The greatest expectations of Margao’s Carnival 2016 ended up in total disappointment on all fronts. It was the disaster of all hopes of Carnival Lovers and of those who specially descended in Margao to watch the traditional fun, frolic and gaiety of Carnival 2016.
To every spectator’s disappointment those lined up in the hot sun on either side of the road from mid-day and thereafter, it was an anxious moment every second until late or close to sunset when the Chairperson of the Margao Municipal Council arrived in her official car to be joined by Vijai Sardessai, Digambar Kamat and other politicians to walk past in front of King Momo’s convoy to officially inaugurate the ceremony. Then only, the convoy of the King Momo started crawling in the backdrop of the sunset.
Considering the arrangement of the event that was done, it was a failure on the part of the organisers. It was badly organised.
The poor people who descended on the venue, the security personnel who baked themselves in the hot sun from early afternoon and the different participants have to be commended for their patience. It was a failure on the part of the organising committee due to the huge delay to flag off the parade, the mis-management and chaos until the last moment. It was mainly contributed to the long wait for the corrupt politicians’ arrival and those who tried to score political mileage due to this public and traditional event. Otherwise, the event would have been a success.
My sympathy goes to those participants who were at a great loss, unable to showcase their talent and hard work put up in the last many weeks or months in preparation for the event. Specially, the last ten floats were lost in the darkness and this is attributed to the late starting of the event. The whole cast was left with no spectators lined up to applaud them as the night had befallen on them by then, and there were hardly people left to watch their performance.
The people sincerely hope that the organisers in future will give up political games, stop patronising corrupt politicians who try to gain mileage through public events at the cost of general public.
