LUIS DIAS
Earlier this month, the English National Opera in London put on a new production of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s rarely-per formed, “frighteningly rele vant” political-satirical opera ‘The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny’. “Consumerism meets he donism” was its eye-catching byline. The opera “dissects humanity’s endless pursuit of satisfaction at any price, where greed, pleasure and moral decay collide with dev astating consequences.” The City of Mahagonny is “built on the foundations of greed and corruption”, “where the pleasure is all yours – if you’re willing to pay for it, where absolutely anything goes, everything is permitted and the rules are, there are no rules.” Mahagonny is a fictional city, a backdrop for Weill and Brecht’s critique of greed and the excesses of a capi talist society. It is a hastily constructed “pleasure city” built on hubris by venal city fathers of little imagination or intelligence, but which eventually consumes itself. Written nearly a century ago, (first as a Songspiel or ‘song play’ in 1927 and a three-act opera in 1930), it could just as easily be a satire about modern-day Panjim, as it explores corporate excess and bullying, the chaos, dec adence and the moral conse quences of prioritizing per sonal gain, or the gains of a small handful over the much greater common good. The ‘Alabama Song’ from the opera has been covered by The Doors and by David Bowie. Substitute ‘casino’ for ‘whiskey bar and ‘Panjim’ for ‘Alabama’ and the song lyrics could be about our debauched capital city. An internet search for “ca sinos” and “Goa” led me to a novel ‘The Goa Gambit’ writ ten by one Anurage Tripathi. Tripathi’s trigger for writing about “Goa’s underbelly, the thrilling and murky world of Goa’s gambling scene” came from a chance encounter on a flight (on one of his many visits to Goa), with a “high roller”, a young compulsive gambler carrying 2 lakhs in cash in his luggage. “The realism of the casino world depicted in ‘The Goa Gambit’ is grounded in Trip athi’s personal experiences, stories from real gamblers, and comprehensive re search”, revealing “a riveting story involving, sex, alcohol, drugs and gambling.” (“Ex ploring the dark allure of Goa’s gambling scene”, The Hans India English daily 3 November 2024). Tripathi is an atrocious writer, but if his fictional narrative is indeed collated from first-hand accounts and research, it is quite chilling: torture chambers concealed within floating casinos where clients suspected of cheating or embezzlement are beaten to a pulp; young girls coerced into prostitu tion and performing disgust ing sexual acts; Goan poli ticians as proxy owners of casino establishments even while publicly taking the an ti-casino moral high ground; rampant money laundering; drug peddling and abuse; al cohol abuse; broken homes; financial ruin. All this keeps getting gov ernmental ‘green signal’ permissions while innocent housie at parish and village gatherings is banned! The casino industry has become in a very short time so deeply entrenched in our society that all of us are just a few degrees of separa tion away from it. Although I haven’t set foot in one, I know within my circle of ac quaintances several people who frequent it, or are even employed in it, albeit pe ripherally, in the live music entertainment side of things. Some friends of friends even own some establishments. Some casinos apparently even have crèche and child care facilities, offering du bious “family outings” and “fun for the whole family”. Really? What message does it send to our children, that hard-earned money is to be frittered away on games of chance? Exposure to gam bling during childhood or the teenage years increases the risk of developing com pulsive gambling, accord ing to the Mayo Clinic. Do we realise the harm we are unwittingly exposing our children and youth to, each time we go on one of those “fun-for-the-whole-family” excursions? Several studies have shown that though many people participate in gam bling as a form of recreation or even as a means to gain an income, gambling, like any behaviour that involves var iation in brain chemistry, can become a harmful, behav ioural addiction. Behavioural addiction can occur with all the negative consequences in a person’s life minus the physical issues faced by peo ple who compulsively engage in drug and alcohol abuse. In typical addiction behaviour, reinforcement schedules may also make gamblers persist in gambling even after repeated losses. Gam blers gamble more money to try and win back money that they have lost and some gamble to relieve feelings of helplessness and anxiety. This is why organised crime around the world finds the whole industry of casinos and gambling ex tremely lucrative. The Sicil ian mafia families in the US, the Cosa Nostra, would allow gamblers lines of credit and charge high percentage rates known as vigs to be paid weekly. Late or missed pay ments would result in visits and threats from such crime family members. I have no idea of the in roads that organised crime has made into the gam bling industry in Goa, but I wouldn’t be surprised if their presence is already be ing felt. How hypocritical are we as a society, to send our chil dren to school, and to church and other places of worship, to instil good morals and values in them, when from the moment they step out of those same institutions, they are bombarded with subliminal messaging that it’s all a charade. None of the Ten Commandments really matter, everything one was taught as sacrosanct is mere lip service. Laws are meant to be broken; taxes should be evaded. In the “real world”, getting rich as quickly as possible, bending all the rules and laws, the pursuit of libidi nous hedonism is the end that justifies all the means. When our society im plodes (and it will just as in evitably as Brecht and Weill’s City of Mahagonny), our gen eration may be six feet un der (or it may happen much sooner). But know this: Our children and future gener ations will curse us for hav ing bequeathed such a sinful Sodom and Gomorrah legacy upon them, in place of what was once literally, Paradise on Earth. (Dr. Luis Dias is a physi cian, musician, writer and founder of Child’s Play India Foundation. He blogs at luisdias.wordpress.com)
