Source: Goan Voice UK Daily Newsletter 16 June 2013 at www.goanvoice.org.uk
To those who know we are Indians, my question seems quite innocuous, foolish even. But to those who disagree, the thinking is: 451 years of foreign occupation and conversion from Hindu to Christian must surely have removed the Indian from us. Or, I have never been to India and/or have no affinity with her. Or, I have never had an Indian passport. Accounting for shades of gray, from quarters who while admitting they are Indians, are not fully convinced of it, and the other section who while abhorring the Indian label, will grudgingly admit to it especially at visa application or at property selling time, the community has a clear fault line on whether we are Indian or not. Here is what one ex East Africa Toronto Goan says, "Just like the Malayalees, Bengalis, Punjabis, Gujaratis and others, Goans are simply a unit of the whole India: Indian ethnicity and consanguinity remain sacrosanct, whether professed or not. Because the British listed Goans as separate from Indians and Pakistanis for census purposes in Africa and for preference in government jobs in India, it did not endow us with any special status". Taking it further he continues in no uncertain terms to state "Rather than dwell on fading historical imperatives, a contemporary anthropologist would find interesting how Goans domiciled out of India, in different parts of the world, have been shaped into a people somewhat bereft of their moorings when it comes to co-mingling with their counterparts (other Indians). Is this "bereft of moorings" really responsible for our inferiority/superiority complex. Did it cause us to isolate ourselves from the wider Indian community in the west falsely thinking that in the first or even second generation we have become a part of the mainstream because we are Christian, westernized and worse still, can talk and write better English than other minorities. Frankly no one cares. Growing up in Bombay, I know the self-imposed isolationist feeing the community possessed. We ate with spoon and forks while 'they' ate with fingers. We danced to western tunes and played western instruments. They sat on floors and played funny looking contraptions that produced funny music. It finally took the westerner to discover that all this music was serious stuff, on par with the best that Beethoven, Mozart, the Beatles and Tom Jones could belt out. Other Indians called us "paowalas" (bread-makers) which made us feel inferior but we continued with our pretend haughtiness mistakenly concluding that somehow one or more of our ancestors must have been Portuguese while 'they' were merely natives. Not too far a view from that of Anglo Indians who were actually of mixed British-Indian pedigree. Those were days that India was isolated from the world economy by choice. Today India seems to have turned on its head. Yesterday's "pandoos", a derogatory term in Bombay for yokels, are now supplying services to multi-national corporations based in Europe and North America and today's country bumpkins from Gujarat and Bihar are sending their sons to study in North America and Europe, paying tuition fees five times the going resident rate. Their parents travel the world on a whim and Indian plastic, while driving Mercedes, Lexus and BMWs in their bullock cart villages. We see ourselves quite differently from how others see us. A non-Indian sees us as Indians and respects what he sees. He sees a doctor, a software genius, a shrewd businessman even when we are not those things. Why we would not take advantage of that perception is anyone's guess. Another Toronto Goan, also ex Africa writes: I was chatting with a white Canadian teacher from one of our Mississauga public schools and she was quite interested when I said I was Goan. She said "Tell me one thing, why do Goan children consider themselves different, I mean sort of superior to other Indian children? In fact they resent being called Indian. They do not mix with them. They insist on being called Goan. Can you explain why?" If we are to break into politics in a meaningful way, we must identify with the Indian community. That is not a difficult task but not an option either. They already see us as being a part of them, so all we need to do is play that role. Another Toronto Goan also succinctly put it when he wrote "We can be full fledged Goans and full-fledged Indians while being full-fledged Canadians". The trinity of heritage, motherland and nationality - a trifecta that we could count on for the challenging Diaspora race. =====================================