[Goanet] Goa, Goa, gone - I ......By Jug Suraiya
| Domnic Fernandes continues (Part II) his reminiscence of | | Mapusa of the 1950s| | | | http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=426 | Goa, Goa, gone - I Jug Suraiya [Saturday, April 01, 2006 09:31:30 pmTIMES NEWS NETWORK ] Last week when I was there, Goa whizzed past me. Goa? Whizzing? How could Goa - languorous land of laidback socegado, ageless as the ebb and flow of the Mandovi and Zuari rivers, as the subtle alchemy of the rich, red earth which transmutes itself into the green gold of paddy fields and coconut groves - ever be made to whizz? I looked hard at Goa. The landscape - of crescent moon beaches and peppermint churches and tiny villages punctuated with the curled-up commas of sleeping dogs - was as serene and still as always. What was whizzing about were people. Not the local people, the Goans, who looked on this untoward activity with bemusement, but people from outside who were in a great rush - the great Goa land rush. The property market, booming all over India, has gone ballistic in Goa. Everyone seems to want a piece of the place. Buyers from Delhi and Mumbai and Mohali and Ahmedabad are pouring in on a frantic buying spree, an invading army bent on a second 'liberation' of Goa from the Goans. The motto seems to be: If it doesn't move, grab it quick - before someone else does. A holiday villa - or even a two-bedroom apartment - in Goa is the next thing you buy after you've bought your iPod. It's a question of peer pressure. Everyone's got one, so how can you be the only exception? Forget politics or globalisation or climate change. The major - indeed the only - topic of discussion in Goa is property prices. Dona Paula's going for between Rs 8,000 and Rs 18,000 a square metre, depending on the view. Or rather, Dona Paula's already gone for that price, and is totally sold out. So how about Porvorim, where you can still get something for roundabout 3,500 a metre? Everyone hares off to Porvorim, causing traffic jams and the prices to jump even higher. Someone mentions a rumour of a German selling a bungalow in Asagaon and there's a general stampede for Asagaon. But the German's bungalow has already been snaffled by one Mr Ashok from Dilli, so everyone heads hopefully for Ribander where a new highway's been built. There're no regular water connections in Ribander yet. But what the heck. It's got a view. And you can get a piece of it for 2,000 bucks a metre. How can you go wrong? What's fuelling the upward drive of property prices is that apart from Indians, foreigners are also buying into Goa, drawn by its redolence of residual Europe. Almost everyone speaks English, they have recognisable names like Fernando and Isabelle, there are hardly any beggars, the booze is cheap and plentiful. It's India without the Indianness. Heaven should have it so good. Property consultant Alan Viegas tells me that foreign nationals are entitled to buy property either by staying for more than six months and claiming resident status or by forming a facade company which enables them to acquire immovable assets as a corporate entity. Goa is selling like hot vindaloo. And pretty soon there'll be no more of it left to sell, or to buy. And when that happens, Goa will stop being Goa and become something else. Like Ghatkopar, or Brixton, or Greater Kailash III, as a Dilliwalla remarks. Already Baga and Calangute look like Lajpat Nagar market. Or Chowpatty on a public holiday. Goa? Gone, or almost. The thought saddens me for a moment. For when Goa stops being Goa, what will the Goans do? Rent the place back from the new owners? My regret is fleeting. For it is soon overtaken by a further reflection. That, for all the pomp and circumstance of title deeds and legal documents and claims of proprietorship, we're all of us just short-term tenants,whose tenure is at the sufferance of an infinitely munificent, infinitely indulgent Landlord who created it all to begin with. Not just Goa but everything else as well, sea-facing view and all. === _ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list (Goanet@goanet.org)
[Goanet]India gets first litter-free city: Kozhikode
Politicians, Civic authorities & citizens of GOA must learn a lesson from Kozhikodans on how to maintain your city clean & manage the garbage of your city. ** India gets first litter-free city: Kozhikode KOZHIKODE, AUGUST 11: Many Kozhikodans love to believe that Vasco Da Gama won't lose his way if he returns to the city now, 507 years after his ship famously docked here-the narrow, winding city streets haven't changed much since. But Kozhikode is now all set to be declared India's first litter-free city, tomorrow. Author and social critic Sukumar Azhikode will make the formal declaration at an elaborate function here. The only rough patch is, the Congress-led opposition in the local city corporation has decided to boycott the declaration. They allege it is a vote-catching ploy of the CPM-led front ruling the civic body, five months to Kerala's local bodies poll. The change, however, is for real. Gone are the odious heaps of fly-infested trash, even the eyesore public rubbish bins. No one throws garbage out anymore, or need to. Thanks to an initiative that has caught the fancy of much of the city population, smartly uniformed young women arrive driving specially designed cargo autorickshaws at each city home, shop and office every morning, picking up the garbage. Every home has been given two covered containers-a white one for plastics and other non-biodegradable wastes, green for other trash. Together, the 730-odd trained women belonging to local self-help collectives now handle some 300 tonnes of city wastes, over the 83 square kilometres