The Big Goan - Goa Holiday Blog

As appearing in the Herald newspaper in the opinionated column dated 31/3/2011

In response to the rally of the Forum for rights to childrens education(FORCE) a new opposition seems to be foisted by old minds warped by their outdated mode of thinking. Besides inducing the vandalism of politics into a subject which is the sincere anguished voice of parents of Goan children, these anarchic brains are actually batting for the unaided schools lobby whose trade is virtually threatened by the genuine demand of parents to include English as a medium of instruction in aided schools of Goa.

This new outfit, pompously called “Bharatiya Bhasha suraksha manch” is full of retired brittle bones and is actually a front of unaided private schools who are ensuring that some opposition worth the salt is made lest the demand for inclusion of English has a smooth passage and their own private trade closes down.

Heading this manch is a spent force called Shashikala kakodkar whose father unsuccessfully failed to merge Goa to Maharashtra . She is obviously nursing his wounds upon herself and energizing herself to fulfill her fathers lost causes by instead opposing English and pitching for Marathi. (Most Goans who even voted for her father in the opinion poll will be thanking their stars today that his plans never took shape else Goa would have been relegated to another rambling district of Maharashtra.) Add to this group a certain Mr Arvind Bhatikar, incidentally an IAS officer, who seems to have found a new arena to spend his retirement days after the GBA venture. To him, saving Goa has probably taken a new dimension and it appears that saving Goan children from excelling is his latest mantra. His support for this unholy cause obviously undermines the ideals of the Goa Bachao Abhiyan and will befittingly serve to dwarf his credentials. To add some saffron colour to this group is the voice of Mr Suresh Amonkar and you do not need to imagine hard to discover the wisdom of his presence. Throw in a freedom fighter in Mr Naguesh karmali, whose stubborn colonial hangover simply refuses to relieve him. Curiously, in this group enters a seemingly errant clergyman in Fr Mousinho Ataide who threatens to be the rebellious martyr owing allegiance to no one but to his own brand of Konkani and Marathi and whose mysterious penchant for unwittingly inducing closure of the Archdiocesan board of schools seems to be unrelenting. Pillioning his joyride is another priest Fr Jaime Couto. Together they bring the desperate catholic flavour to the table. Sprinkle all these language policemen with a stale heap of septuagenarian and octogenarian self-appointed educationists and you have a perfect recipe of redundant ingredients shaping up an insipid crusade.

Most of these people have no idea where the world is currently placed or where it is headed. Instead they are desperately wishing to enforce an era of their whims. An era which they wished existed. They live in the cloistered past and have no vision for the future because their eyesight has turned myopic, they bite more than their few teeth can chew and their legs are weak and bereft of any strength of direction. Their views showcase their shrunken minds and their foresights are the joy of a beggars dream. They have no wisdom to perceive proposals or plans for the employment of Goan children but their frailties surprisingly gush with the last remnants of fossilised energy with detrimental plans galore to lead our children into the throes of a backward class.

In a few years they will be history, but they wish their hegemony of dictatorial thought continues. Despite being under one banner pitching for mother tongue as medium of instruction, all these characters have their own private mother tongues. For some it is Konknni Devnagari .Some others are immersed in “shudh” Marathi for the super tongue, and while the two clergymen should have been obvious ambassadors of Romi Konkani, their behavioral symptoms indicate that it is either Devnagari Konknni or Shudh Marathi galloping in their veins. These two appear to be twiddling on the fence probably wondering which side is more greener to take the plunge. This whole team of strange bedfellows who otherwise bayed for each others blood on each others mother tongue now speak a language of convenience. Their motivation is only to oppose English which has brought the world together. This motivation to oppose English seems to be clearly inspired by the strong lobby of private unaided English schools who have lost their sleep ever since the massive rally demanding English to be included in aided schools was made. Most unaided schools face certain closure if English is made the medium of instruction while the ones who survive will have fewer takers and so this lobby appears to have worked overtime to carve a boring club of so called champions of many mother tongues( and its bitter cousins) which is merely a front for the unaided lobby. Probably even on their payroll.

One would think that since the Forum for rights to children education(F.O.R.C.E) have not antagonized any language or religion but have merely pleaded for inclusion of English as a medium of instruction, everybody would live happily ever after. Every Goan having the choice to decide where to educate their children was their sincere plea. But instead of hailing such noble and harmless pleas, the self attested language protectors have displayed their bankruptcy of thought to oppose the move.

