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Goanetters meetin in Goa: Panjim, Dec 21 at 12 noon. For details contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 9822 122436. Goa Goana: voices waiting to be heard >From Frederick Noronha fred at bytesforall.org GOA, as one perceptive observer once put it at a seminar, is a complex region with about six to eight groups having their own identities and ideas about what exactly it means to be "Goan" and to belong to a place that everyone finds hard to define. Identities here grow out of sub-regional, caste, class, communal and other differences. New Delhi-based monthly 'Seminar', founded by Raj and Romesh Thapar, has a November 2004 issue which does an interesting job in focussing on a small region that otherwise gets totally obliterated from a wider pan-Indian, or South Asian, debate. Goa simply gets left out either because of its size or exotic history or unusual background. To that extent, it is a useful contribution. This is more true, in the backdrop of a local media back in Goa which largely finds it more convenient to discuss the whole world but not its own region. Or to remain trapped in cliches and trivialities, rather than touch on issues that make a difference to the majority of 1.4 million people's lives. But that's it. Seminar's 'Amchem Goem' (literally 'Our Goa'... who's really?) issue continues with the long-uninterrupted exercise of re-creating Goa in the image and likeness of dominant perspectives. For too long 'inconvenient' perspectives on this State have simply not emerged, perspectives of the voiceless have not been heard, and we'd rather not interpret Goa going by what it really is but in terms of what we imagine it to be. Pre-1961, in colonial times, 'Goa is Portugal' was the dominant discourse. For the past four decades, the boot is on the other foot. So, the rulers of this State -- which Heta Pandit rightly describes as being in a "state of social, cultural and creative turbulence" -- can do no wrong. Nationalism has come to mean defending the indefensible actions of local elites, who rule taking shelter under the labels hardly-relevant labels like that of the BJP or Congress often with the tacit approval of an, in turn, unchallenged New Delhi. Goa's economy still remains a puzzle to comprehend. Post-1961 we've built an active factory that churns out statistics; but obviously the story just isn't getting told. Retired IAS officer Alban Couto's perspective largely echoes the official perspective. Political scientists, like Dr Peter Ronald deSouza, have tried their bit in explaining the conundrum of local players. His analysis of the Poinguinim elections is interesting and insightful. But this debate is too infrequent and too inadequate; without meaning to demean the contributions already made. Today, the problem with Goa is that we fail to see things from someone else's perspective. Leave aside that, we're not even willing to concede that other points of view do exist. Flag-waving Konkani 'patriotism' is unwilling to concede that language issues here (resultantly, what seems like strange pro-Marathi sentiments) have more to do with caste and class and exclusions, rather than language itself. Then, how do we get beyond the hype of being the 'among the best developed states' in India, and look at the stories told by Goa's under-weight babies and anaemic mothers? Don't we need to have a debate on where all the enthusiasm about Goa's 'uniform' civil code (in reality, neither uniform nor secular) comes from? Or whether colonial Goa really had all that 'communal amity' it claims to have had -- Portugal after all, as Vishvanath Pai Panandiker rightly points out, couldn't separate state from religion for much of its involvement here -- much like the current-day regimes which are more subtly carrying on the divide-and-rule and discriminatory policies against sections of their population, all the protestations notwithstanding? In what way are stereotypes projected by, say a Damodar Mauzo, more acceptable than those created by Bollywood? That said, it is perhaps no coincidence that the most useful contributions come from those condescendingly termed as 'non-Goans' in today's Goa. Heta Pandit, Bal Mundkur and Katharina Poggendorf-Kakar have made useful points. Even if in the latter two cases, it's a bit ironic that some complaints about today's Goa are about the precise problems caused when big money gobbles up a region, either in the form of tourism or the well-heeled resettling there. Dr Tanaji Halarnkar's contribution here is of a very interesting perspective, and looks at things from a view that seldom get represented in writing in English about Goa. Maybe one is a bit hyper-sensitive over this, but we Goans are great at going to great lengths to 'prove' how superior our own visions of Goa, and cultures, are as against others Goans. Is one all alone in reading this as the sub-text of some essays in 'Amchem Goem'? 'Goa Portuguesa' isn't the currently-favoured flavour. 'Goa Indica' was a substitute term from researchers like the anthropologist Dr Caroline Ifeka, then with the Australian National University. Such concepts have been enthusiastically picked up editor Arun Sinha as the thesis for his book. (Sinha's work needs to be thrashed, as done by Uday Bhembre, not because it offends the often-smug Goan world-view, but because it's so off-target and a poor if not bigoted caricature of what makes Goa tick). Fordham University's professor emeritus in theology Dr Jose Pereira is a great writer when it comes to explain aspects of Goa buried in its past; but the essay chosen is simply too abstract to make sense to most of the readers. Naresh Fernandes, currently editor of Mumbai's 'Time Out', has an interesting essay on Goan musicians in Bollywood. Madhavi Sardesai's essay titled 'Mother Tongue Blues' raises some important issues, even if there's scope for debate over the same. Seminar last came out with an issue devoted to Goa sometime in the 'sixties, when this small place was in the news globally because of "Liberation" (or "invasion", depending on one's point of view ... or, to put it more factually, just the contentious end of Portuguese colonial rule here.) Maybe we'll have to wait for another few decades before we can expect 'Goa Goana' to emerge. Not as an excuse to justify bubbling Goan chauvinism, but as a category with represents more adequately the voice of all sections of opinion of her people. Including those kept voiceless for far too long. Inspite of what might seem to be a harsh view of this issue, it's surely worth buying a copy of your own -- available for just Rs 30 (100 pages, large size) from outlets like Varsha Book Stall in Panjim. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- GOANET-READER WELCOMES contributions from its readers, by way of essays, reviews, features and think-pieces. We share quality Goa-related writing among the 7000-strong readership of the Goanet/Goanet-news network of mailing lists. If you appreciated the thoughts expressed above, please send in your feedback to the writer. Our writers write -- or share what they have written -- pro bono, and deserve hearing back from those who appreciate their work. 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