Santosh Helekar wrote: This scare, like all previous ones of this nature, is never going to materialize. The real world is different from what it is portrayed to be by the politicians and activists on any side. Response: Santosh, I would have a lot more faith that "this scare...is never going to materialize" if centrists and moderates such as yourself wrote in the Goa media to assure everyone that the right to chose medium of instruction is a democratic right and not a communal show of hands. Nothing that has happened in the past year in Goa, assures me that "this scare" will not come to pass. On the contrary Hindus who I thought to be moderates and centrists are now seen parading in full public view calling into question the nationalist sympathies of Catholic Goans. If not at public rallies they are busy churning out sundry articles in the print media. Hardly has the controversy over the Portuguese Sagres ship died down, which for some reasons warranted communal venom, the ugly head of the medium of instrustion has reared. Everything of late seems to call into question Catholic nationalism. This does not bode well for Goa. I'm sure a lot of people live with the hope that atrocities will never come to pass in their own neck of the woods. The vast majority of human beings in this world are least concerned with their neighbour's politics. Their lives center around what is for dinner and which schools their children will attend. Nonetheless, atrocities do happen. Violent wars, pogroms and insurrections do take place. We wander how they happen. They happen because it only takes about 2 to 3 men to decide the illegitimacy of an act and 1 man to declare war. We must do more in our lifetimes than to believe constantly in the goodness of humanity. We must be vocal in our condemnation of inhumanity. I await an article by you in the Goa print media, which soothes and calms the currently inflamed communal chatter. That would reassure me hugely and mean a lot more than rebuttals on goanet. Best, Selma
