Sweet & Sour
- Khushwant Singh

Getting away

Goa can become the world’s most sought after holiday
resort if the local administration and politicians
stopped imposing their puritanical views and meddling
with the ways people like to enjoy themselves.

Perhaps the only justified restriction would be to
tell visitors to surrender their watches for
safe-keeping at the airport, railway stations and bus
terminals to be returned when they leave. They should
also be advised not to bother with newspapers or watch
news on TV.

In Goa nature should be the time-keeper. Sleep when
sleep overtakes you, rise when your body tells you
that you’ve enough rest. Drink when you are thirsty
(coconut juice, Feni, beer, or whatever you fancy),
eat when you are hungry. Wear as little as you can to
expose your body to the sun and the exhilerating sea
breeze. If you wish to go naked, wear nothing while
you stride the sea-beaches or wish to lie in the warm
sand. This is the kind of paradise God created when he
put Adam and Eve in it -- The Garden of Eden which had
no evil in it except the tree of so-called knowledge.

Our present-day politicians were represented by the
serpent who tempted them to eat the forbidden fruit.
No sooner they did so, they were overcome by shame of
their nakedness and tried to hide their genitals
behind fig leaves and were thrown out of paradise. God
created Goa. Satan created politicians. They should be
sent to hell and let Goa again become God’s chosen
country.

To enjoy Goa you have to cultivate a sense of
belonging. This is best done by returning to the same
place and be on first name terms with locals. For me
Goa is Bogmalo, the same hotel year after year and the
D’Cruz family who own the sea cuisine. I got to know
them 15 years ago through Sally D’Cruz who was a
masseuse in Beach Resorts Health Club. Sally married a
Scotman and migrated to the UK. I continued visiting
the D’Cruz family. Sally is now mother of two girls.
Her younger sister Tekla helps her brother Dominic to
run the restaurant.

I had not intended calling on them this time but Sally
rang up her family and told them she had tried to get
me in Delhi and heard I was in Bogmalo. Tekla rang me
up, came over to fetch me in her car and take me to
meet her parents and brother. There was much
embracing. I spent two evening at the Sea Cuisine. It
was like a family re-union. Tekla plans to get married
to a local boy in March at the Bogmalo church. They
will have a reception for over 500 guests, drinking,
dancing and making whoopee. I won’t be there but my
spirits will be.

Watching people coming and going in the hotel lobby
can be a game like patience played by yourself against
yourself. Guess what nationality they are, what they
do; whether or not a young couple are men and wife or
live-in-friends. And that sort of thing. They come in
groups. Brits, Germans, Australians, Indian NRIs from
the US, Canada and East Africa. Occasionally there are
Indians from India. A sort of colour division takes
place at the bathing pool and the beach. Browns open
umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun. White
strip themselves, run oil on their bodies and expose
themselves to the hot tropical sun. Girls, both brown
and white, who have shapely bodies stroll around with
an air of casualness, aware of men ogling them. An old
Indian recognizes me and asks me if I am who they
think I am. I am flattered. Pratibha Nandakumar,
Kannada poet-novelist from Bangalore breezes in and
gives me a warm embrace. The lady receptionist asks me
if she is my grand-daughter. My ego is deflated.
On Monday the pool side appears to be reserved for
women. The men are glued to the TV watching India
versus England cricket match being played in Cuttack.
They don’t budge from their seats till 5 p.m.

A thing that has intrigued me about Goan place names
is the profusion of the letter ‘M’. To start with the
capital Panjim. Then there are Bambolim, Mayem,
Mencurem, Navelim, Birondem, Mandrem, Batim,
Corambolim, Cortalim, Camurlim, Seraulim, Tivim,
Paliem, Parsem, Morjim, Curtorim... These are random
pickings from Panchayat elections of one day. I could
add dozens of others. Are these derived from the
Portuguese occupation of this region or are they of
Konkonese origin? I hope some Goan scholar would
enlighten me.

Something new to me about Goa is the increase in
belief in occult. There always was a certain amount of
faith in Christian mantras to be repeated nine times a
day to cure sickness. But I had not come across Muslim
tantrics practising the trade.

The Navhind Times regularly carries ads of Baba
Chandsa Bangali and a longer one by Baba Aman Shah
Bengali claiming to have Rohani Ilm (spiritual
knowledge) that is, Tantra, Mantra and Yantra. He
guarantees cure of ailments, physical emotional,
matrimonial, business, impotence, infertility.
Bhoot-pret, Jaadu-tona, Baba Aman Shah requires you to
bring two limes when you come for consultation. The
fact that he can afford to put an ad in The Navhind
Times regularly is proof enough that he is doing well.
In addition, he must be able to run a nimboo-pani
stall at great profit.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/mar03/sl8.htm

- Forwarded by www.goa-world.net


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