The Bombay Goan. Has prospered with the economic resurgence in India, with Bombay as its hub. Was used to going for about 2 months vacation to his ancestral house in Goa, yearly, when his children got school or college holidays. Has modernized his Goa house mostly with Rajasthani marble flooring. Now in retirement years, goes to Goa every few months, even at a mere whim for periods as short as a week. Children have become professionals, or gone to the Gulf, or to Canada and the USA or become marine officers. Knows that Goa will go the same way as Bombay did (corruption and overcrowding) and is therefore not unduly perturbed at the current mess in Goa and will have nothing to do about arresting it.
The Gulf Goan. Has gone to one of the Gulf countries for job opportunities or higher salaries and ends up with two life choices - either accumulate savings and prepare to emigrate to Canada, USA or Australia, or take those savings and return to Goa. The former care less about the situation in Goa since it will not affect them. The latter are most upset at the inflation in India as their savings will have less purchasing power eventually, and at the Goa condition because all hopes of an idyllic retirement are being dashed in front of their very eyes. He knows that before you can say Jack, instead of dealing with Santan and Pedro in Goa, he will more likely be talking to Sharma and Thomaskutty whom he has come to dislike in his Gulf environment. The Overseas Goan. Came to the US or Canada from India mainly for the sake of his family, and initially struggled in his new milieu as all first-generation immigrants do. During these struggling years cherished a hope that he would eventually leave his children behind as they became independent and return to Goa with his spouse to enjoy a less demanding life and better weather. Liked to return to Goa every few years from homesickness. As the years progressed, three factors contributed to the shattering of his Goa dream - he prospered in the diaspora and it became his real home, he could not see himself living in Goa for more than a month or two and as he ventured to other destinations, saw that they offered better value than Goa did. The people had changed, the landscape had changed, there was no order or system like he had now gotten used to and although he wouldn't admit it, he knew that if he had a medical or accidental emergency, he had much less a chance of surviving than "at home". The Goan Who Didn't Know Goa. A lot of British East Africans and Portuguese West African Goans who had been for so many years in Africa that Goa was a foreign Asian entity to them. Now resettled in the west, they did venture to visit Goa for the first time and were sorely disappointed at what they saw. Their relatives were like strangers and the only visits they ended up making were to other exRoland Francis 416-453-3371 [email protected] Smile and the world smiles with you.
