Claiming the Right to Say No-30 Nov 09-EQUATIONS - Equitable ...

In Search of Israelis
So much of the property and land, is in the hands of foreigners, which
make me feel that Goa i.e. Goan culture will slowly disappear in future.
As, I was talking to the local sellers, a necklace seller revealed that he
had to pay Rs.50/- for license and the Arambol Sarpanch was also not on
good terms with them since the Sarpanch asks for Rs.1000/- as ‘hafta’
and in spite of this, the police also troubles them. Also, I happened to meet
and was a customer of a fruit seller lady of that village. She told me that
this year the tourists are very less compared to last year. Then she
pointed out some of the tourists and called them ‘bhikari’, they always
bargain, want things at cheap rate and hardly buy anything. One thing I
like about her was that she was collecting the waste. Since, unlike South
Goa, they don’t have municipality facility of cleaning the beach.
Yes! This year tourists are less in Goa. Since, when I entered the shack
in Vagator after the party in ‘9 Bar’, the shack owner told me that they
hardly get crowds in their shacks. As there is a decline in tourists it has
affected their profits too. Really, the lady from that village who owned a
shack was very disappointed. As I was in Vagator, I also observed that
the colour of the sand is blackish, maybe due to pollution. At last, the
police, they are strict in their patrolling in areas such as Anjuna and
Vagator, but, in Arambol this is not to be seen. We also visited Anjuna
police station but they did not reveal to us anything on Israelis. They told
us to check in Panjim. With the tourism department that some of us visited,
it was vice-versa. But, on the report book, (census book) of 2006, Israeli
tourists were not mentioned. So we have to check our government
department about this discrepancy and whether they have an internal
understanding between the government of Goa and Israel.
Conclusion
A word of appreciation for the police of Anjuna, for patrolling at night and
controlling the acid rave parties to some extent. On my last day, I met a
youth and she complained to me that most of the youth boys work in the
shacks only in season and after that they are out of jobs. This is because
of no alternative. I replied “we must find one” and the same thing I repeat
now. Let us build tourism which we desire!
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