Day 18, Benaulim, Goa [Friday 21st December 2007]
Previous day: Day 17, Benaulim, Goa [Thursday 20th December 2007]
Next day: Day 19, Palolem, Goa [Saturday 22nd December 2007]
We take our bikes and ride along the beach in the opposite direction to before. We rest in the shade of a fishing boat on the beach and read our books. For lunch we have fried rice and noodles.
On the return journey we ride through Colva Beach, the main beach along this stretch of south Goa and one that is usually thronged with Indian tourists. It's an unusual sight. The women stand waist deep in the water, fully clothed in their sari or salwar kameez. The men stand with their trousers rolled up and pose, unsmiling, for photos.
This is the messiest part of Goa we have seen, the rest of it is practically spotless. Here, though, the beach is covered in empty bottles, drinks bottles, snack packets, bits of newspaper. It's an absolute disgrace, and seems typical of the way Indians conduct themselves in relation to their environment. It's an incredibly selfish attitude, ruining the landscape for others. I was going to say they also ruin it for themselves, but they don't seem to care, or are oblivious that hey are wading ankle deep in litter.
Further down the beach we see a group of Indian school children, in uniform, also with rubbish strewn about them on sand. It's disgusting. The other beaches we have seen here, frequented almost exclusively by Westerners, have been clean and tidy, as you would expect. How does the locals' behaviour correlate with India's recently reported 'victory' at the Bali talks on global warming, where it secured a deal meaning it did not have to make cuts in its emissions targets until after 2012? For a country with ambitions to be a political and economic superpower you have to wonder where the motivation, skill and responsibility will come from, when the average citizen is not even responsible enough to care for his own immediate environment.
Today we spent Rs. 625.
Next day: Day 19, Palolem, Goa [Saturday 22nd December 2007]
Previous day: Day 17, Benaulim, Goa [Thursday 20th December 2007]