By Rajan Narayan
AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when Chief Minister Pramod Sawant lamented that outsiders were taking over businesses owned by Goans. For a Saturday following the week when Meenacshi Martins, physiatrist and actor, won a landmark case reversing the forged will of her father — the legendary freedom fighter Dr Jose Francisco Xavier Antonio Martins. For a Saturday following the week when owners of bars and taverns were very upset with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. For a Saturday following the week when the suspected killers of Gauri Lankesh were felicitated by the Ram Sene and other Hindutva groups in Karnataka. For a Saturday following the week when Goa earned the unfortunate distinction of having the highest per capita plastic use in the country. For a Saturday following the week when the Hospicio district hospital in Margao started offering palliative care to victims of cancer and other chronic diseases, including dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
LET OUTSIDERS WORK!
AND a few stray thoughts on Chief Minister Pramod Sawant lamenting that outsiders are taking over businesses owned by Goans. This is reinforced by the observation of Michael Lobo that owners of restaurants, nightclubs and even shacks, were renting out their premises to outsiders. It is not widely known that the iconic nightclub at Baga beach – Titos – is now owned by a Delhi party. I understand that Ricardo D’Souza and his brother David D’Souza came under tremendous pressure to sell the famous nightclub. The bulk of the nightclubs in Anjuna and Vagator are now run by parties from Delhi. Goans are no longer interested in running even the shacks and are renting them out to outsiders.
Most of the new shops, particularly high end boutiques of fashionable attire and jewelry are run by Mumbai socialites. Fashion designer Ritu Beri has a resort-cum-boutique in north Goa. The other famous designer is Tarun Tahiliani who was served notice for unauthorized construction. Not only restaurants and shacks but other businesses have also been taken over by non-Goans. There are no more Goan barbers or hair saloons left except for Guru’s where Guru was the personal barber of the late chief minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar. The majority of hair cut and shave saloons are now being run by residents of Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. Most travel agencies are also owned and managed by those whom Goans continue to call outsiders right or wrong.
Earlier the concern was primarily over migrants taking over the jobs of Goans. Now Chief Minister Pramod Sawant himself has sounded the alarm over Goan businesses being taken over by outsiders. The poder of old is disappearing being replaced by hi fi bake shops. In the past Chocolati was one of the few outsider run high earning bakeries. It would appear that Goans are no longer interested in running even traditional businesses. All they want to do is sell their land and ancestral homes and also businesses to outsider Indians to make money and go away.
Pramod Sawant rightly stresses that skills should be preserved and Goans should be motivated to retain their businesses. Outstanding example of Goans protecting their heritage business enterprises is Café Central in Panaji where the Gaitonde family have done well for over four generations now.
FORGED WILLS STORY
AND a few stray thoughts on Meenacshi Martins, physiatrist and actor, winning a landmark case to do with reversing the forged will of her father, the legendary freedom fighter Dr Jose Francisco Xavier Antonio Martins. Meenacshi has been fighting to prove that her father’s will had been forged for the last 17 years. The court finally ruled that her father’s will had been forged and her property wrongly registered by the then sub-registrar. This is a very important judgement for all Goans whose properties have been stolen by family members or outsiders.
In her Facebook post, Meenacshi Martins reveals that “the registered will made under suspicious circumstances and registered by negligent sub-registrar has been declared null and void along with registered succession deed.” The case relates to her ancestral property at Salvador do Mundo. Which was allegedly usurped by her brother Sushrut Martins. In reaction to her post another distinguished Goan, Hyacinth Pinto, has posted that a panch member has grabbed her property through a false will and illegal registration.
Over the last decade a number of cases of such fraud have been reported from various parts of Goa. There is a notorious case where comunidade land was sold to illegal migrants, giving them the impression that the seller had rights over the property. Their houses paid for with hard-earned money are now facing the bulldozer. We will be posting the judgment text for the benefit of other Goans facing similar problems.
COME TO GOA FOR CHEAP BOOZE
AND a few stray thoughts on owners of bars and taverns being very upset with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. The CM recently urged Goans to go home and drink and not rush to bars. This is because a large number of traffic accidents and fatalities are because of inebriated or drunken driving. While Goans do go to taverns and bars in large numbers most of them are responsible drivers. Moreover Goans by and large know how to hold their liquor. This is partly because they start drinking from a very young age. Most Goans with few exceptions know their limits.
