To Goanet - There as been an explosion in the number of rental motorbikes in Goa. They have been steadily increasing over the years but now the numbers have assumed critical mass - these bikes are everywhere. This is a problem on several levels.
The first and most important is the issue of traffic safety. We are needlessly increasing the number of vehicles on our already perilous roads. I suspect that someone in government has made a lot of money handing out these licenses. Secondly, we keep hearing that we want to attract the higher end tourist, but this actually accomplishes the opposite. The third issue was brought home to me yesterday early morning. I had gone to the Siolim bridge with my wife, nephew and niece to experience the sunrise. It is one of the few original Goan sights still left unmolested. Or so I thought. Just when the sun started to pop over the horizon, the tranquility and purity of the experience was shattered by a bunch of north Indian rogues sauntering in their rental motorbikes. Any semi-civilized creature would have been moved by the view and enjoyed it in silence, taking it all in. But no, these guys were loud, boorish monkeys. Thanks to the mobility afforded by rental motorbikes now these uncouth bastards will be crawling all over the place. In a way I am not surprised. Everything in India is now loud and coarse. Indians have forgotten the meaning of peace and quiet. We had in it Goa, but we are now part of the Indian sewer. A picture of the boors from yesterday morning on the Siolim bridge - http://www.parrikar.org/images/samples/Indian-Boors.jpg r
