Category: Popular Essays

By AMITA KANEKAR

My advancing age hit me hard this weekend, when after buying provisions at Panjim market, I reached the bus-stop in time for the last bus, but there was no sign of it, only the massive traffic jam that has become the norm in this Smartening City. I turned, planning to park myself and my bags on a bench, and found, instead, a pipe. Three of them, actually. Three pipes, sleek and shining, each rising from the ground, running horizontally for a few feet, and returning into the ground; separated from each other by a couple of feet. The old benches had disappeared. (more…)

By ALBERTINA ALMEIDA

The Goa release of a book titled The Queen The Courtesan The Doctor The Writer by Sabah Khan of the Parcham Collective in Mumbai was held recently. The book has write -ups of who the author considers as  50  ‘inspiring Muslims’ in India. The author does drive home a message by the title itself that inspiration can come from location in various quarters, including the traditionally perceived quarters. We also do live in times when people who are othered and demonized are forced to prove themselves. In that context Sabah Khan’s book is one such attempt. As the author herself says, she considered it unfortunate that she had to write this book. Indeed, this is true even of Muslims in Goa. Increasingly, the small minority of Muslims in Goa is being demonized and othered. As dangerous people, as people who cannot be trusted, as stone-pelters. Though inquiries and fact-findings have proved otherwise. The need for a counter-narrative couldn’t be more pressing. (more…)

By AMITA KANEKAR

What’s responsible for the fires burning all over Goa today? You only have to check the fate of any tree in the state to know that it’s not just the weather. (more…)

By AMITA KANEKAR

The Chief Minister recently made a surprising announcement: that he will build a memorial for the ‘thousand temples destroyed by the Portuguese’ and also rebuild the ‘huge structure’ of the Saptakoteshwar temple that was allegedly destroyed at Diwar. (more…)

By ALBERTINA ALMEIDA

There is much that one comes across about the schemes available for agriculture. But even before one can begin availing of those schemes, there are strong disablers for agriculture in the manner of planning and governance. (more…)

By AMITA KANEKAR

India needs to focus on ease of travel, declared Prime Minister Modi while inaugurating Goa’s new airport last month. The PM’s declaration might have sounded like a joke to some, given that his own one-day-long visit to Goa, just to inaugurate the airport, created utter chaos in the traffic here, with some commuters reaching their destinations three hours late, and official announcements that movement of even emergency vehicles would depend on the position of the VVIPs. (more…)

By JASON KEITH FERNANDES

Some months ago, I became aware of a curious trend on local social media. It appeared that there was a systematic pattern where local news agencies would release little phrases, or headlines, often quoting the chief minister of the state.  Take, for example, the references to the dubious policy of the present government to reconstruct temples allegedly demolished by the Portuguese. Interestingly, none of these phrases could be used as the basis to prosecute the speakers. They could very easily be explained away, as indeed this temple policy has been cleverly explained away in the face of public outrage. (more…)

By ALBERTINA ALMEIDA

Most people in Goa are only too aware of the great many problems resulting from Goa being a tourist destination and the host of all kinds of international events. But one cannot miss the possibilities of leveraging the wide reach that this brings. The amount of discussion generated by the statement of Nadav Lapid, head of the Jury of the International Film Festival of India 2022, is a case in point. (more…)

By AMITA KANEKAR

Aren’t the casinos enough? Apparently, no. According to A Study on Human Trafficking in Vulnerable Districts in India, a nationwide study by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), partly funded by the union ministry of Women and Child Development, and completed in 2019, Goa is a major destination (as well as a source) for sex trafficking; and – surprise, surprise! – the tourism industry of Goa is the main reason for the trafficking of both women and children for the sex trade as well as other illegal activities. Interestingly, the report, though ready three years ago, was published by the union government only now. Not just this, the report was also taken down from the government website just days after being released. What could be the reason for this cover-up? Could it be the focus on the tourism industry? (more…)

By AMITA KANEKAR

It is two years this month since Dadu Mandrekar passed away. He died on 28^th November, which is Constitution Day, the day of the document that he had spent a good part of his life explaining and celebrating. There is much for which Goa should remember Dadu Mandrekar – his prolific and award-winning writing; his passion for the ideas of Dr Ambedkar, visible in his writing, activism, even casual conversation; his conversion to Buddhism, coupled with a stinging critique of the caste- and gender-specific superstitions rampant in Goa; his resignation from a secure government job to focus on the struggle for social justice.  It is proof of our casteist social set-up that such a versatile and radical intellectual, who viewed the world from a very different location than the privileged folk who dominate all public fora, and who had managed to become a well-known writer after immense personal struggle and sacrifice, was rarely given the space he deserved, either in the media or in literary events. It was the Marathi press, not only that run by Ambedkarites but also others, including the Marathi edition of O Heraldo, that published him fairly regularly, and made him a familiar name for readers in Goa and outside. (more…)