Running Naked and Unmasked in Goa: Pleasure in the Pandemic

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.20.1.2021.3789

Keywords:

Goa, India, Economic Liberalisation, Tourism, Hippies, Bollywood, COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In November 2020, Indian celebrity Milind Soman posted a picture of himself on social media, which showed him running naked on a beach. He was charged with obscenity. This article considers the time and place of Soman’s act over the alleged impropriety. The photograph was taken on a beach in Goa, the tropical setting serving as a pleasure periphery to India which annexed the region in 1961. Accordingly, a longer history of states of undress in Indian advertising, filmmaking, and tourism are considered here to apprehend how Goa has been posited in the Indian imagination as a destination for wanton self-gratification while local realities are undermined. The article thus interrogates what it means for Goa, whose economy is overly dependent on tourism, to serve as a vacation spot during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially when, in 2020, it had among the highest number of virus-related deaths in the country (Dias, 2020, par. 4). Using the metaphor of the celebrity who has no qualms about running naked and unmasked in Goa, this article enquires into what such events leave unrevealed in the economic requirement that some locales function as holiday destinations, even in the midst of a pandemic.

Author Biography

R. Benedito Ferrão, The College of William and Mary

R. Benedito Ferrão is an Assistant Professor of English and Asian & Pacific Islander American Studies at William and Mary (Virginia, USA) and a Fellow of the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence at Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies (University of Bayreuth, Germany). He is the former recipient of a Fulbright-Nehru Research Award, a Mellon Faculty Fellowship, and an Endeavour Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2017-18, he curated the exhibition Goa/Portugal/Mozambique: The Many Lives of Vamona Navelcar at the Fundação Oriente gallery in Panjim, Goa, and edited a book of the same title to accompany the retrospective (Fundação Oriente 2017). His scholarly writing has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Research in African Literatures, Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, and Society and Culture in South Asia. An internationally published writer of fiction, non-fiction, and public commentary, Ferrão’s work can be read in Scroll.in, The Wire, João Roque Literary Journal, and Mizna, among other publications.

References

Abi-Habib, M. (2019, February 17). “The Pirate Days are Over”: Goa’s Nude Hippies Give Way to India’s Yuppies. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/17/world/asia/goa-india-tourism.html

“Anzar,” N. (1970, June 7). The Golden Sands of Calangute. The Illustrated Weekly of India, 20-22.

Arondekar, A. (2009). For the Record: On Sexuality and the Colonial Archive in India. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822391029

Baas, M. (2020). Muscular India: Masculinity, Mobility & the New Middle Class. Context.

Baugh, S. (2020). Y Tu Mamá También: Mythologies of Youth. Routlege. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315114248

Blackhawk, N. (2007). Recasting the Narrative of America: The Rewards and Challenges of Teaching American Indian History. The Journal of American History, 93 (4), 1165-1170. https://doi.org/10.2307/25094606

Clifton, J. (1999). Gender and Shame in Masaccio’s Expulsion for the Garden of Eden. Art History, 22 (5), 637-655. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8365.00180

Datta, R. (2018). Contemporary India: The Basics. Routledge.

de Souza, G. (2020, November 7). Milind Soman faces FIR, charged with obscenity for naked run on Goa beach. Hindustan Times. https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/milind-sonam-faces-fir-charged-with-obscenity-for-naked-run-on-goa-beach/story-qNTXV5B9mxn0ccplDyddLI.html

Dias, C. (2020, December 4). What Goa’s Locals want You to Know. The Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/travel/what-goas-locals-want-you-to-know/article33250027.ece/amp/

Fernandes, B. (2020, November 4). Milind Soman shares a pic of him running nude on the beach on his 55th birthday. Republicworld.com. https://www.republicworld.com/entertainment-news/bollywood-news/milind-soman-shares-a-pic-of-him-running-nude-on-the-beach-on-his-55th-birthday.html

Ferrão. R. B. (2016, October 16). Making Goans Servants to the Tourism Master Plan. The Goan Everyday. https://www.thegoan.net//making-goans-servants-to-the-tourism-master-plan/24067.html

Ferrão. R. B. (2021). Disease and Discrimination in Goa: COVID-19 in the Afterlife of AIDS. Society and Culture in South Asia, 7 (1), 119-125. https://doi.org/10.1177/2393861720975113

Fiedler, L. (1968). The Return of the Vanishing American. Stein & Day.

Gehlawat, A. (2015). Twenty-first Century Bollywood. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315761048

Gilani, E. (2020, August 22). The Bollywood and the Socio-Economic Impact of GAP in India. Brown Girl Magazine. https://browngirlmagazine.com/2020/08/bollywood-and-the-socio-economic-impact-of-gap-in-india/

George, J. (2014, June 1). Sex Toys and the Law – The Unexplored Opportunity. In Plainspeak. https://www.tarshi.net/inplainspeak/voices-sex-toys-and-law-the-unexplored-opportunity/

HT Entertainment Desk. (2009, November 28). Milind Soman, Madhu Sapre Acquitted. Hindustan Times. https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/milind-soman-madhu-sapre-acquitted/story-iemvUiKSHhvVPiVro3bDCJ.html

