GOA REMIXED

When Delhiite Dhiraj Arora, 31, felt he needed to expand his restaurant brand Shalom, he headed to Mumbai first. After licensing issues curtailed his plans there, he decided to explore Goa. After a quick survey, Arora found that along with the backpacker tourist, the big budget foreign traveler is coming here, andGoa isthehottestdestination for north Indians, since airfares have dropped. Arora opened Shalom in a bright,Mediterranean-stylehousefac-ing the buzzing Calangute beach. He8217;s also launched a hotel in the south and an Italian restaurant, Italics, in Baga.8220;I believe Goawillbethe Spainof theeastin three years,8221; he says. 8220;The hospitality and atmosphere here beats Phuket, Bali andMauritiushandsdown.8221;

Arora is just one among several In-dians who have discovered Goa. Be-sides the five lakh international and seven lakh Indian tourists who visit every year, this is the trendiest address for a second home in India. Ugly con-crete structures, huge crowds and bar-ren mountains have destroyed quaint hill towns like Shimla, Mussoorie and Lonavala,favourite placestohaveholi-day homes. Goa, on the other hand, has lush green paddy fields and blaz-ing yellow crotons. The king of good times, billionaireVijay Mallya put Goa on the map when he built his magnifi-cent villa here in 2001. His endorse-ment clearly counts for a lot: the prop-erties adjacent to his bungalow in Candolim have become the most ex-pensive in the area.

However, land prices throughout Goa have skyrocketed8212;there8217;s been a property buying frenzy since 2005.

Arora bought his one-acre plot in Calangute last year in June for Rs 80 lakh. He received an offer of Rs 4 crore 11 months later. Realtors like DLF and MGF have announced massive hous-ing projects. OnedeveloperfromDelhi is building 34 villas on a hillside over-looking the scenic Mandovi river. Each cottage comes with a private swim-ming pool. Cost per villa: Rs 2 crore. Besides holiday homes, there are malls, cinema halls and plush apart-ments surfacing everywhere.

The Goans, traditionally a laidback merry bunch, are also waking up to brand Goa and are hoping to cash in on the boom. Gautam Panvelkar, 22, studying for an MBA in a private uni-versity in Goa, has changed his origi-nal plan to move to Mumbai after get-ting his degree. 8220;I plan to develop my ancestral property and start a real es-tate business,8221; says Panvelkar. His contemporary Mark Pinto, 20, born and brought up in Goa, also feels his future lies here. 8220;Most of my uncles and aunts left Goa for the Gulf or Canada,8221; says Pinto.8220;Now there are so many opportunities here.8221; Besides tourism, companies with BPO ser-vices are eyeing Goa to set up call centres since the locals speak excel-lent English. Older Goans with established busi-nesses are also reinventing them-selves.

Marios Monteiro, 43, runs a cosy restaurant called Cavala just off Baga beach. It has a festive atmos-phere with twinkling fairy lights every-where.

With the tagline 8220;Don8217;t hiber-nate, lets celebrate8221;, Monteiro has started a monsoon celebration night once a week. Cavala is packed on Sat-urdays with tourists and Goa8217;s swish set. 8220;Till recently, our shutters were down six months a year,8221; he says. 8220;Now it8217;s worth it to keep running throughout.8221; Monteiro is also expand-ing and building a boutique spa hotel. A hundred metres from Cavala is Ronils, a popular mid-budget hotel that has been around since 1987. Gen-eral manager Rui Madri D Deus is a celebrated chef and a witness to the radical changes in Goa. Deus says business has never been better, but adds:8220;Buildings are coming up every-where and Goa8217;s beauty is vanishing.8221;

Deus reminisces 8220;Goawillbethe Spainoftheeast inthreeyears.Its atmospherebeats PhuketandBali handsdown8221; about the Goa of old when hoteliers would play the guitar while guests danced. He has plans to set up a tradi-tional Goan village where tourists can experience local culture: 8220;I want to serve original pork vindaloo in a vil-lage surrounded by paddy fields.8221; Goa8217;s cultural dilution is on many minds. While most Goans are selling out and enjoying unexpected wealth, thanks to family property, they have mixed feelings about outsiders coming in, buying their land and doing busi-ness.

Politician Rajan Ghate has started the Goa Bachao Manch and is protest-ing against Britishers and Russians buy-ing land in Goa. He8217;s found supporters. 8220;The Goans will become like the Abo-rigines in Australia,8221; agrees D Deus.

Monteiro disagrees and points out how so many Indians have homes in London and Dubai: 8220;The real threat is from the Indian businessman who wants to tear down a 100-year-old Portuguese house and build a hotel.8221;

While most Goans grudgingly ad-mit that Mallya8217;s interest in the state has been good for Goa, they sneer at his 8220;air-conditioned garden8221; and overt display of wealth. The north Indians aren8217;t winning any popularity contests either. Aggressive and sharp, they ap-ply city standards to their businesses here and end up offending locals who are used to an easier pace of life. Fash-ion designer Malini Ramani has run a boutique here since 2002. She8217;s also started a nightclub called Congo and this winter she8217;s experimenting with a health bar called Juicy Planet. Ramani says the Goans are a lovely cultured lot but it takes time for outsiders to click here: 8220;You must always be respectful and remember you8217;re the newcomer.8221;

Goa8217;s civic infrastructure isn8217;t keep-ing pace with its changing needs. In De-cember, the busiest month, there are four-hour long traffic jams everywhere.

The beach from Candolim to Bagga is 8 km long and there are an astounding 230 shacks on this stretch. The killer: there8217;s yet no proper garbage disposal system in place for them. The state gov-ernment is cracking down on construc-tion by enforcing a law whereby con-verting agricultural land into residential will be impossible till 2011. However, a lot of damage has already been done.

The Coastal Regulation Zone CRZ Act prevents anyone from constructing within 200 metres from the sea. This has been violated repeatedly. Four-storey malls stand cheek-by-jowl with old Por-tuguese homes and centuries-old churches. On the highway, huge ad hoardings block the view of the pic-turesque hilly terrain and the ocean.

Everywhere is a hotel, restaurant or shop. Goan architecture, a skilful blend of European and Indian sensibilities, is making way for modern structures. The government urgently needs to work on preserving the beauty and unique cul-ture of Goa. After all that8217;s precisely what lures everyone here.