Manohar Parrikar failed Panjim for two decades as its MLA -- By Nisser Dias

An hour’s shower this monsoon submerged most of the main roads in the capital city of Goa. What does this indicate, obviously that its former MLA Manohar Parrikar miserably failed his constituents in Panjim for the last 20 years.

Manohar Parrikar was first elected in this constituency in the year 1994 and since then the voters have reposed faith in him repeatedly till date. So much so that after vacating the seat to become the Defence Minister he managed to get his trusted lieutenant Siddarth Kuncolikar elected in Panjim in 2014.

18th June road in Panjim city

Thus from 1994 to 2014 he did not even achieve to have a proper drainage system for his constituency and people of Goa had to bear the consequences. Most of the time we tend to criticize other MLAs sometime even without rhyme or reason. But when it comes to the IIT alumni, we consciously take a step back and talk about the bridges that he built, of having brought International Film Festival of India to Goa or he being intelligent, not forgetting his arrogance and the tag he attained of being autocratic but when it comes to development of his constituency nobody really dares to pass judgment against him.

Incidentally we should not lose sight of the fact that he was the chief minister of Goa for three times. That he never did complete his term is his own doing. In his first stint as CM he dissolved the assembly as he wanted absolute power through absolute majority. During his second stint he was toppled after huge drama in the august House where he allegedly engineered bodily lifting of ex-MLA of Velim Philip Neri Rodrigues by police officer appointed as Marshals. But he was not successful to hold on to the chair. His third stint from 2012 to 2014 was full of U-turns and hollow promises which he cut short to go to Delhi as Defence Minister and subsequently passed on the reins to his party colleague Laxmikant Parsekar.

As things stand traffic movement in Panjim is a mess, vehicle parking is in total disarray due to lack of space, lack of scientific drainage network system has left Panjim submerged, garbage collection, segregation and treatment is a mess, the list can go on.

Opposite Captain of Ports near Panjim jetty.

The reason being former or rather Panjim MLA of 20 years was more involved in  politicking games rather than development. Secondly he can never get along with anybody due to his arrogance, thinking that he is always right and only he knows everything and that it should be done only his way or the highway for the one who opposes him. With such an attitude he has brought development of the city to a grinding halt.

This man can never get along with any elected Mayor as they are not from his party. A rare exception was for a short period when his man was in the seat. And to always counteract or put spokes in the functioning of the ruling group, Parrikar would always appoint his ‘Yes man’ as the Commissioner. And for years it has been Sanjit Rodrigues. The ex-CM has stalled basic infrastructure being either put in place or upgrading it by using the commissioner. Sanjit Rodrigues not only genuflects in his presence but lies down at his master’s feet. A rather disgraced officer.

Man who supervised the destruction of
Panjim for 2 decades

The Defence minister as the CM of the State always used to say that he will have a solution for any issue, but for the last 20 years that the voters of Panjim has given him the mandate, he has not honoured it. And that is the reason collection, segregation, dumping and treatment of garbage has become the nemesis of Panjim city, drainage system has doomed the capital city of Goa.

Infact one could safely say that instead of improving the situation on land the longest serving ex-MLA of Panjim has gone on to even pollute river Mandovi further by permitting more casinos.

It seems to be high time that voters of Panjim to wear their thing caps or ‘topis’ and decide to bring about a change for 2017 elections for drastic transformation of our capital city. Panjim truly needs someone better.

 

Weekend special Stuffed Squids

Ingredients

Squids - cleaned and washed

Stuffing

1/4 cup chopped onions

1/4 cup chopped tomatoes 

2 tbsp recheado masala

Salt and oil

Method

Clean squids by removing the flaps and tentacles from the pockets. Wash them thoroughly. Cut the flaps and tentacles in small pieces.

To prepare the stuffing

Saute onions in a pan with oil.

Once they turn brown in colour add tomatoes and cook for 2-3 mins.

Now add the recheado masala and pieces of tentacles and flaps, cook for five minutes.

Take the squids and fill them with the stuffing.

Close them from top with the help of a tooth pick.

Heat oil in a pan and cook the squids for 10 minutes or till done.

