THE HYPOCRISY OF GOA’S PROTESTING AWARDEES

By JASON KEITH FERNANDES, DALE LUIS MENEZES, AMITA KANEKAR, VISHVESH KANDOLKAR, and KAUSTUBH NAIK

In the context of a number of Sahitya Akademi awardees across India returning their respective awards in protest against the growing intolerance in India, in Goa around fourteen Sahitya Akademi awardees together with Padmashri awardees Maria Aurora Couto and Amitav Ghosh came together and issued a joint statement on 15 October, 2015. One would be struck by the hypocrisy contained in their press note released were it not for the fact that their politics of intolerance is so blatantly displayed all over the same note.

In their statement these local notables condemn “the rising trend of intolerance in the country which threatens freedom of expression…[and] the age-old liberal and all-encompassing philosophical traditions of this country.” One would take this concern seriously were it not for the fact many of these notables have been complicit not only in acts of intolerance themselves, but also physical violence.

For some years now there have been demands from many quarters that Konkani literature written in the Roman script also be given governmental recognition. But Sahitya Akademi awardees like Pundalik Naik and N. Shivdas, who have presided over the Goa Konkani Academy, have not felt it necessary to take up this cause and ensure that a Konkani tradition with a longer history than that in the Nagari script one is recognised. On the contrary, all of these protesting SahityaAkademi awardees and Padmashri Couto have watched silently while Roman-scriptKonkani has been officially ignored and excluded from all kind of state recognition, including awards and grants.

In addition, these persons have maintained a studious silence while their associates, such as Uday Bhembre and Nagesh Karmali, have engaged in the most vicious hate speech against the Catholic community in the course of the Medium of Instruction controversy (that has raged from 2011), when Goan parents demanded the right to determine the manner in which their children are educated. Where was their concern for the alleged liberal traditions, and traditional bonhomie, of Goa then?

To make matters worse, these same notables watched silently when in 2005 Naguesh Karmali, a member of this verygroup of protestors, led a violent mob in destroying public and private property on the grounds that such property was encouraging Portuguese (read as Catholic) culture in Goa.Given that Goa has had a long and historical relationship with Portugal, doesn’t the violent smashing of manifestations of this relationship amount to an act of the very same rabid communalism that these worthies profess to protest against?

In light of these inconsistencies, and the equally amusing announcement that they will hold on to their awards until the meeting of the executive committee of the Sahitya Akademi, it appears that these awardees seem more interested on jumping onto the bandwagon of political trendiness, than for any desire to stand against the growing intolerance in the country, and indeed, Goa itself.

We would like to stress that while it is true that the government of Mr. Modi has definitely presided over a rise in intolerance in the country, the roots of this intolerance lie deeper in the country’s history. As we have already pointed out, a number, if not all, of these Goan awardees are complicit in this intolerance. Their complicity is further evident in the manner in which they phrase their protest within the language of Hindutva. Why, for example, are the recent acts compared to ‘talibanism’, instead of calling them Hindutva, or Hindu nationalism? Talibanism is a phenomenon situated outside the country, when Hindutva is the problem actually at hand, given that Kalbargi, Pansare and Dabholkar lost their lives as a result of their opposition to this ideology. Indeed, Hindu nationalism has been a problem since before Indian independence. In referencing the Taliban, these awardees continue the refusal to recognize Hindu nationalism as the single greatest cause of concern in this country since 1947.

In conclusion, we would be more convinced of the genuine concerns of these state awardees from Goa if we heard them also protest the exclusion of Konkani in the Roman script from legislative recognition, also the violent condemnation of the Goans who are simply asking for English as a state-supported medium of instruction for their children, and also the lack of implementation of constitutional guarantees for education and jobs to historically discriminated-against Goan communities. Such protests would go further in establishing norms for the respect of fundamental rights, and the establishment of law and order in our state and country.

(First published in DNAIndia (Web) on 23 October, 2015)

NOTES ON A GENTRIFIED GOA

In the last few weeks, two articles – one in the local, and another in the national press – discussed the major upheavals that Goa has witnessed in recent years following the massive in-migration to the state. The first of these articles was penned by Richa Narvekar in Goa Streets a Goan weekly and looked at the process of change from the perspective of shifts in the global economy, and flow of capital. 

Narvekar makes an interesting observation about the rise of the real estate market in Goa and the in-migration of the global, moneyed elites (which includes the cosmopolitan Indian elites): “Hundreds of apartments loom over the street [along the Miramar-Dona Paula road, overlooking the sea] in swanky new buildings, all with lights out; they are unoccupied. All of these have been bought out, but very few of the owners actually live here. Goa has become a major destination for empty ‘investment homes’. As the global rich buy more and more of these investment homes, property values get inflated to the point where average folks are priced out of the market. Construction is booming all over the country, but ironically, so is homelessness”.

Narvekar’s observation is crucial to understanding many of the whirlwind changes that Goa has witnessed in these last few years. This observation exposes a side of Goa’s ‘development’ story that is distinct from the usual focus on garbage, violation of land rules, rampant ecological damage. By looking at how capital flows into Goa and the class and caste of people investing in such ventures one starts to realize that the benefits from the real estate boom, and the consequent use of Goan land, are largely concentrated in the hands of global and Indian elites.