If you call these people over their mobile phone to enquire about their new sense of madness , the first thing they are bound to greet you with is the all too English “hello”. Obviously their private mother tongues failed to provide them with an appropriate translation. But the lack of ordinary depth of their mother tongues does not matter to them. They are like horses with blinkers, in a hurry to transform Goans into donkeys.

If these lazy bhasha champions have any love for their language they should conduct mass awakenings among their Marathiwadis and ensure that those aided schools have good enrollment. But who are these wasted brains to tell the rest of Goans to follow their brand of education? The two priests who have joined these Marathiwadis are not only a disgrace to the community but an insult to the church which has finally woken up to the harsh reality awaiting it.

It is a known fact that at the time of implementing the regional languages as the medium of instruction, the government had also stipulated not to allow any more English schools in Goa. However the government flouted its own provision by allowing the number of English private schools to rise from a mere 11 schools to a staggering 127. How come this number rose so high if there was no demand for English schools from Goans? Today middle class Goans have to pay thousands in fees to educate their children in English, which is the obligation of the government. And while there is a hue and cry about the prices of petrol, milk , onions and chicken, average Goans are quietly being robbed daily of their hard earned money by unaided schools for the basic right of education, because the government of Goa desires so. As one speaker at the FORCE meeting pointed out- “ the education in English is only for the rich and not for the Aam Aadmi” . The Aam Aadmi of Goa is condemned to learn in the vernacular tongue or spend a huge sum for education in English.

A close look in unaided English schools in Goa will clearly reveal that Goans irrespective of religion are more keen to send their children to English medium schools. Our MLAs are themselves bent on English medium schools. Why are they then bent on applying another standard for the rest of Goans? Why are our leaders resisting our desire?

The FORCE should also demand closure or takeover of all unaided schools which have sprung up in Goa after 1990 since their introduction was in direct contravention of the provisions laid down by the government. If there is no desire to see aided English among Goans how can unaided English among Goans be justified?

If our politicians do not rise up and show their strength of character to include English as the medium of instruction , the Church should show its mettle by opposing all these candidates in the forthcoming elections. The FORCE should also abandon any reluctance to stay away from elections and field its own candidates and canvass to open the eyes of the masses to the deception of the government in power. While this may help communal forces, it is preferable to reject people who do nothing to improve our living and are instead playing to the gallery of thoughtless comedians

Twentieth of August saw the inclusion of Konkani in the eight schedule of the constitution and the day was celebrated by all lovers of the language. However for many Goans, especially the Catholics of Goa, the day was a non-event. These same Goans had strived and fought for the inclusion of the language in the eight schedule but now after 17 years of its inclusion all they can feel is a sincere betrayal by the stubborn lobby of the Devnagri konkani supporters who seem to have lost their vision for the wholesome support of the language.

In the name of Devnagri Konkani all attempts have been successfully made by this lobby to stifle the voices of the lovers of Romi Konkani which is the language spoken by Catholics in Goa in their everyday life. Devnagri Konkani is however spoken among the Hindus of Goa. While we must respect the wishes of our Hindu brethren in Goa to use Devnagri, the same compliment needs to be extended to the catholic community in Goa by accepting that Roman Konkani be given a similar status as its sister Devnagri.

However instead of doing that, our Devnagri brothers have insisted that it is the only script to follow which is a dictatorial attitude. catholic children find it hard to digest devnagri Konkani and yet it is being forced down their throats in the government aided primary schools as a medium of instruction.

To a great extent, the fault lies with the people who inserted the meticulous note of including the language of Konkani for official purposes in Goa - in Devnagri only.  This was a complete betrayal to the aspirations of the people who were actually fighting for the dual cause of Konkani in Devnagri and Romi. However the former won and the Romi lovers are currently running from pillar to post to make their voices heard. To no avail.

The clergy in Goa is also silent on the issue and despite the medium of speech and instruction in the Church of Goa being Romi Konkani, this silence and lack of interest to pursue this matter is highly surprising.In contrast, the Hindu political elite of Goa have had their way.

It is therefore our right to the language that needs to be exercised in all forums and the government of Goa needs to stop ignoring the genuine pleas of Romi konkani lovers, an issue which is threatening to influence an ugly divide in the Goan community. we Goans need to therefore stand up and speak for our script of Konkani without being drowned under bogey of Konkani only in Devnagri.

The days of Goa appear to be numbered. And it has nothing to do with the new "number plate" resentments. Instead, a new law awaits Goa and most importantly, Goan villages which threatens to change the Goan demography, Goan landscape, Goan beauty, Goan environment and the Goan way of life - forever. With disastrous implications.