that this small city straddles. They are organised into 73 different units of ten women each. The city corporation gives each unit a grant of Rs 1.25 lakh and helps get an equal amount as bank loans, to buy two autorickshaws. Almost all of them are the unemployed from poorer city homes. It's not a free service. Each home must pay them a service charge of up to Rs 30 each month. Shops, hotels and offices pay more. But few seem to grudge it, except in politically polarised city pockets. ''It is any civic body's basic responsibility to keep its city clean. It's not fair to charge people for such a service,'' says Noorbina Rashid, councillor and a leader of the opposition in the corporation. But others are happy. ''All 73 units remain comfortably viable a year since launch,'' says P Venugopal, the corporation secretary. Initially, the women used to hire male drivers, but not anymore. They drive their autos themselves. The city corporation's covered trash trucks relay the collected rubbish from the autorickshaws to the refuse yard on the outskirts at Nheliyamparamba. A private company, Poabs Ltd, then gets down to turning wastes into manure at the corporation's refuse processing plant on the site, while the segregated plastic and non-degradables go to landfill sites. The Rs 6.13-crore model solid waste management project is funded jointly by the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests, the state pollution control board and the city corporation. Before its kick off in 2004 June, the corporation had managed to rope in local NGOs, officials, residents associations, trade bodies and others to pledge their support. Local monitoring committees headed by the respective ward councillors and nine local members monitor the garbage collection and cleanliness drive. Hotels and the trade have their own street monitoring committees. ''There have been some non-cooperation in some areas, mostly political. So we are going to bring in adequately hefty fines for garbage throwing, with a built-in option of designated rubbish drop points in the city for those wanting to keep off this project,'' says city mayor Thottathil Raveendran. The only remaining hitch in cleaning up the city, the Mayor claims, is finding a site to house the city's Rs 50 lakh night soil disposal plant. Its attempts have been meeting with stiff local resistance everywhere. **
[Goanet]Can the new POPE BENEDICT XVI make a change ???
It has been widely published that the new Pope is keen to have a dialogue with Muslims. Through this dialogue we hope & pray that foremost the new pope can bring about a genuine change the way Christians are treated in Muslim Nations. Can the Pope be made aware of the recent below incident ??? We are Hopeful that the new Shepherd of Christians POPE BENEDICT XVI will protect his sheep !! 40 Pakistani Christians held for holding prayers Reuters Riyadh: Saudi Arabia has detained 40 Pakistani Christians for holding prayers at a house in the kingdom, where practicising any religion other than Islam is illegal, newspapers said yesterday. A group of men, women and children were attending the service in the capital Riyadh when police raided the house, Al Jazeera newspaper said. It said authorities also found Christian tapes and books. Another Saudi daily, Al Yaum, said the raid took place on Friday while a Pakistani preacher was delivering a sermon. It was not clear what measures might be taken against the group. Saudi authorities were not immediately available to comment. There are around six million foreigners in the conservative kingdom, which has a population of 23 million, including many Christians from Europe, North America, Asia and other Arab states.
[Goanet]Ivan Cardinal Dias....Will he be the next Pope ???
Hopes and prays for a pope from Bandra By: Kanika Parab April 9, 2005 Ivan Cardinal Dias With speculation rife over who's going to be the next pope, it comes as no surprise that Bandraiites are also caught up in the guessing game. Especially since Ivan Cardinal Dias, who was born and brought up in St Sebastian Society, has many friends and teachers from his schooldays and other well-wishers rooting for him to become the next pope. A true Bandraiite, the cardinal was baptised at Mt Carmel Church and also received his first Holy Communion and sacrament of confirmation here. He lived with his parents and three brothers in a cottage in Bandra and attended school at St Stanislaus, Hill Road. One person who has known the cardinal right since his school days is Clarence Gomes, resident of Bazaar Road. Although Cardinal Dias was senior to Gomes, he remembers him clearly. Says Gomes, ''As a young boy in school, he was very outgoing and eloquent. He was also very interested in sports, especially hockey. All of us Stanislaus students are very proud that the cardinal is a contender for the papacy and we are all praying for his victory.'' He adds, ''I have also been in touch with the cardinal for the last 10 years, ever since he got posted in Mumbai. I am also the vice-president of the St Stanislaus Ex-students Association so I meet him at a lot of the association's functions. It feels great that the pope might actually be from Bandra!'' Besides the people from the cardinal's schooldays, there are others who have been in constant touch with him and are all very proud of him. Father Larry Pereira, parish priest at Mt Carmel Church where Cardinal Dias was baptised, has constantly been meeting him. He says, ''Cardinal Dias's parents, Carlos and Maria Dias, are also buried at the Mount Carmel cemetery. He often comes to visit his parent's graves and also to visit the parish.'' He adds, ''Although we are very proud that someone who was from this parish may become the pope, at