It was a great feeling to bring in the New Year in Goa after a very long time. Sitting on the beach at Bogmalo and seeing the sun set for the last time in 2014 made me realize that the more one stays away from Goa the land of my forefathers sets deeper into my heart. The throbbing crowd on the beach enjoying the music from the Bogmalo Beach Resort and then the sky lit up with fireworks will be a lasting memory, as I plan to depart in a few days. Besides the darkened sky and the sparkling sky with all kinds of fireworks, there are few other things that will stay with me forever.
One disturbing factor that has set me thinking is the minute presence of Goans on the beach welcoming the New Year. I don’t know what to say of the large number of domestic tourists who filled the beach, some dancing in their lungis and some swaying like palm trees in the cool breeze and, perhaps, with lots of pegs in their stomachs. At times, one got the eerie feeling seeing such big number of ‘baille’ on one of Goa’s little-known shores, just below the Dabolim Airport, that they will gobble up Goa. There’s already a deep pessimism and fear that Goans are an ‘endangered species’ and, given a few decades, will go the way of the Dodo.
On the other side, the nouveau riche guzzled themselves up in the large resort with a well-laid gourmet buffet and music that served all tastes, from hard rock to soft pop and a mix of Goan and East Indian melodies. If Bogmalo presented such a view of the scene, I can imagine what it must have been in the Calangute-Cadolim-Baga-Vagator beach belt and the new-found happening place, Palolem. One can say with some assuredness that the North outweighs the South when it comes to such parties on its famed seashores. The Delhi and Mumbai socialites and ‘high-flyers’ have made Goa their ‘second home’.
One thing I have been told and I have also observed, is the lack of foreign tourists. Bogmalo was devoid of such ‘white’ faces and the few regulars who were there told me that they missed their Russian mates. No doubt the trouble with rouble has seen the Russian wave of tourists ebb away this year and the fear is that if this economic trend continues Goa will be hard hit. One shack-owner was, sad to say, down and moaning the loss of business this year.
I met a man, Ian, an Englishman, who has been coming to Goa every year for the past 16 years. He too felt dismayed at the gloom in the tourism trade. Like him, the tourism officials too have shown their displeasure at the fall in the tourist graph. The poor season must wake up the tourism officials to find a way either to sustain tourism or find alternative ways to boost the tourist economy. True, the casino industry has been one of the arteries for fuelling the Goan economy and the thoughts of banishing the ships out of the Mandovi into the open Arabian Sea seem to have receded in the government’s mind, if one takes the CM’s statement at face value. It’s said that bad money drives out good money. It must be admitted that a bulk of the tourist money raked in Goa is ‘tainted’.
Two English sailors told me that they had to pay Rs 1500 from Mormugao Harbour to Bogmalo. We had heard tales of taximen fleecing passengers. I remember the fracas over the taxi rates from Dabolim Airport to places in the interior of Goa or to Panjim, Margoa, Mapuca and Ponda. To give one instance, when booking a taxi at government pre-paid stand in Margao I was charged more than the scheduled rates shown on the big board hanging besides the kiosk. When asked why he was charging me extra, the reply I got is that the board is old and that the rates have changed. It was obviously a lie. My question, therefore, is why does the tourist department not make a ‘spot-check’ on such venues?
We want more tourists but we want them because they are ‘easy meat’. I believe even Goans, from abroad and locals, get caught in this mess and often pay more than the actual fare. Something has to be done to be fair and justifiable to those who come to visit the land.
The death of the young woman at EDM could be this year’s sad reminder. No doubt, these music festivals bring in the necessary money but they also bring along the ills that affect society in the long run. The nexus between politicians and organizers, as well as between police and organizers, is well-known. As long as such ‘unholy’ alliances remain, nothing will be possible. Alcohol and drugs will flow at such events and there will be more casualties in the future. Government action is urgently called for to regulate such events. There’s a foreboding fear that the Goa, Going, Gone scenario, which has put Goa on India’s map as a notorious hotspot, will come true in the near future. Goans will have to live with the label.
(Eugene Correia is a senior journalist who worked for The Hindu and The Free Press Journal)
