Mr. Goanese, please stand up.
Put your foot down firmly, now!
Once there were beaches kissed by the sun, now one does not know whose son
is kissing whom on the beach beds by night. Once it was possible to wade in
ankle deep water on the beach while the children built sand castles and did
their own version of sand sculptures, now the touts for the beach beds shoo
you off. Once this was our own land, today it is still our land but we are
treated like strangers. Konkani and Marathi have no currency; one has to
learn Hindi, Rumani/Lamani or Kannada to survive. What will happen tomorrow
when almost all land is sold under the Regional Plan 2011? What happens to
siblings when the elder brother pimps for his mother or elder sister?
Goenkara, you are already Goanese; soon the Goan will be gone!
Writes Dr. Oscar Rebello, fellow columnist in GT and Convenor of the "Save
Goa Campaign" whose letter of appeal I will blatantly plagiarize, "Goa,
today is at the crossroads of her very existence. Her soul;Her identity and
Her beauty is being mercilessly sold off, all for the petty gains of a petty
few, in the guise of the monstrous, evasive and sinister: Goa Regional Plan
2011.Besides the calamitous destruction of Goa's natural beauty, her culture
and her heritage, we are set to witness an unprecedented social disaster if
mega 5 star projects like townships, condominiums, golf courses, resorts,
etc. take root in our precious land."
I am sure Dr. Oscar Rebello will not mind the plagiarisation. In fact, I
suspect he will be happy that I have done that. Imitation is, after all is
said and done, the sincerest form of flattery. I am sincere. I am also
imitating him and going to Azad Maidan on 18 December at 3.00 P.M. In fact,
I think I can beat him to it at report at Café Prakash near Azad Maidan at
2.00 P.M. The rumour mill has it that they are putting just a few chairs and
as the current President of the Botanical Society of Goa, I should not be
seen standing when he is not addressing the gathering. Lok kya kahenge? So I
am going to be there first. Most of us have this experience in booking a
spot in the line for our children's admission in to a good school. I am
doing this for my continuation in India's No.1 State. Well worth it, wouldn't
you agree?
Time is short to say what I have in mind, so I will continue to plagiarize.
Doctor's thoughts and words make me feel like exclaiming "That's exactly
what I was going to say!" So in Doctor's borrowed words, "The 'Regional Plan
2011' must not be seen as merely a dishonour to our Mother Goa or a
desecration of our ancestral land or the defilement of Parshuram's legendary
arrow struck across the Sahyadris. These views are benignly romantic. It
must be seen for what it truly is. The savage and brutal assault,rape and
murder of our daughter. If we do not have the guts to protect our daughters,
we really will have no soil left to bury our heads in shame."
See, I told you, they are just what I wanted to say. If you do not believe
me read the first paragraph all over again. What options do we have? "To
register our horrified indignation and loudly declare our protest at this
agonizing destruction of our land, we plan to organise a massive public
rally on December 18, 2006 at 3.00 pm at Azad Maidan, Panjim to liberate
ourselves and free Goa from this tyrannical Regional Plan 2011." Writes the
dotor. The world stands in need of liberation. Again. Visit www.savegoa.com
and get connected to the movement that has already begun.
Almost everyone, his aunt and her dog are coming to Azad Maidan on 18
December, 2006. It is a peaceful protest with a single point agenda:
Withdraw the Regional Plan 2011. We need to Save Goa till our leaders and
legislatures can see beyond their noses and consult the experts if they are
unable to think. If the bureaucrats do not provide the necessary
information, it is not as if the politicians do not know what to do with
them. They have been doing that umpteen times already. Passing the buck and
transferring officials in Government is as common a game as 'passing the
parcel" is at children's parties. So, if the Forest Department did not give
advice, did the Minister not know how to get it? Chief Secretaries of Goa
have been shunted out for smaller offences perceived by the political
bosses. So will someone tell us something new?
Till the answers are forthcoming, be an Azad Panchi and be at Azad maidan on
the eve of Liberation Day. On 17 December, 1961 no one in Goa really
believed they would be free from 451 years of colonial rule. They were. It
did not even take a General. A Lieutenant Colonel managed it all. So, why
should one think Dr. Oscar Rebello cannot do an encore? Not everyone need
to be a martyr like young Floriano Vaz who died for Konkani on 20 December,
1986 or like Nilesh Naik who died to save our environment from Nylon 66 on
23 January, 1996. This is the decennial year, 2006. Let us prod the
Bhashmasur till he puts his hand on his head.and turns to ashes or bites the
dust! (ENDS)
Miguel Braganza's column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=482
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The above article appeared in the December 15, 2006 edition of Gomantak
Times, Goa
