WHERE IS GOA GOING? OR IS IT ALREADY GONE? by Fr. Antonio Rodrigues

I am not referring to the territory of GOA which, it is said, Parasuram got it from the gods by getting the Ocean to recede from the Ghats up to the line where his arrow "bann" would fall, presently known as Bannaule (Port:Benaulim), I am referring not to the territory but to the culture which is known as the Goan Culture and which actually stands for Goa.

People from all over the world flock to Goa not so much for the sake of its land and shores as the agents and some writers portray on the papers but specially foreign people and outsiders flock to Goa rather because of its culture which makes Goa different and attractive in comparison to other parts of India.

There is warm sun shine and healthy air and white sand not only in Goa. For example Chennai has got one of the beautiful white sand beaches one would admire, the Marina Beach, but one cannot go for a stroll on it neither may one sit quietly anywhere on it. Why? Because of the culture of the people who do not keep it clean and usable. There is a beautiful white sand beach just outside Goa in Karwar with lots of tube lights to illumine it but no one may take a walk nor go and sit on it. Why? Because the culture of the people there does not allow it to be used for walks, games or leisure. At Benares or Varanasi where the River Ganga gives a vast turn, in the evening the sunset is really beautiful but one cannot go to the river bank for a stroll for one is unable to walk on the bank and why? Because the culture of the people there do not keep it clean for use.

This is a serious affair and we, all genuine Goans ought to reflect seriously on it, the precious Goan culture we have inherited. When we were born in Goa the land where we were born did not make much difference. What did make the difference is the culture we absorbed from our parents, in the midst of our families. When we were born our minds were blank, we did not know a thing, we could not recognize even our mother and father, but the way we perceived the touch that cared for us, and the one who cared for and fed us and embraced us lovingly, the sounds we heard, the ways of dealing with one another we imbibed the values which were imbued into us, formed the world view and the resulting culture of Goa which finally made us to be what we are in later life.

For any intelligent observer this Goan culture is based on the Ten Commandments of God which are encapsulated in the two Commandments of love of God above all things and love of neighbour as God wants it. This is the culture, really Goan culture which is so powerful and effective that it embraced and influenced all Goans whether Hindu, Muslim or Christian. This is the culture that made the difference between the behaviour of Goans, no matter what faith they belonged to, and the non Goans living elsewhere in India. This is the culture which made us trust one another even to keep our windows open though we had no grills at the time and the doors unlocked. This is the culture which made parents who had no male siblings in the house, entrust their delicate and beautiful daughters to the care of a chaperon who took them to functions, even to dances and brought them back safe and unmolested. And this is the Goan culture which became known throughout the world for example in San Paolo,Brazil, Brazilians pointed that difference to me referring to the Goans settled there, and this is the Goan culture which made or led the foreign mothers from highly developed Nations to entrust their precious daughters to goans without any qualms of conscience. But oh shame and misery I never dreamt of! to find these mothers instead of being thanked and honoured for making us aware of what our Goan culture really was and what it is turning out today, shame and misery I say and repeat it, to find among us individuals who instead of thanking them, judge and condemn them! to the point of saying publicly that a woman is 'after all only a chunk of flesh"! How could we go so low in our standards!

If we need even more evident proof of what our Goan Culture is, we can take our 'Manddo'. Manddo is both a song and dance. We all love it. But did we ever reflect on the way the dance of Manddo takes place? How respectfully the lady is invited by the gent to the floor. The way they dance without ever coming in close contact with one another. How the lady is dressed, with a long colourful dress known as the 'pano bajoo' Compare this way of dancing to both Indian dance and the western dance and one who is a serious, unbiased observer will readily acknowledge that there are some precious values behind or rather which led the Goan people to invent this type of dancing, an evident symbol of the typical Goan culture.

Today many of us who feel unbearable revulsion from our guts upwards and are revolting and feeling really disgusted by the way our typical culture is being ruined and how Goa is being disgraced in the eyes of the whole world, instead of burying our heads in the sand or instead of trying to run away from the miserable situation, we got to get together, we are bound to gather our wits and enforce regional parties formed of genuine Goans who care, barring all others though Goans and opulent but who do not care for our culture. It is hard for me to say, but yes, fact cannot be denied that all this misery has been spawning during the last few decades when the National Parties, have been ruling Goa. Time has come to foster our own regional ones. The National Parties which have been ruling Goa for some decades now, have only promoted one way or another the decadence of our culture for apparently such Parties rule Goa from outside ignoring what Pandit Nehru had said that our Goan identity was to be preserved. Are we to close our eyes and ears when for example, the law about the Casinos is being openly flaunted: aren't these to be off shore? Are these now off shore? Instead of enforcing the law, a dock has been built to keep Casinos very near the shore. What a shame! So many Villages of Goa are being plundered by those in power, taking bribes to allow mega-projects despite genuine villagers' objections. For allowing mega-projects bribes are taken but there are no bribes to improve the infrastructure so nothing is done about improving the infrastructure for there is no one to give bribe there! What a shame! The paddy fields which are going to be most needed today specially due to the universal economic meltdown and the resulting in un- employment are not cared for. Surely just as in foreign lands, many of our educated individuals wearing their hats and boots can use a tractor and make those fields yield plenty of precious food which is becoming scarce and costly. Lawyers are being bought. Those who stand and protest the wrongs, these are being prosecuted. What a travesty of justice. All injustice is being covered up, Justice being compromised, use of drugs and free sex being promoted all because there is an inflow of hard cash. Vote-Banks are fostered. By shouting out that in Politics there are no permanent friends and foes loyalty goes unrewarded and is replaced with disloyalty. In this miserable situation I appeal to all genuine Goans who care to come forward and promote honest and straight individuals who will not bend to the allure of corruption, and reinforce the Regional Parties. Providentially we got two Regional Parties now, the Su-Raj mostly in the North and the UGDP mostly in the South and thus get ourselves ready to heal the bleeding wounds of the honest Goans and generate the force needed to bring about the needed change. Here is where gifted man Dr.Oscar Rebello with the powerful GBA movement he spearheaded can and should discover, encourage the right individuals, genuine and dedicated Goans, men and women of integrity, who will definitely bring about this change.

FR. ANTONIO RODRIGUES C.Ss.R.

ALTO PORVORIM.GOA.403 521

dasyagoa@yahoo.co.in

Introduction:

Fr. Antonio Rodrigues is a member of the Redemptorist Congregation. He lives at the Redemptorist House, Alto Porvorim. He has founded DASYA which is a Registered Society to empower women who want to work to spred God's Kingdom.It is run by dedicated women. It is a Holistic Counselling Centre where people flock in their needs. Though he is a Priest and a Ph.D. first of all he is a genuine son of Goa and the days' situation in Goa makes him cry and one result of it is the above write up. Fr. Rodrigues may be contacted at 2417586