(2 October 11)
Happy B'day, MKG. Can
anyone imagine our slender, bald father of the nation being 'bored' or having
little to do? How many of us might say this Sunday that there's nothing
happening in Goa, nothing to do, life's so boring, so different from Mumbai,
etc. This was what I heard yesterday afternoon on the Ferry from Betim to
Panaji.
At the Betim wharf, in
the hot sun, most of us passengers in waiting were huddled under the umbrellas
of the hawkers. The woman I stood beside sold fruits. One customer, obviously a
regular, asked her why she'd given a fisher-woman free fish that day. She said (and i so believe
many lower class Goans like her really are the ones with pizzazz): “The fish
that hasn't sold in the evening, she gives to me for free to cook for my family's
dinner. I can't afford to pay her, but I
can't take it free, can I? So in return, I give her the fruit I can spare.” A
humble hawker gave a free lesson in living honourably. Gandhiji would have
approved.
In the ferry, where
people rush in without allowing the existing passengers to exit, a stray dog
was waiting to get in. The poor thing couldn't, with all the people and
motorcycles jostling it and by the time the chain was being pulled up, it was
already wet in the water. But it desperately jumped.. high enough to make it.
It rode back to Panaji; there it waited until the rush had thinned out, then
trotted out behind a family, like it was in a queue. Lesson two learned from a
mongrel: discipline and good manners. Mahatmaji would have liked that.
In the bus to
Taleigaon, everybody was squashed like it was a Mumbai local. Smelly, sweaty,
irritable lot of people, me included. The conductor stopped at all stops, in
between stops, and wherever/whenever anyone waved at the bus. It was hot and terribly slow. But, I
discovered, pretty useful for those who didn't have their own transport and
couldn't walk to their destinations in the miserable temperature. Lesson three: there are advantages for some
even in this miserable idea of a public transport. Perhaps the Oct 2nd
birthday boy would have preferred a better organized public transport.
I contemplate: if Mumbai is becoming another
Shangai, as we are told by the newspapers, and Kolkatta, (if Mamta B's words
come true) is becoming London. Then Goa's becoming a cross between a lunar
asteroid, Las Vegas, Chandni Chowk and a tropical forest: potholes aplenty,
casinos, crowded no-parking markets and (mercifully still alive) stately trees
several centuries old.
Ah, the trees: From Mapusa through Porvorim and Panaji till
Taleigaon, I found many of them adorned with banners. SS Ravi S celebrated 30
years (??) and we were all informed of a gathering and celebration at Miramar.
That was over ten days ago. We're still being reminded of what had been. The
Art of Living doesn't include disposal of used material. Ask any 'consumer
exhibition' (??) organizer and they'll tell you how much it costs to put up the
boards, posters, hoardings, banners. They wouldn't know how much it costs to
take them down. They've never done it. The Municipalities and panchayats should
start charging the person whose name and address is on the advertisement a fine
for keeping it up beyond the stipulated date. I saw one hut with a banner
declaring a politician’s birthday... the owner of the hut had used it as a
monsoon cover for the roof. Good recycling idea; the Mahatma would have
definitely approved of this one.
Lastly: a board near
the Betim wharf, put up by the Nationalist Congress party has a list of
professional courses one can do free of charge: embroidery, bakery, making artificial
jewelry, stitching, electrical repairs, etc. One suggestion: please, dear
Party, include gardening, growing vegetables, plucking coconuts, and other
agriculture/food-growing related topics. The Mahatma would love it, wherever he
is now.
On a different note:
Goa's full of music programs one can't easily get in most Indian cities. I
attended a Western classical at The Art Chamber, Calangute, which is a small but excellent place where the
owner Rudolf is doing his best (successfully) to promote local and foreign
classical talent, both in music and painting. Worth a visit.
Then, last weekend the
KA had a treat: the sangeet mahotsav in the memory of Jitendra Abhisheki. Hats
off to the organizers – 16 national level singers, instrumentalists and dancers
(fledgling and maestros) in 24 hours. They've managed to get a sponsor for
another five years. May they get many more.
Anyone who says 'what
to do, nothing to do' in Goa isn't looking around.
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