Let’s ring in a change in mindsets

"How does one become a butterfly?" she asked pensively. "You must want 

to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar." 

Trina Paulus, Hope for the Flowers

I make no New Year resolutions, so let’s not waste time on empty promises.

The sun has set on yet another year, even as party animals descended upon Goa to ring in the countdown to the festive season. From the choicest champagne to the costliest caviar, high fashion to mega bucks splurged on dos and dinners, guest lists and celebrities. A corner of my conscience beeped warning bells taking in the glitz, the extravagant monies splurged on food that found its way into waste bins, the flutes of wine that lay untouched and wasted, excesses of the rich and the famous in the face of sadness, hunger and grief. What was my role in this mad house? Was I being partner to this irony by endorsing my participation? Why the unrest in the feet dying to dance to the throb of laser lights? What lesson to learn in this masquerade of make-believe?

My buddy in Sri Lanka kept me updated with horrifying images of mothers holding on to the bloated fingers of their still-laying children, mass burials of bodies in gunny bags, tear-stricken faces, horror in the eyes and hunger in the belly. Something inside me still wrenches, even as you deal with feelings of helplessness, and in some strange emotion, feelings of guilt. Nature knows how to get you down to ground zero. A wake up and take stock call of sorts. 

Even as the country woke up to a festive season marred by tragedy, Goa put up a brave front keeping up to her party reputation whilst dealing with starry tantrums and traffic jams, even as close buddies chose to stay away from the glitz for a quite commune with their loved ones.

Grief has a way of offering a comfort blanket even when you’re sharing elbow space next table with humanity’s myriad faces of insensitivity.

Like the Governor doing the boogey on the dance floor (and prominently carried as a front page picture on a local daily) which I thought was an exercise in bad timing, especially in the event of a national tragedy. Not in good taste, Mr. Governor, even if you can moonwalk brilliantly like Michael Jackson.   Because public figures have a larger, responsible role to play in enforcing an image of stoic grace, especially when gloom and despair hits a section of the masses struggling to come to terms with loss of life, property and existence.

Examples are set by action. Good examples become benchmarks. How else do we take on the fascist forces hell bent on divide and rule in mind, body and spirit?

A poet pal bitterly complained about how everybody found comfort slotting people and aspirations into pigeonholes. I’m told few Ponjekars have trouble thinking like Goenkars (and likewise with citizens of Margao and Vasco) because it’s so easy dealing with a small bite in the mouth than looking at the entire sandwich on the plate. It is precisely this malady that plagues the unification of Goans into one loud voice, with enough bargaining power to decide the course of their destiny. 

Aren’t we already tolerating an Opposition that has lost its goal, gumption and guts?

A change in mindsets begins (like charity) at home. It begins with concrete goals. And it begins with responsibility. Goa does not need political agendas to decide her future.

And Goa certainly does not need a brainwashed repressive generation of students force-fed and factory produced to grow with images of somebody else’s hate.

Goa needs to take a long hard look at herself, minus the deceptive defenses of being a jolly good happy state. Goa needs to get real. It is a responsibility which begins with us, through our choices of communication tools in getting this message across to the people in our villages that really matter.

This year, let youth prevail. This is our fervent prayer New Year wish for Goa.

EVE’S REVENGE

‘What makes a woman beautiful? Compassion. If not, there must be something wrong with her as a human being.” MAHARANI GAYATRI DEVI

Ethel Da Costa
January 3, 2005

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