By Rajan Narayan

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when Valentine’s Day is observed on February 14 every year. For a Saturday following the week when we recall there’s a tradition of romantic folklore literature in ancient Hindu mythology. For a Saturday following the week when we acknowledged the sharp decline in the manufacturing sector in Goa. For a Saturday following the week when the UK followed the example of Donald Trump in targeting Indian migrants. For a Saturday following the week when there was a huge increase in one special category of foreign tourist

VALENTINE’S DAY
AND a few stray thoughts on Valentine’s Day which is observed on February 14, every year. The traditional way to observe Valentine’s Day Goa-style is to sing a mando to your beloved. The mando is a traditional Goan musical form with nostalgic lyrics accompanied by the playing of the violin or guitar and of course the Goan drum – the ghumat. The romantic dance associated with the mando music is of graceful movements at once blending Goan and Western cultural influence.
The primary theme of the mando is love and encompasses the emotions of yearning and pining, the coming together of lovers and sorrow over break-ups. Some of the best-known mando songs include “Bara Tera Vorsam Zalim.” Among favourites of course there is “Mog Zalo.” For those who do not know Konkani the song is about falling in love. I hope Goa’s five-star hotels have events celebrating Valentine’s Day with mando programs. Mando competitions for young singers and lovers.
But the trend seems to be to make Valentine’s Day a very private affair. Almost every five-star hotel is offering cabanas for Valentine’s Day night. These are mini-tents that offer privacy to a couple where they may wine and dine and romance each other. Among favourite Valentine’s Day are the love songs of the legendary super singers Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard. I recall their most romantic of songs including “The Young Ones” about being young and you should not be afraid to fall in love while the flame is strong, and young love shouldn’t be afraid to dream together, etc. A hit song along with the others.

HINDU LOVE MYTHOLOGY
AND a few stray thoughts on the traditional works of falling in love and romance in Hinduism’s ancient mythology rooted in various gods and goddesses. Among the most romantic figures of religious Hindu mythology is Lord Krishna. Krishna, is primarily associated with the the epic Mahabharat and the Bhagvad Gita enshrined as its centrepiece, considered among literature’s great philosophical treatises. It recounts the story of how Lord Krishna advices warrior Arjuna in his chariot in the middle of the Mahabharat war. While Krishna was the charioteer Arjuna confides in him that he does not want to fight this war between cousins, he does not want to feel guilty of causing the death of his cousins and nephews (the Mahabharat epic is set against fratricidal warfare).
Krishna advises Arjuna that all of us must do our duty (dharma) and leave the consequences for God almighty to take care of. What is lost sight is that in a larger picture of the religious mythological stories Lord Krishna is also perceived as the ultimate “lover boy” or king of those times. To this day most Hindus think of Lord Krishna as the most romantic figure in Hindu mythology. Literature and music traditions sing of Lord Krishna dancing the “ras leela” – to do with his love for Radha and other women of the cowherds community.
Lord Krishna comes across as a playful personality flirting with all women humble or from high places. He may have married Rukmini, one of his wives, the leading wife), but the love of his life was Radha although she remained in the courtyard or aangan in the form of the tulsi plant. The tulsi plant or holy basil is revered and worshipped in all Hindu households.
Indeed, the most erotic book of poems in Sanskrit literature are in the 12th century poet Jayadev’s “Geet Govinda,” poetry lyrics entirely devoted to the passionate encounters between Lord Krishna and Radha…including erotic descriptions of love scenes between Radha and Krishna eg, “love bites.”

