I can't go home again!

Ben Antao

I cringe to bring up a cliché such as "You can't go home again!" This time I shall try to explain the Goan predicament, as I understand it.

First, let me address the point raised by a fellow Goan re the role of GI financially helping Goans in Goa.

It seems to me that the internet is being used by certain Goans in Goa to help themselves financially and that there are enough nostalgic Goans outside Goa to help them out. If this is true, good luck to both.

Sure, the Goans in the Middle East, the U.K., Canada, U.S. and Australia, and other places who work hard and save for the sake of their children's education and for their own retirement, are not as hard pressed as their brethren in Goa.

Let's consider this:

Shouldn't the Goans in Goa work hard to change the quality of life there? Why do they tolerate such widespread corruption in every day life? Why do they allow the same politicians, who promise the moon and never deliver, to come to power and ruin their lives?

Of course, there are a number of groups and well-meaning individuals who are doing their best to change the way things are working in Goa. Good luck to them.

Everyone, it seems, wants to stick it to the outside Goan for all it's worth. Pathetic, indeed!

At the risk of repetition, I would suggest that those who are working and living outside Goa and who have no hope of settling in the land of their present domicile (I am thinking of the Middle East) should consider investments in North America.

Secondly, helping Goans does not mean only giving money to Goans in Goa, that is, starting projects in Goa. Other ways, through education, exchange of views, are also modes of helping out.

But I always get this feeling about Goans in Goa (and I know the Goan character as well as any other Goan, having lived and worked there for the first 30 years--half my life): "Please don't lecture me on how to live my life; just send the money. Thank you."


Peter Nazareth made a telling point when he wrote:

Those who come back get clawed almost to death for money and things, so they leave again. But the artist has left because inside, he hasn't left: he has traveled to create his art and bring knowledge, information and the wider picture back so people can act with knowledge."

That's how I see it also, Peter. But how many Goans, percentage-wise, are really interested in knowledge? The attitude is pathetic.

And, finally, I want to say to those who cry: Put your money where your mouth is. Be sure the money you send to Goa goes to feed the mouths that need feeding, and not to those who have discovered another way of fleecing the Goans in the name of Goa.

In case, the point is conveniently missed by those in Goa, I am referring to corruption. Who is going to bell the cat? Certainly not me, because I know I can't go home again.

Ben Antao
August 22, 1999

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in reply:

Jose Oscar Noronha wrote:

 

Dear Ben and friends:

As for Goa, they say that the nostalgia of an immigrant has four dimensions, out of which three you can recover, but you cannot recover time. With the architectural monstrosities you see in Goa today, I feel I cannot recover the other three, as well.

I will mull over the interesting theme you've brought up, and get back, if time permits.

Best Regards!

Jose Oscar Noronha
on Aug 22 1999

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