In the post-colonial decades, Goa has done well to make its political system inclusive. This is indeed an achievement that we are proud of. The competent have benefitted from the privileges, such as reservations in education and jobs, and moved ahead. They have become a part of the middle class, and often live in urban settings. They “think global”. The past is history for them, something to study, but not a part of their life today. (Yet ours is a society as caste-ridden as any across our border, irrespective of religion, and the late Alito Siqueira battled ceaselessly to see that reservations in admissions and jobs were observed.)
It also needs to be said that despite the problematic years of the transition after Liberation, Goa today is a vibrant civil society where issues of identity, language, and culture are contested in the press, in academic circles, on blogs, sites, as well as on the balcão – the porches of traditional Goan homes. Will these help Goa recover the agency it has shown in the past to generate, imagine, and renew itself again? Can the model of peaceful coexistence in Goa serve as an example to the rest of the country even in the age of liberalisation and globalisation?
Borrowing the British system of education into Goa – which had arrived here even before Liberation – made its beneficiaries capable of white-collar tertiary sector employment, which the government obliged. It also encouraged out-migration to mainstream India and, later, for other kinds of labour, to the Gulf countries, where relatively high incomes made employment attractive, and the stigma of caste occupations was absent.
With the globalisation of trade and investment, it is natural that Goa should be a magnet for investment from the Indian government, the corporate sector and international players. The big players in Goan tourism are not locals, whether it is the ownership of five-star hotels or casinos, but as in other geographies around the world, investment creates significant employment opportunities for the domestic workforce. A skill set for management has been created in the last ten years with the opening of several catering and hotel management institutes. Goans occupy positions in their administration and accounts departments. What Goa lacks is institutes for technical skill development. It is also the case that many Goans employed as stewards or as chefs use a couple of years of experience as a springboard on their journey to Paris, Swindon, cruise ships, or the Gulf States.
The tourist industry and the commercialisation of land have grown symbiotically in Goa, as a result of which its beach communities have undergone a sea change. The hippies of the sixties from the Vietnam War protest movement in the United States have been replaced by Europeans, and the Bob Dylan music and soft drugs by synthetic sounds and hard drugs. At first, entire beaches and the land around were colonised by Israelis, who Russians have now replaced. They have road signs and menus in shacks in their languages. There are deaths every year at rave parties, but no action is taken. Some time ago, a well-known designer from Mumbai died, but there has been no proper investigation, although she was well-connected.
I have lost count of the “EDMs” – Electronic Dance Music – and other music shows with abundant drugs around with the collusion of authorities at every level. The effect on the youth of Goa, particularly in the coastal region, can only be imagined. They get sucked into this system as the pickings are good, and parents do not always know what their kids are up to. In many cases, the parents are away, working in the Middle East or Europe.
A healthy economy has thus been achieved by depleting natural resources and corrupting society and the reputation of the state. The Mandovi waterfront is defaced by floating casinos. A floating hotel, marinas, and a golf course for a prominent Delhi hotelier are now proposed. As far as I know, these are all beyond the reach of Goans, for whom football is an addiction, not golf. In any case, only wealthy tourists and government VIPs can access much of this newness. Of course, there is resistance from the local population; our gram sabhas are sites of furious battles.
Property prices have soared because the wealthy from Delhi, Mumbai, and other cities began to hop over to relax in their luxurious second homes purchased in Goa. Others have lived or still live partly in the West and find in Goa a society and access to palatable cuisines. They do not have much to do with Goan society, but use its space for their work and leisure. And many own parking places for investment, waiting for appreciation so that they can move on when the time is ripe. Goans can no longer afford land in the state, yet it must be said that it is Goans who sold their land in the first place.
In recent times, Goa has been in the news as the favoured marriage destination and location for international literature, music and film festivals and cutting-edge exhibitions of art and photography. There is a buzz, perhaps encouraged by the flight to Goa of 21st-century artists, digital entrepreneurs and CEOs. They come to our villages through holiday residences, long exiles or cyclical periods of stay. Goan columnists insist it is not a fad but a new movement where something unique is coming together – something to rival even Singapore, Silicon Valley or Bangalore (now Bengaluru). I do believe we are kidding ourselves. Those hubs have infrastructure, a shared vision of prosperity, and a future where the salt of the earth is not disenfranchised.
Apart from a floating population of the urban rich from various cities in India and a few from the United Kingdom and mainland Europe, the escalation of migration to Goa is primarily because of construction workers. This is a labour force that Goa does not have, and offers the politician a secure vote bank, getting, in turn, all the facilities for the illegal occupation of land. There is out-migration too, and it first took Goans to the Gulf countries but more recently to Europe, facilitated by access to Portuguese citizenship.
So, to what extent is Goa undergoing a period of renewal – culturally, economically and perhaps even spiritually? I am not an economist, but looking at the latest growth figures for Indian states, we see what appears to be a very strong picture for Goa. Despite major setbacks in mining in recent years, Goa remains at the top of the table of growth and per capita income. However, this good news masks domestic poverty and the role of remittances from workers in the Middle East and Europe. My village alone has ten banks. Our people, young and old, our children of the soil, have fallen through the cracks, and the stifling of their dreams and aspirations will surely limit the scope of what Goa can do in economic terms in the future. Goa, which once had no facility for higher education in English, has a surfeit of higher education institutions. Sadly, in the enthusiasm to enlarge university education, we have laid far too much emphasis on creating graduates and not enough on their employability. Nor is there sufficient opportunity for skill development that ensures support to manufacturing and other productive sectors of the economy.
The tragedy of Goa is that its distinctive history has now become its liability: it is seen to embody pre-industrial values where fun and frolic are the raison d’être of happy-go-lucky people. (We are deeply troubled in ways I have tried to describe as gently as possible.) The politics of identity and today’s definitions of a nation create insecurity and a sense of being an outsider in one’s home. When indeed, Goa has always been a cosmopolitan space, a quality that has drawn innumerable writers, artists, and self-employed professionals to own a second home here. They find here a combination of a rural retreat within walking distance from urban facilities and a short drive to excellent cafes, restaurants and musical events when in the mood. And they have the privacy they value.
In some senses, Goan society is in tumult. For instance, despite objections by some freedom fighters, Indo-Portuguese culture is celebrated for a whole week, sponsored by businessmen with their eye on opportunities in the European Union via Portugal. Portuguese is being studied in schools and at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. It is too soon to judge if these varied dimensions will coalesce into a significant direction. Many, including politicians, have been found seeking Portuguese nationality. More than half the male population in some villages is now a resident of Europe, mainly Paris, or Swindon near London. They are all avenues to entering a globalising world. How will we in Goa recover our space and homes? How can we cease becoming the victims of the projection of a global tourist industry ethos?
Excerpted with permission from At Home in Two Worlds: Essays on Goa, Maria Aurora Couto, Speaking Tiger Books.
