------------------------------------------------------------------------ * G * O * A * N * E * T **** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Enjoy your holiday in Goa. Stay at THE GARCA BRANCA from November to May There is no better, value for money, guest house. Confirm your bookings early or miss-out
Visit http://www.garcabranca.com for details/booking/confirmation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Nasci, I am as guilty as Mario and you in wanting everyone to see the world as I do. However, I know that is impossible and, in fact, would make this world very boring. Over the past few centuries, we have come to the realization that dirt spreads disease. We have cleaned up our act, improved sanitation, no longer spit in public etc. However, that has come at some cost. When starting with a clean slate (as in the Americas and Australia) the infrastructure could be put in place. Most of Europe was able to retrofit with their higher living standards. Infection rates have dropped but so has immunity with a concurrent increase in immune-mediated diseases and allergies. What we are finding in Goa, and indeed many parts of India, is that the haphazard development has precluded the proper infrastructural development and so many of the people migrating into these areas continue to live their lives as they did in the villages where the lower population densities compensated for lack of sanitary facilities. Added to this, the profits from the burgeoning tourism industry are piped directly out of the state, leaving only the mess to be cleaned up. This is one area where the local politicians have to clamp down. The progression from animal-based scavenging (piggy toilets) to bacterial decomposition (septic tanks) has taken 2 generations. Piped water supplies have only just made it to many Goan villages but haven't replaced the traditional wells which are now being contaminated by septic tanks and monsoon flooding. I don't see any centralized sewage system for the villages in the near future except in the main towns (which are inadequately supplied with piped water), and those too are plagued with problems. We cannot expect the local attitudes to change overnight without adequate infrastructure and laws in place. This is not an attitude based on a superiority complex but the plain truth. There are some despicable traits (specially leaving bodily wastes in public) that need to be changed but it will take time and education of the public to see the benefits. My purpose for my previous posting was to point out that this didn't happen overnight in the west and we cannot expect it to happen overnight in Goa either. Education is the key to changing attitudes, whether it be personal/public hygiene or beliefs. The longer we hold on to irrational beliefs, the longer it will take to convince people that poor hygiene and organisms spread diseases and that AIDS is not a plague sent by God to rid the world of homosexuals and intravenous drug users. Sincerely, Kevin Saldanha Mississauga, ON. Original Message: ----------------- From: Nasci Caldeira [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2006 22:13:31 +1000 (EST) To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], goanet@lists.goanet.org Subject: Re: [Goanet] An Inconvenient truth/Sunith Hi Kevin, In your post below, are you admitting that Indian Civic Consciousness and Cleanliness is still in the past old centuries, whilst the world over, these have improved tremendously as in this Day and Time? Is it not exactly this backwardness that we are all feeling bad about and wanting to eradicate, in Goan /Indian society? Why then did you not support Mario G ? Do you not think that your attitudes based on 'inferiority comlexes' etc, need a change for the better? Nasci Caldeira. Melbourne, Down Under. -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ . _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org