My dear Roland Francis, You couldn't be more well-meaning and sincere when you say that my party does not have no grass-roots. I have grown from Goa's soil. And I have assimilated everything that is GOAN to last me throughout my lifetime. I have planted trees. I have grown vegetables that indeed grow roots, some of them so succulent that we relish them as 'KOND'GHEO' , more specifically known as Taleigao'cheo kond'gheo, as these coming from Taleigao are sweeter than most, it is believed. And I have cut trees, and burnt their roots so that these trees do not grow again. But never in my life have I seen 'grass' growing roots. Therefore, when I helped form this party, we made sure that we would never use grass to depend on the roots it never grows. We instead opted to plant trees, real trees, deep in the GOAN SOIL so that we could depend on these trees, however few they may be, for all times; trees that will give us sweet and nourishing fruits and not poisonous ones that would make us sick if we ingested or ate, knowingly or unknowingly; trees that would stand tall and sway in the fiercest of temptests and not up-root and fall; trees that would withstand the worst of the bush fires that would decimate the bushes along the the 'grass', however tall, along with their non-existent roots.
Having said that, dear Roland, I have seen Dayanand Bandodkar cultivating grass-roots. He used so much colour to differentiate his grass without roots that when Komal (Lotus) came around, it saw a fertile growth of like-coulored grass and gobbled it whole heartedly and effortlessly having found out that it had no roots. By the way, the Komal was and is a carnivore which has ultimately even gobbled Bandodkar's pet Lion. Therefore, having learnt a life's lesson, my party, as I have said above, does not want to cultivate grass that never grows roots and which is very easy to be burnt, even when it is in its prime and all green. Instead, my party has built a sailing ship and equiped it with most modern and innovative instruments of navigation. And we have anchored it in mid stream with sail unfolded. And we want the strongest of winds to blow her way and give full blast of its might to into its sails that will uproot the ship's anchor and set it free in the stream to navigate and reach its destination, making full use of her time tested navigational aids. And those navigational aids, my dear Roland, are aptly described in the Party's ROAD MAP for all to know, and endear their guaranted potentials. What you are suggesting is fully accepted. In time, when trees that we have helped to be planted grow deep enough roots, these things will be taken care of, automatically. And one last thing that I want you to know from you is, pray 'Who is in a HURRY here?' It is certainly not my party. We are relaxed enough in the understanding that we shall perish along with everyone else if we have to perish. And we shall lead if everyone else wants us to lead Goa to its full blooming and certainly potent future. I thank you very much for your acute concern. I know that you mean well. Please excuse my talking through my hat. But I see no reason not to do so. With kind regards Floriano Lobo NB. Floriano Vaz is Goa's martyr of the Language agitation. God Rest his Soul in Peace and may he Pray for GOA. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roland Francis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <goanet@lists.goanet.org> Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 9:04 AM Subject: Re: [Goanet] Public Sins, Private Lucre, Goa Damned Dear Floriano Vaz, In my humble opinion you are a worthy political advocate for the issues that need to be addressed in Goa, but if you continue to do what you are doing, you will go on achieving the same results. These results being that your party has no grassroots following and you are just one more voice of conscience that everybody ignores. Your party needs a political makeover and until it gets that, you must engage yourself and those willing to help you in such matters, single-mindedly and wholly focused in one and one strategy only. Valmiki's post shows the direction. Goa is a fertile bed for the growth of corruption. It is a bountiful land with the most tolerant and accommodating people. That is what appeals to tourists. That alas that is also what appeals to the horrible disease of corruption that dwarfs every other public evil in its wake. It leaves the ordinary citizen robbed of self worth. All other public evils flow from just this one. If left unchecked, as Valmiki so aptly put it - Goa is damned. There's no benefit in saying that if Goans are kept alive to the issues of a crooked politician, he is able to garner the votes of the uneducated and poor outsiders. They have self worth too and if they are included in the equation of the fight against corruption, the corrupt will have no refuge. No number of Clinton Vazs will have any meaningful effect. Yes they will be called in by the Sanjith Rodrigues' and they will make their little changes, but they will be as effective against the greater malaise as a few sacks of earth will have against a bursting levee. The evil of bad governance must be tackled from it's most vulnerable underbelly - that of it's outstretched hand. Grip it, twist it and break it. You already have a core of Goans who have decided they will give no bribes. They must be multiplied and encouraged. And their deeds must be publicized as much as it is possible. Here's how you take the movement to the masses. You have the energy and the brains of Goan students and Goan youth that is now misused by the politicians for their nefarious ends. They are idealistic and they are brave. Harness their potential. Send them out in groups to perform public skits on the daily instances of corruption. Let the roadsides be their theatres and the public their audience. Fan them out from the towns into the most remote villages. Make them vary the act but sustain the message - we will prosper without corruption, we will be doomed with it. Take them in small groups to protest when a citizen brings you an instance of a bribe demanded. Bring in the press, the foreign media if need be. Bribery and corruption grows like mushrooms, In dark places and out of gaze. Bring in the sunlight of exposure. Go to the slumdwellers and enlist their youth. Teach them that there is a better life out there for them if they are willing to sacrifice for it. Feed their stomachs first. I am sure there are lots of Goans who have the means to give to them what they need of necessity. And if the Goans in Goa are tight fisted, ask Goans overseas for help. In this noble cause, they will not refuse. Bypass everything else. Leave pollution, environment, crime, language issues, community relations, police inactivity, bureaucratic ineptness and the myriad of problems that take up your attention to someone else. If you are on the road to solve just this one problem, you will have solved them all. _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
