Joseph Lewis D’ Silva
Men go far away to marvel at the heights of mountains, to admire at the mighty waves of the sea, to look at the long course of great rivers. Some travellers who came to Goa and saw our shining sands, sapphire seas, topaz mountains, azure rivers and green fields, said, ‘it a heavenly place’. Therefore, many called Goa a corner of the Garden of Eden.
God from high heaven created biological evolution by turning monkey into men. Goans performed an artistic evolution by decorating Goa — a corner of the Garden of Eden with garbage where dogs and cows scamper for food; and the smell that comes from it gives nausea attack to natives and tourists alike. Here Goan cows eat plastics because hills and hillocks are taken over by estate developers; our fertile fields are destroyed and meadows have disappeared to make place for big buildings; sand dunes protecting our coastlines on our virgin beaches are razed to make way for rich hotels. Mountains are flattened by miners. Goan surroundings do not have the sylvan look of yesteryears. The natural scenic beauty of Goa is gradually dwindling.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely — this is a popular saying which has a strong element of truth in it. Politicians indulge in dishonesty, as they have to get back the huge amount of money spent, secretly, during election time. So, like mosquitoes, they suck the blood of citizens. Politician is a person who gets elected by the public to improve the condition of the common man but does everything possible to make it worse. Politicians think that what they say is final. Some are separating the society with their hidden agenda and encouraging violence in the name of religion, culture, food etc. Political leaders are becoming mightier than God in this corner Garden of Eden.
Now, in this Heavenly Garden, tourists are raped, attacked by iron rods and killed which disturbs the peace here —“God’s own Abode”. The Goa that our grandchildren will inherit is a trembling thought.
Very often, we do not realize the impact of our actions on our tourists. Slight oversight in accounts calculation can make one lose one’s job. Today, tourists on reading newspapers are aware about the probability of bans to arrive in Goa — ban on eating beef; ban on wearing bikinis on beaches. And as it is said that for every action there is equal and opposite reaction, our travellers may probably say — why the hell should we visit Goa– “a corner of hell on earth”.
There is urgent need to protect the environment before it is too late. Let us keep the panoramic view awesome for the tourist. Let us make Goa innocent of garbage. The government and its departments should stop deciding what people should wear and eat and start concentrating on delivering governance and services to the people. It is nice to be Goan, but is nicer to stop savage attacks on tourists. “Men are most like beasts when they kill; most like men when they treat others with love; but most like God when they forgive others who hurt them.” Tourists love Goa; let them not fear to come here.