SHARP DECLINE IN MANUFACTURING SECTOR
AND a few stray thoughts on the sharp decline in the manufacturing sector in Goa. The latest figures reveal that a large number of manufacturing units (micro small and medium enterprises) have closed down in Goa since Covid-19. In many industrial estates over 50 percent of the small-scale units shut down. Even more distressingly fewer new units are coming up.
The net effect is that there is a sharp decline in job recruitments in this sector in Goa. There is no culture of entrepreneurship in the state at least in Generation Z. Generation Z prefers to pick up jobs outside the state, and so employment opportunities come down in Goa. Considering that Goa’s population is around 15 lakh plus it has half-a-dozen top engineering colleges including an IIT and NIT and the BITS Pilani complex. But there are no start-ups as Goa does not offer a nurturing environment.
This is in sharp contrast to Generation X, who pioneered industrial growth in Goa. In the pre-Liberation era, Goa had industrialists like Vasantrao Dempo, VM Salgaocar, Vishwasrao Chowgule and Pascoal Menezes who were the first to set up pharma manufacturing units in the state. In the IT space also there were promoters of start-up units like Mastek which is promoted by Ashank Desai among the leaders in the information technology industry. There are also large pharma companies like Indoco promoted by the Khares. There is a small shipyard industry in Goa that manufactures the naval sailboats like the TNS Tirangini in which two young naval officers are going around the world. This was built after the model of the Portuguese sailing ship, Sargis.
Recently the shipyard even built a traditional shipping boat which does not use nails but traditional technology of tying up logs with ropes. This boat is expected to make its first journey to the Gulf countries in early 2025.

DONALD TRUMP AND UK
AND a few stray thoughts on the United Kingdom following the example of Donald Trump in targeting Indian immigrants. This is of concern to Goa as a large number of Goans have migrated to the UK. Thanks to their being eligible for the Portuguese passport. All Goans born before the Liberation of Goa and their children and grandchildren are entitled to Portuguese citizenship. Till recently Portuguese citizens including Goans, who registered their birth in Portugal, would travel to the UK without a visa and work there. These windows have now been closed since the UK is no longer a member of the European Economic Community.
However, Ireland continues to welcome Goans with Portuguese passports. There has been a crackdown on illegal migrants ever since the new conservative government assumed power, toppling the Indian-origin Rishi Sunak, who is better known as the son-in-law of Narayan and Sudha Murthy.
The campaign by the home office in the UK has started targeting Indian restaurant takeaways and other outlets of the food, drink and tobacco industry. London has the largest number of Indian restaurants serving chicken curry. Most of these are actually run by Bangladeshis. When I was in London many years ago I used to frequent Indian restaurants because they were the only ones offering vegetarian “puri bhaji” and “paratha.”
Besides the restaurants, the small grocery shops called convenience stores are to be found down every street in London and mostly run by the Patels. While most of them may be owned by Indian-origin British citizens they are the largest employers of illegal migrants. Over 16,400 illegal migrants have been deported since the new government came to power in 2025.
The Immigration Enforcement Team has claimed that it was sealed 828 premises hiring illegal migrants. The ground reality is a lot of British businesses also hire illegal migrants. Unlike UK citizens the illegal migrants accept lower wages and work longer hours. Many of these illegal migrants cross over to England in small boats across the English Channel. Several of them die in the effort to enter the UK, illegally. We hope that the UK will not start sending back illegal Indian migrants, including Goans, in handcuffs and chained like USA has done.

FOREIGN TOURISTS
AND a last stray thought on a huge increase in one special category of foreign tourists. We are referring to Olive Ridley turtles coming to the beaches of Morjim and Agonda to lay their eggs in the hundreds. The current season has marked up a record number of Olive Ridley turtle arrivals at various more isolated beaches in Goa. The turtles are not limited to Morjim and Agonda. An increasing number of these turtles have been laying their eggs in Anjuna and even Candolim. There have been instances of the turtles even coming to Miramar beach.
The Olive Ridley turtles comes ashore to just lay their eggs in the deep trenches in the sand, before retreating back to the sea. The egg nests have to be protected both from animals and predators till they hatch. The tiny little turtles are programmed to head for the sea and on their slow journey to the water they have to be protected. Locals and the forest department are trying to guard the nesting site of the turtles and the eggs, and later on the babies’ slow turtle crawl to the sea. Rohan Khaunte may well boast there is no drop in turtles visiting Goa to be safe and protected.