Here's a list of the ten best and the ten worst things that happened to the village in my two-score-and-two lifetime:

Ten best things that happened to Saligao in my lifetime:

* Education expansion. Lourdes Convent is shaping up well, more can be done.
* Speedy improvement in telecom infrastructure.
* Increasing involvement of diaspora in village activities.
* Greener hills around Saligao; though monoculture was avoidable.
* Electrification of the village in the 'sixties and 'seventies.
* Return of skilled villagers, entry of skilled others.
* Attempts to offer some health-care facilities in Saligao itself.
* Decreased disparity among different segments.
* Communal amity (except during election time)
* Links maintained by Saligao diaspora worldwide.

Ten worst things that happened to Saligao in my lifetime:

* Conversions of local fields, leading to chaotic development.
* Rampant, large-scale sale of groundwater.
* Inability of improve fertility of agricultural areas, fields.
* Lack of useful leisure-time activities for youth.
* Death of many village wells, dependence on irregular tap supply.
* Poor transport facilities, specially to state-capital Panjim.
* Lack of local vocational training facilities for youth.
* Untapped potential of local youth.
* Natural resources not protected; watershed resources lost.
* Proliferation of bars in the village.