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

An Experience I Never Had In My Life
On every Wednesday, we have a flea market at Anjuna. Most of the
shopkeepers are ‘Lamanis’ as they call themselves and many are from
outside Goa. After roaming everywhere, I saw just two Goan shops in the
whole flea market, one was of clothes and the other was a restaurant.
Also, many foreigners from Russia, England, Germany and Italy had
their shops. Also, I met an Israeli lady who talked about the wars between
Israel and Palestine and the military training she had to undergo. She
said that she does not get much profit for her clothes as there are numerous
shops which sell clothes. She had a lodge in the interiors of Anjuna where
she stayed and was supposed to go back only after eight years. I also
met a man with his family from Finland who was bored of hearing to the
clamours of the beach hawkers. He refused to buy tiger claws from them
without showing slightest of his interest in it. He said that if he were to
purchase them, they would be obliged to kill more tigers. After two days,
I met the same fellow at Arambol. He said that his name was Kemp and
was planning to cover most of the beaches of Goa. He wasn’t interested in
any of the parties and had come merely on a vacation. He had been twice
to Goa earlier and had brought his kids for the first time. He also said that
after another few years he planned to settle in Goa with his parents and
family and bring his aunties along. When asked about the Russians and
Israeli tourists, he said that Israelis were much more of a conservative
nature, they are rash, and very active and don’t like to stay at one place
for too long. Then passed a foreigner who kept on giving away flyers to
some of the fair tourists. I purposely stood right in front of him to see if he
would give one to me. But, he simply passed me without a slightest look
and gave to the other foreigners. I did not want to go again and stand
before him for he may start doubting me. So, I approached a foreigner to
whom he had already given one of those flyers and asked one of them to
give me a copy. She was kind and offered me one instantly. It was a
party-type leaflet maybe only for foreigners. It was to be held on that night
at Saligao.
At the flea market, again I stayed near one shop selling wooden boxes,
nicely carved and designed, having velvety material finishing in the interior.
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