(Un)covering the Power of Horror behind the Denial of kabrastan -- By Fr. Victor Ferrao, Rachol Seminary

 

One question that has disturbed many is that of the opposition to the kabrastan by some Catholics in Borda, Margao.  What does this tell about us Catholics? How do we understand this resistance to kabrastan? In a Year of Mercy it certainly makes us look unmerciful and egoistic. The denial of a dignified post death ritual closure to any human being appears wicked and unchristian. This brings us to the relation of fear and faith.  Both fear and faith appear to be opposite of each other, though in some cases fear may draw a person to faith. May be a psychoanalytical analysis  becomes a tool that might enable us to understand how an intense fear  triggers resistance to the said  kabrastan.  The proposed grave yard seems to have become a symbol that produces disgust and horror among a tiny but significant minority in Borda.  

Along with Freud, we may need Jacques Lacan to understand the psychodynamics of fear that triggers resistance and anger among some of our catholic in Borda.  Freud rightly discovered that our conscious state is under the control of what he called unconscious.  Freud taught that unconscious cannot be fully understood and accurately rendered verbal. Moving beyond this Freudian principle, Lacan teaches that the unconscious is structured like a language and is the discourse of the other of the self. This means our passions are conditioned by the desire of the other.  Thus, unconscious is less something within person than an inter-subjective space between people.

In the case that we are trying to understand, with great respect and love to all stake holders, one might say that it becomes clear that the desire of our Muslim brethren (the Other of the Catholics) becomes a point of trigger that has unleashed passions of fear and resistance among some Catholics. The desire of the Other (the legitimate wish to have a dignified burial space) has dismantled the imaginary cocoon that had been the source of sense of right order of things for the aggrieved Catholics.  When the bubble of this order of things exploded in the context of an encounter with the desire of the Other, one encounters the fear of disintegration and loss of grip over the future. Once, the narcissistic illusions of the self break down in the context of its Other , the false sense of self mastery over life begin to fade away.

In Borda, it appears that some of the Catholics experienced the Other (in the form of the Muslims) as a point of rupture that brought about a false sense of disruption of order of things. This sense of horror has led to the eruption of passions that are fomenting the rejection of the burial space for our Muslim brethren. Within the texture of meaning of life, the Catholics seem to have encountered an imaginary  point where all meanings seem to fall away leading to a  false sense that the ground beneath their feet is falling away.  Panicked by this imagined loss of joint of time, their resistance becomes a cry for a sense of balance and security. This might explain the repugnance and rejection of the proposal for a burial ground by a minority.

But what puzzles many is the question that asks:  how could the resources of our Christian faith be not enough to overcome the castration anxiety that anyone can be subjected in the face of an encounter with a supposedly intruder ? With great respect, love and admiration to our Catholics brethren, we may have to agree that the crisis that they are facing is also a crisis of faith. While the actions that are triggered by fear are far from our Christian morals and ethics yet the desire that is expressed as resistance is self damaging and is an expression of what Freud calls death drive. May be we might get an insight into this subjection of self to a mode of self destruction if we interpret Lacan’s presentation of the mirror stage.

Lacan presents the mirror stage as a crucial developmental stage of the self of a child. He says that a child between the ages of 6 to 18 months comes to identify itself with the image in the mirror, the other of its fragmented self. The child experiences a brokenness of its body and deceives its self by identifying with its image in the mirror that bestows a sense of wholeness and balance. Hence, the self imposes an illusory order and build its comfort zone. The same is true about all of us.  We too have illusory sense of order of things that bestows on us a sense of equanimity. Like us, the Catholics in Borda seem to have build an imaginary mirror image of themselves and life in general and when the real life comes biting the imaginary world comes down collapsing triggering anxiety and resistance

Hence, it is important that we all realise and understand the power of horror over life. The power horror/fear is controlling some of our Catholics in the case under our study. It is important that we bring these brethren to a leap of consciousness that would take them to a heightened awareness of the fact that without their intension, in that given situation Christian faith is crucified on the altar of fear. This awareness can break open the constrictions that debilitate their minds. We need to exhibit compassion to both side of the divide and yet firmly tackle the unfounded fears of our people in Borda and work to change the discourse that is routed in fear to the one that is rooted in faith, courage and openness.  It is my earnest hope and prayer that all stake holders in the case that we have studied receive the divine gift of discernment that would allay all fears and anxieties and open us to offer a dignified closure of death to our Muslim brethren.