Postcard From Goa
by Will Smith As I live here in Goa – an English expat with Indian roots – I find myself reading the reports of my homeland during the time of Covid with an increasing sense of disconnection. I am British, the UK is my home and wherever I am that never leaves me. I follow the British news, the politics and I have opinions about what should be done in a way that I only distantly do with my actual home, India. So, it is with a hollowness and a sense of dislocation that I observe the Covid crisis in my homeland from afar. In truth, it is as if I’m back in the 90s watching the war in the Balkans or something. It’s on the Nine O’Clock News and a pith-helmeted war reporter stands in front of snowy landscape intoning solemnly about the latest atrocity. The war in the Balkans is a clearly shit thing – yet, nevertheless, it is distant, unconnected with me. I think it is because Covid and the associated fear never had a chance to take root here in India. But before I go on, let me be clear. I’m a card carrying liberal (if only because it’s useful for racking up the next line! Ho ho…). I believe in active redistribution of wealth from...
