Consumption issues
Earth Hour was observed in parts of Goa on the weekend.
Candles, music and lights-off marking this region’s participation
in a global event. For those of us who lived through
the 1970s here, lights-off brings back memories of precautions
during the Indo-Pak war. Fortunately, Goa didn’t witness any attacks
but just a few sirens and fears of attacks.
Today, the concerns at hand are far more serious. Planet Earth
is itself under attack. The attackers are we ourselves, members
of the human race. Impacts are so visible; Goa is itself on the
list of coastal areas endangered by issues like climate change
and global warming. Goa’s shrinking shorelines tell us there’s
more to this than mere scare-mongering.
WWF observes Earth Day on the last Saturday of March, and
asks asking households and businesses to turn off non-essential
lights and other electrical appliances for an hour to raise awareness
about the need for action on climate change.
But while we search for scapegoats, the issue of middle-class
consumption cannot be dismissed lightly. Our consumption patterns
have changed drastically over recent years. We consume
as if there’s no tomorrow, and generate much plastic and nonbiodegradable
wastes on unprecedented proportions.
True that we feel individually helpless against the big environmental
problems facing us. There’s runaway mining, or the River
Princesses at Candolim, or unsustainable real estate speculation.
Selfish politicians (from Porvorim to our panchayats) and unaccountable
bureaucrats control land-conversions, legal or otherwise.
Tourism continues its reckless growth, without thoughs
of ‘carrying capacity’. Calangute’s solution is to dump its garbage
simply on nearby hillocks alongside villages around it.
But a whole lot of our woes stem from the spurt in middle-class
consumption, an issue we mostly choose to ignore. Do we need
to buy something we can afford but don’t need? How many
plastic bags should we carry home from a morning’s shopping?
Can a cycle-ride or a walk be an option to two or four wheels?
Should we not press for the pedestrianisation of parts of our
towns? Are more private vehicles the solution to urban congestion,
even as our public transport system is decaying?
These are questions that middle-class Goa has to ask itself,
squarely in the face. While we point to the failings of others, we
can take that crucial first step ourselves.
The ladainha goes to Canada
For Catholic Goans, the ‘ladainha’ (litany) is an age-old tradition.
It also unique to Goa, and includes singing and
recitation of hymns and prayers in Konkani and Latin.
Who wouldn’t remember the boiled grams (and maybe a little
drink afterwards) at a ladainha to celebrate a birthday, anniversary,
christening, voyage to a distant land, or devotion to a particular
saint? Surprise of surprises, the ladainha is going to Canada.
Michael Pinto of Winnipeg, an expat Goan, is heading an initiative
to video tape the ladainha and the reciting of the Rosary in
Konkani, and broadcast via cyberspace from May 2010. The idea
is to preserve language, culture and tradition for the next generations.
It is to happen on April 11 at the Our Lady of the
Rosary Church at Scarborough, with the Goan Overseas Association
Toronto joining in.
After being part of the diaspora for literally a century or two,
Goans find the new technologies enabling them to communicate
speedily and globally. But they’re also losing touch with home
and their language and traditions, specially the younger lot. We
need to renegotiate the role of tradition and modernity in the
community’s life. Will communication help them to have a foot
deeply rooted in their past, while taking on the challenges of
the future? For a small but vibrant community of global migrants,
a lot remains to be done to preserve, to promote, and to progress.