The amendment to the Panchayati raj act 2009, which was unanimously passed by the ruling Congress woven coalition in the Goa assembly this month is yet another attempt to hoodwink Goans and foist on us the gargantuan plans of concrete jungles designed to satisfy the potbellies of real estate barons, politicians from Goa and elsewhere, bureaucrats and an increasingly alarming migrant workforce.

The way the bill itself was passed is pretty disgusting. The opposition party, the BJP which cries hoarse at every flimsy opportunity aimed at nailing the ruling combination chose to have a token protest, lest it not be said that they were supporting the bill. Simply exposes how powerful the builders lobby in Goa is.

Manohar Parrikar and his band of boys, instead of a thorough dressing down of the bill and the government, decided to concentrate on the purview of the miniscule issue of the panchayat secretary's boss and his creator of commands as being ambiguous in the bill. With the answers not fulfilling his satisfaction, the BJP stalwart decides to stage a walkout with his men, which facilitates the bill to have a safe passage .While leaving he makes sure that the world hears his words of protest as he shouted " we will not be a party to this bill". There could not be a better tiatr, could there?

However in doing the above, the wily politician may believe that he satisfied everyone while probably helping himself to a good laugh besides other things. One, he ensured that the bill was passed without much of his protests which should satisfy all stakeholders in the passing of the bill. Two he lived upto the reputation of opposition parties (and his own) to atleast oppose a bill come what may. Third he ensured that the general Goan public opposed to the bill, find it difficult to club him and his party with the supporters of the bill. However while he may have fooled some Goans, most will surely see through his actions and I am sure those voices will be heard sooner than later.

Can you imagine a law intended to deny Goans their right to speak against the rampant development of land with concrete jungles emerging all over? All powers vested in the bureaucracy of Goa? In short all powers vesting in the ministers, their accomplices, their henchmen and their greedy wolves who can decide what, how ,when and why your village needs thousands and lakhs of new inhabitants with more garbage, rationed water, more floods, lesser greenery, more migrants and more crime?

With such a dangerous situation on hand, our opposition party has lived up to their reputation of opposing trivial issues and ignoring the more important ones. While the whole of Goa and every panchayat in the state is gearing up for an agitation against the draconian bill, our opposition party has chosen to shift focus and agitate against some inconsequential , pedestrian issues such as the Shimnit Utsch number plates . Are vehicle number plates more important to the welfare of Goa? Or has Shimnit failed to satisfy the aspirations of our political class across the whole spectrum which the builders lobby may have smartly managed?

As if we didn't know!

Patolleo, for Goans rings a bell. It is a sweet dish prepared in most Goan homes with a touch of the real Goan feeling. Patolleo and its effervescent flavour has the potential to take you down the Goan memory lane and leave you dreaming for hours. A mere bite into the sweet dish is very satisfying and Goans look forward to the turn of the patolleo every year on 15th August, it being the feast of the assumption, and patolleo seem to be wedded to this feast for the catholics in Goa.

The village of Salvador do Mundo in the north of Goa goes one step further and has been known to celebrate the whole feast as the 'patolleo fest' which is to be celebrated this year on Sunday, 16th August 2009. For the villagers of Salvador do Mundo, the festival is not merely the making of patolleos but it does seem that there is a genuine concern to revive and maintain good old Goan traditions which have somehow rusted over the years and mostly forgotten.

So the elders of Salvador do Mundo also engage in teaching the youngsters the methods and means of preparing the old Goan sweets thereby ensuring that the tradition continues without being corrupted by the modern times. Besides the Patolleo, the villagers from this area also get their act together to prepare "pudde" or 'Kholle' which are similar to patolleo but are covered with a jackfruit leaf instead of turmeric leaves and are shaped in the form of a cone. Jaggery sannas also form part of the festivities here.

The festivities are normally  accompanied with music and song and an eco friendly set up is maintained to add the lustre of the old Goan setting. The festival is celebrated outside the St Sebastian Chapel at Baddem and food is served on banana or jackfruiit leaves and the traditional rice kanji is served in large coconut shells. Thus the festival is meant to showcase the essence of Goa and the organisers avoid any sponsors for the event in a bid to de-commercialise the festivities.

The event surely is a tribute to Goa and its rich cultural traditions and the rest of Goa and its villages must try and emulate this effort to ensure that Goa and Goans take their traditions forward for the sake of posterity in the least.