Goa Diary

A local tipster was heard whispering that the Luizinho Faleiro government is certain to fall considering the number of Congress bigwigs camping in Goa. Of course. Some of the conspiracy theories were not only lapped up but also recirculated after much embellishment. This includes one about former chief minister Wilfred D8217;Souza staging a comeback but at the head of a Congress government some six months after he toppled the same party8217;s government headed by Pratapsinh Rane.

Meanwhile the state government continues to be on tenterhooks as Rane8217;s petition before the Supreme Court praying for the disqualification of D8217;Souza and company who defected from the Congress to stage the coup. Tour of the defectors re-defected to theCongress and one of them, Dayanand Narvekar, is Deputy Chief Minister!

On Auto-Pilot

One of the Delhi birds which flew towards warmer climes westwards turned out to be Rajesh Pilot. Clad in an unpolitician-like shorts and tee-shirt, the fighter pilot-turned-neta posed for photographs with the Chief Minister.

Pilot even gave the black cat commandos a break and rode a motorbike through the streets. Of course, he had to beat a retreat after being mobbed. Some lowly Congressman!

Lessons On Hinduism

For once this a story about a teacher who learnt of Hinduism from her students. Josephina Goen, a British school teacher heard so many stories from her teenage Indian students about Hindu weddings that she decided to participate in one herself. So, armed with the groom, James Calt, a roofer by trade, Goen flew into Goa and tied the knot last week.

Car Seva

Goa, it seems, has the highest motor vehicle to people ratio in the country. With a population of just 1.2 million, thestate has almost 2,86,000 vehicles at last count. That is one vehicle for five persons.

Now Goa8217;s road accident rate also is pretty high. According to data put out by the authorities there were 2344 accidents till November that claimed nearly 200 lives. So are Goan drivers mostly bikers particular daft as compared to, say, his Mumbai counterpart? Turns out the state has better and wide roads which allow for average speeds of 100 kmph, get it?

Aati Kya in Goa

A visitor to Goa should not be surprised if he is accosted by a total stranger on a bike with the proposition Aata Hai Kya? The bloke on the flashy yellow bike as only a motor cycle pilot8217; who plies a two-wheeled cab. Unfortunately single men on the straight and narrow tend to get into scraps when confronted by the pilots for the first time!