By Roland Francis Source: 14 April 2013 Newsletter at www.goanvoice.org.uk
Full Text: Here are a few thoughts, a few observations and a few subjective opinions (all my work). As long as the current deep-seated culture of corruption in government and the 'live and let live' and 'it doesn't concern me' culture in Goan society continues, it will become less and less of an international tourist destination. That of course is not a worry to those in the trade. They know the loss will be covered by tourists from the rest of India whose pockets are deeper but whose quality gets seedier every year. The sight of multi storied buildings in once pristine villages and tree-filled hills is an abomination to the eyes of any Goan. Who knew that one day lush paddy fields, tall coconut trees and 'baands' teeming with fish would make way for ugly concrete monstrosities in the name of progress. Yet, real estate development Indian style, in Goa, has still a long way to go with enormously more money to be made. That means the local criminals and politicos will slowly make way for the Bombay and Delhi underworld, bringing extortion and capital crime in its wake. The price of flats will go higher and the construction quality lower than it is already. There will be more black (untaxed proceeds of crime) money in the economy and a further breakdown of the law. The press in Goa, except for a couple of intrepid journalists is spineless and a disgrace to their profession. Investigative journalism as in the rest of India is unheard of, but this could also be due to non-existence of any local newspapers not owned by vested interests that ensures their selfish ambitions are not at risk. The discrepancy between the price of fish purchased by wholesalers and that paid by the public is shocking. Someone is making tons of money and it is not the trawler owners, who have their own rising expenses, or the ramponnkars (traditional fishermen) who earn much less than they should. On the subject, a study done recently says that most fish in Goa whether from rivers or the ocean coastline is polluted. Also the tonnage of that polluted catch is speedily declining since there are no measures to prevent overfishing. Go to any fish market and you will see the ever-diminishing average size of the common varieties. Also, most fish served in Goa's restaurants is stale and has to be heavily spiced and fried till crisp, instead of just seared, in order to mask the staleness. Perhaps just like morgue cooling systems that don't work and make corpses stink in Goa, the ice on fish fails to do its job too. I laugh when I see the normal Goan house being advertised as 'Portuguese style'. It follows that any hut, shack, lean-to or mundcar's dwelling is Indian style. Sorry I said mundcar's dwelling. Some of their homes are bigger and swankier than the ancestral Bhatcar mansion. An intelligent lady from Goa once gave me a verbal treatise on why this is so. That also answered the question of why unskilled Goans no longer go for manual labor which is now quite well paying. Apparently it has to do with their exploitation and forced servitude in previous times by the richer classes, a situation from which they now wish to distance themselves. The quality of education which in Goa was once envious and produced men of stature in every area of human endeavour, is in a sorry state. Therefore professionals like doctors are clueless of modern procedures, engineers are incompetent, lawyers are unethical and IT technologists have left Goa in droves. If you find capable people of these levels and question them, you will find they were either educated under the Portuguese system, in the early years of Indian rule, studied elsewhere in India or have had overseas work experience. I have always wondered why the people in power did not turn Goa into an IT hub. It is in the proximity of several engineering institutes and colleges and the surroundings are salubrious (hints of California). The infrastructure calls for much less land and capital than a new airport, the state has a vast Diaspora with many Goans in other IT locales who would gladly relocate. Even just call centers would provide employment to many, since wages in Goa are lower than most places in the world. The less said about the police, law and order, sanitation, red tape, the medical system, adulteration of food and alcohol and many other things, the better. Of course there's a lot about Goa that is still good, though I have to confess it's mostly about the nature of the people and what is still left of the original Eden. I'll leave that for a future column. =========================