Goa...going...going...Gone!
The little state of Goa has been a lot in the news lately. Apparently, tourism has slumped as travelers have chosen to go elsewhere - to places like Thailand, Malaysia, Bali, and Vietnam. There are many reasons being offered by seasoned travelers: prevalence of a "taxi mafia", inflated rates for car and scooter rentals, a "Delhi derby" as tourists from outside the state flock during tourist seasons and create noise and disturbance and, finally, thinning of overseas tourists.
I don't know much about the state that I have visited only twice in my life - the first time to south Goa with my wife over ten years ago and again to the same place a few months ago. Our visit to north Goa - the preferred and happening place we were given to understand - was cursory and swift, lasting less than a day.
While I cannot vouch for some of the popular reasons for the slump in Goan tourism (given above), apart from the clearly evident taxi mafia that prevents Uber or other "app taxis" from operating, I have an alternative and perhaps supplementary viewpoint. Our two visits spaced over a decade surfaced some big changes: the large scale infrastructure in the form of 4 and 6-lane expressways, high speed road traffic that this engenders along with the ills of bad road behavior, post-modernist bridges that don't quite fit a place replete with history, fast train connectivity, and more air traffic.
The pristine pastoral air that we witnessed on our first trip when we enjoyed bicycling on single lane country roads with paddy fields and coconut trees on either side were invisible when we made our second trip. These were increasingly replaced with cheerless concrete buildings housing global brand name stores, restaurants, endless highways that cut across the land and let automobile aficionados speed without a care for local sightseeing of 15th century temples and churches, and the resultant end to serendipitous discovery of quaint wayside homes and classic architecture while tooling down picturesque lanes, byways, and country roads.
All mostly gone. The price of progress and modernity is the loss of time to discover, to linger, sit under a tree overlooking fresh and green countryside, or read or reflect on life at an isolated beach. Goa had become the epitome of party, of noisy bars and casino ferries, and an unpretentious host to glamor and celebrity.
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The middle class don't belong here; they don't identify themselves with the new avatar. Some of us, yearning for places that are isolated and quiet, now prefer other destinations that offer the "real" experience unmixed with modernity. Though I've never visited these places in our ASEAN neighborhood, I understand Bali in Indonesia (to this day for all its fame), Nan in Thailand, and Ha Giang in Vietnam are some places that exude the real thing that Goa threw overboard. Most of them are far cheaper too, inclusive of air travel.
Goans will have to reclaim their land and say no to further infrastructure development of the sort that's taken place. That is, if they wish to remain a tourism paradise. They have to make a decision on what's unique to their culture and land - clearly, boat casinos, McDonald's, and IKEA are not - and go back to their quiet, quaint, roots. There lies beauty, unforgettable experiences, and the reason to return. Glam Bollywood celebs and political parties taking up entire resorts to have their flock under luxury detention keep most others out.
?? Law Student | ???? Law Faculty | Chartered Engineer ?? | Chartered Energy Engineer ?? | Psychologist ?? | Journalist ?? | ?? Q Ind Director MCA-GOI | Attorney @ Fiverr | Owns 130 million $ Sustainable Business Plan |
2 个月I agree with your lines. Mafia. Border police check posts are looting from tourists and local police are silent on organised theft.