By AMITA KANEKAR
Crimes in Goa tend to attract a standard public response. It may begin with a lament for a mostly fictitious and long-lost Goa where crime was unknown. But it surely continues into an abuse of our favourite scapegoats – the bhaile. And, as has been explained in this column before, although the word bhaile actually means outsiders, it is usually used pejoratively for only non-Goan labourers, not all non-Goans. (more…)
Organized by the Dept. of Political Science, Goa University. The abstract states, “Discussion aimed to reflect on the issues of Migrant labourers in Goa and how they can be contextualised in Goa’s Political Economy. It also deliberated on how the Goan industry as well as government is dealing with the crisis caused due to Coronavirus with regards to Migrant labourers and what will be the way forward. Prof. Rahul Tripathi, HoD of Dept of Political Science, Goa University chaired this open webinar discussion. Blaise Costabir – Chairman CII Goa Council and Amita Kanekar – Architectural Historian & Novelist joined as Lead Discussants.”
‘But this is varan-bhaat, a traditional and healthy food’, was a response to the criticism on social media of a meal served at one of Goa’s shelters for stranded workers – the pictures showed paper plates containing just rice and dal. The reaction, though, was not completely wrong. Varan-bhaat is indeed traditional among some savanas, and may even be healthy if you do little work and have access to other nutrition – as again is the case with savarnas. But does it work for all? Or does this not matter? (more…)
The pandemic or, it seems to me, the actions taken in the garb of measures to address the pandemic, has resulted in many people being rendered jobless and incomeless. I don’t know whether to call what is happening a health crisis or a crisis caused by manipulated or negligent or incompetent political decision-making. But the outcome of it all is a humanitarian disaster. People have suffered innumerable indignities in India, and closer home in Goa. (more…)
By AMITA KANEKAR
Bhaile, that oft-used and pejorative Konkani word, literally means outsiders, but has been usually used in Goa to mean nonGoans. This is however changing, with the wealthy nonGoans with second or tenth homes in Goa rarely called Bhaile. These are the sorts who managed to escape from the supposedly sealed ‘red zones’ during the nationwide lockdown, to drive in their personal cars to the ‘green zone’ of Goa, where they got star treatment, including free Covid19 tests (reserved, according to the Supreme Court, for the poor), before retiring to their luxury retreats. These Delhi-ites and Bombay-ites are obviously not Bhaile at all but very much Bhitorle (insiders), in fact more Bhitorle than most Goans, so much so that one phone call from some of them can nowadays help a Goan get her or his work done in Goa. (more…)
By AMITA KANEKAR
What kind of government demolishes homes in the pouring rain? A government that is confident that the chattering classes will not be bothered. It is not only the Parrikar government that is to be condemned for an attack on the very lives of people, especially the aged, ill, and children among them, whose houses were recently bulldozed in Baina, Vasco, during the downpours of July. One child in Baina was 6 days old, according to a newspaper report, just home for the first time from the Chicalim nursing home, when his house was demolished. Now his mother, weak after a tough delivery, is ill and cannot care for the baby who huddles in his grandmother’s arms under a tarpaulin sheet.