>From an interview of Uday Bhembre and his soft communalism. "Fundamentalism is growing in our country which may not be that visible in Goa, but in the rest of India, it is definitely making a mark. And Goa will witness it and will definitely be affected by it sooner or later. So instead of showing that we are different from others, it will be good to incorporate integrity. But integrity does not mean that we give up our religion or customs. It only means that we should be culturally one. Just like in Kerala, you cannot distinguish people based on their dress, speech or language whether the person is a Hindu or a catholic, but in Goa, one can easily distinguish between a catholic and a Hindu.
Let me narrate to you a glaring incident that happened in my life. When I was the Independent MLA of Margao in 1985-89, I was invited by the Grace Church Parish to speak to the youth on Culture. The audience comprised of young boys between 20 to 25 years of age, to my surprise there were no girls. I don’t know why. The three preceding speakers spoke in English and I spoke in Konkani. During the question and answer session the Priest requested them to ask questions, I too requested them. But they did not respond, later the priest told me that if I had spoken in English perhaps they would have understood. Then I asked him (priest) why they did not understand. “They did not understand because you spoke in Konkani and not English”, the priest replied. It was all the more astonishing that all of these youth were Goans and did not understand or might not want to speak in Konkani. And if that was situation in 1988 what would it be now? So that kind of a situation is bound to develop according to me if English is encouraged at primary level itself in Goa." read more on http://www.goenche.com/article_details.php?aid=99
