The Hindu Business Line : Changing coastline and life

They are a wonderful couple from England. One has known them for the last three years. They usually fly in to Mumbai en route to Goa during the English winter season to enjoy the warmth of the so-called Indian winter. The couple is now in Goa, enjoying the benign sun, sand and surf.

Here's an interesting account of what a typical Englishman thinks about Goa and developments therein. Names have been held back to protect the identity.

The first two weeks here were a bit mundane. Time was spent airing the flat — it was a bit musty smelling — cleaning, filling the fridge, reconnecting the TV, paying bills and so on. Our cycles were taken for a full 1,000 km service, new seat, handlebar grips and lock, new pedals, back tyre and inner tube — all for £10! A bit of furious `kicking over' and the scooter coughed into life. The first five litres of apple wine are still bubbling away and should be ready for Xmas.

Then, we've had the rounds of meeting up with friends, locals and visitors. Most of the migrants have now safely returned after their breaks at the summer feeding grounds.

Building has continued here at a frantic pace, thankfully not high-rise. This has, however, caused some problems with a section of the local population.

A couple of weeks before we came, the authorities bulldozed the home of a Swiss couple, alleging it was too near the coastline — a minimum of 500 metres is required.

It was worth about £70,000 — they will not get compensation. There are some rumblings, fuelled by the press, about foreigners buying land in Goa — selling their heritage and all that. Some of this appears to have been done legally or otherwise and not too much is said about locals taking advantage of naïve foreigners not conversant with local laws.

In North Goa, many parcels of land have been bought up by Russians, who are rumoured to be mafia. Some politicians are also on the bandwagon. Some are campaigning for investigations, bans, changes to laws and so on, mainly to raise their profile for the upcoming elections. On the other hand, some politicians have been taking `bungs' to keep this lot quiet. We shouldn't have any trouble, as our property was bought legally.

The monsoons have been particularly heavy this season, accompanied by high tides. A lot of sand has been washed away, leaving pools on the beach and trees have been uprooted. The coastline is being gradually altered. They are hoping that continued high tides will put all the sand back — we think a forlorn hope. The Goans have been seeing this happen for many years now and have had many chances to erect sea defences, but, of course, nothing happens.

It's probably too late now.

There's also been a campaign against sellers on the beaches — Laamanis, girls from out of State, who sell fruit, jewellery, wraps, clothes and so on. They are friendly but can occasionally pester newly arrived tourists. The local councils have banned them from the beaches (egged on by local taxi drivers who say they are affecting their business as foreigners do not want to go to the beaches) and to enforce this have employed security guards.

We've also got groups of armed special police patrolling the beach to counteract any perceived terrorist threat, although they look completely bored and whether they could spring into action and run along a sandy beach wearing huge army boots is another matter. Still, they have the compensation of viewing bikini and thong-clad tourist girls. With their presence, we can all sleep easy on our sunbeds! The money and resources could be better spent on providing lifeguards (there are tall viewing stands on the beach) on all beaches, as the risk of drowning is far greater than any other, especially for Indian tourists.

Quite a number have drowned this year.

The weather has so far been variable. It's been hot and sticky and we've had a few showers earlier on in the month too, but they seem to have stopped.

The last few days have been overcast. By now it should be getting a bit cooler and more comfortable, but this `global warming' seems to affect everywhere.