Mummy Wants To Return

With Mummy Victoria's hunger strike entering the third day, the Congress appears to be in a fix. At one extreme, we have the Congress going ga ga over Prathiba Patil, projecting her an icon of women empowerment and what not. And on the other hand they are trying to brush aside Victoria, who has won the assembly seat from the St. Cruz constituency on consecutive four occasions - three times in a row as the Congress candidate.

Both women are seeing the opposite sides of coalition politics. One got everything for nothing and the other got nothing for everything.

Perfect Timing

This morning, while I was pulling at my hair trying to debug one of my programs, an email popped up in my inbox. It contained a simple poem...

If I was a painter......

You would be my painting,

If I was an author.....

You would be my story,

If I was a poet.....

You would be my poem,

UNFORTUNATELY

I'm a Programmer...

And you are my bug

Talk about perfect timing.

Taj On Top

Looks like our beloved Taj Mahal will make it to the new seven wonders of the world. With 17 days of voting left the Taj has surpassed even the Statue of Liberty and the Great Wall of China.

You can vote for the Taj Mahal here. The results will be declared during the Official Declaration ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday, July 7, 2007.

Thats 07-07-07.

Madame President

Looks like we are going to have a woman for a President in our 60th year of independence. A woman president is a good idea. It would have been a better idea if she was not a loyalist of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Another puppet has joined the show.

And the great Indian tamasha continues...

Goanet Mailing List

I recently joined the Goanet mailing list. Seemed like a good thing to do at that time. I am having second thoughts now. People are just yelling at each other most of the time. Some of them do not seem to understand that others have a right to have an opinion, and that opinion may differ from theirs.

Of course, there certainly is some decent discussion. But it gets lost in the madness of hate mails flying across. I wonder if it has always been this way.

Fill In The Blanks

My great grandfather used to till the soil in someone else's field in Divar. My grandfather bought his own field in Divar and tilled it. Later he took up a job so that he could better educate his children. My father initially helped in the fields and later, thanks to the education he received, worked in the Department of Telecommunications. He left Divar and settled in Porvorim so that I could get a better education. I studied to be a Mechanical Engineer, worked for a couple of years and started my business. I am already big making plans for my three and a half year old son.

So why am I telling you all this? Not to worry, there is actually a point to all this. Stay with me.

Human beings, by default, improve themselves and the environment they live in. We are designed that way. When our neighbourhood does not have the opportunities or resources to fulfill our needs we move to newer places.

It is quite easy to look down on migrants, call them "ghantis" and wish that they were never here "spoiling" Goa. Remember they are working hard to provide a better education and better jobs to their kids, just like all our forefather's did.

Basically, life is one big game of Fill in the Blanks. We educate our children to be something better than ourselves. In the bargain, we leave a blank in our place. Someone else comes and fills it up. After all, we are also filling up someone else's blank when we go to work abroad.

We complain that migrants and "outsiders" are taking over Goa. Yes, they are. They are simply filling in the blanks created by the Goans who are "taking over" the Gulf and other countries.

CNN-IBN Investigates Russian Activity in Goa

As part of it's "Eye On Goa" series, CNN-IBN has unearthed pretty scary facts regarding the Russian mafia's involvement in land deals in Goa.

Tulsi Will Die Today!!

Thank goodness!! The prayers of Indian men have finally been answered. NDTV reports that Tulsi Virani, the pathetic and perpetually wailing character of "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" will die today. As soon as I click on "Publish Post" I am off to the market to buy crackers. My joy knows no bounds.

Sketch at INOX

The other day I took wife and kid for a movie at INOX. I saw a contraption in the lobby which claimed to sketch my face in 2 minutes for 120 rupees. Having nothing to lose (except the 120 rupees), I decided to try it out.

Not bad after all.

Has Goa Been Saved?

"If I had a better communication with Catholics this wouldn't have happened. Yes I have made mistakes." - Manohar Parrikar. I guess that sums it up. The BJP has conceeded defeat at the hands of the Congress. Although the Congress just fell short of the majority, they are expected to form the next government in Goa by taking the help of independents or any of the opportunistic smaller parties.

Before the elections, everyone was talking about "Saving Goa". So much so that one party called itself "Save Goa". The big questions now is whether Goa has been saved? The answer depends on what you think Goa should be saved from.

Saved from Communalism? I guess, yes. The fact that the BJP could not capitalize on the Regional Plan fiasco of the Congress says a lot about what the people of Goa believe happenned in Curchorem.

Saved from Corruption? No way... Come on. This is the Congress we are talking about here.

Saved from the Senseless Urbanization? I believe that Goa was saved from the senseless urbanization the day the Goa Bachao Abhiyan came into being. Goans cannot possibly expect to be saved by the Congress or the BJP or, for that matter, the Save Goa party. We need to go about saving ourselves. Whoever comes to power, the GBA is our best bet and saving Goa and it needs our support. You can report a violation by filling a simple online form.

In my opinion, the GBA has done the best thing in staying apolitical. After all, you need someone from the outside to keep a check on what's going on inside.