> From: Sanjeev Trivedi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 2006/04/13 Thu AM 11:26:21 GMT+05:30 > To: Sanjeev Trivedi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Can we save Goa ? > > Goa, Goa, gone ? I > > Jug Suraiya - Times of India - 2 April 2006 > > > Last week when I was there, Goa whizzed past me. Goa? Whizzing? How > could Goa ? languorous land of laid ? back socegado, ageless as the > ebb and flow of the Mandovi and Zuari rivers, as the subtle alchemy > of the rich, red earth which transmutes itself into the green gold of > paddy fields and coconut groves ? ever be made to whiz? I looked hard > at Goa. The landscape ? of crescent moon beached and peppermint > churches and tiny villages punctuated with the curled-up commas of > sleeping dogs ? was as serene and still as always. What was whizzing > about were people. Not the local people, the Goans, who looked on > this untoward activity with bemusement, but people from outside who > were in a great rush ? the great Goa land rush. The property market, > booming all over India, has gone ballistic in Goa. Everyone seems to > want a piece of the place. Buyers from Delhi and Mumbai and Mohali > and Ahmedabad are pouring in on a frantic buying spree, an invading > army bent on a second ?liberation? of Goa from the Goans. The motto > seems to be: If it doesn?t move, grab it quick ? before someone else > does. > > A holiday villa ? or even a two-bedroom apartment ? in Goa is the > next thing you buy after you?ve bought your iPod. It?s a question of > peer pressure. Everyone?s got one, so how can you be the only > exception? Forget politics or globalization or climate change. The > major ? indeed the only ? topic of discussion in Goa is property > prices. Dona Paula?s going for between Rs.8000/- and Rs. 18000/- a > square meter, depending on the view. Or rather, Dona Paula?s already > gone for that price, and is totally sold out. So how about Porvorim, > where you can still get something for round about 3500/- a meter? > Everyone hares off to Porvorim, causing traffic jams and the prices > to jump even higher. Someone mentions a rumour of a German selling a > bungalow in Asagaon and there?s a general stampede for Asagaon. But > the German?s bungalow has already been snaffled by one Mr. Ashok from > Dilli, so everyone heads hopefully for Ribander where a new highway?s > been built, There?re no regular water connections in Ribander yet. > But what the heck. It?s got a view. And you can get a piece if it for > 2000/- bucks a meter. How can you go wrong? What?s fuelling the > upward drive of property prices is that apart from Indians, > foreigners are also buying into Goa, drawn by its redolence of > residual Europe. Almost everyone speaks English, they have > recognizable names like Fernando and Isabelle, there are hardly any > beggars, the booze is cheap and plentiful. It?s India without the > Indianness. Heaven should have it so good. Property consultant Alan > Viegas tells me that foreign nationals are entitled to buy property > either by staying for more than six months and claming resident > status or by forming a façade company which enables them to acquire > immovable assets as a corporate entity. > > Goa is selling like hot Vindaloo. And pretty soon there?ll be no > more of it left to sell, or to buy. And when that happens, Goa will > stop being Goa and become something else. Like Ghatkopar, or Brixton, > or Greater Kailash III, as a Dilliwalla remarks. Already Baga and > Calangute look like Lajpat Nagar market. Or Chowpatty on a public > holiday. Goa? Gone, or almost. The thought saddens me for a moment. > For when Goa stops being Goa, what will the Goans do? Rent the place > back from the new owners? My regret is fleeting. For it is soon > overtaken by a further by a further reflection. That, for all the > pomp and circumstance of title deeds and legal documents and claims > of proprietorship, we?re all of us just short-term tenants, whose > tenure is at the sufferance of an infinitely munificent, infinitely > indulgent landlord who created it all to begin with. Not just Goa but > everything else as well, sea-facing view and all. >
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha 784 Near Convent, Sonarbhat SALIGAO GOA India Freelance Journalist TEL: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 Skype/Yahoomessenger: fredericknoronha www.bytesforall.net _______________________________________________ Saligao 403511 website http://saligao.goa-india.org Saligaonet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goacom.org/mailman/listinfo/saligaonet
