Houses of Goa No. 1

This is the begining of a series of pictures of houses across Goa.

Dropping tourist numbers

Accordingly to recent statistics, tourist inflow at Dabolim airport has in fact dropped by a whopping 15% over 2007-08. The total number of foreign tourists coming in via chartered flights also dropped by a similar margin.

This brings into picture an often debated issue. What impact does this have on the overall Goan economy? On the negative side, a lot of the related industries like hotels, retail and services will be hugely impacted given that a majority of the Goan population is linked in some way or the other in tourism related busines.

However, on the positive side, this is also pushing the Goan youth to innovate and come up with newer business ideas including investments in other areas. Goa has a well educated and talented workforce. We possess skills across a spectrum of areas.

Has Goa's over dependence on tourism effected the Goan's entrepreunal spirit or the other way round?

Goa Wine and Women

It's that of the year again. Carnival is round the corner and many of the Goans are already at their drawing boards.

Carnival used to be a clean festival of fun. However, in the recent years a lot of expectations have been built around the celebrations. Due to the reputations of its namesake, the carnival of Rio, people have created expectations of dance, fun, music AND lots of women, wine and sex from the festival of carnival.

I am not surprised when my friends seem to have images in their minds of 3 days of extreme libido. They can clearly imagine a riot of color and naked and intoxicated women crawling all over begging for sex. They can clearly imagine scenes of free sexual encounters in every nook and corner of Goa. They can clearly imagine scenes of loud music, dance and a general sense of extreme nirvana in the days of the carnival.

What happened to the good old Intruz? And have we Goans only added to the expectations of today?