It is the cashew season in Goa – and this is how the fruit looks.
Note how the nut hangs outside the fruit. The nut is the valuable part. Most people simply break off the nut and throw the fruit away. Even the monkeys here do not fancy the fruit.
However, for the locals here, the cashew fruit is a godsend: it is used to prepare the alcoholic drink feni. During the process of distilling feni, another drink is also made, and sold, and that is urak. I prefer urak to feni: it is lighter, smells less, and quite smooth.
Both urak and feni are sold under brand names, but unbranded bottles are also available. Funnily enough, these are usually better.
A 750 ml bottle of urak or feni, fresh and unbranded, costs about 60 rupees retail. If you prefer a brand backing the drink, you pay anything between 75 and 100 rupees. This should be the poor man’s drink throughout India.
Over the past 2 weeks, I have killed a couple of bottles of urak – and loved it. And I wished we could get it in Delhi. Or Bangalore. Or anywhere else on the Landmass of India. But the truth is that, because of some strange excise rules, feni and urak are not available anywhere in India outside Goa.
As a wise man recently put it: India needs to practice free trade with herself.
All this makes me wonder why Goa should consider itself a part of India at all.
While the rest of India is busying itself choosing another prime minister, Goa would be better off seeking independence. Why belong to a “union of states” in which you cannot sell what you produce?
Goa is further hurt by import restrictions: the foreign trade policy of Goa is imposed by the baboos of New Delhi. So Goa exports iron ore and imports nothing. If Goa declared itself a free trade area like Dubai, it could use its locational advantages to its own benefit. World class shopping is also good for tourism, Goa’s biggest industry.
To me, therefore, all the fuss about a new PM is pointless. Central economic planning needs a strong centre. The free market does not. In a free market, people trade based on their advantages.
Goa has many advantages. It should use them.
I have always observed that smaller countries are better for freedom.Not just trade, Goa could become a tourist haven as well as Tax haven, with the Goan government guarantying secrecy.
ReplyDeleteBut alas, its all day dreaming.
no its not just day dreaming. India is a Federal Republic, a Union of States. Of course the states themselves can decide to depart from the union, with mutual consent.
ReplyDeleteOne may wonder why New Delhi will agree to this. Well, the point is that not New Delhi, but the majority of the Parliament must agree. And there are already plenty of freedom movements happening in rest of India, why not negotiate with them and vote for each others freedom in the parliament.
I would prefer the following approach before a break away movement, build an association of the break away movement, realize that the common problem has been "New Delhi Raj" as opposed to "Free Market", and then propose free trade. If there is no consensus on that, if the central government is admant on socialism, then some MPs should go ahead and introduce bills seeking withdrawal from the federation and in turn vote for each others freedom....