Same old same old - January 14, 2008

Writing on the wall
You have nothing to lose next but your X'mas hols. On every other front, even eternal optimists will agree there is hardly anything left of Goa to save. Even the TTAG got it wrong, it wasn't Mathany's threat to domestic tourists that frightened them away. They came all right and frightened away European tourists instead by their crude behaviour on the roads and on the beaches. At Palolem where fistfights took place and tourists were hollering across tables in most beach-shacks, parked vehicles lined up right up to the crossroad junction (left Karwar, ahead the Grand International, right Palolem.) All along the coast locals felt harassed by young domestic tourists on bikes driving at breakneck speed, high on god knows what and with that idiotic look on their faces. An eyewitness spoke of drunken youth from the South in an open vehicle driving down Baga, shirts waving frenetically above their heads, screaming and drunk. At several pubs in Baga foreigners just paid for their drinks and quit.
Do you think this kind of behaviour would be allowed to happen in another Indian metro? The answer is NO. I spent December 31 in Fort Kochi, the closest resemblance to Goa with its homesteads, bars and narrow streets and it was a peaceful New Year beginning you will never get to see in Goa where everything else's pleasure takes precedence over that of the locals.

So who else is new in town?
Lord Meghnad Desai, the MP from the British Parliament, that's who. Yes, Lord Desai who in 2004 wrote a book called Nehru's Hero: Dilip Kumar in the Life of India, a biography of Indian film star Dilip Kumar, has supposedly bought an old house in South Goa and is currently renovating it. So folks in South Goa can look forward to tea and crumpets with the Lord and his lady, Kishwar Ahluwalia, the book editor he married in 2004. North Goa used to be the playing ground of the rich, famous and from the north. Now definitely the scene is shifting to South Goa. I hear another author Arundhati Roy – famous for declaring herself independent of the Republic of India some years after she won the Booker Prize – is also scouting for property in Goa. Goa must be bringing out the muse in authors because Amitava Ghosh has bought a house in Aldona, the pretty village that has so far remained unspoilt.
Remo might lament that "the Goa I knew and loved" is not around anymore, but for those outside, Goa is like a magnet. They'd give anything to live here. And they are coming in their hordes. Read further.

Big B ko gussa kyon aata hai?
There was a time when Amitabh Bachchan collected as many fans off screen as onscreen. Onscreen off course, he has been left behind by the Badshah of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan. But since he got mixed up with the likes of Amar Singh, his fans offscreen are dwindling too. A case in point is his attitude during the recent IFFI. Neelam Kapoor, Director, Film Festivals of India, says she wrote to him inviting him well ahead of IFFI and he had accepted. So she assumed that he would make his towering presence felt and invitation cards were printed. But then he decided not to come – by then he had realized SRK would be the chief guest and decided to be petulant saying he was not invited.
Neelam was in a tizzy considering that Rituparno Ghosh's film was being premiered and tradition demanded that the star cast of the film had to be present. But the big B refused to budge and stuck to his "I was not invited" although Neelam Kapoor had the correspondence in which he had accepted to show up at IFFI as proof to the contrary.

Entertainment Society of Goa
Did the ESG have foresight when it picked on the name. On hindsight, yes. Remember how the award giving ceremony, was sabotaged on account of issues over entertainment allowance and Vishnu Wagh, Goa's virtual shadow Minister for Culture (after the British system where the Opposition appoints shadow ministers, but who are watchdogs however, and not marionettes) went red in the face. Turns out, the entertainment allowance paid to its officials is not exactly peanuts.
At least one of them took home Rs256016 in salaries for 2006-07. ESGs top five officials drew a refreshment allowance of Rs150 per day from 1.11.2006 to 15.12.2006 and a telephone allowance of Rs1000 per month from October-December 2006 for getting IFFI 2006 on the road. You can bet the figures for getting IFFI 2007 were the same or more. And really, where was the time to entertain when everyone was running around like headless chickens?

They are coming
By the time the Congress acts and bans non-Goans from buying land in Goa, it might be too late as usual. Though when it comes down to taking credit, it is on cue always. In any case India's rich northerners overburdened with black money will instead simply buy whole apartment buildings if they can't buy property. If you don't believe that, why do you think they started all those fancy restaurants on the beach? It's just to say to the folks back home "We have a beach restaurant in Goa" because Goa has become an address to die for.
If you study the trend in the wanted classified ads you will find a discernible shift to the South. I recently spotted one that actually gave you the freedom of two calling numbers; one if you wanted to speak in English, the other in Hindi! The scene is also slowly shifting to the Ribandar-Old Goa stretch, to be precise at Sao Pedro. The tin fence that hid what was happening at the Riverside Green, a snobby complex is slowing coming down and the main road already cramped with vehicles belonging to contractors. When the SUVs arrive, this road won't be the same ever. Near the Sao Pedro chapel, where a builder Ratilal Shah bought huge land, a barbed wire fence has come up. Soon it will be screened off from public view and another fashionable complex built.
No points for guessing who will buy these hideously expensive apartments. In fact the only Goans who might get their answers wrong are Alexio Sequeria and Dayanand Narvekar because like their (in)sincere belief that SEZs will give Goans jobs, they believe building holiday apartments for the rich is development. Possibly, Babu Kavlekar too, if, that is he can make the connectionbetween an SEZ and a food park.