BOLLYWOOD THINKS GOANS ARE WHORES, DRUNKS AND DRUG PEDDLERS!

By RAJAN NARAYAN

AND A FEW MORE stray thoughts and a few more observations for yet another Sunday. For a Sunday following the week when Julie, a film which depicts a Goan Catholic girl as a whore came to Goan theatres without a iota of protest from either the government or the church. For a Sunday following the week when the Assembly session which started with a bang ended with a whimper. For a Sunday following the week when the benefits of chamchagiri became even more evident. For a Sunday following the week when we discovered how people in power take small credit societies for a ride. For a Sunday following the week when yet another leading medical facility in the State came under a cloud.

TOTAL EXPOSURE
And a few stray thoughts on the continued stereotyping of Goans, particularly Catholic Goans as whores, drunks, pimps and drug peddlers. All the reviews and all the promotional material on the film Julie which was released in Goa this week gloat about the main character being a Goan and a prostitute. A girl who takes to prostitution after a heartbreak. And even attempts to sell herself to the highest bidder. Posters of Julie in various states of undress have been splashed all over the country. If a Maha-rashtrian or a Kannaddiga or an Andhraite or a Tamilian had been depicted as a whore there would have been a storm of protest.

Ironically just last week the Tourism Department dropped the phrase “Goa Everything Included” from its advertising campaign following strong objections from the new Tourism Minister Mathany Saldanha. On the premise that the advertisements conveyed a wrong image of Goa and may reinforce the historical misconception that the phrase “Everything Included” suggests that the women of Goa are as cheap as the liquor. Though the ground reality is that it is unlimited alcohol which is the main attraction in the monsoon tourism packages of even the starred hotels. But surely a government which claims to be so hypersensitive about Goa’s image should have protested against the depiction of a Goan as a prostitute. If anything, the posters of the movie with excessive displays of flesh will do far more damage to Goa than the phrase “Everything Included”.

But perhaps Goans have become so used to the stereotyping of Goan Catholics as whores, drunks, pimps and drug peddlers that they have become reconciled to it. Even the film Jalwa in which the Goan pop star Remo Fernandes sings the theme song and plays a small role reinforces stereotyping of Goa as a land of drug peddlers. In the climax scene of the film the drug baron is shown sacrilegiously in the cassock of a Catholic priest on the steps of the Panjim church. Goa also historically has been depicted as a safe haven for fugitives from justice. The Information Secretary who is in charge of arrangements for the international film festival takes great pride in the fact that The Bourne Supremacy which was released recently abroad was substantially shot in Goa. The producer of the film has acknowledged in an interview that Goa was chosen because it is just the kind of place where a foreigner who wanted to remain incognito would choose because he could blend into the firangscape and escape detection. It was a case of reel life imitating real life.

GREAT ESCAPE
It will be recalled that after Charles Sobraj escaped from the Tihar Jail he spent two weeks in Goa living it up with a girlfriend, confident that the Goa police would never find or even make the attempt to nab him. It took a senior inspector from Maharashtra to locate and arrest Charles Sobraj from the O’Coqueiro in Panjim where he had come to make a long-distance international call. In the bad old days before instant international calls and mobile phones the O’Coqueiro restaurant in Goa was the only place in Goa where you could get connected instantly to any international destination you want. It is Bollywood films which, more than any other media, has consistently defamed Goa and particularly the Goan Catholic. Surely a government which is so frenziedly projecting Goa as the ideal venue for the International Film Festival should be a little more vigilant about how Goa and Goans are projected in films.

AND A FEW stray observations on all the rumors which circulated through the week on the imminent fall of the Parrikar government. The rumor started last Saturday when Mickky Pacheco held a press conference announcing that he had withdrawn support to the Parrikar government. Mickky also hinted that two other MLAs Felipe Neri, the Irrigation Minister and Sudhin Dhavlikar the PWD minister were also with him. Coincidentally, Margaret Alva, the General Secretary of the Congress in charge of Maharashtra and Goa happened to be in town. The electronic media particularly the national television channels ZeeTV followed by NDTV got their arithmetic wrong and fuelled the rumor of an imminent collapse of the Parrikar government. I was inundated with calls and SMS messages seeking confirmation of the demise of the Parrikar government. A self-styled political analyst called me up and insisted that the government had fallen and that even as he was talking to me the three dissident MLAs were in the Raj Bhavan with the governor. The irony of it all was that the governor was not even in town.

TRUST BREACHED
And no sooner the rumors of mass defection from the BJP broke out and the two suspect MLAs rushed or were escorted to the International Center where the chintan baithak was being held. The Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, paraded them before senior BJP leaders to prove that he continued to be in command. The rumors however refused to die down and there was intense speculation that something dramatic would happen on the last day of the Assembly session on Monday. The earlier expectation of a debate on the no-confidence motion against the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker was dashed by the revelation that two Opposition stalwarts Dr. Wilfred de Souza and Pratapsing Raoji Rane had agreed to the postponement of the debate. There was a slender hope that the Opposition would press for a division on the vote on the appropriation bill and would create a crisis for Manohar Parrikar. The convention is that if a financial bill is defeated on the floor of the house the government had to resign. All the Congress MLAs were issued a whip and told to be present in the house on the last day of the Assembly session. Some senior Congress leaders like Luizinho Faleiro continued their efforts to persuade Mathany Saldanha and some other potential defectors to vote against the appropriation bill. We do not know whether the dissidents within the BJP government would have obliged. In any case Parrikar did not need any help from his colleagues to crush the toppling bid. The Congress itself committed hara-kiri.

