Many villas and high-rise apartments offering luxurious living spaces have come up along picturesque locales across the state
The hostility and aggressive behaviour quite often exhibited by ‘visitors’ thronging the coastal paradise have been the talking point in recent times. For a state that strongly believes that tourism shores up its economy, Goa has of late woken up to the harsh reality that the hospitality extended by the locals here has hardly been appreciated by the visitors. Rather than acknowledge the graciousness of the hosts, it is the umbrage that the tourists take at the slightest hint of ‘disapproval’ shown by local residents against their unacceptable behaviour that has been annoying. Besides their scant respect for the rules and regulations of the land, the rowdy mannerisms often bordering on sheer arrogance characterise the visitors’ utter contempt for the local culture and traditions, often accentuated by their abject disregard for local sensitivities. Treating Goa as a ‘party destination’ with no regard for the local community and their customs, the loud and disruptive behaviour of the ‘desi’ tourists has come with their own share of woes for the state. The recent spate of skirmishes between visitors from outside the state and locals seems to be taking a rather serious turn with the scuffles moving over from being merely ‘vocal’ to something more ‘physical.’ But are these the only reasons for the hospitality of the locals gradually turning into animus feelings for the visitors?
Let us delve into some more aspects of the ‘outsider’ syndrome that has visibly gripped the state in a vice-like grip. The resentment amongst locals about land being bought by people from outside the state is quite palpable. Realising the potential the untapped and vast real estate market offers, major developers from across the country continue to show a keen interest in acquiring land in Goa and are virtually on a property-buying spree. Many villas and high-rise apartments offering luxurious living space creations have come up along picturesque locales across the state. The demand for private beach properties is skyrocketing. The manner in which properties have been changing ownership in Goa in the last few years, it goes without saying that the quintessential Goan will soon find himself reduced to an unknown entity in his own land. If it was colonisation that hurt the state by destroying its culture, language, and religious traditions in the distant past, it will be the indifference shown by the new generation for holding on to vestiges of its diminishing charm that will cost Goa its unique identity.
While there have been distinct attempts by a few concerned Goans to maintain and preserve what remains of it for posterity, stories of many others unaffected by the scorn they invite for abandoning their ancestral roots abound. Whereas legacies passed down through generations should have elicited deep emotional anguish while being parted with, it is, however, the unfazed manner in which Goans have been disposing of properties bequeathed to them by their forefathers that speaks for the insensitiveness of the whole exercise. The slew of fraudulent sales of the ancestral properties of NRIs and expatriates in the state blew the lid off a thriving racket that was being carried out without any fear of detection for quite some years. A newspaper expose in December last year unravelled a land-grabbing scam of huge proportions in Goa where a village woke up to discover that half the homes there had changed hands through forged sale deeds with Portuguese-era calligraphy, showing dead men and women as sellers. While it is difficult to believe that such deals could be carried out without political connivance, the fact remains that the love for their native soil has never been a consideration for those orchestrating such massive frauds.
Goa is being sold, and not in bits and pieces at that! So when the locals themselves lack any sense of appreciation and fondness for their beautiful land, so much so that they appear to remain undisturbed by the prospects of a probable loss of identity, would the voice of a few genuinely concerned individuals serve to kindle some hope among them? Today Goa is no more a land of Goans; it has come to be occupied by ‘cartels’ of foreigners who have brought about a cultural invasion in areas where they reside, plying their own brand of business. The inherently flawed sense of superiority exhibited by many of the domestic tourists, where any and every discussion (read ‘confrontation’) with the locals over some issue or the other boils down to an apparent test of strength, describes their aggressiveness. And with that emphatic thrust on new-age tourism, the calm and tranquil region is now hosting a mix of temperamental visitors who think nothing of abusing the hospitality extended to them by the local residents. I chanced on a few beautiful lines from a write-up of July 2009. The author, a Jesuit scholastic, Jonah Rodrigues S.J, hits the nail on the head with his summations. “The identity crisis that we face is because of our inexhaustible warmth and generosity besides the trademark hospitality we offer to everyone who comes seeking asylum in our beautiful land. Does our hospitality spring from a sense of insecurity and inferiority?”
(Pachu Menon is a senior columnist and author based in Goa.)
