Why Goans Runaway from Goa ?
By Plastino D'Costa
First thing that comes to mind is that Goa is full of corrupt politicians
who have messed up Goa and therefore Goans have no choice but to Runaway
from Goa in search of a better opportunities. Although this could be one of
the reasons, it might not be the only reason. Are politicians really
responsible for Goans to Runaway, after all politicians eventually do what
the masses want them to, it is time we start addressing the problem with an
open mind, instead of finger pointing. With the Goan identity at stake, now
might be the right time to think what has gone wrong all this while, which
resulted in an exodus of Goans leaving Goa and settling in every nook and
corner of the country and the world. When Goans make such a compelling
decision to leave their birthplace, friends, family, happy memories and a
naturally beautiful place, surely we are bound to find answers that might
not necessarily point out to our leaders only.
The old argument that Goa although a beautiful place is not a land of
opportunities might still hold true, but when Goans decide to leave Goa in
the name of opportunities, they don't leave necessarily to put food on the
table, instead to build palatial houses, buy fancy cars, hold lavish
parties, or to fuel the never ending greed of family members who get used to
anything with the label foreign. Never mind if the whole world wants a piece
of Made in India.
Goan Generation Next is out of focus with reality when they spend their
childhood in Goa, and by the time they realize that, time for education has
passed by. Instead of proper mentoring, our society makes sure our youth
stay busy distracted with village events, some essential and some that could
have been avoided. Local functions and get-togethers are important but not
at the cost of careers. How can one explain when youth are encouraged to act
on local language stage plays or compose sub standard songs, when the
stalwarts of this business most of the times depend on charity to sell their
talent. The situation of footballers is a notch better, but how can you
justify young Goans made to play day in and day out village football where
the rewards is just some mediocre shield, some pocket money, a football kit
or some charity from some villager who has just landed from his foreign
trip. By the time the footballer realizes he can't make it into the National
League, he is forced to make a career compromise which results in his
leaving Goa.
Some Goans leave in their quest to search for trendy fashionable addresses
as the word ABROAD is still adored in Goa. It is still looked upon as a big
achievement and falsely elevates the status of the entire family. After all
in Goan Social circles it is stylish if someone in your family is in New
Jersey, New York, Melbourne, never mind the exact location. Naïve parents
feel very proud to mention their children trendy foreign addresses, after
all Cincinnati sounds better then Chinchinim, Carolina sounds better then
Carmona, Boston sounds better then Betul. To make matters worse some of the
South Goan villages have this lousy joke of attaching some negative
character to the already not so trendy village names. Goa so far is still a
trendy Generation Next name, until one idea bankrupt leader will find some
reason to change that also, that should be a good reason for the rest of the
Goans to leave.
During this time of the year we have Non Resident Goans converging on Goa
with their success stories some true but most one sided. The resident Goan
is already on the back foot as he has nothing to show to neutralize the
blitz and is so impressed by the purchasing power of the visiting Goan even
if it is temporary, that he is already making up his mind to test the waters
of foreign soils or seas.
Of course Goans that do attempt to come back to Goa, sometimes find out that
they are being made fun of for their better English, or their less knowledge
of their mother tongue. Day in and Day out they will be hassled and if you
are not strong willed, they will make sure you call it quits and leave. The
worst scenario is when Goans with their entire family leave Goa just to
escape family feuds. It might be the easy way out but not the right one.
Some effort is required by the society in general to address these problems,
some of them mostly in the mind, if a society demands you build palatial
houses or buy fancy cars and if these can't be achieved with limited
opportunities in Goa, then now might be the right time to think of toning
down our expectations. If the society needs our Generation Next to be
professional stage artists or footballers we better pay them more than
peanuts. We can't waste their careers just to satisfy our urge to watch free
village football or a sub standard play. What was good in the olden days
might not be good enough now in this changing professional world. Trendy
addresses sound good just because there is a positive hype created around
these names, there is nothing wrong in creating a positive hype for our
addresses also, instead of downgrading and creating a negative hype. Also in
social circles importance should be given to people who are slogging it out
and making it big in Goa, at least they are adding to the positive hype. It
is the duty of the Non Resident Goans to give a fair picture of their place
of residence, nobody is denying that the grass is green on the other side of
Goa but let's not lure the ill informed Goan to make hasty decisions.
This article is written not with the intention to give a clean chit to
politicians, but by blaming them for all the ills of the society, we might
be deflecting the problem where the solution might be as simple as changing
our mindset. We Goans inadvertently have forced the Goans to Runaway from
Goa thereby creating a vacuum and it is only natural that the vacuum is
getting filled.
Above Article first appeared in the Herald on 24th January 2007
Courtesy : An Earlier Article "What is your Mother Tongue? had appeared in
the Herald on Septemebr 16, 2007.
