To Goanet - It's Day 2 and our 'Wrecking Salcette' caravan rolls into the heart of Salcette, in the once-sublime village of Colva, the ancestral home of Goddess Mahalakshmi, today a denizen of Bandode in Ponda taluka.
Colva is Orgy Central for our builders. What Linking Road is to the whores of Mumbai, Colva is to our real estate gigolos. First stop, Sernabatim. Notice the passel of ghatis underneath the billboard - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/sernabatim-0.jpg >From the main road coming in from the direction of Betalbatim, these sights assault the senses. Hideous blocks of concrete erected on the edges of green fields, even in what were formerly green fields and/or orchards - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/sernabatim-1.jpg http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/sernabatim-2.jpg Now to Colva proper. Digu's desire to make Goa a global village seems to have found concrete (pardon the pun) expression in this absurdity. Rejoice, Goemkars. Florida finally has come to Goa. Scan to the bottom of this photograph for the name of the Legal Advisor. An article in the Herald earlier this week tells us that the Gram Sabhas are exceeding their legal powers in their opposition to construction projects. There appears to be a lot of similarity in the spellings of the name of the author of that article and the Legal Advisor on this billboard. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any lawyer serving as a Legal Advisor to a business. But if these two are one and the same fellow, we are free to draw certain conclusions about what might have motivated the author to put forth the case he did. http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/colva-florida-1.jpg Fort Lauderdale in Colva, eh? http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/colva-florida-2.jpg These raptors have done a number on our orchards. For whom are these apartments? Not for Janu gaudo. Not for Caetano. These are for the Sabharwals, the Singhs, and the Browns. http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/colva-florida-3.jpg Cheek by jowl Goa's Disneyworld is the mother of all projects where you can experience a life wedded to nature. No kidding. These fellows have a sense of morbid humour - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/colva-akar-1.jpg http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/colva-akar-2.jpg http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/colva-akar-3.jpg This is how it looks when you step back. Concrete monstrosities leering over the villagers' traditional dwellings. The 3 or 4 surviving families (others have been 'settled' with cash and flats) are being pressured to leave by both the builders & the local politicos. Juicy 'settlement' carrots of apartments etc have been dangled - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/colva-akar-4.jpg The only wrinkle is, they don't want to leave or abandon their traditional lifestyle. They want to continue with their farming, raising their livestock, and doing what their ancestors have done for generations. But that does not sit well with Digu's new 'global' order for Goa. Mingelina, the woman on the far left, said that she has no desire to live in a flat, that she wants to die in her current home. http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/colva-akar-5.jpg A short distance away, shoveling more concrete for an "excusive" this and that - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/colva-keegan-1.jpg http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/colva-keegan-2.jpg We close this lavish spread today with the final course - http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/colva-sk-1.jpg http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/colva-sk-2.jpg This woman complains to us about the changes happening around her home. But these are small fry, of no consequence whatsoever to the big guns. And with ghatis now available by the hundreds, who cares for the Niz Goemkar votes? http://www.parrikar.org/images/Salcette/colva-sk-3.jpg These were merely the highlights, not a complete accounting of the concrete-kshetra in this, the Goddess's former abode. Part 1 of Wrecking Salcette archived here - http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-May/073467.html Regards, r