Frederick Noronha writes:
So has Goa lost its collaborative gene? Are we unable towork together like we once did? Or is it just that overall ‘affluenza’ in thecommunity has decreased the need for people to cooperate, collaborate, and worktogether? ---------- GL responds: Kudos to a well-written article written in the Frederick Noronha style - lucid, perceptive and well-rounded. On deep thought, which all of Fredericks' writings stimulate, I was amused by the cognitive dissonance (one of my favorite discoveries). On Goanet for years, the expat Goans has been smacked down by native Goans; tired of reading "foreign-based" Goan accounts. This is a valid criticism as Goan tet-a-tets can on occasion go on-and-on ad-nauseum. Likely a direct end-result of that: Chat sites like Goanet have deteriorated to repeatedly reading similar versions of DEPRESSING stories about Goa on - corruption, politicians, pollution, environment, tourism, jobs, economy, garbage disposal, central govt., state govt., etc.. The positive fact-filled stories on Goa are most likely to be authored by non-Goans. Yet, back to the expat Goan! Truth-be-told native Goans are hesitant to read success stories of Goans outside Goa and perhaps even Goans in Goa because of the in-built "jealousy" gene we often carry (a.k.a. crab gene). Thus, in my view, the majority of Goans do not have a role model to emulate. As far as the expat Goan associations, the transition from one Goan association to another has been difficult. Thus "The Goan Association of Toronto" sadly does not really exist. Rather we have associations (and sub-associations) of Goans who transited through various cities in India, various African colonies of the British and the Portuguese, various countries in the Middle East, etc, etc. Likely the same situation exist in New York, London and any city where a significant numbers of Goans live. The big challenge is: Now that we have made the diagnosis and even perhaps know the causes, how are we going to solve the issue? Do we need to solve it? Perhaps yes! With more than a third of Goan children getting married to non-Goans, likely the next generation will not know about Goa; as was alluded in Frederick's article. I look forward to reading some pearls of wisdom from frequent and less-than-frequent Goanet writers. Please do not shoot the messengers. Please stay focused on the message of a vitally important topic. Regards, GL
