r/Goa

Hi,

I have always considered Goa as my second home. I would go to Goa any chance I get. I have made amazing friends, beautiful memories and everytime Goa amazes me. I’d enter Goa and feel it’s my home it’s where I always belonged. And no! I dont prefer going to clubs, group outings and such. I always visited Goa for peace. It touches my soul. I’d go on my own to experience solitude, enjoy the dreamy vibes and my heart wont just let me leave.

However, things changed last time. It was September 2024, I stayed in North and South and this time I had not planned my return journey since I really wanted to be there for as long as possible. I couchsurfed with locals, dorm etc. and had a great time with them in South Goa but it was this time, I noticed the locals in North were less welcoming to me. I have made friends and they were just the same but the new locals seemed to not welcome the Indian tourists, to be specific. Foreigners were just as welcome as they always were.

Even the hostel that I stayed in preferred hospitality to them irrespective of the money I poured. Curlies had literally directed the staff not to allow Indian tourists to it’s EDM festival that had Zero visitors. I was the only one, and I had to pull some strings to get there, a situation which I never faced before.

I spoke with locals who told me, most locals prefer joining Thailand cruise for better pay hence musicians prefer going abroad rather than work here. One of the locals who runs a roll shop and remembered me well since I’d go to him often; told him he’s also losing business and planning to leave since new fast food chains have made their stalls obsolete. I always prefer having local food so the Goa remains the same Goa that I love.

What disturbed me was the unwelcoming vibe that I received from locals despite my love for the place. I never go to clubs , and this time I was refused to enter in one since I was an Indian. At that moment three of the europeans who became my casual chat buddies at one resto bar insisted the staff for entries or they’d leave; only then staff allowed me to enter. It was later that the manager came to be a friend of someone I knew; from my past journeys. I think it was racism in a manner and my profession allows me to take stern steps but I was still trying to get a hold of my head around things.

Right after covid, I went to Sunburn and paid almost thrice more than Thailand. And I have no regrets. I’d consider going to Goa over anything else but unfortunately, it seems A LOT has changed recently.

I understand many outsiders don't respect Goa and make a mess out of everything. But how does that allow everyone to harass a paying Indian with good intentions?

Does Goa or its people don’t want me to enter goa anymore? Or does Goa prefer foreigners over Indians so blindly that they’d kick out any Indian irrespective of their best intentions ?

I don't wish to blame the people or the place. Goa holds a special place in my heart. But it has made me reconsider spending money in a place that has no respect for me, my time or my efforts.

I require perspective from locals hence, I've posted here. I really want insights from locals if things have changed or was it something else? Is there a power tussle between Indian tourists and foreigners ? Or the outlook of locals has drastically changed against Indian tourists ? I'd appreciate if MODs allow the post and I may have a real insight into the place that I really love.

Thanks for reading.

Dr. Pramod Sawant defending his post against internal BJP challenger Vishwajit Rane, while a rebuilding Congress counters with legislative leader Yuri Alemao and MP Capt. Viriato Fernandes

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Hello , I’m a Goan with Portuguese ancestry who still speaks Portuguese, and I wanna ask you guys something

If you could go back and observe Goa during Portuguese rule for one day, what would you want to see the most? Would you still wish that the Portuguese should’ve ruled Goa today?

What interests you most about that particular period?

My previous post about reverence, modesty, and holiness in Christian culture was removed, but removing a discussion does not remove the concern behind it. What is even more painful is that these things are increasingly happening within Goan churches themselves, places that were once deeply rooted in reverence, tradition, and sacredness. We live in a time where any conversation about modesty, holiness, or spiritual discipline is quickly labeled as “judgment,” while almost every modern trend is accepted without reflection. As Christians, are we still willing to reflect on uncomfortable truths, or do we only accept messages that agree with the culture around us? A church, a sacrament, and a life centered on God were never meant to be guided only by personal preference or social approval. Truth does not stop being true simply because people dislike hearing it. This is not about condemning individuals. It is about sincerely asking whether reverence, holiness, and respect for sacred things still matter in modern Christian life.

Please help it's urgent..

Old Goa was once a proper city, not just a handful of churches standing in open fields. It had dense streets, rows of houses, markets, hospitals, colleges, convents, and palaces, a real urban world. Even the broad lawns between the Sé Cathedral and Basilica were once busy streets with homes and activity on either side. At its peak the city may have held nearly 3 lakh people (remarkable for that period), before plague, decline, and changing trade routes slowly emptied it and stripped away its urban life.

