“Corruption and the Black Stones in Our Rice”, Goa Chronicles, January 12, 2026

“In Goan households, rice is not merely food; it is ritual. Before the pot meets the flame, our mothers and grandmothers spread rice on a steel plate, fingers moving with quiet precision, removing tiny black stones that have no business being there. Ignore them, and you risk a cracked tooth. Ignore too many, and you risk something worse – stones slipping into the system, quietly wreaking havoc long after the meal is over.

Corruption works the same way.

It rarely announces itself as a boulder. It comes as a small, inconvenient stone – an “adjustment,” a “temporary permission,” a “small favour.” Harmless, we are told. Ignore it, we are advised. After all, what difference does one stone make in a sack of rice?

The tragedy is that corruption is cumulative. One ignored stone becomes two. Two become a handful. Soon, the bag itself is compromised……”

Read full article at goachronicle.com