You are missing the point, Tony! For some of our expat Goa friends, underlining how "inferior" Goa is today only helps to justify their decision to move away from the place they claim their heart bleeds for!
To justify this inexplicable decision, all kinds of excuses are invented too! It is a decision they took, and we are nobody to sit in judgement on them. But when they keep trying to "convince" themselves (by pointing to how "bad") things are in Goa, that's when I too have a problem. Of course, a number of other expats are more gracious and have a polite what-can-we-do-to-help approach. To them, I say, don't think you can solve problems by just pouring in your money. Or stoking the flames of chauvinism. Have the patience and humility to learn from the solution, and you might find the right partners here who could join hands with you to together work towards a useful solution. In this (positive) category I see people like Goa Sudharop -- despite their slightly misnamed (in my view, because "Sudharop" have patronising connotations in the Konkani language) organisation, and despite George J Pinto's more-recent willingness to somewhat buy into the anti-poor, anti-Muslim migrant chauvinism that has been once again fuelled here. Including via cyberspace. Also, note how fickle-minded some expat Goans can be. When there is a whole lot of hype in the British media (tabloids included) about how great a paradise destination Goa is, they would also join in the chorus to sing paens of praise. Now, as the fickle-industry-that-is-tourism ends its honeymoon phase with Goa, and endlessly highlights in the media the Scarletts, the German "girl" and the Russian "girl" (but not the suspected victims of a Mahanand), they too are quick to change their tune. Just as some claim their political opportunism is nothing different from a child's changing views about Santa Claus. Add to this, the reality that a section of the hungry-to-come-to-power Opposition has smartly realise that its chances improve manifold when it leverages the Goans-being-outnumbered and we-are-losing-our-land paranoia of the gullible Cristao. In the past, environmental and other citizen's protests were "anti-national". Today, they are just grist in the mill of political ambitions, meant to be fuelled, and poured petrol upon! Put all together, and you have a heady mix. It almost seems as if there's something terrible is happening here. I think perception is more real than reality! Don't miss the negative role being played by a section of the expat population, influential even if tiny in numbers. Innuendo, insinuation, allegation (even if way off-target) and other strategies can discredit people long enough to ensure that they lapse into ineffectiveness. But then, I guess you can't fool all the people all of the times! FN 2010/1/9 Tony de Sa <[email protected]>: > Be that as it may. What gets my goat is when NRGs pontificate from their > comfort zones as to how we resident Goans should run our state and whom or > whom we should have elected. We do not want sermons from afar. Remember that > most of those who have gone abroad have had their eyes on greener pastures. -- Frederick Noronha [email protected] +91-832-2409490 +91-9822122436 784 Sonarbhat Nr Lourdes Convent Saligao 403511 Bardez Goa I Twitter. Do you? http://twitter.com/fn
