The slogan "Goa to be ruled by Goans' may sound very attractive and exciting. It is a perfect subject for mental masturbation. Besides this, it offers excellent campaign material for aspiring politicians to entice the voters during election. We had the Goa Election 2007 fought on the 'Save Goa' slogan. Now for the next Assembly election it could be 'Rule Goa' as the slogan. And you may suddenly have a Rule Goa Party which will be merged back into Congress after the assembly polls. Forget that the miseries of goans have not diminished a bit from 2007 till 2010. The Regional Plan 2021 will be out any moment. The last time it was Babush who was the culprit for a monstrous plan. Who will it be this time? Will we have the guts to hold the architects and engineers of Save Goa fame who have been responsible for crafting this new plan. Do you exopect it to be any different with the likes of Dattas and Deans on the panel. Shortly, we will all humbly submit before the government to yet another entertainment. The celebration of our Golden Jubilee of liberation. We will have some jokers from margao who will come to town with their circus. You will be told how as goans you have not assimilated yourself into the Indian mainstream. There will be programs to help you goans to inculcate a spirit of nationalism. All this will be swallowed without a whimper of protest. As long as goans cannot think beyond Sonia Gandhi, Manohar Parrikar and Oscar Rebello, the day they will rule their own land will never come. Like the Israelites in captivity it will be the Gawade or Ramani or Gupta or Parekh that will rule. Self-rule is not about wearing a T-shirt and TV appearances. It is about sacrifice, deprivation of self, spirituality, pain, ................... How many goans are ready to give up their comforts for this? If there are, it is worth talking otherwise it will be only adding to item numbers in the movie.
-Soter * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Now available in Toronto, a few copies of *Into The Diaspora Wilderness* by Selma Carvalho. Contact Bosco D'Mello bo...@goanet.org (416) 803-7264 http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/
