I was in my school, and I was well good in elocution competitions in the mid eighties. Those were the days when Goa was known as a hospitable location for tourists who could spend their stay in a peaceful surrounding. In this time came an elocution competition organized by the Goa tourism board to get ideas about the tourism opportunities in Goa. The Theme was “Tourism a boon or a curse”.
My English teacher in my school (Sir Ozorio from Chinchinim), had taught me an unique subject. While all the others in the schools had the subject ‘Tourism as boon, I was given the topic ‘Tourism as a Curse’. I was in an odd kind of a situation. My subject stressed upon issues like the buildings and destructions which will happen in Goa if tourism is promoted.
Our land being taken over by heavy weights… the builders and the infra bosses if tourism is promoted. My Goa being exploited… the hilly ranges converted into plateaus… the vegetations converted into concrete jungles.
Today as I see those lines I really felt the perfect insight of my Sir to give me this subject. It is exactly what has happened and what we are on the verge of a breakout of exploitation of this land.
The buildings are sold to outsiders.. The forests are sold as farmhouses for outsiders.. The rivers are exploited and filled with garbages…The innocence of our land is taken away..No views of sights called “chandneanche ratt”
I feel pity for my Goa.
One famous line of my last paragraph of my speech was a words quoted by a famous Italian guerilla fighter Garibaldi when he said.
“I am a stranger in my own land” when Cavour had handed over nice his place place of birth to France. I can experience the same feeling today in this beautiful land of ours called Goa.
Though I never won a prize in the elocution speech as everyone was in favor of Tourism as a boon, I felt that my Sir deserves a credit and merit to exhibit what we will experience 30 years later in the history of our land.
