What’s Goan in our tourism? July 27, 2009

'Sickle and coconuts in hand, Palani goes five-star' screamed one headline in a South Indian newspaper which hit my eye. The story was about a restaurant in 'Courtyard Marriott', a five star hotel in South Indian metropolis, Chennai. What about the restaurant? No, it's not the, decor or service, but a cart loaded with tender coconuts (Addsor), the kind we can see here in Goa along highways mostly in summer, bang at the entrance of this restaurant. And, the cartman, R Palani, who formerly used to sell his addsor in lungi and shirt on the street a few blocks away from the five-star, was manning it, though turned out in chef's attire and shoes.
The story goes on to add how Palani fascinates foreigners who dine in the restaurant by holding the nut in one hand and slicing it open with a sickle in the other.
Under a deal with Courtyard Marriott Hotel, Palani has to bring around 200 tender coconuts, which according to the hotel's director of food and beverages, is a 'fresh' alternative to the chilled version of the tender coconut water.

Can we have the Food and Beverages bosses of the dozens of five-stars we have here in Goa to think of such innovations? Or will we continue to hear the outrageous stories of managements versus locals conflicts, be it on the taxi front, access to beach front, and so on and so forth?
Unfortunately, the Goan has always been an 'outsider' for these hotels ever since five-star tourism set foot on Goa's sands, since the CHOGM in the early 1980s. And, anything that's Goan is treated with disdain. No wonder, that a fish-curry-rice or any other dish eaten at any of these five-stars never inspires you for an encore.
So, what's Goan in our five-stars, apart from the land and the sand they stand on, and of course a handful of owners? Couldn't that headline in that Chennai paper have so easily been: ''Sickle and coconuts in hand, 'Jose', 'Pedro' or 'Vasu' goes five-star", in any of our very own Goan daily?

Witty prospect this...
The Customs Museum and its rich exhibits, including some of invaluable heritage importance, which was inaugurated by Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, last week is welcome news for Goa at large. It promises to be a landmark in Panjim, and even offers the permanently cribbing tourism industry a window of opportunity.
Yet, the plans of those managing the museum to put one display one particular exhibit, will for sure haunt one prominent clan from Goa -- the first family of Varca.
The love-hate relationship between the Customs and this clan is not unknown to many of us Goans. The detractors of the Alemaos often brandish their record with the country's anti-smuggling agency, mostly for convinient, political brownie points. But in recent years, the Alemaos themselves have had a not-so-antagonistic, almost bordering on a 'peaceful' relationship, with the Customs and its personnel.
It won't last for long though. For, sources tell us that plans are afoot to place that infamous Contessa as an exhibit in the 'Battle of Wits' gallery which showcases items they managed to get from smugglers, at the musuem. The Contessa, impounded in that infamous 1991 Fatrade encounter doesn't find a place there already, because officials are still battling their wits on how to carry the broad four-wheeler up the stairs of the heritage building.