the moment we cannot predict which cardinal will be elected. It is all pure speculation.'' If my student becomes pope, I will be on top of the world The cardinal's math and history teacher Master Willy D'souza, resident of 14th Road, is now 102 years old and remembers the cardinal as a young respectful boy. He says, ''I taught Ivan as well as his brothers at St Stanislaus and he was a fine pupil. He was always very attentive, well-behaved and always had a smiling face. If my student does happen to become the pope I will be on top of the world.'' In fact, the cardinal is still in touch with his former teacher and visits him often. D'souza adds, ''Whenever Cardinal Dias visits Mt Carmel Church or is in the area, he always makes it a point to visit me. He is very humble and I am sure even if he becomes the pope, this humility will remain. I hope this will happen.'' When I make mistakes in Portuguese he always corrects me Also rooting for our 'Bandra Cardinal' is someone whose Portuguese is constantly corrected by Cardinal Dias who speaks 16 languages fluently. Singer Felix Flor, resident of St John's Street has always been organising concerts for the Archdiocese. ''I know the cardinal very well for the last seven years. He strikes me as a religious person and a very intelligent candidate to be pope. I sometimes sing songs in Portuguese at these concerts and it isn't really my forte. When I make mistakes, he always makes it a point to correct me and so he has been vital in improving my Portuguese,'' he says with a laugh. Flor is also of the opinion that having an Indian pope is a great thing that can happen to the country. He says, ''We are praying that Cardinal Dias will become pope.'' Besides friends and acquaintances, all Bandraiites have a soft spot for this local contender and they are all hoping and praying for a 'Pope from Bandra'
[Goanet]Vasco Oil Leak ..... a wake up call for Vascokars
## # If Goanet stops reaching you, contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # Want to check the archives? http://www.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet/# # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ## IOC TO GO FOR A NEW PIPELINE: In the wake of oil leakage incident at the port town on Friday the IOC as a precautionary measure has decided to replace the entire 10-meter pipeline, which is underground. (GT) > > LEAK ATTRIBUTED TO PIPELINE NEGLECT: Neglect of a 30-year-old pipeline is > being attributed to the major oil leakage at Kharevaddo late on October 1, > > IOC OFFICIALS BOOKED: The Vasco police have registered offences under > Section 285, 336 r/w 34 of IPC against the offices of the IOC, Terminal > Manager, Operations Manager, Safety and Maintenance Manager and the section > staff for negligence. (WE-GT) > > VASCO PERCHED ATOP A TIME BOMB: Leakage or petroleum product from a pipeline > at Vasco has once again exposed the chinks in the armour of petroleum > companies in this port city. This is the second time that such an incident > has occurred in the port city of Vasco, the last one being reported on 12 > July, 2002, when miscreants pierced the pipeline carrying petroleum products > from the port to the restive oil companies and pilfered oil. (WE-GT) Wake up Vascokars !!! Going by the News that is making headlines in Goa lately especially the Oil leak, I am surprised that the authorities have not plugged all the holes it seems even after two years since the first incident. I am happy to note that the concerned IOC officials have been booked but as you know the law takes its own sweet time & everything will be forgotten for another two years until another incident (maybe disaster ) happens. We are lucky that so far no casualties have not taken place. Besides the IOC officials, our local politicians should take equal responsibility for this gross negligence. What action has been taken since the last incident ??? How such an incident could take place once again ? This clearly indicates that no lessons have been learnt. It is therefore not wrong to say that Vasco is perched on a Time Bomb. Wake up Vascokars, are you'll just going to wait & watch till the next disaster affects your lives Analyzing the above news items I gathered in the last few days and based on my engineering experience I have a few observations to make ... 1.How the underground pipelines were not checked even after the previous incident ? How much more underground pipeline has not been inspected & neglected for 30 years ? This is really ridiculous As per international standards pipelines are designed for 20 years life span. Therefore this pipeline has performed much beyond its life span & there is no doubt why it has failed. It should have been inspected & replaced long back. 2.Internationally it is a practice to monitor the corrosion rate of all pipelines by inspecting the pipeline thicknesses at regular intervals. If such a practice was being followed at IOC then we would not have heard of the latest incident ? I recommend that IOC should inspect periodically all underground & above ground pipelines & its records maintained for review at anytime. The Govt. should monitor these records periodically. 3.Pipelines installed underground are deemed to corrode. Latest technology is to provide cathodic protection for underground pipelines to protect against corrosion & give longer life. If such a protection was done at IOC then we would not have heard of the latest incident ? But let it be clear that such protection should not stop the corrosion monitoring which is still necessary but maybe at longer intervals. 4.Working in Gulf I have experienced that companies & Govt. agencies give a lot of importance to safety & environment protection but this is totally lacking in Goa. Does IOC have any safety standards ? I doubt very much based on its past record & repetition of incidents. 5.Just like the team created for advising on Baina development, Vascokars should demand a team of experts to look into this incident & investigate the records & functioning of IOC. If Govt does not take action then Vascokars should take a morcha & demand for such an action. Help can also be taken from some NGOs to voice these demands. It is a shame that we have to hear news about Vasco on TV across the globe for the wrong reasons. Wake up Vascokars something needs to be done before there is another disaster. Afterall it is a question of survival of Vasco citizens in the beautiful port city of Goa. ELVIN GODINHO Saudi Arabia
[Goanet]FW: Mel Gibson's movie - "The Passion of the Christ"
