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Sangath, www.sangath.com, is looking to build a centre for services, training and research and seeks to buy approx 1500 to 2000 sq mtrs land betweeen Mapusa and Bambolim and surrounding rural areas. Please contact: contac...@sangath.com or yvo...@sangath.com or ph+91-9881499458 http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2009-July/180028.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let me open a can of worms.................................................... What qualifies one to be called a Goan ? Is it an identity one is born with and like Caste,one can never shake off nor can anyone else aspire to this ultra exclusive club ?? Until 1510 or thereabouts I dont believe that there was a geographical location called Goa. With the coming of the Portuguese a new geographical entity came into being called India Portuguesa, later linked with some location within that entity called Gomantak and later Goa. Prior to that, waves of settlers including the Saraswats settled this fair land previously occupied by the indigeneous tribes. In time all these folks came to be collectively known as Goans. Portuguese occupation halted in-migration for many decades and perhaps cemented our identity as Goans. After Liberation we are seeing a continuance of the natural human migratory pattern. Throughout the history of mankind, in every continent, humans have migrated in search of a better life, better pasture, access to arable land, access to water better economic conditions etc. The influx of people from Karnataka, Bihar, Orissa etc. into Goa is part of the natural migration of mankind. Will they ever qualify to call themselves Goans ? If so, after how long ? Many if not most of them have acquired fluency in Konkani. I bet that hearing their offspring speak in Konkani, one cannot differentiate them from native Goans. As far as I am concerned, they are Goans. Being of Goan parentage but born abroad, I decided a few years ago to come and spend my Golden years in Goa. I remember with considerable angst being referred as "Tu Bhaillo murre ?" when I went to apply for a drivers license. Are Goans so prejudiced that we cannot accept new comers in our midst ? On the other side of the coin, when Goans migrate to other countries they proudly call themselves Canadian, American, British, French, Kenyan or whatever citizenship they acquire. It is time that we accord the same treatment to settlers in our midst.