Every citizen of this State has just one ambition, to work and hope that Goa will progress and advance towards providing good health, a comparable level of education, a continuous platform of opportunities for its citizens to achieve an acceptable status of peace, security and prosperity for all. This includes a sustainable degree of preservation of its environment, its forests, rivers and wetlands, the fertility of its agricultural lands, coastal regions, commercial and societal infrastructure, its unique and invaluable heritage possessions, and most of all its character and culture. The “Goan Character”, a famously joyful and easy-going way of living, yet full of vitality and vivaciousness, with a song in every heart, a distinctive “brand” so to speak, is widely envied and often emulated by everyone from around the country and the world. Nobody here would want to change it for all the Treasures of King Solomon.
There’s an exception to that statement we just made about “every citizen” wanting what Goa is about. A great tragedy underlies the beauty and abundance of this wondrous land, this looming danger of destruction of this tiny nation is perpetrated by its own people, fellow citizens elected by a trusting, yet highly aware electorate. Once elected to their “high” positions, we soon begin to witness reports of mis-governance and accusations of rampant corruption. Yet there are no corrective or punitive measures imposed upon these rogue elements. One wonders at this skewered system of checks and balances, if at all they exist, Good Governance Guidelines that are tacitly formulated to promise safety and well-being for the people of the State. Our legislators are beholden to the electorate to faithfully deliver wise and comprehensive governance for all. We have witnessed the campaigning process in a helpless state of disbelief, watching candidates on live television going door-to-door distributing money and gifts, illegally soliciting votes from their constituents. Wherefore art thou dear Election Commissioner?
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
The high percentage of voters at the polling stations is indicative of the high level of literacy in the State as compared to the rest of the nation, each one exercising their priceless mandate with eager expectations, but instead surrender their dreams of a better way of life to a callous coterie of legislators who are blind to the people’s aspirations. This happens, the instant we hit that EVM button. And what do we get in return? Bad roads, electric supply endlessly malfunctioning, erratic water supply, primitive public transportation, mindless law enforcement, illegal and dangerously corrupt construction projects encroaching upon the very fabric of Goan lives and heritage enclaves, victimisation of private property owners by land-grabbing gangs, drug and criminal culture, molestation of our beaches and tourist destinations, unbridled disregard for Coastal Regulation Zone, projects like double tracking, coal transport corridors, unnecessary power generation plants that threaten to permanently destroy sensitive environmental territories … we could go on ad nauseam.
However, the worst travesty added to our woes is an uncaring “ruling” governing class that is openly in cohorts and under the control of big-money elements from outside the State. This is truly what poses itself as the single-most dangerous factor that would destroy the Goa as we, and the rest of the world, know it. It’s a tightly knit inside job. Greed, mixed in with blind stupidity and corruption, are what constitute the greatest scourge of misery for all life on earth.
There is a greater danger than corruption that threatens life on this planet, and that is ignorance. We are ignorant of who we really are and what life is all about. All that happens around you and all that you experience with the five senses, can only be perceived within you. Philosophy, now supported by current “scientific wisdom”, has determined that what exists outside of the human body can only be understood and known via human intellect that exists within. This phenomenon of ignorance and wisdom was deliberately designed by the Source of Creation. All creation, the entire Cosmos is absolutely perfect in itself, all that “seems” to be right, or wrong, with our world is collectively our own perception, our own doing. Life has been full on forever, both in infinite directions, the past and the future.
It therefore follows that those whom we confront as the ones who would steal our lives and property, our government and their criminal cohorts, are no one else but us. There’s no them and us, we are all in it together. (Pass this message on if you know someone in the administrative circle).
Who are we, with our infinitely minuscule understanding of the way things are, to decide and decipher what is right and what is wrong? We know that the Source of Creation has given Mankind, after 4 million years of evolution, a highly developed brain with the power of infinite intellectual capacity and perception. This was done with the sole purpose of giving us the power to devise our own creation exactly the way we want it. It’s fine if one is not aware of who one truly is, but now that we know it’s a damning shame that we don’t use it. It’s all there, all fully available for us to perform any “miracle” we desire. It’s up to us to make our world the way we want it to be.
Know this: That infinite source of wisdom lies within, waiting for us to perform a “search and discover mission”, a strictly Inside Job. It is said that it lies hidden in the innermost cave of the heart, so find the way to go there, get connected. When we are connected, that it will be the moment to create the Goa we want.
(The writer uses the term Goa as a synonym for God).
(The author is now a permanent resident of Goa after many years of living in Mumbai, New York and London)