The other article appeared in Outlook – and thus a national magazine – authored by the Goaphile writer and photographer, Vivek Menezes. Noting a contrast between Goans leaving Goa with a Portuguese passport, and others coming into Goa from different parts of the world, Vivek Menezes makes the claim that Goa is leading the way in creating “an alternate idea of India”. So how, according to Vivek Menezes, is Goa leading this trend of creating an alternate idea of India? This is done by Goa being a cosmopolitan hub hosting “ambitious fortune-seekers from around the world”. Vivek Menezes suggests, “While the influx of unskilled labour from across the [Indian] subcontinent continues unstemmed… India’s sunshine state now hosts a bewildering mix of new residents: artists, football players, software developers, chefs and CEOs who are quietly transforming the state’s economy and culture”.

Looking closely at the picture of Goa emerging from the two articles, one cannot help but notice the variance in conclusions at the possible future of Goa. While on the one hand Narvekar is cautious about the process of gentrification due to the migration of certain elites, and indeed warns about its ramifications for Goan society; on the other, Vivek Menezes urges us to see beyond the obvious problems and celebrates it as the basis for its bright future. He suggests that all this gloom and doom will go away as Goa’s innate cosmopolitanism would blur these distinctions of outsider/insider and create a new Goa, and a new idea of India, based on the speech that Amitav Ghosh made in 2011 (in this context, see also this). But the very fact that Goans – largely the working class and minoritized Catholics – leave Goa with a Portuguese passport, while the rich of the world make the proverbial hay when the Goan sun is shining, should itself make us realize that something is not quite right with the way things are operating in Goa.

Vivek Menezes is not the first person to make such an argument and as such one needs to refer back to similar arguments made in the national press over the last few years. Another article, by Namrata Joshi and published also in Outlook in 2012, clearly suggests that there is hope for Goa due  its “[v]ibrant cultural calendar dotted with film fests, litfests, fashion shows and musical events [as well as] [r]enowned artistes, authors and intellectuals setting up base in Goa”.

An article in Times Crest, also published in 2012 , asked “[w]hy are so many writers, artists, photographers and culturewallahs moving to Goa?”,  and had a similar explanation adding that such professionals “have bought houses in Goa and started to spend all their time, or several months of the year, there. Drawn as much by the beauty, openness, and quiet surroundings as by its affordability – though that is fast changing…” It is no secret that many of these ‘culturewallahs’ have invested heavily in ‘Portuguese houses’, in other words in prime and costly Goan real estate.

Such arguments make the case that big-time artists, writers, musicians, and academics making Goa their home is something that needs to be actively accepted and encouraged. And yet, Narvekar points to the flip side of this imagination, indicating that another “essential forerunner to the formation of a gentrified state is the sudden mushrooming of art events. There are art schools, galleries and art event spaces springing up all over the state. But unfortunately, most of the attendees are not the average Goan youth, but young, affluent, alternative migrants. The former can hardly afford the Rs. 300 cocktails or the Rs. 400 mains served at these joints”.

So the question that needs to be posed is whether this in-migration of albeit skilled elite is really bringing any substantial benefits to Goa and Goans? Or is it just another case of gentrification where Goan land is nothing but real estate, and owning an old, so-called Portuguese house merely a status symbol for the global and globalized elites? After all, as the Times Crest article informed in 2012, “having a Goa address is increasingly been perceived as a chic way of saying one has arrived, both professionally and personally”. The whole idea of celebrating such ‘outsiders’, as Vivek Menezes proposes, hides the fact that this celebration is selective; it privileges the already privileged. The ‘outsiders’ who clean the roads of Goa, those who are engaged in construction activities, the labour class basically do not necessarily figure in this narrative of accepting the ‘outsiders’.

In the past, I had argued for the investment in intellectual pursuits so that we would better understand the past and present of Goans and Goa. It was a plea to forge networks so that Goans across the social and economic spectrum would be able to intellectually engage with Goa, and Goan history and culture in a systematic manner. Being skeptical about positive effects of global and economic elites from across the world and India setting up their base in Goa is not necessarily at variance with this earlier suggestion. While it is important to think more closely on who is an ‘insider’ or ‘outsider’, it is also important to be aware of the consequences of constructing and re-thinking identities, especially the consequences on the marginalized – ‘insiders’ or ‘outsiders’. The ‘insider’/‘outsider’ argument cannot reproduce newer discriminations that mirror the old feudal ways of living and being. A truly cosmopolitan and democratic culture cannot exclude on the basis of castes, classes, and gender. The fear is that a gentrified (or a gentrifying) Goa would perhaps not permit this to happen.

