And it was refreshing to read Sucheta Potnis' piece in the GT (Jul 4, 2006) captioned "Fitting Punishment", the on the spot purges for peeing in public, for erratic driving, no matter who, for ejecting garbage missiles of plastic bags out from two wheelers, cars and buses etc. And I promise Sucheta that when Goa Su-Raj takes over Goa's governance from these existing political hyenas, who, through their incompetence and 'arslekar' attitude to consolidate their vote-banks, have inadvertently cultivated these seemingly minor irritants which actually are the biggest headaches, will stop automatically before one could say jack-robbins, for, this is the most prized recipe that we at Goa Su-Raj have been refining on, to replace the fine-chalans, arrests and court cases, with on the spot simple but humiliating purges. And this recipe has been cooking with us on the line of the erstwhile Portuguese regime. And it would not be proper for me not to give a couple of examples of the effective recipe used by the Portuguese in Goa.
Ex 1: Seems a young Dhobitalao (Bombay) toughie was in Goa to stand by the side of a dear friend getting married, as his 'BESTMAN', sporting a Michael Jackson/Rajesh Khanna hair-style. It is believed that at the Panjim-Betim ferry crossing this young toughie got into an argument with the policeman (soldad) over some silly misdemeanor. He was hauled to the Police station pronto, where he probably and proudly confessed that he was in Goa to be the bestman for his friend. Next twenty minutes he was walking back to the ferry, sporting only half the hair do with the other half cleanly shaved off. Good-bye 'DEHD'EA' (the Konkani word for bestman). This lad would probably give a wide berth to a policeman on duty throughout his entire life. A lesson well learnt?. Ex. 2: As I well remember those good old days, the Portuguese police used to patrol at random at the dead of the night. During one such patrol at Siolim, a couple of guys were seen squatting/sleeping in the verandah of a closed house. The patrol hauled them up to the Mapusa quartel (PS) thinking that they were thieves. On questioning, this duo told the police that they were friends and neighbours and that they always sleep in the verandah at night. Both came out in the morning with a stern warning to sleep in their own houses henceforth but without their XHENDIs ( typical Indian strip of long hair at the back of the head) that both were sporting. Surprise of Surprises !. This particular action by the Portuguese police was to become the duo's passport to get into the list of Goa's freedom fighters. And one of them has been recently honoured at Goa's Azad Maidan at the hands of our esteemed Governor and the Chief Minister. Yes! Have a good laugh. And once again the Official Language of Goa, our 'Mai Bhas' has come to haunt us Goans with Devnagri versus Romi conflict in the making. And as usual, the government of the day, which is the legitimate Government of Goa, when dealing with this sensitive issue of the State's official language, has coyly and irresponsibly passed it on to its High Command in Delhi. instead of putting its heads together and coming to a mutual understanding to solve the problem. And, look who is talking about 'Communal disruptions' !! What communal disruptions are the mergerists talking about??? Why?? Is the Congress lead coalition incapable of solving this Goa Centric problem, which is the legitimate demand of Goans? What has Goans got to do with the Congress' Delhi High Command and Madame Sonia Gandhi?. Or, for that matter, with any Command at all? The people of Goa are indeed foolish. They cannot see the foot that is kicking them in their butts, but are content to lick the hand that is slapping them in their faces, all with greedy hopes that the very hand will feed them sufficiently well and even pat their backs for them for enduring the kicks and slaps. Louts of the first order that we Goans are, I say. Instead of kicking the Congress out of Goa and onto Delhi, we are tolerating it. And Churchill has made it his business to eat in the Congress plate with one hand and brush the food off the plate with the other. That way he is going to be a very hungry man in times to come. And come to think of it, it is not surprising that some ex-pat Goans have taken it on themselves to lecture us at Goa Su-Raj on the need of a 'national party' to rule us in Goa. Whatever happened to the regional pride, I wonder! How submissive and bankrupt could we become, is the question our future generations will have to answer for us. And, in what way are we wrong at Goa Su-Raj when we ask Goans to say 'Yes' to Goa's own Command in Goa?? KONKANI in any script is still KONKANI, our ' MOTHER TONGUE'. And who is Adv. Uday Bhembre to tell us otherwise or Madam Sonia Gandhi to decide for us?? Let our KONKANI be expressed in as many scripts