This is unlike tourists from other states who seem to take it for granted that they can try driving with the full tank of liquor inside them. Indeed, the majority of drunken driving fatalities and accidents involve driving tourists. The government has no control over drunken tourists. It may be recalled that a drunken tourist killed the owner of the guest house in Anjuna within her own compound. There are of course cases of Goans like Paresh Sawardekar causing the death of other Goans, as dramatized by the Banastarim accident a while ago. Significantly, the wife Meghana Sawadekar was omitted from the charge sheet though she was in the driver’s seat driving their SUV Mercedes last year in August 2023.
The Goa police even though armed with alcoholmeters have not been able to crack down on drunken driving. The bitter ground reality is that cheap alcohol is the major tourist attraction for domestic tourists. The police are not even able to stop domestic tourists from drinking on the beaches. The best solution would be to increase the excise duty on alcohol and put it out of reach of both locals and domestic tourists. As long as the price of liquor in Goa is less than half the price in neighboring states drinking tourists will come to Goa to get drunk.
FREE MURDERERS
AND a few stray thoughts on the suspected killers of Gauri Lankesh being felicitated by the Ram Sene and other Hindutva groups in Karnataka. Of the 18 persons accused of Gauri Lankesh’s murder, 16 are now out of bail while one has never been arrested. One of the accused is serving a sentence in a related case. Recently, a Bengaluru sessions court granted bail to eight persons allegedly involved in the assassination of activist Gauri Lankesh.
Scroll has reported that Parshuram Waghmare, the man accused of shooting Gauri Lankesh, was felicitated by Hindutva groups in Vijaypura, last Saturday, October 12. Waghmare was a resident of Vijaypura and was released after six years in jail. Lankesh Patrike, edited by Gauri Lankesh, was a critic of Hindutva groups.
PLASTICS KILL GOA
AND a few stray thoughts on Goa earning the unfortunate distinction of having the highest per capita plastic use in the country. Among the biggest contributors to plastic waste are Zomato, Swiggy, not to mention online commerce companies like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. There has been an increasing tendency in Goa to order food home from Zomato and Swiggy instead of going out to eat in restaurants.
In home delivery inevitably the food arrives in plastic containers. I have personal experience of the plastic litter created on my dining table every time I have ordered courtesy Zomato or Swiggy. Similarly, I’m forced to order diapers from Amazon in bulk because it’s a little more economical, but these packs too come in plastic wraps. Never mind that diapers themselves are full of plastic microfiber and make one feel like one is living in an oven.
There was a time when books and magazines used to be sent by book post. Now they arrive wrapped in thin plastics. Plastic water bottles have become universal with most working men and women carrying their own water bottles to work. Very few restaurants offer filtered drinking water and instead force you to order pet bottled water.
Almost everything one purchase nowadays is made of plastic or wrapped in plastic. There was a time when we used a brass or zinc bucket in the washrooms. Now we have slimy never washed plastic buckets and tumblers everywhere in hotels and hospitals, a source of infection and contamination if you have to use them.
Goa being a tourism destination is truly drowning in plastics. My better three- quarters is one of the few people who insists on taking her own stainless steel tiffin carriers when she wants to buy back food from eateries. It’s good to learn that former chief minister Digambar Kamat is promoting cloth bags in Margao. He can also promote the use of home tiffin carriers for takeaway food. Say a 5% discount on prices if you bring your own dibba, restaurants should set this trend.
PALLIATIVE CARE AT HOSPICIO
AND last stray thoughts on the Hospicio district hospital in Margao offering palliative care to victims of cancer and other chronic diseases, including dementia and Parkinson’s. The palliative care team of the Directorate of Health Services along with the Cipla Foundation are offering a wide range of services. This includes providing symptomatic relief comfort and support to those with critical and age-related illnesses and disabilities.
The services offered include nursing services such as bed sore management, tube insertions and removals, also counseling. This includes physiotherapy, respiratory aid and training and best of all perhaps dental services to do with replacement of old dentures with new ones which fit better and so the patient may chew his or her food better.
The breast cancer support group meets at the Hospicio hospital between 10 am and 12 noon every first Tuesday of the month. Similarly, the dementia support group has an online meeting every third Tuesday. For enquiries about this support group you may dial +91 9518735280.