Velly solly no speaki English

Great Will for China

In a country where very, very little English is spoken and where IT, at least IT-related hardware is mass produced, the scale (that is, planning, execution and investment) would be extremely difficult for Goa’s babus and Dayanand Narvekar to begin to even comprehend. If you doubt this, visit your closest vendor and see for yourself from which country ninety per cent of accessories come from. In fact, it is on a scale, which India, that has concentrated on software only, will never be able to emulate. All this makes you wonder what the hell our chaps do in China to where they fly rather frequently. Wouldn’t it have been more prudent to have travelled to one of the many successful software technology parks in India or, simply invite the consultants who designed them over? And by the way, MN Rao, advisor & director of the Directorate of Information Technology, whose salary was later hiked to Rs 1 lakh a month despite protests was tasked with precisely this job. And yeah, this is the same guy who in September 2007 said Goa would be the first Indian state to have video phones within a year. In the pipeline he added, were integrated citizen services, and knowledge centres in every village. Blah, blah, blah. Guess the Chinese didn’t take our frequent flyers seriously either because they apparently learnt nothing out there. Who would?

Peking Duck

Dayanand Narvekar, ex-minister, IT – China – Rs 3,32,069; RP Pal, ex-secretary, IT – Phillipines – Rs 3,15,632; MN Rao ex-director, ITG – China – Rs 2,15,867; SR Shet, MD, ITG – China – Rs 2,09,132. Total expenditure: Rs 10,72,700.
Susana De Souza, director, sports – Zhuhai, China- expenditure unknown as it was borne by SGRI, New Delhi, Dubai-Doha Rs 2,08,570; Altinho Gomes, vice chairman, GITDC – China – Rs 2,68,233; MS Kamat, director, GITDC – China - Rs 2,68,233. Evidently what Dubai does to our babus and montris at the helm of the tourism industry, China does to these chaps. Others would call it water off a ducks back.

Dubai Anyone?

Dr Joseph SR De Souza, chief scientist – Gutemberg, Sweden – Rs 86,827; Capt James Braganza, deputy captain of ports – Singapore – Rs 33,325, Dr VN Jindal, dean, GMC – Dubai – Rs 81,908, Dusseldorf – Rs 1,42,676; Dr Maria Prisca Silveira, associate professor, GMC – Dusseldorf - Rs 1,50,000; Dr NG Dubashi, professor, GMC – Dubai – Rs 81,908; Dr Wise Pinto, professor, GMC – Dubai –Rs 81,908; Dr A Khandeparkar, associate professor, GMC – Dubai – Rs 81,908.

‘Cannes’ Do Anytime

If there was a Nobel Prize for self-indulgence in entertainment at the tax payers cost, the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) would win it year in, year out, without a doubt. The Kings and Queens of Entertainment spent a whopping Rs 19,37,000 to check out Cannes in the two years (2007-08, 2008-09) reviewed here. And after going there every year, they still haven’t learnt to recognize Ben Kingsley although he won an Oscar for the Richard Attenborough’s bioepic on Gandhi that was made in 1982 and which Doordarshan telecasts every Independence Day!

All they discovered was how to roll out the Red Carpet which brings me to the point, this government should despite itself spend at least a tiny fraction of what is spent each year on the International Film Festival of India to roll out a layer (thin will do) of tar on the Ribandar road leading to Old Goa. There is no estimate of how many Goan Catholics (including pilgrim tourists) attend the novenas beginning November 24 and up to St Francis Xavier’s feast on December 3, but the number of those who don’t is probably easier to guess. Sadly, for two years now the winding Ribandar stretch particularly is potholed and this year was crudely repaired with an uneven mix of tar and stone pounded into the potholes with a hand held implement! This is the way this government treats the aam aadmi. Not so for the rich and famous at IFFI, which I think even this thick-skinned government must know is rapidly losing its Mojo.

Diwan Chand, special secretary, information & publicity – Cannes – Rs 2,48,000; Nandini Paliwal, ex-CEO, ESG – Cannes – Rs 2,48,000; Nikhil Dessai, GM, ESG – Cannes – Rs 2,48,000; Ethel D’Costa, ex-PRO, ESG – Cannes – Rs 2,48,000; Filip Neri Rodrigues, minister, water resources, vice chairman, ESG – Cannes - Rs 3,15,000; Manguirish Pai Raikar, member, ESG – Cannes – Rs 3,15,000; Nikhil Dessai, GM, ESG – Cannes – Rs 3,15,000.


Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)