One of the reasons Goa has been a favourite tourist destination among Indian film and sports celebrities is that it gives them the space they long for during their vacation. Goans at best might give you a smile which comes naturally to us due to our basic decency or a kid might request for a selfie, that’s it.
We are not going to behave like idiots and make things awkward for the celebrity if they choose to have a quiet meal in a restaurant. Unfortunately all places in Goa are not safe for celebs seeking privacy. For example, there is no guarantee that celebs are going to get that space on a beach perhaps and this happens because Goans have stopped visiting Goa’s beaches, so the ones they encounter on the beach are not Goans, but people on vacation who are not going to respect their privacy.
It’s another matter that many celebs, mostly the wannabe ones bribe the paparazzi to follow them at airports and even pay their tickets to follow them to Goa to seek the attention they crave for. But celebs with large fan following and famous prefer people don’t notice them during their private visits, so that they can freely unwind. No jokes, for some of them, it becomes such a big nuisance being followed and under scrutiny 24/7 that cricketer Virat Kholi and his film actress wife have decided to make London as their base, because according to them, it gives the freedom to lead a normal life. Hope the Indian fans in UK allow them the privacy they are anticipating.
Without getting into the debate of far right or left agenda, one thing every society aims is to have even distribution of income and wealth. But it is not black and white here. While we address inequalities, we must make sure we do not go overboard in creating lazy dependents by milking only the wealthy as if it is some sort of punishment for the hard work they put.
One of the goals of taxation was to address inequalities, but unfortunately governments have long forgotten that goal, have turned taxation as some sort of weapon meant to harass the tax payer, in order to keep their mouth shut on every crazy decision the government takes. But this piece is not about that debate, it is about seeds being sown to make sure the divide between the rich and not so rich
widening.
Goa is one place where people in their Mercedes or BMW will stop at a roadside eatery to relish their ‘choris pao’ or ‘ros omlette’. Chances are the guy in the BMW will strike a conversation with the guy eating the same meal and has come on a cycle. So even though there is a big difference in their bank balances, that does not stop them from greeting each other and even striking a conversation. The guy on the cycle has absolutely no problem with the BMW and vice versa.
Unfortunately, this does not happen in other parts of our country. Bombay is a big example where film actors or cricketers are always hounded by locals, paparazzi, tourists, who sometime travel miles just to get a glimpse of their heroes outside their homes without even arranging their own accommodation for the night during their stay in Bombay.
Tired of constant sharing public spaces with the commoners, it is possible that some of these celebs classified as VIP’s might have used their good rapport with the Government of Maharashtra to come up with a solution that they be given special treatment in using the country’s resources. So to address this issue, the government of Maharashtra has come up with a genius idea. It has decided that the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport will have a separate terminal to be used exclusively for politicians, movie actors and Government servants not forgetting the family of the promoter of the airport. No prize for guessing that one.
Although this airport is still in the planning stage, one can easily analyze the thinking process that goes on within these bureaucrats and politicians these days. Usually happens when people don’t change governments often. If this goes through, then India is on the verge of creating a huge class divide which might and will backfire at a future date. This blatant encouraging of VIP culture to share basic infrastructure proves that the infrastructure that has been built is not worthy for the VIP’s or so they think.
Every project that has been recently announced and completed in Goa be it the overhead road or the ropeway, gives you the feeling that it is designed for the VIP mostly from Delhi who usually comes for a quick stopover and has no time to navigate the narrow village roads or appreciate the Goan way of life. They just want to reach their destination in quick possible time and the best way to do that is to just go over Goans while completely ignoring them.
Goa has to sincerely ask this question, should we encourage VIP’s such as film actors from Bombay to make Goa their second home? Will they add any value to Goa? While we Goans spend lot of time adding value to Goa, these people at best will make a cocoon for them and will never be available when Goa needs them. Their reputation in Bombay is that they mostly live in palatial clean homes but when they step out even to their car, they seem to develop a tunnel vision and have learnt the art of ignoring the filth they are surrounded with while their driver is busy navigating honking cars and terrible traffic jams. It never occurs to them to hold politicians accountable to keep the city clean because they never consider it as theirs.
Goa with great difficulty has overcome the VIP culture at religious and sports events, while it still remains work in progress, let us not invite another set of VIPs who create another set of problems to our way of life. It is incoming and we need to recognize the crisis before it lands on our lap.
(The author is a business consultant)