It should be our very firm resolve and always with added vigour to carry on highlighting any injustice that we see and nothing should deter us and our commitment in this regard.
Fighting injustice is no easy task. One faces a backlash. In the last over 45 years of fighting against injustice, have never been cowed down by any threats of consequences that I have had to face for speaking out fearlessly. Have over the years never hesitated to take on the powerful and mighty over a wide range of issues. Nothing has intimidated me but has only made me stronger and emboldened my determination to stand up against the powers to be.
I have had nothing personal against anyone about whom I have raised issues. When highlighting an issue, it is bound to hurt some individuals. Have I hurt one too many? One has to have the spine to speak out against anything that is wrong.
My friends advise me to take extra precautions but I have chosen to lead the life of a common man. As the Sufi mystic Kabir said “Jako rakhe Sai, maar sake na koi” (None can harm him who is looked after by higher Powers). The dedicated prayers and the love showered by the common men is what keeps me going.
We need to maintain the spirit and keep on fighting. Life is a very short voyage, the end of which we know not. So let’s keep up the fight. We owe it to our Goa or else posterity may never forgive us for having silently allowed what remains of our once beautiful State to just pass away. We should remain unperturbed and be ready to die with a hope, rather than have hope die inside us. Let destiny take its course. Each of us has to go someday, but our Goa has to live forever.
When I do have to depart, it shall be with a humble sense of accomplishment of at least having attempted to do something little for our beautiful Goa. I remain heavily indebted to all my teachers in school and college who so caringly imparted me all that knowledge and guidance which has immensely helped me over the years in all the crusades.
In death, one may be physically gone, but the spirit is always around. In the words of Corazon Aquino, widow of the assassinated President of Philippines, who went on to be President herself, “I would rather die a meaningful death than live a meaningless life.”
