago and is unlike to go
away in at least another century. Goa is no exception. I don't see what has
been "morphing and changing", as the battle lines seem to have remained the
same.
Fred writes: "Gender has also been a tool for exclusion, though this might be
getting weaker of late." Gender is not necessarily a "tool for exclusion" but
used as a "tool" by those who want to discriminate and segregate. If Fred is
talking of the male gender, all Goan men, including Fred and me, should worry
that the "tool" is getting weaker ;-)
Fred, what about Goan women?
Thanks Fred for expounding a new socio-economic theory that "decades of
'development' has apparently only helped to create a section of young Goan
women caught in lives of quiet desperation, who apparently are only waiting for
the guile of a Mahananda to deprive them of their gold and their lives."
What BS is this, may I ask my dear Fred. Are these desperate women waiting for
a Casanova like Mahananda? To me, the man was smart to trap the women who came
in contact with him. I am not able to understand why you put development in
quotes. Goa's development has helped women progess in many fields and not
"helped" create a section of young women leading lives in quiet desperation. If
some young women are living lonely lives they should find some ways to keep
themselves engaged in social or cultural activities. Or, they should find the
right men to fall in love and, perhaps, marry instead of living in "quiet
desperation." Maybe, these victims found Mahanand to be the "right man" and
paid a heavy price with the lives. Wrong choice, baby!
As an expat Goan I never find myself "excluded" when I come to Goa. What
baseless statement. Can some of the expat goanetters tell us if they are
feeling "excluded"?
What "small cake" are we fighting for. Do you Fred mean Goa is a "small cake"?
If so, how to we expand it? In case we expand the cake, why then should we try
through "other means to "ensure that we get a bigger piece" of the cake?
Fred suggests that we should be big frogs in a big pond by being inclusive, and
not the other way around. Whatever we try to do, either being exclusive or
inclusive, there would be a "heavy price" to pay in terms "Goanity", which,
according to Fred, is "however one defines that." By being "exclusive" Goans
will let the barricades remain and by being "inclusive" Goans will dilute their
identity.
The choice is ours, baba!
Eugene
