They Fly and How

Around The World In 365 Days –4

Till death do us part
Do you not wish each time you read this column that Delhi was Belgaum and Mumbai was Anmod? That way Goa would have saved crores of your precious tax money because it would cost that much less to fly our new rulers, if Delhi and Mumbai were just around the corner. Perhaps it would have been even better if Goa were Greater NOIDA (a wee bit outside Delhi) instead, and therefore your politicians would simply have to drive the short distance to Delhi. But then, Mumbai would still be a great distance away. Moral of the lesson: it is going to be a lose, lose situation, always. They just cannot resist the temptation to fly.

Digambar Kamat
13-15.01.2000 Delhi Rs18,130, 23-29.02.00 Delhi Rs20,987, 03-04.03.00, 24-25.04.00 Mumbai Rs5,262, 01-03.05.00 Mumbai Rs23,659, 21-25.06.00 Delhi/Jaipur/Mumbai Rs5262, 01-10.08.00 Delhi/Mumbai Rs16,965, 25-29.08.00 Nagpur/Mumbai Rs11,955, 12-16.11.00 Delhi/Mumbai Rs15,205, 30.09-10.10.00 Delhi Rs20,210, 23-24.12.00 Mumbai Rs5262, 07-08.02.01, 02-04.03.01, 16-17.02.01 Mumbai/Delhi Rs22,876, 02-04.03.01, 11-13.05.01 Mumbai Rs5672, 03-08.09.01 Delhi/Lucknow Rs22,492, 12-13.10.01 Mumbai Rs5642, 20-22.10.01 Delhi Rs31,779, 31.10-02.11.01, 12-13.12.01 Rs19,980, 24-25.12.01 Mumbai, 05-06.01.02 Rs6,022, 20-22.01.02 Delhi Rs16,105, 20-22.03.02 Delhi Rs17,362, 26-28.04.02 Delhi Rs17,850, 06-09.09.02 Mumbai Rs5,822, 29.06-04.07.02 Mumbai/Delhi Rs17,912, 21-28.10.02 Mumbai, 22-24.11.02 Bangalore Rs28,364, 13-15.12.02 Hyderabad, 21-23.01.03 Delhi, 02-05.02.03 Mumbai Calcutta/Mumbai Rs33,518, 06-07.01.03 Mumbai, 12-16.01.03 Mumbai Rs25,772 Delhi Rs25,772, 17-21.02.03 Delhi Rs17,886, 06-08.03.03 Mumbai Rs24,575, 11-13.03.03 Delhi/Mumbai, 15-17.06.03 Delhi Rs20,147, 24-25.09.03 Mumbai Rs7,542, 28.10-02.11.03 Delhi Rs21,455, 04-05.12.03 Delhi/Mumbai Rs20,625, 14-16.01.04 Mumbai Rs13,265, 31.01-01.02.04, 23-24.02.04, 12-14.03.04 Delhi/Bangalore/Mumbai Rs54,097, 15-16.03.04 Cochin, 24-26.03.04, 01-07.04.04 Delhi Rs15,762, 09-10.07.04 Delhi,03-09.08.04 Mumbai Rs25,520, 23-28.08.04 Delhi, 09-13.09.04 Delhi Rs19,700, 07-09.10.04 Delhi, 26-28.10.04 Delhi Rs56,118, 06-08.11.04 Mumbai, 19-20.11.04 Mumbai, 11-12.11.04 Delhi/Mumbai Rs29,701, 29.12.04 Mumbai, 21-22.01.05 Delhi, 30-31.01.05 Rs29,701. Total 11,40,395.

Flight paths
Subash Shirodkar flying to Pune thrice including a sojourn to Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad in February, May, June, September and October of 2000 cost you Rs43,814. Somnath Zuwarkar's flights cost you Rs65,377, Mauvin Godinho flying in March and August of 2000 cost you Rs27,216. Arecio D'Souza's flying cost Rs63,238, while Francisco D'Souza cost you Rs83,144, Venkatesh Desai Rs9,550 and Francisco Silveira Rs39,117.

They did not cross the much sought after rupees one lakh and above category and therefore do not deserve to be in the group that entitles them to have their flight destination details mentioned here for posterity. Pardon me, but I thought Goa's Flying Circus deserves to be classified like banks classify credit card holders depending on their bank balances into ordinary, Gold and Platinum. Mauvin Godinho, as time will tell you sooner or later and because of his being born again, could however easily move into this lofty (pun intended) category.

Dayanand Narvekar Rs14,94,884 Feb 2000-Mar 2007
Francisco Sardinha Rs 4,10,661 Jan 2000-Oct 2000
Pratapsing Rane Rs14,57,354 Feb 2005-Apr 2006
Wilfred D'Souza Rs22,89,428 Feb 2005-Aug 2007
Digambar Kamat Rs11,40,395 Jan 2000-Jan 2005
Subash Shirodkar Rs 43,814
Somnath Zuwarkar Rs 65,377
Mauvin Godinho Rs 27,216
Arecio D'Souza Rs 63,238
Francisco D'Souza Rs 83,144
Venkatesh Desai Rs 9,550
Francisco Silveira Rs 39,117

Total Rs71,24,178

Classless society?
First you had the Brahmins and the rest of us, fisherfolk, toddy tappers, bahujan samaj, gawdas (the way it was spelt even differed!) Then suddenly some of us (get me?) got categorized as scheduled tribes, whatever. Then, apart from some politicians still jostling to be the leader of the scheduled tirbes, we went from to rich and poor. Okay, the Congress calls us (poor) aam aadmi and derivates off that. Keep that bit out of this discussion. Times have changed, it's no longer the caste factor. Today's class society are those who managed to retain their dark or the darkest of dark glass car panes which is banned in many metros, and so you have the janta who cannot call their fav MLA which is why they got their expensive films peeled off rudely unlike those for whom an MLA is just a mobile call away. And ofcourse what happens in Ponda, Quepem, Cancona, does not matter, what the hell, after all we are Panjim-centric, aren't we? Then you have non-Goans who can build on sand dunes even, like Baga's Calypso, who did his thingamajig on the beach, so close to the sea, you could throw stones in to it even if you were arthritic or had a hip replacement. If you have been reading this column in the past, there are many, many more cases like this. Candolim's Sunny Side Up written about here being just one. And, you have Goans like the hardworking fishermen in Colva who had his little lane rubbed off the face of this earth and the Goan whose hotel on the river Sal was so badly damaged by bulldozers some time ago, he still can't get his hotel going.

And sussegad non-Goans too
Reliance for example. A fault complaint to Reliance, if you can get them on your other working phone, is routed to Pune, which then calls up Goa and deputes a technician to your home if required. Time needed: at least three days. I got a Plug 2 Surf USB modem in March. It lies with me sealed and unused, but I have been billed regularly. Tata indicom apparently outsourced its business to a Blue Square Marketing whom it takes weeks to call and I am yet to hear a Goan voice on the other end. Meanwhile, I am still waiting to be hooked up. I call up the Goa Marriott. Could I get details of your diner's card membership? The Marriott that insisted on reading out its longwinding scheme, has a week later not emailed me the details, which I prefer to leisurely evaluate on my monitor and not from a distant voice that rattled out a host of items like a Kannadiga waiter in a Kamat restaurant wordily assailing you with the menu. Really, quit calling us sussegad.

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