By Rajan Narayan

SUSEGAD does not mean lazy or laid back. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is mistaken when he claims that the tradition of susegad is a colonial hangover. Susegad is not just a Portuguese tradition. Indeed, all Latin American countries ranging from Brazil to Cuba celebrate the susegad culture. Susegad is not being lazy. It does not mean the lack of a work ethic. It does not mean that Goans are any less hardworking than their counterparts in India or any part of the world.
Susegad only means that Goans know how to strike the right balance between work and life. Indeed, it symbolises an attitude to life which believes that you work so that you can enjoy life to the maximum. Work is not an end itself but a means to enjoy the good life with family, extended family, neighbours, friends, acquaintances, total strangers. Goans are the original kings and queens of sharing the good times be it marriages, several other celebrations. Over good food and liquor and company.
Goans have worked very hard historically. Goans have left miserable impoverishment and slavery behind to take the risks of going out and working in the Gulf countries, in Africa, and in the United Kingdom — to provide for family back home. Not just for wives and children but also beloved extended family of brothers, sisters, cousins, nephews and of course senior citizens in the family are loved and respected even if sometimes they are too demanding.

GOANS ABROAD
INEVITABLY, Goans working abroad would come home either during the summer vacation or during Christmas. For many Goans who have ancestral homes in their villages their visits to Goa coincide with the local church fests or the jatra. Before the foreign charter tourists and the domestic tourists invaded Goa’s beaches, there was a tradition of extended Goan families, particularly the Catholic families spending quality time on the beaches summer time or during the pre-monsoon days when a dip in the salt water of the sea was considered therapeutic for seniors and indeed, the entire family.
Goans used to hire a villa on the beaches to spend a week or two in togetherness breaks, to catch up with one another. These beach holidays also doubled as matchmaking sessions. Young men and women fell in mog while walking the beaches and swimming in the sea. It was an occasion for bonding not only within families but also within the community.
Goan Hindu families of course bonded during Chavath and Tulsi Vivaha get-togethers in their ancestral village homes. Joint families comprising of brothers, sisters, paternal and maternal grandparents, little or young adult nieces and nephews, cousins, uncles, aunts, all lived and recreated together and still do so come the ten days of Ganesh Chaturthi.
Everybody returns to their town homes and jobs in Goa or outside Goa with a sense of renewal after their family get together breaks by the beach or Ganesh festival.
The susegad lifestyle does not mean you do not work very hard. When you are working, you work very hard. But Goans are not obsessed with making money. Most Goans have an ancestral home. Every home has one or more members working abroad who generously send money for their less fortunate brothers and sisters back home. Every Goan has some land, a few coconut, mango trees, caju trees maybe.
Fish in the rivers and seas are plentiful and most Goan families have family memberts who take fishing for home consumption seriously. So Goans never starve even if they do not have jobs government or private company. This is why they wait till they get a decent job. Unlike the migrants, Goans have a social security net in family and extended family, they can afford to wait for the right job and for the right girl to marry.

5-DAY WEEK VIRTUES
IN much of the Western countries including the UK, the United States and Europe, they observe a five-day week. During the week everyone works very hard. During the weekend which begins on Friday night, they party hard. When I went for a holiday to London, I would see hundreds of hardworking employees, both men and women, stopping at the pub to have a couple or drinks before they caught the local trains back to their homes.
The concept of leisure in Goa as in the western countries is active recreation. Unlike the rest of the country including Tamil Nadu, where the Larsen & Toubro Managing Director Sekhripuram Narayanan Subrahmanyam comes from, the Goan does not look upon Sunday as a time for staring at their wife. On the contrary, most Goans look upon weekends, particularly Sundays, to spend quality time with their family. This means going out en famile for picnics or pictures or some outings to dine and be together, most Goans like visiting restaurants where the seafood comes recommended and the music is live courtesy known bands which tempt folk to get up and dance the formal dances of old and also new which so many learn in Goa from childhood or later on…real jiving and waltzing if not the foxtrot or salsa or twist or hip hop or Bombay “ishstyle” or whatever else which may be the current rage or passion. Goans also historically, have been very involved in swimming and other hobbies like playing the guitar or drums or violin. Goans have always believed in active holidays instead of the passive tradition of resting at home. Weekends and particularly Sundays are for “khao, piyo, maza karo” with family and friends who need no invitation.
WHEN I first came to Goa in 1983 I felt very frustrated on finding that most of the shops, except for restaurants and bars, shut down between 2 pm to 4pm if not 1pm to 4pm. Today things may have changed somewhat but old pharmacies continue the tradition of observing the sacred siesta. This mean during the hottest part of the day just rest or take a siesta at home, listening to music…take power cat naps before waking up to tea time when a snack or snacks may be passed around.

SUSEGAD NOT UNIQUE
ALL this susegad lifestyle is not unique to Goa. I know several top executives who preach and practice the value of the one hour snooze after lunch to get back to work with greater vigour later in the day. However, the top executives in any field have no choice but to work very long hours. They start early and work till late. It is the power nap in the middle of the day which keeps them going. For the business community it perhaps make good sense.
There are not many customers in shops or even in malls during the afternoon hours. There is no point in hanging around the shops or stressing the employees without any customers. It makes better sense to give yourself and the employees a break so that they can work a little longer in the evening during peak hours.
So, it is a false belief that Goans are laid back and do not work hard. In any case Goans who work in hospitals whether as nurses or residents have to work a minimum shift of eight hours. Resident doctors and consultants very often end up working even 12 hours a day. In the tourism industry all the employees from the top managers to the waiters and the housekeeping staff have to routinely work ten hours a day.
While tourists both foreign and domestic enjoy their holidays swimming and gentle time passing it is the tourism and hospitality industry professionals who work over time to keep them happy. Recently, when I managed to do lunch at the Marriott Resort at Miramar on Christmas Day all the staff was on their toes from the F&B director Elvis Pereira to the waiters, housekeeping staff, most of them Goans.
In journalism too the top people and senior employees routinely work ten hours or more a day. I recall that when I came from Bombay to start the English edition of the daily “OHeraldo” I used to start work around 11am and return to my home quarters around 2am after putting the next day’s edition to bed. All senior journalists and indeed all senior employees are on the job 24 hours a day, at least mentally if not physically.
In the Infotech industry, the bosses have to work ten to 14 hours per day. I know a fun-loving Goan who is now chained to her laptop almost 24 hours a day. This is partly because the clients of software companies are abroad and to cater to them software professionals have to remain responsive during their working hours. They are of course rewarded handsomely. Owners and chief executives no doubt need to work very, very hard. They cannot have a complaint because they are compensated very generously. Unlike the employees who get much less.
Indeed, the ratio of salaries between the top executive and the lowest paid employee could be one to 100. Which means the CEO gets a hundred time more than the average employee’s salary.

CHOICE, NOT NECESSITY
WORKING 24 hours or 100 to 90 hours is a matter of choice and not a necessity. Working long hours is a matter of greed rather than need. The irony is that the people at the lowest economic level are forced to work much harder and for longer hours because they work at jobs fetching very low wages. Domestic maids may work in half-a-dozen homes to take home a reasonable salary.
Similarly, self-employed folk like taxi drivers and auto-rickshaw driver need to work for long hours to sustain their families. Working long hours does not necessarily mean productivity increases. Nobody can work continuously for even eight hours without loss of concentration. What is important is that not the quantity of time that you devote to your job or profession or vocation, but quality time. When you work you must be totally focused on what you are doing. Similarly, when you are on holiday like the Goans, you should be focused on relaxing and enjoying yourself. Viva Susegad, Viva Goa.