They went through the motions of cracking down on rave parties. But within a fortnight it was business as usual. The Chief Minister probably realized that it would be politically suicidal for him to pursue his crackdown on rave parties. Because the fact of the matter is that it is his cabinet colleague Dayanand Mandrekar the Siolim MLA who is the patron saint of rave parties.

It is not just Dayanand Mandrekar who has a vested interest in not just tolerating but actively promoting rave parties. All the enforcement agencies in the state, the police, the central and the state excise departments and the Anti narcotic agencies both at the state and the central level have a major stake in the rave parties. Because rave parties are a mega buck business. The kickbacks are huge. It is in everyone’s interest to keep them going. Including the local communities. As Mandrekar has pointed out in a recent interview to the Gomantak Times the rave parties mean if not jobs a lot of money for the people of Anjuna. From the mamis who sell mint tea to whose who sell batatawadas and of course the motorcycle pilots and the taxi drivers and those who supply sound equipment. And of course all the dope peddlers.

 Rave parties are not a recent phenomena. Goa has been synonymous with rock and techno music for nearly four decades. But the rave parties in the seventies and even in the eighties were not the commercial affairs that they are now. They were really get-togethers of back pack tourists. But from the nineties they have become meticulously organized commercial ventures. Indeed they are advertised not just on the net but even in mainline publications in Europe and the UK. Do a Google search and you will find several lakh entries on rave parties. Including detailed schedules of where they are to take place, the DJs who will be playing and the other highlights. If the Israelis and the Russians are descending on Goa in increasingly large numbers it is not just for the sun sand and sea but primarily for the rave parties. And anyone who claims that the rave parties are just high spirited parties with trance music being the major attraction is a liar. Because drugs are the core of rave parties. Nobody can dance for 12 or 24 hours at a stretch in their right minds. The drugs are not even pure and Goa has witnessed an alarming number of drug casualties.

 Recently a very respected literary and film personality expressed concern at Goa rapidly going the Bangkok way. Meaning that young people particularly from the poor sections of the society were being drawn into drugs and prostitution. Bangkok has been held out internationally as the worst example of the social or rather anti-social consequences of tourism on the community. The irony is that on  the one hand the chief minister and other tourism officials in Goa keep mouthing rhetoric about attracting up market tourists. But up market tourists are not going to come to a destination which is going downhill. Absurdly enough the naïve innocent Tourism Minister Mathany Saldanha claims that he is unaware of the existence of  rave parties and in fact he doesn’t even know what a rave party is. Goan observer would be too happy to take him touring. Or Mathany can ask the chief minister’s bosom pal Nandan Kudchadkar to invite him to Paradiso which holds the mother of all rave parties.

 I do not want to be judgmental. If the phirangs want to rave let them do so by all means. But let them do it in their backgrounds in their countries. It is only because the UK and the US and Europe have started cracking down on rave parties that they are all descending on Goa. Because everyone knows that Goa is the ultimate Soddom and Gomorrah. That anyone can do anything in Goa and get away with it. Because in Goa both the government and the local people believe that no one should ask any questions about the tourists who bring in the mega bucks. And one can’t really blame the locals. They are driven by economic compulsions. There are no jobs available. So understandably they are happy for an opportunity to make a fast buck. With the drugs and the sex being a bonus. What the government needs to do is to create job opportunities so that local youth do not become prey to the scavengers of the western world.

 DEV BOREM KORUM

RAJAN NARAYAN