On the crucial day two Congress legislators Dayanand Narvekar and Isidore Fernandes were conveniently absent from the house. Narvekar had flown off to the United States perhaps to study the American elections. Isidore had gone off to Vellankini to seek divine intervention. And they had abstained themselves with the permission of the LOO, Pratapsing Raoji Rane. Proving beyond the shadow of any doubt that as long as Pratapsing Raoji Rane is the Leader of the Opposition Parrikar is safe. Interestingly every time there is talk of toppling the government one name always figures prominently. For months now we have been hearing that Sudhin Dhavlikar, the PWD minister, is willing, waiting and wanting to topple the government provided he is made the chief minister. The prospect of Sudhin Dhavlikar becoming the chief minister is so horrifying that we would rather have Parrikar continuing in office.

CHAMCHAGIRI PAYS
AND A FEW stray thoughts on why industrial and newspaper barons prefer to be on the right side of Manohar Parrikar. Toeing the establishment line can be very rewarding as Srinivas Dempo has discovered. The Dempos are the biggest beneficiaries of the decision to build multiplexes at the site of the old GMC complex. Many government offices including that of the Town &Country Planning Department and the Pollution Control Board were dislodged when the government decided to demolish the structures in the old GMC excepting for the heritage building. Contrary to the Chief Minister’s claim many of these structures including the residents hostel and the VIP block were in excellent shape. When the government offices were dislodged they had to find alternative accommodation. And Manohar Parrikar very graciously permitted them to buy premises. It was of course a coincidence that both the Town and Country Planning Department and Pollution Control Board chose to buy offices in the Dempo Towers which was desperately looking for buyers. The only occupant of the Old GMC Complex which got a rotten deal was Disha - the organisation for the mentally challenged which brought laurels to the State in the special Olympics is now housed in a garage.

In the case of the Town and Country Planning Department presided over by Babush Monserrate we have already reported on how the tender was tailor made for the Dempos. The decision of the government to buy premises at Dempo Towers at Patto for the Town & Country Planning Department and the Pollution Control Board has cost the exchequeur over Rs.Two Crores. A windfall for the Dempos and a reward for their loyalty to the Parrikar government. The government also refuses to take any action against another newspaper baron who had encroached on 5000 sq.metres of communidade land and is in the process of building a huge mansion on it. It is no secret that the two private television channels Goa Newsline and Goa 365 are heavily subsidized by the Parrikar government. In fact the latter channel is allegedly entirely funded by the BJP. The only section of the press which shows some spunk besides the Goan Observer is the Gomantak Times. The Gomantak Times has been very critical of the Parrikar administration and has intensified its campaign since a new editor joined. I understand that the new found courage is partly inspired by Dr. Wilfred de Souza who is very close to Sharad Pawar whose nephew now controls the Gomantak group of publications. The Gomantak now is part of the Sakal group owned by Pratap Pawar.

GENTLEMEN FARMERS
AND A FEW stray observations on how bureaucrats in the government have been misusing their office. This is the story of the officer on special duty and de facto Higher Education Secretary Bhaskar Nayak who owns considerable land in his home village Rivona. Bhaskar Nayak has been taking undue advantage of a small farmers credit society VKS in Rivona. The credit society extends loans to small farmers for buying inputs which are recovered after the harvest. For three successive years Bhaskar Nayak who no longer lives in Rivona has been taking loans from the credit society. Nothing wrong with that and if BhaskarNayak wants to be a gentleman farmer like Pratapsing Raoji Rane. Nobody would object to it. Except that according to office bearers of the credit society Bhaskar Nayak obstinately refuses to even pay the interest leave alone the principle amount of the loans which he has availed of from the credit society which are specifically meant for helping small farmers. The society has sent out several notices to Bhaskar Nayak. It is not as though the amount is very large. The total dues come to Rs 76,528. But presumably Bhaskar Nayak believes that since he is so close to the Chief Minister and the ruling establishment he does not have to pay back the loans in a hurry, if at all.

MEDICAL SCANDALS
AND A FEW stray observations in the latest scandal in medical circles. It does not automatically follow that big hospitals which claim to have high tech equipment and imported doctors have greater respect for life than the GMC. The Apollo Victor Hospital prides itself on the fact that it is the only medical facility in the State with a full fledged cardiac unit. It has also been boasting about the open heart surgeries being conducted in the hospital. Understandably it has suppressed the fact that two of its heart operations allegedly went terribly wrong and killed the patients instead of curing them. The medical fraternity however is inclined to absolve the doctor and are convinced that it was the substandard new equipment which was responsible for the death of the patients. Even more shockingly is reported the death of a young lady who went to the hospital for a cat scan. The hospital injected her with the dye which is necessary to get a contrast picture for more effective diagnosis. Even the juniormost radiologist knows that some patients are allergic to the dye and may react negatively. All cat scan centres always have an antidote ready to deal with reaction to the dye. Apollo Victor did not and this caused the life of the patient who had come for a simple cat scan. No wonder Goans still prefer to go to neighbouring Belgaum or Mumbai for cardiac problems.

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