On Fri, 15 Aug 2003, rene barreto wrote: > Friday Balcao session on GOA DAY theme. > ------------------------------------------------- > WELCOME TO FRIDAY BALCAO > ------------------------------------------------- > Dear Cybergaokars on GoaNet, > > Our Friday Balcao session on 22nd August > will focus on the theme of GOA DAY this year i.e > " Giving back to Goa " > You can join the discussion at Friday Balcao > on 22nd August and make the GOA DAY theme > even more meaningful.
With due respect to the speaker at this meet, and the initiatives he has already taken, perhaps asking such a question might get us onto a wrong path. We feel we are doing Goa a favour, get disillusioned by the "ingratitude", and then quit. Turn bitter. Or whatever. We don't talk about 'taking out of Goa' -- which is what a whole lot of us have being doing. Getting our education here, and then migrating. Sending our elderly folks to Goa. Sending our children for education here, which in the past particularly was extremely subsidised. Buying off local produce at throwaway prices, compared to what it costs aborad. Speculating in ancestral land, or land acquired at relatively low prices. Living like princes here with the pensions of a few hundred pounds earned in colonial Africa, thanks to the collapsing value of the rupee vis a vis the sterling. And in other ways. All of us, including this writer, are guilty of one or more of the above. Yet, one could suggest, that to avoid a patronising attitude creeping in, everything who has a positive solution to lend, should not look at it as "giving back to Goa". One could argue that if any one of us decides to do something positive in Goa, it is primarily for the reasons below: o We have the skills, so why waste it? o Any small work, in a small place, could have a big impact -- in Goa you can really make an impact with what you have to share. o We all owe a debt to the place that gave us, or our parents, an education and a chance to get ahead in life. o If we can't make the impact of our skills felt in Goa, where else could we do it? o Many of us have relatives and friends back in Goa. Doing something here also means doing something for them. o How do we pay back for the social infrastructure built over past generations -- by way of the educational infrastructure, the 'kudds' and clubs that made migration to Bombay/Mumbai possibile, the health infrastructure (despite its many problems and inadequacies today), even the social clubs set up in some villages as far back as the 1920s or thereabouts, music schools that gave Goans a headstart abroad and within the rest of India, and much more? Just a few thoughts... If you feel angry or provoked, that was the intention ;-) FN ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################