as possible and let Goans enjoy the benefits of them all. This way our Mai Bhas could only get richer and not diluted. I have found that out the hard way. Very recently Goa Su-Raj embarked on voice recording of dialogue between two persons to be a part of our all Goa pre-election campaign. The matter to be recorded was written by me in Romi Konkani, a veritable translation of the English version. At the recording studio, the female tiatrist of repute (a Christian from South Goa) started fumbling miserably with (my) Romi script. Every time I re-read the lines for her, I saw her jotting down the same in Devnagri. And every time she did that, she sailed through the dialogue. As for me, though I had Hindi for 2 years in college, I am a virtual zero at Devnagri. And I must congratulate Mr. Chandrakant Keni for his beautiful write-up "WRESTLING THE SNAKE" in Goa Today (July) where he makes an impassioned plea to Goans to be sensitive, for once, towards POLITICS. They say that one's necklace, if broken, always, but always, falls in one's own lap. So also, I am happy to see that Mr. Keni finds that the luster of the cult image he has helped to build-up for the imposter, the first CM of Goa, Bahusaheb Bandodkar, has ultimately dulled in his eyes. I had asked Mr. Keni a question before, and I shall ask him a few more questions today: "Mr. Keni, don't you think it is a little too late in your lifetime, that you should tell Goans at large, well after 45 years of being liberated from the erstwhile Portuguese regime, to look at 'politics' as a necessity and to stop considering it as 'Oxigh' (dirty)? And have you realized only yesterday that the great 'Mahatma' had equated politics as a coiled-up snake which engulfs everyone of us, and that we need to wrestle with it to escape to freedom? Haven't you and your contemporaries allowed that political snake to acquire the girth of a python to hold Goans in a crippling embrace? Am I wrong to sincerely wish you many more years to live so that you, and others like you, may reverse the mind-block of the helpless and taken-for-a-ride masses you have helped to create with your detrimental writings so that they and their children may benefit from it.???" We at Goa Su-Raj, for your kind information, Mr. Keni, have realized six solid years ago that politics affects each and every one of us from sun down to sun rise, from the time we are up and about, even when we are asleep. That it is in our own interest that we must look at politics favourably by participating in it, understanding it, and try, to the very best of our abilities, to improve its functioning for our own sake. And people like you, who are the solid rock of our society, and who could have done wonders in enlightening the masses, chose to be blind to realities and have been mercilessly brainwashing them by telling them that they must look up to political misfits like Bahusaheb Bandodkar as GODs. What is happening to Goa's politics today, which you now conveniently disapprove of, is the continuation of the policies of the same GOD you have helped create in the eyes of the masses and which policies are carried on by his sworn 'chelas' (Ranes, Naiks, Narvekars, Khalaps, Shirodkars et al) in the present government. It is easy to do a 'wrong'. But it is extremely difficult to reverse it back to a 'right' . I wish you all the very best. And it is very heartening to read in the papers that some top retired bigwigs who really possess what it takes, have gotten together to wrestle the snake of CORRUPTION in India as a whole. (NT June 24 2006- Pg-7) With Ex-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court R.C. Lahoti, Ex-Chief Election Commissioner Mr. J.M. Lygndoh and Ex-Super Cop Mr. Julio Ribeiro as founder members of the 'India Rejuvenation Initiative" – 'IRI' this is a most welcome news for people like me and others who have been battling this snake, which in Goa, in particular, has attain the hydra-headed status. The Goa Su-Raj Party, in its congratulatory letter to IRI has suggested 3 Goan names for IRI's branch in Goa, headed by, as its nodal officer, Mr. Aravind P. Bhatikar (I.A.S.) retired. I wish IRI all the very best and relax in the understanding that TORA TORA TORA has at last arrived on the immediate horizons of India. And I am very happy that the editor of 'Goa Today', Mr. Vinayak Naik, has found it fit and proper to include the preamble and excerpts of the suggestions and objections offered by Goa Su-Raj Party on effective electoral reforms to the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee, New Delhi, which visited Goa sometime ago, in the 'Letters' section of the Magazine. Thank you indeed Mr. Naik. Needless to say that your PANORAMA 'Marathiphiles' Foul Howl' is greatly appreciated…nay… admired. " MORE POWER TO YOUR PEN" End _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org