An old friend says...

Namaskar Ji,

Noticed your name on the current list. Must have missed your call.

I'm in Sydney; came back 6 weeks ago to settle - Goa's turned nasty following the death of that 15 y.o. British girl at Anjuna in March.

A woman Israeli journo who's been living there for 6 years had the Diary page at the back of Outlook magazine just before I left and she made some interesting points: she mentioned how unfortunate it all was to her local shop-keeper and tells how, for the first time she saw him angry, and she quotes him "You people (he knows my name and he's never called me 'you people' before) think we are stupid, but we are
not stupid. We are smart. It's you people who are stupid, thinking you can come here and act like you do at home without understanding that it's different here and then making a big noise when you get hurt."

Did you read about the murder of Scarlet McKewon on the Anjuna beach and the subsequent charades her mother, Fiona had to go through?

The cover-up by the Anjuna Police was predictably inept and Fiona made lots of accusations about police involvement in drugs and it emerged that the son of the Home Minister was at Curley's at the time and he's the one who collects from the drug bosses there for his dad (who, as Home Minister is in charge of the police) and it was alleged that she was screwed by more than just the guy who's charged with killing her and the minister's son might have been one.

When the mum got the body back to Britain and had another autopsy performed, they found the uterus had been removed. No evidence there.

Oh! It was so ugly and a pall descended on the whole of the northern beaches; a pall of resentment against all the long-stayers, those who are all too familiar with the system there. They don't appreciate their dirty linen being hung out by farangs. But very cloud has a silver lining and all that...............

I reach Sydney 8 May, went to renew my claim for public housing and signed the lease on an inner city unit on May 22. Remarkable! About GBP 32 a week, At first, I was dismayed at how small this bed-sitter was,but I now, every time I open the door, I think of what luxury it is in comparison to India. 15th floor with views into the city, lots of light and great kitchen and bath-room, WITH a good auto washing machine and a common dryer in a separate room on every floor and a space in a security garage for my car (yes, I got a Toyota Camry 2 litre Stn wagon)!!
Now I'm plotting a trip to Goa Jan. and Feb. next year. There's a whole swag of important Birthdays falling due amongst the Aquarians and the Pisceans
who make up the regulars there.

Medicals have turned out O.K. so now all I have to do is augment my pension income somehow to allow me to continue my normal ways.

Hope you're well over there, though I hear your summer's not going too well and I hear cries of pain about the petrol prices.

Continue having second thoughts about returning to settle down in India - you know you'll be required to accept the traditional standards and live accordingly.