Goa: The other side of India shining
Foreigners moving in Goa to buy old houses in the villages
By Armstrong Vaz
Aug 2, 2007: Goa like India has been witnessing an economic boom. The new found wealth among the village middle class has made them abandon their old village houses and move to the cities chasing their dreams. The abandoning of houses in the villages has left many houses for sale.
Carxetta, small ward of Velim village is not a tourist village, and villagers are selling their ancestral houses. The Schofield's from England are the first to set a foot toe in the village this year. The Russians are also on their way to settle in the village.
Many are on their way to buy houses in Carxetta.
The villagers of Carxetta, a small ward of Velim village in Salcete Taluka in the western Indian state of Goa have welcomed a new neighbor in their locality. The Schofield family. The name may seem strange among the predominant locality of the Colaco's, D'silva's, Fernandes of the area, But a stark reality.
Carxetta, like all villages of AVC Assolna, Velim and Cuncolim villages a combination of neigbouring villages are called by the short form, is experiencing an economic boom of a different kind. The Dollar boom you may call it. A ward dominated by men who work as seamen and others who have found greener pastures in the Gulf or in Mumbai.
The new generation have shifted to the more cozy life of the cities and with it a chunk of the old ancestral houses up for sale in the village.
This is the new India which is emerging; especially in Goa where powered by the higher spending power the villagers are abandoning their village houses and chasing their dreams of prosperity. The surging economic boom has forced some Indians to abandon their village house and shift to more urban areas in search of jobs.
The chase for dreams to be realized and for an upward mobility on the social and economic ladder has seen many a Goan youngsters migrating to Mumbai and elsewhere in the world. With passage of time, the pangs of separation from the village life eases out.
The trend of selling village houses to foreigners have not started here at a hectic pace like in North Goa but the schofiled family are the first one who have set the trend.
The village is connected by road and the nearest city Margao some 16 kilometres and the nearest bazaar is three kilometers, in Velim Village.
Yet the Schofield's fell in love in the village house that they paid to the original Goan owner Rs. 27 lakhs. He having said good bye to his village and to his ancestral house.
The 1000 square metres property on which stands the house- which now been renovated giving a new glitz to its rugged exteriors and a new addition in the form of swimming pool has been added.
The schofield family is from England and they have moved into this sleepy village on the banks of River Sal last March. The white-skinned couple stands out among the crowd, among the predominant brown skinned Goans.
Carxetta is not a usual beach side village which one associates with Go avis-a vis a global picture of tourism. The nearest beach is Mobor, Cavelossim some three kilometers and for that the villagers have to cross river Sal - hitch hike a ride on the small canoes of the fisherman operating at Cutbona or through ferry at Assolna village (a distance of five kilometers).
Cutbona, a hamlet of villagers which is one kilometer away from the Carxetta have been engaged in fishing business for ages and with modernization has a fishing jetty, where the numerous trawlers berth to unload the fish . The Fish catch which finds its way to different parts of India.
The retired English couple has selected Goa and specifically Carxetta as their destination of rest and leisure. They join an increasingly number of English middle aged who have bought houses in Goa and are preferring to settle down in the coastal sea-side beach resort infected Indian state, former Portuguese colony till 1961.
Official records at the State foreigners department show that around 5000 Englishman have bought houses in the state. Some of the property bought by the foreigners which has came under the scanner, for violations of the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) , 1999.
They preferred Carxetta for its tranquility and the susegad (laidback) life style of the village compared to the hustle and bustle of the tourist infected areas of the state.
The village has retained its old essence. The old tiled houses are still found, the greenery in the form of mango and coconut trees are still evident everywhere you go. And the paddy fields have turned green in the rainy season not with paddy cultivation but with wild grass. Villagers have abandoned paddy cultivation in the village for a host of reasons.
For the locals the foreigners are not a problem in the area if they are peace loving citizens.
Says a local citizen Franklin Colaco, now settled in Mumbai, A small trickle of foreigners into the village is understable but a host of them may create problems if the trickle turn into a huge wave" he warns.
He on his part has retained his ancestral house in the village even after staying in Mumbai for the last fifty years.
And a second foreign family was to follow into Carxetta but the Russian fate has suffered a twist. He has become a victim of the circumstances.
With government cracking its whip on the foreigners buying property without following the (FEMA) procedures, he thought of breaking through the corridors of the legal hassles, but has ended by losing his money in the process.
A Goan middle man from the same village has ended up being the owner of an old village house without paying a pie.
The Russian paid all the money to the original owner of the property and when it came to execution of papers before the Registar of Salcete, the Goan owner was shown as having bought the property.
