Was it this say -- what's the word? -- colonization that gave you access to an engineering education and a passport to move on to greener pastures? Or would you have done it anyway via Lisboa even if Uncle Salazar was immortal in Goa?
Has the Goan-distrusts-Goan reality been any less acute, right from the time of Bahusaheb, Jack, Bhaujan-versus-GSB, Bamon-versus-Chardo, Bardezkar-versus-Sashtikar, Antruzi-versus-the-rest, Devanagari-versus-Romi, Marathi-versus-Konkani, Ubbo-versus-Advo, Diggu-versus-Porrikar, Digu-and-Porrikar-et-al-versus-the-rest, Timoja and Mhal Pai? Can you get capitalism and middle-class relative affluence (what we all yearn for at some level) without destroying semi-feudalism and the scenic setting that expat Goans love to return to whenever they want a break from their concrete lives? Hindsight, they say, is perfect vision. 20/20. If you were a freedom fighter, would you have possibly anticipated land and in-migration? Fifty years ago? I doubt lesser mortals like me would be that prescient. The contempt you have for the "paan-spit-sh*t uncouth North Indian/bhaiyya/Punjabi" (based on judging their supposed weak points against the claimed strengths of the mythical Goan), is this not a close parallel of the contempt that one section of Goan (whether based on religion, caste or class) has long held for the other? Having a seat at the table while drafting the Constitution hardly guarantees some voice. I'm sure most of India itself feels run over by the powers that be -- the lobbies of capital, caste and class who know what they're doing and what they want, while the bulk of the population is quite powerless over their own fate. This is no excuse to pour scorn and ire on someone else attempting to feel superior. Those raising the 99% occupy slogans have probably understood the powerlessness of the masses more accurate than would an engineering mind accustomed to technical or simplistic solutions. If you want to be part of a wider reality, you have to pay the price for it. Ironically, Goans, who have been among the biggest migrants all time, are raising a hue and cry when others choose to exercise the same. And don't come up with this warped logic that Goans haven't "ruined" other people's homes, while "they" are ruining "ours". The humblest-Goan-having-a-roof-over-his-head is a nice cry for conservativism, for taking us back to the decades when ours was a semi-feudal society. While we *do* have a lot of problems today (as we did yesterday too!) definitely more people are happy with what they can manage here than ever before. Being part of a wider reality has its own advantages. I would definitely not prefer a banana (coconut?) republic run by the Alemaos, Digus, Porrikars, de Souzas, Sequeiras, Bandodkars -- each playing their own game of settling scores with one section of the population or the other, based on caste, community or class. Transformation is not a mandated activity. (Unless you're Libya or Iraq, where the "mandates" come from your adopted land, millions of miles away.) Every rupee you spend here, every investment you make, pushes Goa in a certain direction. Are we also willing to take responsibility for our own actions? Lastly, are you willing to work as an editor in Goa, India? Or would you just like to spend time searching for the mythical home of the Aryans in some icy landmass? Yes, Goa has its problems... but your solutions are definitely worse than the illness! FN --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------