Where is my village?
Garbage? Where do we dump it? And, what do we do with it? Wherever we may choose to dump it, one thing is important: keep it small. By this, I mean, there is a need to have hundreds of garbage and processing sites, one for each village. The attitude of Not in My Backyard is nothing less than suicidal. The government's idea of having two mega garbage sites, one for South Goa and the other for North Goa is a star-studded invitation to builders to change our villages into towns and finally to cities. The people who live in our villages and want their children to continue to live in the villages where they were born have to insist on it. Otherwise, the government will lay out a welcome carpet to every builder in the country and every potential apartment buyer - mostly people who have a lot of black money. By looking after our own garbage, the management of the garbage problem in our village will be under our control and not the government which is good: it is a barometer, a pro-village health check, a scale to measure development of a village. We need to focus on the development of the needs of the villagers of this generation and future generations of Goans. Our development plans should be pro-village and not an invitation to anyone and everyone who has money to come and live in our villages and change it into a town with endless apartments or hotels. If villagers want their villages to look, and continue to be real villages, then this is the way way to go! Are Calangute and Candolim Goan villages in reality or only in name and on paper? Do we want the same for other villages in Goa? The villagers in every village will have to make their own decision on which way to go. No u-turn can be made later, and so no one should blame vested interests for having taken over our villages. The future of our villages, so far, has been in our hands and we should make sure it does not slip away! The two villages are textbook models on how to destroy a Goan village. People from other villages need to note carefully, especially as Calangute and Candolim, in my youth at least, were predominantly Roman Catholic villages. Over the years the villagers have acquired an unquenchable greed and and endless illegalities. Sad, indeed. If some people want to destroy their villages they will not allow anyone to stop them, not even the Roman Catholic Church. Not everybody in Goa, fortunately, is that greedy and so there still will be villages in future. How many? That, no doubt, is a difficult question. Again, the way in which some villages in Goa have developed - as is the infamous case of Calangute and Candolim - this bad model can provide a scale of greed for people who live in other villages. Believe it or not, the evidence is available and measurable in the number and height of the buildings. Yes, it is as clear as that! Journalists should get involved in highlighting various projects which are good for the village as well as projects which are ugly, anti-Goan, anti-village, and environmentally unfriendly. Unfortunately, the evil in our hearts is not measurable nor visible. Roads? Again and again, all we need to do is to look at Calangute and Candolim and ask ourselves if we want our villages to go the same way! I used to love these villages, and so I am especially sad. Goan cities are also not doing well. Some are finally discovering the importance, through necessity, of one-way roads to solve the nightmare of unruly traffic. I can only hope we who live in villages will not have to wait for our villages to become towns and cities before we discover the value of one-way roads. That would be the height of idiocy. For decades now I have lived in Kyoto, an old city, old enough for PM Narendra Modi to want to establish a sister relationship between this ancient city and Varanasi. He has invited the Japanese who look after Kyoto to join hands in modernizing our own ancient holy city of Kashi. An important feature of Kyoto are the one-way roads. As with our villages in Goa, the roads meander through the old city making the traffic flow smoothly even though there are a lot more cars in Kyoto than anywhere in Goa. Good planning, and efficient management are the keys. Lots of one-way streets and linked up roads. Modern development in this big and old city of more than a million people is restricted to certain areas. The old neighborhoods attract millions of tourists a year, international and Japanese, and the rewards go mostly to the locals. Kyoto residents guard their culture and identity, and keep the city unchanged, the biggest tourists attraction for people who are interested in traditional Japanese culture from abroad and Japan. Whenever someone tries to make a wrong move, he is stopped by the proud people of Kyoto. If you want modern, visit Osaka or Tokyo! The Japanese who live in Kyoto love their city with an intensity of emotion resembling a jealous lover. They want to keep Kyoto the way it has looked for centuries. Not only is this a fine example of heritage tourism but it also makes a lot of money for the local people. PM Modi was impressed by this sentiment and wants to make Varanasi, as in the case of Kyoto, a global tourist attraction. Now, why can't we Goans do the same? I hope, in future, whenever an overseas Goan returns home, and asks, "Where is my village?" the answer will not be a sad, "It's gone."