Mind you, Ricky never wanted to sell Tito’s, but circumstances forced him to reach this decision. This development comes at a time when every Goan businesses are going into the hands of outsiders, this was yet another setback. Slowly but steadily, we are losing Goemkarponn, we are losing our identity and who is to be blamed?… Some corrupt politicians, corrupt cops, excise officials, panchayats, bureaucrats.
While the government alone cannot be blamed for the development, the onus is on it to find out why Goans are exiting Goa? Why outsiders are being preferred over Goans? Why illegalities by outsiders are ignored and locals being targeted? It is only because the officers get huge kickbacks from the so-called outsiders.
Suraj Nandrekar,
Editor, Goemkarponn
TITO’s SOLD…
Even as Goa’s identity crisis continues, there is another business from which a true Goan has exited and it is none other than TIto’s Club, the nightclub which brought Goa on the World tourism map since 1971.
Tito’s isn’t a small name when one talks of Goa tourism and the party culture, the owners have single-handedly built this brand from the scratch.
The co-owner and Director Ricardo Joseph D’Souza took to social media handles to announce the exit of the family from the business. It sent shock waves across the State with many Goans venting their anger on the authorities and the corrupt system.
“It is with sadness but with anger that we have sold our entire business in Goa. I personally have suffered the least as I was compensated adequately and even my future generations won’t have to work. I will also share some with our staff , but in the long term they now have no jobs. Can i please ask our officials to employ them as I do not ever plan any more business in Goa. By ” officials” i mean all the harassing lot, like police, pda, crz, ngos, panchayat n sarpanchas ( not Shawn Martins ), bdo, dy collectors, Am very grateful to certain segments of the Government like Dr Sawant , the IAS officers, ex staff, present staff, our neighbours, all my friends and family and the common people of Goa who all contributed to this great Brand called TITOS. End of an Era!,” Ricardo or Ricky as we call him wrote on his facebook wall.
We need to clarify one thing here, it was not just this government and the authorities to be blamed now, the harassment has been happening for years now.
Being a close family friend to Ricky for more than a decade, he had confided in me that he would be selling Tito’s in 2019, but I did not take it seriously.
Ricky told me then, “Suraj, I am selling Titos,” believe me I didn’t know how to react but ignored it as I thought he was kidding me.
We laughed and I forgot. But it was not a joke, he kept hunting for buyers and that gained momentum after last year’s lockdown and potential buyers started meeting him.
But after months of those meetings, the inevitable happened.
Mind you, Ricky never wanted to sell Tito’s, but circumstances forced him to reach this decision.
This development comes at a time when every Goan businesses are going into the hands of outsiders, this was yet another setback. Slowly but steadily, we are losing Goemkarponn, we are losing our identity and who is to be blamed?… Some corrupt politicians, corrupt cops, excise officials, panchayats, bureaucrats?
While the government alone cannot be blamed for the development, the onus is on it to find out why Goans are exiting Goa? Why outsiders are being preferred over Goans? Why illegalities by outsiders are ignored and locals being targeted? It is only because the officers get huge kickbacks from the so-called outsiders.
Slowly, Goa has been facing this issue of Goans getting dejected and quitting Goa, if the trend continues, there would be no Goemkarponn left in Amche Goem.
For now, Tito’s, the club which gave us tourism, 87600 hours of music, 16425 parties has been sold. It is that sinking feeling, you didn’t want it to happen but the INEVITABLE has happened.
Titos is SOLD.
THE PARTIES AT WORLD FAMOUS BAGA BEACH, The walk into Tito’s lane will never be the same AGAIN…
THE END OF AN ERA FOR GOA…