athy I'm not sure could have been
reached any other way. As it happened, the article
created few ripples and the power of the press didn't
have quite the force the lady had anticipated.

My confidence grew, and, as the rainy season drew on, I
ventured out more and more.

Towards the end of August, the rains finally showed
signs of letting up. However there was talk in the
market place -- the fish didn't return. At street level
housewives were struggling to find the plump shimmering
mackerals with which they normally populated their
spicy yellow curries. In the areas surrounding the big
resorts, blame was laid on the proliferation of hotels
with their ever-growing need for the freshest produce.
Out at sea, traditional fishermen blamed the trawlers.
The National Institute of Oceanography, which is
responsible for monitoring the seas, observed from the
fence. Whatever the cause, changes were afoot on this
rural coastal land -- the once abundance of resources
strained as it's popularity started to mushroom.

As the clouds melted away for good, shacks started to
spring up like primroses in May. The hoteliers grumbled
-- their 'multi-cuisine' menus just weren't being read.
Politicians took sides with either faction. Some
framing the fight in favour of the shack-owning
under-dogs, others pointing to their lack of civic
responsibility with their spliced electricity wires and
overflowing rubbish out of the backs of the flimsy
beach side establishments.

On the backs of the tourists and travellers flocking to
Goa came the stories of the parties, drug deaths, Anjuna
hot-spots that managed openly flout local licences and
throb on till the early hours of the morning. Crime
also increased -- the mugging of tourists, either on
desolate stretches of beach or in their insecure
dwellings, became more and more widespread. The hotels
brought problems of their own. This being a time of
huge growth, water was sapped up beyond the limits of
the local ecology and the coastal regulation zone (the
area demarcated on the beach up to where the hotels
could be built) was debated and apparently ignored in
many instances.

The international ramifications of a sordid paedophile
ring is exposed, following the conviction of Freddy Peats,
a German national involved in the abuse and traffic
of Goa's under-age. As the grim facts unfold, including
naive support by the Catholic church, the society looks
on in repugnance, wanting to distance i