Halia sits with her mother along the promenade after their last walk along the coast before they return home, after spending a month in their second home in Goa. Their conversation is laced with worry.
As with many locals, their fear is that when they next return, the mountainous landscape, that gives the sea its verdant colour, will have declined more. And, without the sights they enjoy on their walks, the sounds will not be the same.
“The sea is what brought us to Goa, and ultimately made my parents decide to make our second home here. The sea is special because all along, it is rimmed by beautiful mountains. But, they are slowly disappearing,” moans Halia who is spending her college vacations, here, in Goa.
“When my husband and I first came here, we fell in love with the sights this place offered. One did not need to search for solace here, it flowed naturally,” recollects Halia’s mother, Mandi.
“Since then, a lot has changed. The traffic has increased, and so too, the number of people on the beach. That would be fine if the trees did not start reducing in number,” says Mandi, who always thought Goa was the next best place for her children to rejuvenate their energies.
The loss of greenery that Halia and her mother refer to relates to the restraint that Alu Gomes Pereira, the pioneer of tourism, told GT Digital just about a week ago.
“We must realize,” he had said in that conversation, “that tourists come to Goa not just for the beach but the green cover that we have. Cut the trees and destroy our forests, and people will stop coming.”
The fear that resounded through the words of Halia and her mother echoes through the views of Iris, from Russia, who apart from English, is learning the local lingo.
“When we first came, we stayed in a hotel, but subsequently moved to the hills. The experience of living in the mountain and riding down to spend the day at the beach is special. But, the mountains are slowly disappearing,” she laments.
That cry from the Russian echoes in what Gomes Pereira says, “By cutting hills, by destroying our fields, and by changing our zoning from natural to cement, we are changing our identity.”
Restraint, according to Gomes Pereira, is a story of knowing when how much is enough.
“We cannot just go and destroy our nature because Goa without its green, is Goa gone,” says the man who immersed the best part of his life, showing off the land of his birth.
The green is disappearing. It is making way for colours that are not humane, but the silent essence of Goa draws tourists back. “We spend a few months in Goa and they turn out to be the best. If not for my children’s education, I would have settled here,” says Mandi as the sun sets on another family vacation.
The green is disappearing. It is making way for colours that are not humane.
“Goa is not just about beaches. Travelling around Goa is an experience by itself. Our natural beauty, in many ways, makes up for the lack of infrastructure. When everything around you looks beautiful, there is no time to complain,” reasons Gomes Pereira.
Despite the attempts to turn green into grey, Gomes Pereira holds his glass of scotch with optimism and places his faith in the saying: “Always remember a diamond is just a piece of coal that did well under pressure.”