We who own farms on the beach frontage and have to go to our farms for some reason or other, including feeding our dogs daily, have to endure a not-so-pretty sight in the morning which a Goan writer has described in a picturesque phrase as a 21-bum salute.
Coming as it does not much later than our celebration of Republic Day this phrase resounds with a special and deeper meaning. What do you have to say to this, Mr Tourism Minister Babu Azgonkar? Is open air defection good for tourism? I hope you don’t think it is an exercise in patriotism. You are now infamous for saying, “The show must go on” when someone died from an alleged drug overdose and his friend had to be hospitalised simultaneously at an EDM event recently. What do you think of people doing their morning ritual on the beachfront not far from 5-star hotels? Do they deserve it because they are from the poor section of society, and are poor for a reason: they have done evil deeds in their previous lives? Unfortunately, the poor low caste do not buy into this theory any longer and are sure it is not because of their previous lives but because of exploitation over millennnia. Are you going to continue to take away their dignity? Why can’t the government subsidise toilets for workers and cooks who serve in the seasonal beach shacks? Besides, the appalling health condition which the tourists are unaware of, it is a shame and in this day of the Internet cannot be kept a secret for long. It also makes a joke of the government’s claim our Goa is now open air defection free. Please go to the beachfront in the morning and see for yourself.