> > OUCH ! > Herald Editorial- December 20, 2004 > > > And this what would be our priority today. Go back to the grassroots and ask > what is lacking and not listen to a few ill-informed people and build > castles in the air. But do the ministers want to do so or do they prefer to > leave Goa's rural masses always begging? After all a few crumbs thrown at > election time does ensure a lot of votes. And for all those who praise these > castles being built in the cities, do go and live in the villages sans > electricity, health services or tarred roads and there is no denying their > first words will be "OUCH" > > COMMENTS: > Today, at the goanettter's get-together at the Clube Vasco Da Gama, in > Panjim, I was talking to Margaret Mascarenhas, the columnist from Tivim, > who is a very vocal person when it comes to wrong priorities. And I have > admired her views more often than not. And as usual, the tone of the talk > was IFFI and Manohar Parrikar's priorities. At one point, she said to me > "Look here, Floriano, all said and done, we can see some changes outside as > well as inside, inside meaning the working of the departments, which was not > forth-coming during the Congress regime." Yes, of course, You are > absolutely right. But remember, I told her, that when one sees a desert all > around for a life-time and one suddenly comes across a little oasis, one > naturally appreciates the oasis. But that does not mean that they know that > this little oasis need not have been so little and so costly to bring about. > Congress notwithstanding, I said, the entire Goa should have been a > wonderful oasis and at very decently nominal costs. > > Come to think of it, there were no written down plans for the Congress to > bring about any oasis to Goa. Everything was ad-hoc'sm and impulsive. Now > with Parrikar in the saddle, where are the written down plans? Isn't > everything that is going on is ad-hoc'sm? Where are the priorities? These > are castles in the air, indeed. IFFI is one such castle at exhorbitant > costs. It will come down on its own. Manohar Parrikar will find out the > hard way that castles in the air do not last for long. A lot of people find > me totally anti-Parrikar and biased like a blue carrot, if ever there was > one. But the inner voice tells me that he is the most rotten of them all the > previous Chief Ministers put together. > > And, now, we shout ourselves hoarse that the documentary VCD specially > brought out by the Parrikar's RSS Education Department for the benefit of > the students to acquaint them that the Portuguese took Goa by the Cross and > not by the sword and has portrayed the Catholic Priests as Muslim Mullas - > IS WRONG??????. What did Ex-Archbishop Raul Gonsalves think of Mr. Manohar > Parrikar when he accepted his bouquet of flowers on his birthday? A St > Francis Xavier re-incarnate??? Did he not 'BLESS' Manohar Parrikar's cabinet > with some rotten to their core, lambs, belonging to his own flock??? Let our > present Archbishop also give one more huge property belonging to the Church > to house more RSS schools such as Hedgewar High School in Fontainhas to > germinate more RSS vipers who can come barging into the Bishop's Palace and > raise a stink like the last one, that refuses to travel across the road > from the Bishop's Palace and into the Chief Ministers bungalow. > > Floriano Lobo >
Well done, Floriano, keep up the good work. I am positive some 'kelawalla and bhajiwalli' will cry foul immediately. Seb