Life in Goa

What is to live in Goa?

I have lived in Goa for about 22 years and to begin with I'll claim that living as a tourist in Goa (1 day or 5 years doesn't matter) and being a local resident is a very different experience. Also if you are really rich and planning on a retirement home, that experience is again going to be very different. 

Now to talk about the main distinguishing factors in the parameters contributing to quality of life:

Education 

There are state funded schools (Goa board), central (CBSE) and private schools (ICSE/IB). Central government service you'll go to CBSE, fairly well to do you'll go the private schools and the rest would go to the state schools where you would have to learn the local language (Konkani, which has a Roman and Devanagiri script or in some places Marathi) as a compulsory third language upto grade 8 and then you can opt for Sanskrit, French or Portuguese. The other two compulsory ones are English and Hindi. And language is a very important part of learning and development unlike a lot of other states. The other subjects are comparable to the things in other states.

Coming to higher education, Goa has significant advantages. Firstly you are likely to get your first PC (or its equivalent) for almost free sometime between grade 9-12. And this has been on since the past 10 years, way before Aakash (tablet) was in the news.  Secondly if you are happy with studying in local engineering colleges, the competition is going to be insignificant. As of 2012, there is almost 1 engineering seat available for every 1.5-2 students passing their 12th Science exam. Very similar for the Sciences, Commerce, Art and Law. Medicine is relatively tougher but nothing compared to most other Indian states.

If you have had sufficient domicile, you are eligible for a bunch of state sops for your education. You are eligible for Interest Free Loans that cover most of college education. Moreover if you are somewhat meritorious, you will get significant scholarship (US$15000-25000 abroad, 2-6 lacs in India). Also if you happen to be a local and get to study at BITS Pilani, you are likely to get covered for most of tuition and expenses. A lot of these are political initiatives but do tend to sustain beyond the party in power. Then there are other significant benefits for studying in the UK (Due to the Fomento, mining connections), Portugal (Liberal arts, due to colonial reasons) and also benefits to the EU. 


Healthcare

I'm assuming primary/public care is not much of concern to you. It is a lot better than most other states and I would rate it a level or two below some South/West Indian states. Private care has seen a lot of improvement in the recent years and a lot of the famous hospital chains exist in Goa either directly or through partners.  However there are very few experts per capita and while I don't have exact statistics, I can claim that in case of a major surgical requirement or advanced diagnostics you would be better of in Mumbai, Bangalore or Delhi. Dental care, Yoga clinics, wellness and therapeutics are well developed and cater to European, Russian and N.American tourists who cannot afford their healthcare systems. No worries getting your teeth fixed.

Good ambulatory services and you will not die stuck in traffic. But on-call doctor's are a scant resource. Helicopter's are available to ferry you to Mumbai if required.

Public transport

Perhaps the only state where buses on most routes are privately owned, partially regulated and heavily congested. State buses ply only on a few fixed routes. Everything stops at 8pm and starts around 6:30am. This can significantly affect mobility. This is also the reason why Goa has the highest number of private vehicles per individual/capita and significant number of road accidents. Cycling is possible but the weather can be difficult, plus not so great suburban roads. Only the highways, beach side and tourist accessible places have worthy road infrastructure. Many other places are badly maintained especially if you happen to live on the route to a mining corridor which has currently been shut down. You need your own vehicle.


Services

You will find it hard to get a cook, a driver, a maid, a gardener in-state. Your options would be migrants from North Karnataka, Kerala, Bihar, Orissa, UP and Bangladesh. To take care of the elderly, nursing services and similar are available at a price but mostly staffed by out-of-state people. If you are not the kind who will party on the beach or spend time at beach shacks, it is difficult to find great options to eat out. Similar with shopping, malls, fast food, retail, on-demand delivery, housekeeping, wood working, plumbing. Banking/Telecom are fine. Police are also doing a good job, but nepotism and corruption is through the roof. Don't flaunt gold, it will get stolen. Most things happen through local connections and if you get some friends things would be a lot easy.

Also note that a lot of Goans have been demanding special status to Goa which will basically make it illegal for someone outside Goa to possess land. This and a lot of similar sentiments arising out of the perception that Goa being sold as a party state and extensive mining has destroyed the environment and the local culture can create a few rough edges in the current political situation.

Job options

Not many. A lot of people are employed by all the big pharmaceuticals, some into electronics. Tourism is a big industry and so is/was mining. Tech industry is fairly nascent but there have been a good number of start-ups basing out of Goa due to cost, coolness advantage and the government has been supportive in providing  support via incubation, Angel networks and other things. http://www.gitic.in/ and a few others if that interest you are worth exploring. If you plan on creating jobs, Goa is ideal in the current environment. If you are looking for one, not so much.

Culture

You may, may not get affected by this but it can be super conservative, no matter what the posters and T-shirts on the beaches say. News spreads fast and everyone will know everyone else through a N-degree connection where N < 10. Rumors will be hard to fix and gossip will flow easily. So be wary of what you speak and what you do, unless you don't give a damn.

Drinking is not cultural, at most social and at catholic weddings and events. This surprises many but if that is a strong motivator then you will have a lot more options in the Baltic states at a very similar cost.

Religion - It is 65% Hinduism, 26% Catholic, 6% Islam and major statewide festivals include Ganesh Chaturthi, Christmas, Diwali, Carnival and Shigmo. These are fairly peculiar for a non-Goan. You'll have fun if you indulge in them.

The burning of Narkasuras, the night before Diwali

Carnival and smashing water balloons on each other

Sao Joa - When you jump in the well


In summary towns in Goa are pretty much like any other smaller Indian town surrounded by a mystique environment that most locals shield themselves from. You'll have a good life in Goa even without the Sun, the Sand and the Beach.




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