Of Goans, Indians and foreigners: Goa's racism and reverse-racism By Joseph Zuzarte
To really gauge Goa's relationship with the rest of India, you have to check the tourist hot-spots here, like the Flea Market or rave parties or at Dudhsagar waterfall. "No Indians," a burly man will block the way at many a place. Nobody wants Indian tourists, if they can afford it. For every 100 foreign tourists, there may be one Indian tourist taking the steeply-priced safari jeep ride into the Dudhsagar valley -- because the jeep ride is priced high enough to discourage all except the most ardent of Indian tourists -- who, for example, can go for free to about a dozen waterfalls in neighbouring Maharashtra. The Goa-India connection is an uneasy relationship at the best of times and is often rendered surreal when, for example, a Goan Hindu taxi-driver will sneer at a particularly nit-pickety Indian tourist: "Why are these Indians coming here if they can't afford?" Which raises the equally surreal and interesting query: Aren't Goans also Indian? There's of course little doubt of that, though it can often take the shape of a reluctant acceptance. While a lot has been made about Goa's 'liberation' in 1961 and the so-called freedom struggle by Goans for Goa (most of which could even be hearsay), a strange silence has been maintained by the goodly number who were opposed to any Indian intervention. While all that may be in the past, this messy equation surely intrudes into the present, in 'Destination Goa'. Tourism and the huge influx of 'Indians' into Goa, which now threatens to submerge the Goan identity and unique culture, is once again posing a similar quandary for the Goans. Should we welcome all the Indians or only the rich ones. Or only foreigners? Should we remain Indians? A large number of Goan Catholics have already chosen a way out by taking Portuguese passports, which entails Portuguese citizenship, all the while staying in Goa. Many others were fortunate enough to be in British colonies in Africa, so they now have British passports. With the growing 'Indianisation' of Goa, a large number of Goans would obviously rather not live in Goa anymore. Isn't it strange that Goans are being driven out of their homeland? The problem is compounded by the attitude of the Indian tourists visiting Goa. While they may think of Goans as Indians (and thus as good or bad as them), they think of Goa as some kind of foreign or at least 'western' land. This impression is buttressed by the large numbers of foreigners in the coastal zone where during the season Goans in some villages are outnumbered four-to-one by the foreigners. And the picture is rendered even more murkier by the attitude of the Goans who, choosing between the foreign and Indian tourists, treat the Indian tourists as second class citizens or worse. All that of course is largely chauvinistic and self-serving. The tourism business being a business, there are many Goans and also Indians who run tourism-related businesses which are not particularly patronised by the foreigners, and in fact are geared to cater to the Indian tourist, the Udipi restaurants being a case in point. In such places, the foreign tourist may even receive specially shabby treatment. With the 'tour operators' cornering all the charter tourist crowd, a large number of Goan entrepreneurs have also been left with no option but to cater exclusively to the domestic crowd, an example being the cruise boat operators on the River Mandovi who offer comparatively cheap river cruises which, with their raucous Hindi disco music, are largely never patronised by the charter tourists. This has led to some amount of 'reverse racism', in which foreigners are discriminated against simply for being foreigners. Unfortunately, it is also true that many foreign tourists use the Goan hospitality as an excuse to flaunt their suppressed 'colonial' attitudes of superiority, with comical results. One Goan property owner in Candolim told me: "These people can't afford to buy a house in their own country, but come here and rent a house for a few thousand rupees and pretend to own the village." Guess what; he feels sorry for them and has no problem so long as they pay the rent. Besides which, with the charter tourism business being highly competitive (Goa competes with Bali, Pattaya, etc) and subject to irrational slowdowns, the Goa Tourism Department, prodded along by the hospitality industry here, has been aggressively marketing Goa to the domestic tourists, which has evidently sparked off an unprecedented 'Indian' tourist boom in Goa. Unfortunately, while everybody welcomes their money, the 'Indians' do tend to get less than the best. The question is, if nobody really wants the Indian tourists, why are they aggressively marketing Goa to the Indian tourists? A large number of those Indians are now coming down to stay more or less for good in Goa. And this is not just at the 'luxury' end of the economic spectrum, but is also happening at the slum-level, as can be seen from the large number of shanty towns cropping up in many villages. While there are no easy answers or solutions to these tricky issues, it is surely an issue which needs to be addressed in a rational manner. And tourism itself, which may have accentuated this simmering issue, may also provide the solution. Goa, being the smallest state in India, does clearly need some special protection to preserve its separate identity if it is not to be completely over-run by the polyglot Indian culture of today. Preserving that separate identity may also lead to being an even more attractive tourist destination. A number of Indian states like Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim, etc, have special legislation in place which restricts the entry of outsiders. In Goa unfortunately we've had a particularly obnoxious bunch of politicians who have done little to preserve the Goan identity. In fact most of them, to avoid facing electoral humiliation for having betrayed the cause of the Goans, have taken to encouraging the slums and low-cost housing projects for for 'migrants' because that provides them with vote-banks. If you go around the villages, you will see that all the migrants are only in properties belonging to the local panchas, sarpanchas or MLAs. The conditions in these 'colonies' are abysmal and in fact reinforce the Goan's evaluation and treatment of 'Indians' as being somehow inferior. However, a fresh look at this unbalanced situation is urgently called for if Goa is not to deteriorate under this domestic invasion, which is now a very real scenario. Many in the tourism industry talk of making Goa a top international tourism destination. That being the case, Goa surely needs to look at premier international destinations like Monaco, Switzerland, etc, all of which are tiny 'principalities' or countries within larger countries, and which are 'neutral' and have adequate barriers in place to protect their unique identities. While there is no going back on being a part of India, Goa is also distinctly 'not Indian', as everyone -- including the 'Indians' -- agrees. A start can be made by asking the navy and army to withdraw from Goa and make it a neutral, peace zone as Goa was during the Second World War and even earlier, during colonial times, when the Napoleonic wars were going on between the English and French. It can also become an 'offshore' banking haven within India. All of which will also add value to 'Destination Goa'. Finally, like in Switzerland, things will become so expensive, it will no longer be possible for Goans to afford living in Goa and some of us may have to move to Maharashtra or Karnataka, as is also already happening. JOSEPH ZUZARTE [EMAIL PROTECTED] is a journalist with long years of experience mainly in Mumbai, where he worked at senior positions before returning back to Goa recently. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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