Many people dream of escaping the stresses and strains of urban life and moving to Goa. Katharina Kakar and her husband, the psychoanalyst and writer Sudhir Kakar, followed their dream and boldly took that plunge-buying a charming old house in a tranquil south Goa village, where they hoped to find a whole new way of living and working. Ten years later, they are still there, living the idyll-and the reality-of life in Goa. So which is the real Goa? Is it all about sun and sand, beaches and bikinis, feni and vindaloo? This book captures the allure of all these, as well as the festivals and rituals that punctuate the rhythm of village life. It portrays fascinating local characters, ranging from ageing hippies, beach boys and elusive workmen to the aristocratic residents of Goa's grand old mansions. But it also reveals lesser-known aspects of Goa: the hidden-often shocking-histories of its colonial past; and the debates and fissures that engage and divide Goan society today. In part personal memoir and travelogue, in part an insightful look at Goan history and society, this book portrays Goa with all its paradoxes and problems, its seductive pleasures and, above all, its unique and enduring charm.

Goa’s magnetism and its promise of a relaxed, almost bohemian lifestyle, have always attracted admirers and colonizers. Before the locals could make up their minds about such interlopers, Covid-19 brought hordes of them to town—Michelle Mendonça Bambawale was one of them. In June 2020, Michelle found herself moving to the 160-year-old house she had inherited in Siolim, a village in North Goa, with her human and canine family. Having never lived in Goa before, she couldn’t help but wonder if her Goan ancestry made her an insider or if she would forever remain an outsider. In this memoir, she confronts her complex relationship with her Goan Catholic heritage and explores themes of identity, culture, migration, stereotypes and labels. She also uncovers some of the uncanniest legends that pervade Siolim, including those of St. Anthony and the Snake, Sao Joao, and the statue of Beethoven. She also takes us back to Siolim and Goa in the 1970s and 1980s, where she spent her summer vacations without paved roads or electricity, pulling water from a well. Today, she dodges reeking septic tankers, earth movers and piling plastic garbage while walking her Labrador, Haruki. Becoming Goan is a heartfelt and charming story of Michelle's love for this land that her grandparents left her. She cares deeply about Goa's biodiversity and is distraught about the environmental impact of tourism, construction and mining. Her devotion to Mother Earth deepens as she learns more about her roots, steeped as they are in syncretic traditions.

City Quitters portrays creative pioneers pursuing alternative ways of living and working away from big cities. What does it mean to leave city life behind? Can the reality of living in the countryside fulfil our desire for a better, simpler, more creative life? This book is an attempt to shed light on what rural life can be like today, with all its joys and challenges, providing a fresh look at the people and scenes thriving outside urban spaces. From experimental co-habitation in a renaissance castle to oversized artworks on a farm, City Quitters offers a global perspective on creative post-urban life: 22 stories from 12 countries and five continents, all based in places with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. About the author Karen Rosenkranz is an independent trend forecaster and ethnographer based in London. She has travelled all over the world spotting shifts in behaviour, attitudes and aesthetics, and has helped creative agencies from Amsterdam to New York uncover important socio-cultural changes. Fascinated by things that haven’t found a place yet, and anything that might impact how we live in years to come, Rosenkranz continues to explore the origins of fresh and original ideas with City Quitters. Features • 22 interviews with creative professionals and entrepreneurs who left a big city and are now living and working in a rural or provincial environment • Offers fascinating insights into the personal and professional lives of creative individuals across the globe • Shows a fresh approach to rural living beyond rustic pastimes and nostalgia

"From Humble Beginnings to Unstoppable Success of a Lucknow Boy" is a real-life captivating chronicle of a young lad from Lucknow, who in spite of limited resources and opportunities, rose from the depths of humble beginnings to achieve remarkable success. It shatters the misconception that privilege, wealth, or influence is a prerequisite for doing well in life. The autobiography delves into the various setbacks author encountered. Each hurdle could have been enough to deter most, but author's unyielding perseverance and the unwavering support of well wishers enabled him to overcome them. This book serves as an inspiring testament empowering individual from humble backgrounds to rise above and achieve the extraordinary. From Humble Beginnings to Unstoppable Success," is a real life captivating chronicle of Raj Kumar Saxena, ex. Principal of Institutes of Hotel Management (IHMs) in Mumbai and Lucknow. A young lad from Lucknow, who in spite of limited resources and opportunities, rose from the depths of humble beginnings to achieve remarkable success. It shatters the misconception that privilege, wealth, or intluence is a rerequisite for doing well in life. The autobiography delves into the various setbacks author encountered along the way-instances of self-doubt, financial challenges, and societal prejudice. Each hurdle could have been enough to deter most, but author's unyielding perseverance and the unwavering support of well-wishers enabled him to overcome them. This book serves as an inspiring testament empowering individuals from humble backgrounds to rise alxove and achieve the extraordinary.

Turning the attention to the temporal as well as the more familiar spatial dimensions of mobility, this volume focuses on the momentum for and temporal composition of mobility, the rate at which people enact or deploy their movements as well as the conditions under which these moves are being marshalled, represented and contested. This is an anthropological exploration of temporality as a form of action, a process of actively modulating or responding to how people are moving rather than the more usual focus in mobility studies on where they are heading.

