Dear Ms. Coelho, Thank you for that very well written (from the heart under the watchful eye of a fine mind) piece.
Looking at it from a purely Goan point of view, Goa has become such a tragedy. >From a green, simple, happy and peaceful place, Goa has been converted into this chaotic place which generates money for the greedy politicians and other gangsters - while the Goan people and the environment are subjected to a depressive state of affairs and reduced to a state of absolute helplessness. One can rightfully blame the alleged freedom fighters who abandoned Goa to the elements, but that is fruitless. As far as I am concerned, these so called freedom fighters are worth the tamra patra they got and the pension they receive - nothing more. They are best forgotten as WOTs i.e. wastes of time. And mark you, some of the progeny of these alleged freedom fighters will jump up and down and label their critiques as Portuguese boot-lickers. Well, so be it. One also can rightfully blame the alleged Goa journos for propping up the MGP, Congress and BJP regimes. But, let us understand, they too have families. You never know - perhaps most of them (not all) took on this alleged journalism because they had no luck (or chance) to enter the other professions etc etc. I have no comments on the chaps you call the police. In my own simple mind, putting uniform and a topi on a hungry stomach, limited intelligence and sub-zero integrity, does not make anyone a guardian of the law. It just makes a thug. I have no idea what is truly going on with the alleged 'serial killer'. If what is known is true ...he needs to be in a maximum security cell within a psychiatric hospital for life. BTW: I wonder what you think about the 'learned ones' who went after the mother of Scarlet Keeling - for neglecting her! I suppose that these sheisters will do anything to .grab the headlines and squeeze a rupee or two from the distraught. Anyway ... jc == Venita Coelho <venitacoe...@gmail.com>: The Accidental Activist - Are we safe? ....... [1] Ever since the Scarlett Keeling case a sense of tremendous unease has invaded Goa. We have tried hard to blame it on other things - the girl took drugs. she was promiscuous. she had a mother who really should take the blame. [2] But the fact is that a girl was brutally raped on a public beach and killed. This is the extreme face of an attitude that sees all white women as easy. [3] And twelve women died at the hands of a serial killer - each going to her death thinking that she was going to be married. This is the extreme face of an attitude that sees daughters .....become their husbands property. Are women safe in Goa? The sad truth is that they are not. [4] The menace are all the yokels who are ferried into Goa by buses and for a mere Rs 100 get a beer and the chance to gawk at women dressed like they wouldn't dare in their own home states.