Singer Remo Fernandes, a Portuguese citizen who sings in Hindi, Portuguese and other languages, and who has made Goa his home spoke to this writer some years ago on Goan ecology.
“The Goa I used to know stopped existing a long time ago. I wrote songs a quarter of a century ago about saving Goa. Now others have started. If only everyone had listened back then, this wouldn’t have happened. Now it’s much too late. There is not much left to save in Goa. The desecration is all around us in Goa,” Remo mourned.
When asked if legal recourse could be a solution for the preservation of Goa, he refused point blank. “Suppose we go to court, how many years would it take to get a verdict? Add another ten years to implement the judgement. I am afraid it’s too late to save Goa. Luckily, there is no beach in the village where I stay. I haven’t been to any of the beaches for ages. They’re too noisy, too commercialised. It isn’t my Goa any longer.”
He further lamented, “I feel like a tourist in my own land. I wish we had a feeling of pride in Goa. In the Arab countries, they hire the whole world to work for them but the locals remain at the top, holding the reins. We’ve sold Goa to the highest bidders. Goans sell their lovely ancestral homes to outsiders and live in flats. It’s really sad.”
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