HT Entertainment Desk. (2020, May 18). Milind Soman shares Controversial Nude Photo Shoot from 25 Years ago, Wonders how it would be Received Today. Hindustan Times. https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/milind-soman-shares-controversial-nude-photo-shoot-from-25-years-ago-wonders-how-it-would-be-received-today/story-nxSBq4AS5zJBbPljOWY9yL.html

HT Entertainment Desk. (2020b, November 9). Pooja Bedi defends Milind Soman’s nude beach photo: “His crime is being good looking, famous and setting benchmarks”. Hindustan Times. https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/pooja-bedi-defends-milind-soman-s-nude-beach-photo-his-crime-is-being-good-looking-famous-and-setting-benchmarks/story-BKtdhNAxme1Ob0PGApQXfK.html

Kandolkar, V. (2020). Consuming Goa Portuguesa: Vacationing in a Postcolonial Colony. Journal of Human Values, 26 (3), 266-276. https://doi.org/10.1177/0971685820940895

Khan, S. (2020, May 6). 11 Bollywood Movies we Love and Where to Watch Them. Condé Nast Traveler. https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/bollywood-movies-we-love-and-where-to-watch-them

Menezes, V. (2020, November 8). A Party Destination at the Best of Times, Goa Overwhelmed by Visitors during the Pandemic. Mumbai Mirror. https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/others/sunday-read/go-goa-gone/articleshow/79103281.cms?fbclid=IwAR1rxwoM_LuAMkmacu922yBhEiBMUPEzhJDTc7VmWrWZ963GRwjVt-Si97E

Miller, T. S. (2011). The Hippies and American Values (2nd ed.). The University of Tennessee Press.

Mojo Story. (2020, March 11). What Milind Soman said about the RSS and his Time in a Shakha. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fCi2OFkwR8

MW Staff. (2013 November). Learning to run from Milind Soman. Man’s World. https://www.mansworldindia.com/healthandfitness/learning-to-run-from-milindsoman/

Parobo, P. (2015). India’s First Democratic Revolution: Dayanand Bandodkar and the Rise of Bahujan in Goa. Orient BlackSwan.

Press Trust of India. (2019, September 24). Person behind Poster for Nude Party in Goa “Tracked Down”: Chief Minister. NDTV. https://www.ndtv.com/goa-news/pramod-sawant-goa-chief-minister-on-goa-nude-party-poster-says-tracked-down-person-behind-it-2106395

Press Trust of India. (2020, April 24). COVID-19: Goa Govt makes Wearing of Masks Compulsory. The Economic Times of India. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/covid-19-goa-govt-makes-wearing-of-masks-compulsory/articleshow/75353438.cms

Pundir, Pallavi and Shamani Joshi. (2021, January 7). “Almost Forgot COVID Existed”: Confessions from Indians who Partied like there’s no Pandemic. Vice. https://www.vice.com/en/article/7k9eqz/india-covid-goa-party-rave-confessions

Rao, N. (1996). The Fourth Periphery and the Two Conventions. The Eye, 2 (4), 16-18.

Ray, S. (2020, November, 12). Explained: What is the Measure of “Obscenity” in India?. The Indian Express. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-milind-soman-obscenity-in-india-6998750/

Routledge, P. (2000). Consuming Goa: Tourist Site as Dispensable Space. Economic and Political Weekly, 35 (30), 2647-2656.

Saldanha, A. (2007). Psychedelic White: Goa Trance and the Viscosity of Race. University of Minnesota Press.

Sharma, S. (2016, May 10). Mother’s Day Special: Madhu Sapre’s Fairy-tale Life in Italy. Hindustan Times. https://www.hindustantimes.com/brunch/mother-s-day-special-madhu-sapre-s-fairy-tale-life-in-italy/story-io9yCpz4z5wyXVwvfKG95I.html

Sherwani, F. (2020, November 15). Milind Soman Booked for “Obscenity”: History of Obscenity under Section 294, and how it is Defined. The Indian Express. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-history-of-obscenity-under-section-294-and-how-it-is-defined-7048062/

Soman, M. [milindrunning]. (2020, November 4). Happy Birthday to me ! [Photograph]. Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CHJ5XC3HQT9/?hl=en

Staff. (2020, November 5). As Poonam Pandey is Arrested for “Obscenity” in Goa, Twitter asks why Model Milind Soman got Away. Scroll.in. https://scroll.in/latest/977776/as-poonam-pandey-is-arrested-for-obscenity-in-goa-twitter-asks-why-model-milind-soman-got-away

Trichur, R. (2013). Refiguring Goa: From Trading Post to Tourism Destination. Goa 1556.

Tyler, I. (2001). Skin-tight: Celebrity, Pregnancy and Subjectivity. In Sara Ahmed and Jackie Stacey (Eds.), Thinking through the Skin (pp. 69-83). Routledge.

Vohra. T. (2017, April 6). A Controversial NSFW Ad from 1995 that Created an Uproar. Homegrown. https://homegrown.co.in/article/800877/would-this-controversial-milind-soman-ad-from-1995-make-the-cut-today

Downloads

Published

2021-04-19

How to Cite

Ferrão, R. B. (2021). Running Naked and Unmasked in Goa: Pleasure in the Pandemic. ETropic: Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics, 20(1), 134–156. https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.20.1.2021.3789