In December 1961, Indian Troops Marched Into Goa Putting An End To Over 450 Years Of Portuguese Rule, The Longest Spell Of Colonialism On The Subcontinent, And Goa Became Part Of The Indian Union. In Popular Imagination, However, Goa Has Remained A Place Not Quite India, And Stereotypes About Goa And Goans Abound. Maria Aurora Couto S Unique Blend Of Biography, Memoir And Social History Brings Us The Goa Behind The Beaches And Booze Culture That Is Projected For The Tourist And Which Has Unfortunately Come To Define Goa For The Vast Majority Outside The State. Starting With An Account Of The Immediate Aftermath Of Liberation, Couto Goes Back And Forth In Time To Examine The Fundamental Transformations In Goan Society From 1510, When Afonso De Albuquerque Conquered Goa, Up To The Present. Drawing Upon The Experiences Of Her Own Family And Those Of Others, Both Hindu And Catholic, She Writes Of The Influences That Have Touched All Goans The Luso-Indian Culture; Conversion And The Inquisition; Political And Cultural Changes In Europe Such As The French Revolution And The Ideals Of Republicanism; Folk Traditions, Music And The Konkani Language; And, Ultimately, Freedom And Integration With India. In The Process She Reveals How Goa, Which Combines The Best Of Traditional And Cosmopolitan Lifestyles, Has Evolved Into India S Twenty-First-Century Model Of Economic Development And Communal Harmony. Written With Sensitivity, Insight And Scholarship, Goa: A Daughter S Story Is At Once Expansive And Intimate: A Moving Narrative About Home, The Village And The World, In Which The Author Crosses The Boundaries Between History And Memory, Truth And Imagination, To Evoke Personal And Community Experience. It Is As Much An Appraisal Of Goa S Past As It Is An Examination Of Its Present And A Vision For Its Future.

This book examines identities, violence and conflict in the context of internal migration within India. As India prepares to count its citizens for Census 2011 with a proposal for a National Population Register and a unique identity card for every Indian citizen, the debate on internal and cross-border migration is significant. The second volume in this annual series, India Migration Report 2011 focuses on the implications of internal migration, livelihood strategies, recruitment processes, and development and policy concerns in critically reviewing the existing institutional framework. The essays provide a district-level analysis of the various facets of migration with a focus on employment networks, gender dimensions and migration–development linkages, with concrete policy suggestions to improve living and working conditions of vulnerable migrant workers who are a lifeline to the growth of Indian economy. This will be an invaluable resource for those in the fields of demography, economics, sociology, public policy and administration.

The Western Indian Ocean in the Eighteenth Century is the first of four volumes offering a sweeping panorama of the Arabian Seas during the early modern period. Focusing on the period 1700-1763, the first volume concentrates on daily life in littoral societies, examining long term issues including climatic change, famine, and the structures of fishing communities. The volume examines littoral societies in each of the major coastal areas of the Western Indian Ocean: East Africa, the Red Seas, the Persian Gulf, and its traditional ties to surrounding hinterlands as well as to the west coast of India. While having particular interest to readers concerned with Indian Ocean history, as an absorbing and innovative account of a much neglected albeit critical area and period, Arabian Seas, 1700-1763 will be of great interest to anyone interested in early modern maritime, social, or economic history. Kings, Gangsters, and Companies, volume two of Arabian Seas, 1700-1763 focuses on European relations with the major states and societies of the Western Indian Ocean during the eighteenth century. As such, it traces the major structural changes in African, South Asian, and Middle Eastern societies during this period. Chapters examine European communities and their relations with the societies of the Indian Ocean basin, the daily life of European soldiers and merchants, relations with Indian women, European views on the Indian caste system as well as the governmental systems they encountered. The volume also details the importance of Indian and Persian merchant communities in the Indian Ocean trading system and the impact of war on the economic development of this system during the eighteenth century. Men and Merchandise, the third volume of Arabian Seas, 1700-1763, provides a detailed examination of the economic and social structures in the Western Indian Ocean focusing on key commodities like bullion, textiles, and the slave trade. Readers will also encounter interesting vignettes of daily life: an Indian nautch girl worried about her inheritance, a Portuguese gangster-friar and pariah workers, the infamous buccaneers of Madagascar, coffee-traders from Yemen, Cairo, and the Crimea, and Iraqi and Iranian bankers who all had relevance to this vast economic system. Men and Merchandise provides insights into other traditionally ignored aspects in the traditional historiography including uprisings aboard slave ships, and details of maroon societies involving refugee slaves in India and Mauritius as well as Dutch slave soldiers in the Persian Gulf. As such, it will prove of great interest to any reader concerned with the social and economic history of the Indian Ocean basin. Europe in Asia, the fourth volume and final volume in Arabian Seas, 1700-1763, details the early phase of European territorial empire building in the western Indian Ocean basin. Particular attention is given to the much neglected history of the Portuguese Estado da India and the attempts of the Portuguese Crown to reform its administration and dwindling possessions in the eighteenth century. The volume examines the direct legacies of the longstanding Portuguese imperial presence in the Arabian Seas, including the experiences of Indian Catholic communities as well as the establishment of Indian settlements and communities in East Africa. Finally, the volume provides an exhaustive treatment of the structures and history of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and English East India Company (EIC), the establishment of the vast private country trade of the EIC, and the reasons for the relative decline of the VOC and the rise of English power in the region during the eighteenth century.