GOOSE CHASE By: Bennet Paes It’s no wild-goose-chase when a gander hisses in hot pursuit of a goose, and gets it. No, it’s not even an accidental one-night stand, as is so infectious with world’s football celebrities. In animal kingdom there are no celebrities nor ceremonies. They just do what comes naturally. They are games that the geese and ganders play, which we sum up as mating, but which Ethologists so subtly say sexual pairing. No matter what – they are all considered free and fair, in a world where man-made laws do not consider them otherwise. May I pet-name them as “gg games”? Now, let’s juxtapose this scenario in a kingdom where a ‘Rathore’ and ‘Ratol’ vie for a place in games that humans play, more notably in India. A Police Chief goes wild and chases a ‘goose’. Only this goose happens to be a young tennis player of the same gender. And unlike the “gg games”, this one is as foul as it is foolish. How come, a police chief mistakes a racket for a racketeer? Then comes a Government Legislator. He bends the law to bend over a ‘goose’, and then prevents it from laying the golden egg. Strangely enough the blame is shifted on to a killer paste, commercially labeled as ‘Ratol’ - and the case rests there. Just incredible! The airwaves are flush with breaking news at the break of each day: “The Principal of an international boarding school gives marks based on bedroom performance”. And to beat them all: “a hockey coach plays with geese-legs in preference to hockey-sticks, and lands himself on the wrong end of the sticks”. By the time this piece goes on the net, God knows who else is getting set for another chase. Stunning spectacles that regretfully reverse our nation’s proud strides in technological breakthroughs and economic achievements. Country-wide corruption granted, these men who have let lust loose on unsuspecting eves, rub salt further down into an already wounded pride. Makes one wonder how a nation brimming with criminals on land, can still manage to launch seven satellites in the air in one single mission. ----------------------------------
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