ALL EYEBALLS WERE ON THE RADHIKA-ANANT AMBANI MARRIAGE CELEBRATIONS ON JULY 12 2024…
…for one ceremonial occasion the bride and her sisters-in-law were draped in these exquisite fresh mogra bud studded dupatta- the fragrant white flowers and turmeric yellow marigolds coming all the way from a California garden. The bride’s delicate floral attire was designed by Anamika Khanna or so we hear on the Ambani marriage grape vine. This reportedly Rs5,000 crore lavish Gujarati marriage accounts for only 0.05% of the Ambani’s family’s net worth! Remember industrialist Mukesh Ambani is rated as the 9th richest man in the world…the most shandaar marriage had VIP invitees arriving from the world over to witness the final rites of the marriage of bride Radhika Merchant and bridegroom Anant Ambani, held at the 27-floored palatial Ambani residence in one of Mumbai’s prime residential areas. Since all of the marriage was showcased on social media channels it was a bit alike the whole world was invited to be guests as viewers only!
ELOQUENT YURI ALEMAO!
FIRST time MLA Yuri Alemao is the Leader of Opposition in the Goa Legislative Assembly. He is vocal in the house during sessions and issues regular press notes also. But he has a lot to achieve as far as public contact is concerned. The LoP is like a shadow chief minister and must keep his eyes and ears close to the public at large.
Manohar Parrikar’s electoral success in 2012 Goa Assembly polls derives its origin to the constant vigil and role played by him as the LoP from 2007 till 2012, meeting activists, exposing the corruption of the government, using the RTI Act to unearth scams, etc. In fact, Parrikar’s chamber in the Assembly was always crowded by journalists, activists and citizens.
Today we see that Vijai Sardesai is filling the vacancy of a LoP. His janta durbar is in almost every major town of Goa and the idea of inviting LAQ suggestions is noteworthy. Citizens expect that Vijai Sardesai will leave no stone unturned during the upcoming assembly session to unearth the misdeeds of the administration before the house.
–Sadanand Raikar
Colva, Salcete, Goa
| GANAPATI BAPPA MORYA I REMEMBER my old days during the monsoon rains when I used to go to catch frogs in the Caranzalem fields and at St Inez nullah, and my parents used to make delicious dishes. The greatest accompaniment being the caju feni which made us relish sorpotel, sannas and cabidela even more. These dishes are perennial favourites of Goan cuisine and the aroma in the kitchen added to the flavour of the dishes made by our family, accompanied by the sound of music on our records player or radio. Also the sound of rain on the roof tiles kept everyone in good humour. Nowadays there are terraces and although it is not the same, today is a rainy day and in such rainy days everyone at home in Goa is still enthusiastic to be indoors, happy to receive visitors and the morale of home is excellent. Still I feel nostalgic for get-togethers like before in our Goan houses in these rainy days especially with the food and pitter-patter of rain on roof tiles. Those were the days when our food was made fresh with tasty mouthwatering ingredients. But now all that has vanished. The family would make patoyo during this season and eating hot patoyo is such a wonderful memory. Today’s young generation cannot dream how our elders enjoyed in our homes. Instead of doing anything all they want to do is place orders for food from outside the home which often comes inferior, contaminated and adulterated! –Stephen Dias, Dona Paula, Panjim |
NEW LAWS PROTECT ARROGANT POLITICIANS?
LIFE for aam aadmi is getting more and more difficult. Regarding last week’s Gaurav Bakshi-Minister Nilkant Halankar incident it comes across as a molehill being turned into a mountain of arrogance! Actor and founder of HelpdesQ.in Gaurav Bakshi was detained by Goa Police regardless of who was right and who wrong – all over a minister’s car blocking the road at the Panchayat office at Revora. Finding the road blocked Mr Bakshi, who had gone to the village Panchayat to submit a construction licence application, asked the vehicle blocking the road to give way for another vehicle to pass.
Unfortunately, it happened to be Minister Nilkanth Halankar’s car and his driver refused to make way for Bakshi’s car to move ahead. An altercation occurred and turned into a farcical exchange of abuses, threats, etc – with the minister joining in (as video making the rounds on media channels reveals). Finally, with repeated requests the driver finally made way for Mr Bakshi’s car to pass on for parking ahead.
But the story did not end there. The minister instructed that a police complaint be filed against Gaurav Bakshi, even when it was the minister’s car which blocked the road and refused to budge to make way for another vehicle to pass.
Mr Bakshi was arrested in a bizarre manner. The police not only arrested him but his efforts to get bail were thwarted. Nobody was interested in listening to his side of the story when he went to complain first, it was not registered; waited for two hours till the opposite party came with their complaint and both complaints were taken together. The police acted on the other complaint, FIR, and arrested him. No question of arresting ministers of course!
If this is not a clear case of abuse of power by the police in an initially bailable offence what is it? When Mr Bakshi himself surrendered to the police and when with his lawyer along with his wife went to the police station to complete bail formalities. They were informed that section 132 of the BNS act, that’s the new penal code, was added which makes is wrongful to assault a public servant and makes it a non-bailable offence.
Clearly the intention was to arrest and keep the “culprit” in custody and prevent him from acquiring bail. A bail application was moved before the JMFC Mapusa but the matter was posted at 9 pm and the investigated office turned up at 9.15 pm and sought time. The learned magistrate adjourned the matter to 10am the next morning and thus Gaurav Bakshi had to spend a night in police custody. It does sound like with the new penal code laws it easier to put away citizens in jail if they so much as point fingers at “government servants.”
In a letter on social media Gaurav Bakshi’s wife Rupendra Kaur shares, “I am Gaurav Bakshi’s wife. My husband got into an altercation with the team of Minister Nilkant. I was forced to leave my 84 year old father-in-law at home and spend the whole day trying to get bail for my husband who wilfully surrendered after a frivolous and motivated FIR was filed against him. The police informed us that he was being arrested for two bailable offences for which I had to be present to finish bail formalities. When me and our lawyer reached there we learnt that a new section which was non-bailable was added last minute due to pressure. We then went to the magistrate for bail for which the investigating officer was supposed to appear at 9.00 pm and he arrived at 9.20pm, he asked for extra time. The matter has now been adjourned to tomorrow morning 10am. My husband will be in custody for over 16 hours for an unnecessary matter. This is a clear abuse of power against a law abiding citizen who has always kept Goa’s interest at heart and acted against the corrupt…”
From the sound of it the politician concerned, police, others discussed the matter for three hours from the minister’s point of view and put the blame solely on Gaurav Bakshi (a well respected resident of Taleigao, a citizen’s rights leader), a law-abiding citizen living in Goa for the last nine years).
However, this incident gives us a glimpse of how the new laws will be implemented – not so much in the spirit of the law but in the letter of the law which is so often perceived to be anti-people. I am reminded of what Edmund Burke said about “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
–Tara Narayan, Panjim