Goa Liberation Day 2020 - Welcome Mr. President Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

Welcome Mr. President,
give us back our harmony of yesteryears
give us back our days of glory and serenity;
there is no mood for celebration here
there is no inner joy within our goan hearts
there is only an observation in our eyes
there is only a memory in our minds
that the Portuguese had left our Goa
and that we had got our liberation in 1961
that was sixty years ago;
yes, we had felt so liberated
as the Portuguese regime had ended
after more than four centuries.

Welcome Mr. President
give us back our land
as we Goans have to go to other countries
to earn our daily bread and butter
as our farmlands are converted into highways
as our farmlands have been destroyed
to hold lengthy bridges,
as our farmlands have been given to tillers
while the landlord's sons had to pack their bags
and migrate to other countries to save
their dignity and feed their families
as they are left with nothing more than
an ancestral house to live in
with a few chairs and antique beds to sleep on.

Welcome Mr. President
give us back our jobs
as our jobs and high posts
in government offices and banks
have been earmarked and occupied by non-goans
while we goans ply with our old motor bikes
and scooters cutting thro' heavy traffic
to reach our little children to school
as we thrive on small businesses like
restaurants and tea stalls
or as vegetable vendors or as fisher women
sitting by the roadsides or in marketplaces;
even our grocery shops, our hardware shops
are mostly taken over and operated by non-goans;
our industrial belts are full of non-goans
while we goans pray every night lighting candles
beseeching God to give our sons and daughters
work and jobs so that they can secure their future.

Welcome Mr. President,
give us back the freedom we enjoyed
when our Goa was liberated,
our rivers and seas were so peaceful and clean;
today we see so many casinos on our River
today our coastal belts are full of five star hotels
most of them belong to non-goans
while our own goan brothers go to work as sailors
on the ships in vast seas and oceans
leaving back home old parents and small children
who wait for years for re-unions that
while children keep growing, old parents keep dying.

Welcome Mr. President,
life here is not easy anymore
life here is not a bed of roses any longer
life here must belong to goans
who have adhered to the values of liberation,
so, give us back the joy we obtained
sixty years ago on 19th December 1961
which we cherished with a hope
that our Goa will belong only to us,
wholeheartedly, without any pains or losses,
without any dreams or hopes waning.