(First published in  O Heraldo, dt: 1 April, 2015)

WORLD CLASS ‘INSIDE/OUT’

Frederick Noronha

Inside/Out: New Writings from Goa, edited by Helene Derkin Menezes and José Lourenço, when released a few months back, did grab a lot of headlines. Much of the publicity was due to the inclusion of an essay by the noted novelist and partly Goa-resident, Amitav Ghosh. According to an internet forum message, the book did well, as immediately after its launch, nearly 650 copies were sold. When a celebrity writer of the stature of Amitav Ghosh is associated with a book that is published from a place more known for matters and things other than literary, there is always a fear that the writings of the other contributors may not receive the attention they deserve.  But, I can assure you, nothing of that sort has happened here.

            All the writers in this anthology are members of a diverse and vibrant group called the Goa Writers, launched in 2005. All were given a very vague and abstract theme: Inside Out, which they had to interpret in their own way. The result: a very beautiful and immensely satisfying collection of writings that we can all be very proud of.       

Like any good anthology, this book has an abundance of short stories, poems, memoirs, photographs and essays. Amongst them, Walking as Art is a free verse poem by Isabel de Santa Rita Vas which reminded me of Ogden Nash who is known for his free verse poetry. Isabel, like Nash, writes with a lot of wit and humour and at the same time gives us much to munch over. I am not someone who enjoys poetry but Isabel’s keen eye and deft words surely made me realize that walking is not just a simple act. There is a philosophy about walking and I found this extremely amazing. Similarly, Mario Coelho’s poem, written for children and peppered with lively and amazing characters, is also a treat to read.

            The contributors in this book are Goans, expat Goans, non-Goans or foreigners. Most of them, after spending a childhood or sometime outside Goa have now made Goa their home. So, for many of these contributors, the interpretation of the abovementioned theme narrows down to writing about their memories or experiences in the land that they were formerly living in.

            There is an interesting essay penned by Vidhyadhar Gadgil. He first came to Goa as a teen along with a few friends and confesses to drinking as if there was no tomorrow during that particular holiday. Gadgil was domiciled in Goa before moving to Kathmandu. He discusses the dynamics of who is an ‘insider’ and who is an ‘outsider’. I find this interesting because Gadgil is giving a call to all Bhailes to come under an organization called Bhailyancho Saad (The Voice of the Outsiders) and gives them the slogan: Garv se kaho hum ghanti hain. On one hand he makes a case for the ‘outsiders’ while on the other hand he confesses to calling (not loudly) some bunch of smelly labourers on a bus “Bloody ghantis”, thus taking pleasure in ethnic and class superiority that only ‘insiders’ can enjoy (according to him). Such a statement, I guess, reveals that not all non-native people can come under the all-encompassing identity of ‘Outsiders’. There is definitely a difference amongst various ‘outsiders’ and a hierarchy by which the natives and the affluent and educated ‘outsiders’ try to keep the poor and powerless ‘outsiders’ at the lowest levels of the access-to-valued-resources chain.

            As a student of history, I always look forward to personal stories: the stories that our parents and grandparents tell us and which now the children put on paper. Veena Gomes-Patwardhan’s Granny’s Goa does exactly that. She tells us how her great grand-parents would travel all the way to Caranzalem so as to run a bakery there. Fatima da Silva Gracias tells a personal story as she tries to find out some facts about an old family photograph in The Unresolved Mystery of a Family Portrait.

            Aimee Ginsburg’s One Still Here is an interesting tale of three Jewish women: herself, her grandmother and Catarina da Orta, the sister of Garcia da Orta who was burned at the stake, all linked together in different times and spaces.

            Amitav Ghosh has written a small essay called Anthony Vaz. Anthony Vaz, we are told, had compiled a dictionary of nautical terms that would help the English officers to communicate with the native sailors. Ghosh writes about the importance of preserving such dictionaries, “With the vanishing of wind-powered merchant vessels, this entire apparatus (of words as well as things) has more or less disappeared from the face of the earth. This is precisely the values of books like Vaz’s: they give us a glimpse of a way of life that is now extinct. …I am convinced that there are many yet undiscovered manuscripts languishing in Goan houses. Let us hope that they will soon come to light.”

            I am a big fan of the writings of Amitav Ghosh. Reading his many books and essays, I am always stumped by his mastery over words. Although I found this essay important, I was a little disappointed as I was looking forward to be blown away by Amitav Ghosh’s unique style of writing. But maybe I was just expecting too much.

            The pains that the editors and Aniruddha Sen Gupta (design and layout) took to pack a beautiful collection between the covers are clearly visible. The photography of Vivek Menezes for the cover is sure to attract attention. All the contributors are introduced in a novel way at the beginning of their writings. It is a short and perky introduction written in a lighter vein and is sure to bring a little smile on one’s face.

            The blurb of the book claims to “challenge and destroy the stereotypes” about Goa and to a great extent the writings lives up to that claim. Inside/Out: New Writings from Goa is definitely a world class product from Goa1556.

Name: Inside/Out: New Writings from Goa

Edited by: Helene Derkin Menezes and José Lourenço

Published by: Goa1556, Saligão

Year: 2011

Web: goa1556.goa-india.org, www.flipkart.com

(A version of this article appeared on Gomantak Times, dt: August 8, 2011)