Cecil Pinto cecilpinto at gmail.com Fri Aug 22 04:28:59 PDT 2008 > I bumped into Mukesh Mehta after a long time. A decent sort of chap. I had first encountered Mukesh some nine years back when he purchased a row house in Dona Paula and was setting up a branch of his family's garment import-export-retailing business in Panjim. Like thousands of others he had visited Goa on a holiday, fallen in love with the place, and decided to make it his permanent home. Mukesh is well educated and keeps himself aware on all issues. > and, > I also wondered why earlier settlers always look down on those who come just after them. And I wonder about Goan identity. I wonder what corrupts it, and what complements and enhances, our culture. I realized that by Kunbi standards I too am a relatively recent settler. And that my writing in English could be an affront to Konkani. Should I discard my 'western' lifestyle and go back to agriculture to become a better, more pure Goan? What will I look like in a kashti? > Mario adds: > This essay is a fitting riposte to those who still pretend that there is a unique Goan Identity that needs to "preserved", but are unable to coherently identify exactly how and by whom in a democratic form of government, because the King Canute imitations we have become familiar with on Goanet would be about as successful as the good King's demonstration centuries ago. > Many of those corrupting Goa's culture and defacing the countryside are of Goan ancestry, whereas many who are improving and enhancing Goa are settlers. > What is it about the Indian culture and mentality that invests so much psychological capital in and works so hard at dividing people, while, at the same time, preaching morality to the rest of the world??? > The world and India are shrinking, people. Mukesh Mehta, a new Goan, is a stunning example of what some enterprising old Goan could have achieved, instead of running off to be a chef in some foreign land. >