Eureka!!

Ho, Ho, Ho

Though Christmas is months away and there’s the monsoon to come first, I am constrained to use the term exhilarated because Panjim’s First Lady Caroline Po’s Eureka-like recognition of the fact that Panjim has both garbage and parking problems, brought that out. Nasty me. Seriously, Archimedes, as he was washing, thought of a manner of computing the proportion of gold in King Hiero's crown by seeing the water flowing over the bathing-stool. He leaped up as one possessed or inspired, crying, 'I have found it! Eureka!'. Some say he did all that in the nude. Do you see some semblance now? To think that for all these years I thought the garbage was someone’s eco idea of dressing up Goa’s environmentally abused (on the river as well) capital. Thus my expression of joy at being relieved of this illusion. After all, if the Chinese can make eco-friendly keyboards from bamboo, I thought garbage was that someone’s generic idea of using colourful waste to brighten up our alleys and countryside. And if you think I am joking, drive down nights past the temple at Mapusa and be amazed by the phenomenon of shinning plastic. A colleague says it is the light reflected by plastic garbage that creates the reflected yellow haze all round. Anyway, after Po removes all the few rotting cars and bikes, one dearly hopes she turns her attention to the overwhelmingly more shops and garages that have usurped their frontages. Quite a few I named in this column not too long ago.

Death Wish

Churchill Alemao appears to have a death wish of the worst kind. I am trying to figure out if it’s the kind taht Charles Bronson acted out in ‘Death Wish’ and the film’s four sequels. Is it the kind bloodthirsty rioters show towards equally bloodletting anti-riot police by literally braving their bared chests? You see that in communal riots. The script in this latest confrontation with his party of the day call him a serialized rebel) is that Mickky Pacheco is hell bent on disqualifying him, and if he can take two down with one shot, that would include Churchill’s brother Joaquim Alemao as well. That much the janta knows. What few know is that Vishwajit Rane is pulling Mickky’s strings. So, while Mickky gets to screw the happiness of his arch enemy, Vishwajit gets to use him, and the whole world gets to think Churchill has a Death Wish. What Vishwajit does not know is that two plus two, do not add up to what Mickky and him think it adds up to. But, if you read the earlier line carefully, it is clear Vishwajit doesn’t care. Churchill is worse than the most raged bull in the China shop you can think of and there is no way on earth that political peace can reign over Goa if he is disqualified. Period. So what are Mickky and Vishwajit achieving? After talking to some of the cleverest politicians in town, this is what I gathered -nobody really knows. Mind you Mickky and Vishwajit have fined tuned their act (you think) to the extent if the government falls, father, Pratapsing Rane, is still the Speaker, and can disqualify Churchill at any time. They say there’s no real gameplan here, it’s just that Vishwajit wants to be the greater of all the evils around and forever hold his Devil’s trident threateningly over the heads of Digambar Kamat and GPCC president Subhash Shirodkar. And since they are both not in the Congress, they make the Congress look like dung. That and that only, and about the only thing that makes sense in this huge farce being played out on an election eve. WOW, it’s got to be Goa.

YippEE it’s IFFI

To conclude here are details of the remaining expense overheads incurred by this government to hold that mother-of-all headaches for people living in Panjim and especially in Campal. If you recall, the last time I gave you three of the ten overheads. These are the others. Make what you will of it.


Event Management Agency -1

Alternate Brands Pvt. Ltd (of the Times Group) -Rs 1,55,98,200

Artists -2

Local artists –Rs 1,22,38,279
Others –Rs 16,43,265
Installations (Kerkar Art complex) –Rs 3,50,000
Stages at smaller venues –Rs 9,50,000

Total: Rs 1,51,81,544

Exp-Short Film Centre -3

Accommodation/lunch –Rs 4,87,629
Jury sitting fees –Rs 1,38,000
Prizes –Rs 12,96,580
Travel –Rs 1,54,424
Misc –Rs 29,212

Total: Rs 21,05,845

Car Rentals -4

Majid Daud Khan –Rs 1,89,750
Vailankani Auto Hires –Rs 10,00,000

Total: Rs 11,89,750

Exp-Film Bazaar -5
Goa Marriott Resort –Rs 11,54,861
AVI Audio Visuals –Rs 6,81,014
Ranjan Kamath –Rs 2,00,000

Total: Rs 20,35,875

Printing & Stationery -6

Total: Rs 20,91,978

Delegates Travel -7

Vinsan Travel Assistance Bureau –Rs 1,01,91,507
Reimbursements/transfers/cheques –Rs 4,67,618
Kingfisher Airlines –Rs 27,32,059
Air India –Rs 2,28,236

Total: Rs 1,36,19,420

Publicity Expenses –Rs 17,54,148

Add this to the three expense overheads written about last week, and it adds up to Rs 6,73,12,814 of your misspent bucks. Yet your taps still run dry, your garbage piles up and your power fails you like never before.


(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com