She was known to the world as Rome of the East but for a common Goemkar like me, she is just my Goa or Goem. For some it was a paradise on earth with lovely, joyful and peaceful atmosphere all around her. The creator created world’s best beaches in this tiny, multi-cultured, educated, beautiful State of Goa. The State was once known for broad minded, open hearted, decent citizens full of common sense. This tiny State is known for Churches and Temples but we Goans never have been religious fanatics. For a real Goemkar, Goemkarponn comes first and then our respective religion. In my historic village of Cuncolim, we Cuncollekars consider Saude Saibinn (Our Lady of Health) and Mamaim saibinn (Shree Shantadurga Kunkallikarin) are sisters having a strong bond of love between them and they together look after our village. Catholics like me make it a point to visit Mamaim Saibinn at least once a year, especially during the annual zatra utsav and one could see the long queue of our Hindu brothers and sisters to take the darshan of our Saude saibinn on February 2, every year. We all dance together and spill the gulal (colored powder) of love and togetherness during the annual Sontreo festival when Mamaim saibinn visits her home town from Fatorpa where she was hidden during the Portuguese Regime. The same goes in many villages of Goa not forgetting the Mapusa city.
Konkani is our mother tongue and people like me have got nothing against Marathi. After liberation, Goa’s beautiful virgin beaches have been raped during broad daylight. Natural sand dunes acting as coast-protectors have been razed to make way for 5-star hotels. Now sand bags are been used to protect the coastline. The day is not far when there will be nothing called as seashore in Goa. What in fact needed to develop our beaches were just good decent washrooms and nothing else, but it’s all gone now. The people in power speak about eco-tourism when in reality every successive elected government has been disturbing Goa’s fragile ecosystem on a daily basis and this can lead to a major disaster. Without any thorough study and planning green hills are been razed at a very rapid pace and used for the filling of fertile fields in the name of better roads, expressways and what not. No doubt, Goa does need better roads but really not by dumping and filling Goa’s fertile land. Is this called planning? Some of our hills are been captured by migrants with the blessing of Goa’s ugly politicians. Our politicians can go to any extent to create their own personal vote banks. I see no Goemkarponn in them. We have become so cheap and lowered ourselves so low that we even failed to respect the fields which once gave us grain to live. We have killed them. These governments which we have been electing since the liberation never stood for the common Goemkar. Take the case of Tiracol, Mopa, Tuem. Our own elected people failed to protect the right of the locals. They stand for the rich and the powerful lobby against poor Goans. They allowed bouncers to act against their own people. They are forcing their foolish ideas on us and when we stand against their foolish ideas they misuse the government machinery including the Police against the common Goemkar.
Goa is very fragile. It has been overloaded. Doubt she can bear the weight anymore of massive disastrous projects the government intends to force on Goa. It’s not that everything is been objected by Goans. It’s the projects which are being forced on locals with a dirty mind that are being objected. The people in power have failed miserably to convince the people of these projects and use brawn to push them through. We worked for you to get the Congress out but you turned out to be of no difference to a common Goenkar who is working hard to survive and not surviving on your doles.
I believe in the creator and in nature. They have been very patient but I am sure, shortly they are likely to lose their patience. Till then viva and let us continue celebrating history as Goa goes out of our hands. Will Goem, Goemkar, Goemkarponn survive for our future generations?
