{"id":228964,"date":"2023-05-15T12:00:08","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T11:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=228964"},"modified":"2023-03-30T04:58:11","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T03:58:11","slug":"a-mini-world-in-goa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/05\/a-mini-world-in-goa\/","title":{"rendered":"A Mini World in Goa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Goa is a small state on the west coast of India not very far from the well known city of Bombay. It has been ruled by various dynasties alternatively Hindu, Muslim, Hindu again. It was\u00a0annexed by Portugal in 1510 by the initiative of Albuquerque who did not disturb the culture and customs of the local people.\u00a0Two towns Daman and Diu were also annexed and became part of the Portuguese empire. Gradually, Portugal built some churches and other buildings in their own style and for their use in these territories.<\/p>\n

The local language \u2014 Konkani continued to be spoken by local people although the Portuguese language also was introduced and some people also started learning and using it. These were functionaries of the Portuguese administration and this resulted in the language spreading a bit.<\/p>\n

India had been colonised by England for about 200 years. They first entered the country for trade purposes as East India Company. France also was successful in capturing and\u00a0\u00a0colonising some Indian regions \u2014 mainly Pondicherry.\u00a0\u00a0When India became free of the British yoke in 1947, there was pressure on the French and the Portuguese to leave the country. France was the first to leave its colonial territories but Portugal continued to rule over Goa, Daman and Diu. Only when the Indian government decided to use military force to oust Portugal, did they leave the country by sea in December 1961. The freed territories were amalgamated with India.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The author in Goa, 2023<\/p><\/div>\n

Today, Goa has become a tourist attraction especially in winters. Its temperature is warm and comfortable.\u00a0\u00a0Its\u00a0beautiful beaches also add to the attraction of not only some Indian tourists but also foreigners from various countries \u2014 Russia, Germany, England and some other countries such as France, Japan etc. In fact, earlier many public boards giving relevant information to tourists, were written in the Russian language. There are fewer tourists from USA or Canada perhaps because they have their beaches they could go to, in winters.<\/p>\n

As a result of these foreigners and the restaurants as well their shopping of essential items, the values of properties near the beaches have substantially shot up. Indian tourists rent rooms which are cheaper at some distances away.<\/p>\n

Some\u00a0non-Goanese <\/em>Indians have permanently moved to Goa and rent rooms in their homes. Some have opened small shops offering various items of everyday use \u2014 food, clothing, footwear etc. One can see their pleasure on their faces by talking to them and sharing their experiences. Two or three entrepreneurs have started medical facilities in traditional medicines \u2014 Ayurveda, Homeopathy. There\u00a0is no prohibition \u2014 one can drink beer or whiskey at the beach restaurants.<\/p>\n

As indicated above we see a large number of foreign as well as Indian tourists resulting in a huge transformation of\u00a0\u00a0local\u00a0\u00a0culture and language. There does not seem to be any major conflict in the people, and they appear happy and satisfied.<\/p>\n

One wishes that\u00a0the rest of India be able to cultivate a common culture and attitude of goodwill and happiness.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Dr Ravi P Bhatia is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a>, an<\/em> educationist, Gandhian scholar and peace researcher. Retired professor, Delhi University. His new book, <\/em>A Garland of Ideas\u2014Gandhian, Religious, Educational, Environmental was published recently in Delhi.<\/em> ravipbhatia@gmail.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Goa is a small state on the west coast of India not very far from the well known city of Bombay. It has been ruled by various dynasties alternatively Hindu, Muslim, Hindu again. It was annexed by Portugal in 1510 by the initiative of Albuquerque who did not disturb the culture and customs of the local people. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":228965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[290,2323,260,759,1303,2367],"class_list":["post-228964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members","tag-culture","tag-goa","tag-history","tag-india","tag-portugal","tag-portuguese-empire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228964"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":232552,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228964\/revisions\/232552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}