The real question is whether Old Goa should remain only a preserved relic, or whether it can become part of living Goa again. Cities like Rome show that history does not need to be isolated from everyday life. Old Goa could gradually reconnect with Panjim through thoughtful planning, avenues, traditional buildings, cultural spaces, museums, cafés, libraries, public squares, and even residences or universities. By restoring character, atmosphere, and the feeling that this was once a living city, not merely a memory.

I just need to vent because I am absolutely furious and heartbroken for my dad. For over 30 years, he worked at a major manufacturing plant in Goa. He was literally there when the foundation stone was laid. He is an engineer by trade and worked his way up from the plant floor to an executive position. He chose never to switch companies because he wanted to stay close to our hometown to look after my grandparents. Under leadership, the plant maintained healthly growth, maintained a top-notch reputation with vendors, and kept the highest level of legal and statutory compliance. Then, two years ago, a massive Indian conglomerate bought the company. The new owner (the group's Vice Chairman) started micro-managing daily operations, and everything went to hell.

Because my dad understands the actual technical grit it takes to run a complex, 24/7 continuous process plant, watching this owner ruin it was painful. Honestly i didnot expect a vice chairmen of grouo having almost 1 billion dollar in revenue would be like this.Here is a glimpse of what this guy did:

Abuse and Fraud :He harassed the original Head of Supply Chain so badly he threatened him physically, then fired him. He replaced the entire accounts and supply chain department with his own people to start pulling financial frauds.

Massive GST & Compliance Scams:He ignored the complex engineering of the plant and focused blindly on a 5x capacity expansion. He used low-quality work, bypassed environmental and fire department clearances, and pulled a massive GST fraud—luring small contractors with big promises, not paying GST on their bills, but claiming ₹150+ crores($20 million) in input tax credit.

*Starving the Plant:*This owner sits on purchase requests (PRs) for months. A heavy industrial plant was running out of basic utilities like welding rods just to do standard maintenance and repairs. My dad’s team was constantly emailing PRs and meeting in person just to beg for basic consumables so they could actually keep the plant running safely, but they were completely ignored.

Zero Operational Understanding: Because he didn't pay the contract workers for two months, they walked out. Production tanked. To fix his own mess, he ordered my dad to fire 200 people right after the walkout, even though the automation lines weren't even finished. His brilliant solution? “Make the engineers do the packing and manual moving stuff.” Imagine telling an engineering team and an executive who came up through I&E to just use his technical staff as manual laborers. And the worst part? The Goa State Government is completely in cahoots with him. The local MLA and the Chief Minister know exactly what is happening at this plant. They know about the lack of permissions, the environmental hazards, the unpaid workers, and the fraud. But they are completely blind to it, just sitting back and waiting while pocketing whatever benefits they are getting. There is zero political will to protect local Goan workers or enforce safety laws when a massive group is involved. For the 6 months, my dad was coming home at 8-9 PM every single night. All the project managers and engineers resigned after seeing the mess, leaving my dad to handle the project commissioning completely alone. No bonuses, no increments for the staff for two years, while the owner only rewarded his selected "yes-men." The breaking point for my dad: The final straw came during a confrontation with the owner. The owner, in all his arrogance, tried to tell my dad that because he has bought many plants like this before, he knows exactly how things work. My dad, who literally started on the plant floor, looked at him and replied: "I have been in this industry for 30 years, and I am still learning."

That exchange said it all. My dad realized that if he couldn't even get this man to respect the engineering process, and couldn't provide his own team with the basic utilities and tools they needed to do their jobs safely, there was no point in him holding an executive position anymore. He refused to just sit in a high-ranking chair, collect a paycheck, and watch his people get starved of resources while a clueless owner blamed them for the output.

Fed up with the complete lack of operational freedom, the absolute political rot, and the physical safety risks of running a starved plant, my dad finally resigned. The CEO tried to convince him to stay, but my dad's integrity was worth more than a compromised title.He Also, refused to release my dads royalty bonus. We’ve lived here for 35+ years. My dad is getting job offers because of his deep expertise, but they are all in places like away from here.Moving away from his hometown when he is so close to retirement was never the plan, and it sucks that he was forced into this position by a reckless owner and a corrupt state government. I am just so incredibly angry at this arrogant owner who came in with deep pockets, destroyed a 30-year legacy of hard work, treated brilliant engineers like disposable garbage, and ruined my dad's peaceful transition into retirement.I honestly hope that greedy bastard rots in hell.

Thanks for reading. I just needed to get this off my chest.

If I organised a casual book swap evening in Panjim or Margao, would anyone here be interested? Trying to see if there’s enough of a reading crowd for it 📚