Some time ago I had gone to a lumber yard to buy some wood. I discovered that the sawmill was being run by a Patel from Gujerat. I then went to a few other sawmills to get quotations for the same wood and again most of the sawmills around Mapusa seemed to be taken over by Gujeratis. I discovered that these are usually leased out by their Goan owners who are content to collect the rents and leave the nitty gritty of running the business to the Gujeratis.
At this juncture a quick, informal check on other businesses showed that the Electrical Shops have also been cornered by the Marwaris as also a good many of the hardware and household appliance shops. Is this another sign of Goa going gone? While the Ghanti says, "Garv se kaho, hum Ghanti hai!"[1] which slogan is the poor disenfranchised Goan going to mouth? [1] Vidhyadhar Gadgil, Inside/ Out New Writing From Goa a Goa Writers Publicaton published by Goa1556 -- "Tony de Sa" < tonydesa at gmail dot com>