Subject: FW: Mel Gibson's movie - "The Passion of the Christ" advance screening If you haven't heard about Mel Gibson's "The Passion Of The Christ" movie that's coming out Feb 25, 2004, you should read on. If you have, you should still read on. Below are 2 emails, one from Christine Nockels and one from Lisa Bevill (both Christian recording artists) who attended a private screening of the movie in TN. Please read both of these and then seriously consider getting some advanced tickets to this thing. Also, forward this to family, friends, and church friends that may be interested in hearing about his movie. It's important that we all try to go see the movie within the first two weeks to let Hollywood know that we support this type of work. -- Hello friends and family, Nathan and I wanted to share with you that we were able to attend a private screening of the new Mel Gibson film titled "The Passion Of The Christ" this past Monday night. We unexpectedly got on the list to go and view it at First Baptist Church, Hendersonville, TN. Neither of us were really prepared for what we viewed. It's really hard to find the words to tell you how life-changing this film was for both of us. First of all, Nathan and I felt completely out of place. We got in somehow through Don Donahue (thank you Don) but most of the crowd was the Country Music Industry...artists, radio and press. Ricky Scaggs sort of hosted the event. This movie changed our lives forever. The room was full of the sound of weeping and loud sobbing, including our own. I told Nathan on the way home that I only wish that I would have seen it as a young teen. It is so fitting that the whole movie begins with a black screen with the text of Isaiah 53:5, "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities , the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed". I've attached an e-mail below from Lisa Bevill who attended the viewing as well. She very beautifully describes the experience of viewing the film and then getting to have a question and answer time with Mel Gibson himself. (PLEASE take time to read it because she goes into great detail about the Q & A time that we had with Mel...it was so cool.) The room was silent as the movie ended, and even as Mel walked down the chapel aisle people remained completely stunned by the film. After he was formally introduced, everyone stood and applauded him loudly. He so graciously answered each question, and was very candid with us. It was very apparent, though there was a huge absence of "christian lingo" coming from his mouth (breath of fresh air...thank you) yet he has a deep relationship with God. He believes that Jesus is the Messiah, and that He's coming back to get His people. Mel and the small band of believers around him are asking the church to take on a "grass roots" approach to this film. They are asking us to tell everyone we know about it... They are wanting artists to show the DVD trailer at concerts, to do pre-sales on tickets through churches and FOR EVERYONE TO GO SEE IT ON OPENING WEEK! It really does matter that you go the first 2 weeks of opening which is FEB 25. It is so important!! THIS MOVIE IS LIFE-CHANGING AND I PROMISE YOU IT IS ANOINTED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD. THIS MOVIE WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. I fell in love with Jesus on Monday night. Either for the first time, or all over again. It is so amazing that the same King who endured that cross and was broken for me, lives inside of me! I am in Him and He is in me. I cannot wait until Noah and Elliana are young teens so that we can let them view this movie. Please pray for Mel Gibson. Pray for protection for him and his family. Pray that God would pour back on him 100 fold what he spent on this movie so that MORE MOVIES LIKE THIS CAN BE MADE! He spoke about the major warfare that has been going on over this movie. He also told us about several miracles and conversions that happened throughout the making of this film. (Lisa tells about these in the letter below) So amazing... Anyway, we just wanted you to know about this so that you can have a huge part in the success of this film! Lisa gives out the website info as well below. You can put a link to it on your website and you can also request promotional materials from their website as well. Blessings to all of you in the name of our Lord! Christy and Nathan Nockels (E-mail from Lisa is below) --- 12/8/2003 Hey friends and family, Last night attended a private screening of Mel Gibson's movie at Ricky Skaggs' church in Hendersonville. I attended with Bonnie and Brent King. There were about 200 people in attendance. Well,let me just say that I am speechless, moved beyond words and sobered by what I saw last night. I'm sure many of you will be receiving emails from some of your friends who were there as well...and you'll probably be bombarded with their own perso
