If you watch Vince Costa’s recent movie Saxtticho Koddo wherein the farmers of Maina and
Curtorim rave of their lineage and heritage of growing fields but the third
generation farmers and their wives are very clear to say that they want their
kids educated and doing something else but not taking the trouble of getting
muddy in the fields that have fed their generations and hence there is a huge
drop in agriculture in Goa.
Similarly when former
Chief Minister Pratap Singh Rane rubbed the wrong side of Goans stating that
most Goans go to the UK to wash toilets, it was surprising how almost more than
15 Goans working in the UK as cleaners and washers in washrooms at Heathrow and
other parts of UK were quick to proudly showcase their jobs on Facebook with
pride while lashing out at the former CM that they’re in the UK for employment
and money and have disrespect for what they do over there.
Blanche Themudo a
reputed dentist from Margao, Glorio Gracias a well-known professional food
packer from Colva, or Therezinha Fernandes known for her mathematics tuitions
in Nuvem confirm that Goans have made a huge bee line and entered UK, fearing
being left out post Brexit. These people tell us how their work tripled as
Goans wanted to parcel a little bit of the Goan cuisine with them or just that
they wanted all their dental jobs done for a cheaper cost since its really
expensive in the UK or just how students have been pulled out while they
migrated to the UK on their Portuguese passports.
Raphael Viegas and
few other historians show us how Goa’s human history has always been this way,
from Goans venturing into British India, be in Calcutta, Bombay or Delhi for
work between 1920s to 1940s, then later to British colonies like Karachi and
Cape Verde, later to the African colonies of the Portuguese, and later post
Liberation venturing on board the ship or the gulf.
Then came the benefit
of the Portuguese passport and UK being the only nation favorable for the
English speaking Goans while 90% of Goan Portuguese passport holders don’t even
know Portuguese while their only trip to Lisbon maybe the one to get their
registration process, billet or Portuguese passport collected over the counter
which is faster than depending on the agent in Goa who gets it done at a fee.
“See a lot has
changed because of this migration trend. Not just the many fragmented Goan
groups globally but even in Goa especially the villages of Salcete, are empty,
homes are closed, there is no one to care for the old since the younger
generation has left, there’s land grab happening with Goans having abandoned
their old homes, wives and children live without the father because most often
only he migrates for work and even lakhs of Goans have no voting rights leaving
it for others to decide their fate and laws which is a changing trend in Goa,”
explains historian Raphael Viegas while museum curator and owner, Victor Gomes
confirms this trend and also talks of how Goa is fast losing its heritage and
culture with lesser Goans here practicing the ways of their ancestors.
“The problem here is
the herd mentality; Goans are migrating to work as bell boys, door keepers,
porters, cleaners and sweepers. While obviously there is dignity of labour
there, these same jobs are available in India. But sometimes in Goan villages
it’s about one relative or one friend taking the other and the other spends his
entire life saving to register his birth and migrate to the UK not thinking
that there are opportunities on this land,” stated Brigida Fernandes who’s a
student doing her Goa University project on migrations.
Brigida shows us how
Goans did something similar in the 1960s and 70s where they went to Mumbai and
stayed for days in tiny cubicles and small Goan clubs waiting for someone known
from Goa to return from the ship and wait if that person could help them climb
on board as a replacement and that’s how they started their journey as sea
farers and sometimes their families heard about them only months or years
later.
Kirk Costa one of the
Goans from Varca bucked the trend and has just returned back to Goa to make use
of his farmland and start a small viable restaurant. He says, “ See, it’s not
to criticize Goans in the UK, some are doing reputed jobs and are software
engineers, researchers, working for the governments in the UK and holding top
jobs but even Goans writers, travel writers, photographers and others want the
easy way of going to UK because of the language”
It’s
also interesting how Joao Pinto, a 73-year old fisherman from Varca tells us
how he and his peers every night would have dinner and then go for a walk to
the Varca beach together, sing mandos and drink some feni and sleep on the
beach and then wake up at 3am to take their boats and go fishing and then sell
it in Margao. Ask him if his sons do the same and he says no they bought taxis and
are taxi drivers trying to make the most of the tourism industry while they pay
huge loans for the vehicles they bought. Ask him next about his eight
grandchildren and he tells us six of them left to Dubai, onboard the ship and
finally seven are now all settled in the UK and living there and come home less
often. Joao with sadness in his eyes tell us he’s failed in passing his trade
of fishing and growing fields to his next generations and sadly one day, his
trade will be forgotten and lost.
