Goa must understand the love that Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude has for Goans just as Emperor Shah Jahan had for his beloved Mumtaz Mahal. In return the love for Goans towards him will never die.
Quite truly, we must all understand the manner in which minister Gaude is not repairing but rebuilding the Kala Academy in Goa with the same passion, fervour and sense of purpose that Emperor Shah Jahan had when he commissioned the Taj Mahal project in 1632 AD and completed 16 years later in 1648.
The emperor & the minister
The Minister understood the emperor perfectly. He said that Shah Jahan never invited quotations (or tenders) from contractor under his empire, which is why the Taj Mahal has lasted for over 300 years
No time to tender
Truly Shah Jahan did not waste time opening tenders and giving marks for technical and financial bids. Nor did he wait to see whose bid would be marked L1 (lowest). The emperor just had to get the work done and neither did he have CVC guidelines and tender rules of the PWD coming in the way. And Gaude has been rightly inspired by the path of an Emperor who made his own rules.
And then people who are asking Gaude questions should look at the way the state’s budget spending infrastructure agency the GSIDC functions, with several allegations that works are allotted first and work orders later. Does it matter that these are public funds?
The visionary minister doesn’t want any of this. And like Shah Jahan he needed to get on with the Kala Academy work without letting tender and other rules chain his clear thinking.
Everything’s fair in love
Moreover, Shah Jahan’s wealth was his own and he was spending it as a monument of love, which would be eternal. Govind Gaude too has a sense of ownership of the funds he spends on rebuilding the Kala Academy as a monument of his love for Goa. This is something that those who are questioning him do not understand
Kala: the 8th or
9th wonder
The Taj Mahal is a true labour of love which stands as one of the seven wonders of the word. Gaude, by following the same principles is on his way to making Kala Academy the 8th or 9th wonder of the world (after the statue of Sardar Patel in Gujarat, the world’s tallest monument of course).
‘I follow Shah Jahan,
not Correa’
Gaude must be a little surprised to hear questions about a certain Charles Correa, the architect who designed the Kala Academy. After all Shah Jahan walked on this earth centuries before Charles Correa did and even before Correa’s his foundation was conceived. Shah Jahan did not need any internationally renowned architect, or any foundation named after him.
And if Shah Jahan’s Taj Mahal could be an eternal wonder the rebuilding of Kala Academy could hardly be an eternal blunder. It is destined to the greatness that Taj Mahal achieved without any tenders or contracts. The emperor wanted the work to be done, he chose who had to it the way he wanted it.
And that was it. Gaude too rightly feels that way because his love for Goa is above all else.