This is one the pitfalls that many foreigners had suffered in the past and the Russian is not the first or the last one.
http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast&broadcastid=49418
By Armstrong Vaz
Aug 2, 2007: Goa like India has been witnessing an economic boom. The new found wealth among the village middle class has made them abandon their old village houses and move to the cities chasing their dreams. The abandoning of houses in the villages has left many houses for sale.
Carxetta, small ward of Velim village is not a tourist village, and villagers are selling their ancestral houses. The Schofield's from England are the first to set a foot toe in the village this year. The Russians are also on their way to settle in the village.
Many are on their way to buy houses in Carxetta.
The villagers of Carxetta, a small ward of Velim village in Salcete Taluka in the western Indian state of Goa have welcomed a new neighbor in their locality. The Schofield family. The name may seem strange among the predominant locality of the Colaco's, D'silva's, Fernandes of the area, But a stark reality.
Carxetta, like all villages of AVC Assolna, Velim and Cuncolim villages a combination of neigbouring villages are called by the short form, is experiencing an economic boom of a different kind. The Dollar boom you may call it. A ward dominated by men who work as seamen and others who have found greener pastures in the Gulf or in Mumbai.
The new generation have shifted to the more cozy life of the cities and with it a chunk of the old ancestral houses up for sale in the village.
This is the new India which is emerging; especially in Goa where powered by the higher spending power the villagers are abandoning their village houses and chasing their dreams of prosperity. The surging economic boom has forced some Indians to abandon their village house and shift to more urban areas in search of jobs.
The chase for dreams to be realized and for an upward mobility on the social and economic ladder has seen many a Goan youngsters migrating to Mumbai and elsewhere in the world. With passage of time, the pangs of separation from the village life eases out.
The trend of selling village houses to foreigners have not started here at a hectic pace like in North Goa but the schofiled family are the first one who have set the trend.
The village is connected by road and the nearest city Margao some 16 kilometres and the nearest bazaar is three kilometers, in Velim Village.
Yet the Schofield's fell in love in the village house that they paid to the original Goan owner Rs. 27 lakhs. He having said good bye to his village and to his ancestral house.
The 1000 square metres property on which stands the house- which now been renovated giving a new glitz to its rugged exteriors and a new addition in the form of swimming pool has been added.
The schofield family is from England and they have moved into this sleepy village on the banks of River Sal last March. The white-skinned couple stands out among the crowd, among the predominant brown skinned Goans.
Carxetta is not a usual beach side village which one associates with Go avis-a vis a global picture of tourism. The nearest beach is Mobor, Cavelossim some three kilometers and for that the villagers have to cross river Sal - hitch hike a ride on the small canoes of the fisherman operating at Cutbona or through ferry at Assolna village (a distance of five kilometers).
Cutbona, a hamlet of villagers which is one kilometer away from the Carxetta have been engaged in fishing business for ages and with modernization has a fishing jetty, where the numerous trawlers berth to unload the fish . The Fish catch which finds its way to different parts of India.
The retired English couple has selected Goa and specifically Carxetta as their destination of rest and leisure. They join an increasingly number of English middle aged who have bought houses in Goa and are preferring to settle down in the coastal sea-side beach resort infected Indian state, former Portuguese colony till 1961.
Official records at the State foreigners department show that around 5000 Englishman have bought houses in the state. Some of the property bought by the foreigners which has came under the scanner, for violations of the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) , 1999.
They preferred Carxetta for its tranquility and the susegad (laidback) life style of the village compared to the hustle and bustle of the tourist infected areas of the state.
The village has retained its old essence. The old tiled houses are still found, the greenery in the form of mango and coconut trees are still evident everywhere you go. And the paddy fields have turned green in the rainy season not with paddy cultivation but with wild grass. Villagers have abandoned paddy cultivation in the village for a host of reasons.
For the locals the foreigners are not a problem in the area if they are peace loving citizens.
Says a local citizen Franklin Colaco, now settled in Mumbai, A small trickle of foreigners into the village is understable but a host of them may create problems if the trickle turn into a huge wave" he warns.
He on his part has retained his ancestral house in the village even after staying in Mumbai for the last fifty years.
And a second foreign family was to follow into Carxetta but the Russian fate has suffered a twist. He has become a victim of the circumstances.
With government cracking its whip on the foreigners buying property without following the (FEMA) procedures, he thought of breaking through the corridors of the legal hassles, but has ended by losing his money in the process.
A Goan middle man from the same village has ended up being the owner of an old village house without paying a pie.
The Russian paid all the money to the original owner of the property and when it came to execution of papers before the Registar of Salcete, the Goan owner was shown as having bought the property.
This is one the pitfalls that many foreigners had suffered in the past and the Russian is not the first or the last one.
http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast&broadcastid=49418
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