Heartbeatgoa.memories -GOA – PARADISE LOST? - ANIKA PROENCA

On the 19th of December, 1961, Goa was liberated from the ‘tyranny’ of Portuguese rule. Goans were finally free to govern themselves and in 1962 the locals chose to remain a Union Territory in the Sovereign Democratic Republic of India.February 2009, forty six years have passed since that fateful day. And yet, what do we have to show for it? A memory of what Goa used to be? Now we have slums and the destruction of Goa’s natural beauty, a government that can’t seem to remain stable for more than six months. And, of course, everybody wants a house on the beach, regardless of the fact that it’s harmful for the environment. And on top of everything else, Goan youth seem to be suffering from Goa’s new reputation for being a ‘Junkies Paradise’.It’s common knowledge that Goa is not exactly known for its educational institutions, and it’s this lack of infrastructure that is leading the youth away from Goan shores to places like Bombay and Bangalore. You ask any Goan youth if they would like to stay and work in Goa, and heir immediate answer, more often than not, is ‘no’. They dream of settling in the United States or the UK, because these places offer better prospects.But I ask you now, if Goan youth carry on with this trend what’s going to happen to the land we adore? It’s going to be left in the hands of people who don’t know or understand our culture. People who want to impose their own conditions and traditions. The Goa we know and love will be lost forever. Perhaps the worst thing to happen to Goa would be the migration of its youth who will sell their ancestral land and houses to the highest bidder, most probably a non Goan.Tourism – if it were a person it would be almost hypocritical. On the one hand it’s one of Goa’s main source of income. And on the other it has single handedly destroyed us; it could be compared to a monster rearing its ugly head for about 7 months every year. It pollutes beaches, turns fishing villages into concrete jungles and alienates the people. It brings laborers and manual workers in, from other states. It ruins our culture and our habitat.If people thought that the narcotics trade would end along with the ‘Love Revolution’ of the 60s and 70s, they were sadly mistaken. Till today shops along the coastal belt aren’t all that they seem to be. It’s a commonly known fact that massage parlours are fronts for brothels and innocent looking Kashmiri furniture shops cater to the needs of cocaine addicts.What is happening to Goa is horrendous. And, sadly, irreversible. We can never go back to the simple days of our parents and grand parents.It is now up to the Youth of Goa to promote the idea of sustainable development. We need to preserve what little is left of our ethnic roots. Instead of acting like a minority in our own State, Goans need to stand up and make a statement. We need to impose our will and our views instead of blindly following other people’s leads. After all, who would know what’s better for Goa: a handful of people who don’t understand us or our culture, or Goans who feel deeply about their ethnic roots?