Hello Goodnight: A Life of Goa (Lonely Planet Journeys) - Softcover

Tomory, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1864500611 ISBN 13: 9781864500615

Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications, 2000

Synopsis

David Tomory traces the continuous western influences at work on Goa from the time of the Portugese to the present day. This entertaining and informative tour through the totality of western contact with Goa reveals what Goa is actually like for both westerners and Goans, and catches Goa as it stands at the brink of a complicated future.

About this title

Product Description

Hello Goodnight: a Life of Goa (Lonely Planet Journeys)

Review

If one theme dominates Hello Goodnight, then it's a debate of Hubert's law: "progress always means deterioration". Having first visited Goa in 1971 and returned so many times since he's almost a local, New Zealander Tomory has seen the Indian state evolve rapidly. His descriptions of '70s Goa life are vivid, dominated by insects, jungle and heat, humans residing in mud huts alongside scarab beetles, lizards, frogs, ants and lazy dogs. He documents the hippie days, an "amoral paradise" of psychedelics and nudism; innocent times when iron-mining supported the locals, rather than tourism. This was before motorbikes, concrete "Hollywood Baroque" construction, Internet cafés and "plastic detritus"--the new suburban package-tourist Goa, a "Multinational empire on which the sun never sets".

However, Hello Goodnight puts the new tourist tides into context. Before these invaders came many others-- shaman, Buddhists, Hindus and (most-notoriously) the colonial Portuguese Christians. Hippies/tourists are merely an afterthought in a dramatic history beginning with ancient myths enshrined in Sanskrit texts. Goa's turbulent past includes complex religious wars, the Inquisition and a brief glory as a trading capital, complete with slave auctions and exotic bazaar. A third of the book is dedicated to colonial history, while other details include the ghadis (ancient shaman), Dhangas (tribal people), snake mythology and the Ghats, the forested mountains way beyond the beaches. Disappointingly, it skips over the '90s Goa dance culture, which it calls "Generation Techno", somewhat dismissively.

If you want a brief, simplified Goa history, then Lonely Planet Goa, is adequate. For something more meaty, then Hello Goodnight goes into unprecedented detail (perhaps too much for some readers) delving into geology, architecture, mythology and theology. It condenses every word written about Goa into one exhaustive story, enlivened with anecdotal tales. --Sarah Champion

Edition details

• Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1864500611
• ISBN 13: 9781864500615
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256