Home / Mar 21- Mar 27, 2026 / WEEKEND UPDATES / WEEKEND UPDATES

WEEKEND UPDATES

Mar 21- Mar 27, 2026, WEEKEND UPDATES March 19, 2026 , by

NOT A DROP TO DRINK

WATER, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. Real estate developers and builders are advertising flats and villas with a sea view in Goa all over social media. They are advertising villas with private swimming pools. But the majority of the tower or multistoried buildings in gated complexes do not have government PWD water connections. The multitower Mathias Ocean Park in Dona Paula which has 500 plus flats does not have a PWD water connection. As with Mathias Ocean Park  the Anantam signature villaments next to Baywatch in Odxel also have no drinking water connection. It is actually illegal to give  occupancy certificates from panchayats and civic bodies when developers have not got a water connection. It is illegal for a builder to sell villas and flats with no Goa PWD water connection. Those who invest in dream homes in Goa should check if they have an official drinking water tap in their new flats. Most of these come-lately high rise buildings source their water through tankers drawing on tube wells and lakes or even the closest river near which they are located. Such sources of water can be contaminated with fecal matter.   

SOUL TRAVEL IN GOA

SOUL travelling in Goa is not about reincarnation. It is the latest tourism package offered by travel agencies and event managers. They will take you for a conducted tour of the Fontainhas heritage precinct for two hours for Rs999, they will take you for a more extended tour of heritage spots in Panjim, including the Campal promenade, for Rs2,500. They will take you to a spice plantation and even a meal in an old Goan heritage house, for Rs4,000. Such soul travelling tourism is a flourishing business which requires no capital or investment. However, you may have to make sure that  locals staying in say some heritage precinct do not take to throwing rotten tomatoes or eggs on you, for what? Taking too keen an interest into their private home compounds, peering through their windows, if not walking right in if the doors are open. Do not steal flowers from their well-maintained gardens for any reason.

SPONSORED PILGRIM TOURS

HISTORICALLY, the centre and state governments have always funded poor Muslims aspiring to go to Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia for their lifetime Haj pilgrimage. More recently, the Narendra Modi government decided to offer free conducted tours to the new Ayodhya temple. This pilgrimage scheme has been gradually extended to cover the most desired Char Dham Yatra for Hindus.

In Goa, in keeping with the secular tradition, help is also offered to Catholic pilgrims who want to go to Velankanni. Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant revealed in the truncated budget session of the current assembly that  Goa has acquired a large plot of land in Ayodhya, to build a guesthouse for visiting Goans.

Apparently, because the BJP government in Goa is dependent on Catholic MLAs for survival, now there is also a proposal for a Goan guest house in Velankanni. Velankanni, in Tamil Nadu, is a cherished Catholic pilgrimage center home to the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health. It’s popularly considered to be the  Lourdes of the East and devotees visit the Velankanni shrine in search of miracles for their failing health.

POORNIMA & CRECENT MOON

COME Thursday and Friday (March 19/20) all eyes of Muslims around the world, whether it is war time in Iran or peaceful in Goa,  will look upwards for a sight of the new moon in the sky. All Muslim functions and festivals are centered around the new crescent moon. In sharp contrast Hindu festivals revolve around the full moon and it is Poornima or Purnima which is auspicious with the Tripura poornima most auspicious by the Hindu calendar.

Interestingly, a group of Muslims who broke their fast in a boat cruising the Ganges river at Varanasi, were hauled up and arrested by the local magistrate. Their crime was throwing the bones of their meal of kebabs after they had finished into the river waters of the Ganga which is the most sacred river of Hindus. Never mind that all food veg or non-veg is 100% biodegradable. This has prompted a lawyer to remark sarcastically and ask if our rivers in the country have turned vegetarian too.

GULF CRISIS UPDATE

THE shortage of not only LPG but even petrol and diesel is becoming acute. The booking of domestic gas cylinders has become easier. However, the situation may not continue as several tankers of LPG are still waiting for clearance in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has made it clear that there is no automatic clearance for Indian ships. There are apparently 21 ships carrying LPG and diesel and petroleum waiting to cross the Strait of Hormuz.

In other countries there is concern about continued availability of diesel and petrol. Air-conditioners are affected because they work on gas. A lot of industries like the fertilizer industry are still waiting for their supply of gas. Meanwhile jokes are circulating following an alleged claim by Narendra Modi that when he was a chaiwallah long ago at a railway station, he used to source gas from dirty, putrid gutters which released gas. There are a number of AI created Facebook videos doing the rounds of a prime minister chaiwallah making tea using gutter gas. One hilarious post depicts Donald Trump asking Narendra Modi for a patent on gutter gas technology.

GOA NOT A BUTCHER’S SHOP!

“39A is fundamentally unconstitutional” and “Goa is not a butcher’s shop!” exclaimed the good-humored Justice Gautam Patel, former judge of the Bombay high court in Goa, while sharing his thoughts at the release function of Dr Claude Alvares’ book “Fish Curry and Rice” (5th edition) on March 14, 2026 at the Kala Academy’s Dinanath Mangeshkar auditorium. Without mincing words the visiting judge told a packed auditorium that Goa is a land worth fighting for so don’t be afraid to fight, something along those lines, while he shared other memoirs of his life and times during his posting in Goa. He said forget about signing online petitions or putting things on Facebook or Instagram, that won’t do it, the real fight to save whatever is left of Goa’s green paradise must be on the streets, at Azad Maidan…around the clock.

Justice Patel really has an insight into Goa’s politics, his entire address is worth reproducing (see elsewhere here). An observation he made to quote, “Goa is facing the problem of `othering’ today, Where Goans have become the others, and those who are not Goan, who make no attempt to know or understand Goa, are the ones who take all decisions about the land, people, and culture. This is being done not just by outsiders but is being actively facilitated by those within Goa.”  

Speaking in chaste Marathi, Judge Patel  congratulated the villagers of Chimbel, who were in the audience, for how they had passionately protested by fasting or 44 days against the Unity Mall project of the government. This fight was united and grounded that it won a lot of sympathy even in Maharashtra where the newspapers carried the news reports.

Presumably in Maharashtra too several people’s battles are going on for the cause of places and people cruelly affected by thoughtless industrialization. So much so that people’s lives turn to hell when progress and development is not well planned with the interests of the people at its heart. There is no reason why people should not fight for their rights and more power to them. Needless to say that retired HC judge Gautam Patel  won the hearts of everyone in the audience! His love for the Goa and its people was very palpable in his address at the well-attended event which apart from seeing the release of the book “Fish Curry and Rice” also saw the felicitation of several activists in Goa who through the years have been equivalent to being “rakhandar” or guardians of what is good and bad for preserving the unique and much loved identity or asmitai of Goa. Nobody wants Goa to turn into another vertical slum and especially not in its villages.

No related posts.

Search

Back to Top