Perhaps what is not considered is that Goa emerged in 1961 from a
ruthless dictatorship and were just as intimidated by the new authority
which confused people who did not know how to react particularly when
any vistage of 'western influence' invited negative reactions and such
Goans labelled as 'dogs.'Any leadership that could be depended upon did
not emerge from among the people.When Goans took charge they had no
vision for their future, a great deal of opportunity was wasted in
legislations that could have waited, while the problem of education, of
land administration and the decision to maintain what was essential and
precious was ignored.What the Goan totally misunderstood was the close
connection to land, a symbiotic relationship that was the only
inheritance that remained unrealized.
Goa was made by human effort. Its low lying Khazans were wrested from
the sea, its bunds and terraced hills, its kullagars and salt pans and
its complex administration were a peoples effort. Its agronomists
nurtured its many fruits and its fish and fowl and water bodies were
seasonal celebrations to be shared.And all this was achieved with
minimum technology and an understanding of nature.
When I came to Goa what hurt was the rejection of things Indian by
ordinary people obssessed by foreign goods.
The outlook was toward western shores. The needs of the land were
ignored and it was replaced by greed. The land was not understood as a
sustainable resource, it changed instead to a commodity with an ever
expanding price and so we have lost our salt pans, our forests,our water
bodies and our fields. The landscape is hidden by billboards of
unacceptable proportions which are an affront to my visual freedom. The
buildings are symbols of egotistic "ME TOO", The police dance to the
tunes of whoever pulls the strings and our only ' Instrument ' of Public
Good which is the elected Government is itself involved in a host of
self serving activities squandering public money for personal gain.Clean
up the Garbage, Stop the Mining lobby manned by politicians, Get a
sensible regional plan that empowers ordinary people, improve the
disgraceful state of schools,reduce the land sharks who descend on Goa
with the wherewithall to buy up the gullible native and his panchayat as
well...the list is long and the fighters few.
All Goans want to leave and every other Indian thinks Goa is the new
Dubai.We are glamourous, well endowed and capable of the Good LIfe. We
are the lifestyle mecca of India and this illusion is perpetuated by our
newspapers and the media. Come the rains and we can have Jumping
Chicken, and the old lores,superstitious beliefs and practices
are perpetuated with hundreds of articles extolling their long forgotten
reason for being.And our event managers will use anything for an event
of great short lived consequence which our Politicians attend with much
awaited gusto from their adoring fans.
Are we ready to fight? It costs to stick your neck out, If you stand up
to be counted immediately a slander or a scandal is cooked up about you
and the papers are full of the dirty rotten stink created on your
behalf.We are very good at that kind of thing.So, we don't have the
land, we don't have its enduring love and we are standing on the street
corner demanding a sale.
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