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By Xavier Cota [EMAIL PROTECTED] The tragic death of Felicio Cardoso a year ago on May 17, 2004 brought down the curtains on a great man who walked most unassumingly amongst us. A man for whom Truth was an uncompromising credo but who, ironically was often accused of being anti-religious! A generous soul whose left hand did not know what his right hand had given and who could yet be charged with being un-Christian! A true freedom-fighter who despite suffering years of brutal imprisonment for his beliefs, never made a fetish of it, nor wore his scars on his sleeve. A teacher who never stopped learning. A chef par excellence, a dramatist, a magician who had mastered hypnotism. A linguist with fluency over English, Portuguese, Kannada, Hindi and Marathi but who prided in most often speaking only his mother-tongue Konkani which he served with brilliant distinction. A writer with mastery over several literary genres, but who nevertheless chose the difficult path of Roman-script Konkani journalism when all that we had at the time were a handful of gossipy weeklies and monthlies in rundown, anaemic, Konkani, and a religious weekly catering to a very limited readership.... Felicio, though virtually penniless and in indifferent health after his long stint at the infamous Aguada Jail, managed to string up the finances and almost single-handedly launched a high quality Konkani weekly GOENCHO SAD in tabloid format in the Roman script. It was to become the first Konkani weekly in Liberated Goa. From the inception, there were articles of high standard written by eminent Goan writers, both Catholic and Hindu. Felicio Cardoso's contribution to the standardization of written Konkani and the introduction of pure Konkani and Antar-Bharati or pan-Indian vocabulary to Goans in general and the Catholic community in particular is unparelleled. He did it with the flair of a natural teacher as he gradually introduced more and more sophisticated syntax and terminology with the colloquial word in parenthesis. These were subsequently gradually withdrawn. GOENCHO SAD, which hit the news stands early on Sunday morning became a weekly habit for thousands of Goans from the well-educated to the semi-educated. With its mix of bold, accurate reporting, informed comment, poems and creative literature, sports and quizzes, puzzles and competitions, GOENCHO SAD was a success. With the readership clamouring for more, Felicio was emboldened to transform it into a daily within a year. Thus, was born SOT. Continuing the Goencho Sad tradition, a host of top Goan writers wrote for it. Goa's Poet-Laureate Manohar Rai Sardessai contributed a poem every day! Inspired by this, young Goan writers tried their hand at poetry and prose and SOT provided a platform for their creativity. They were heady times. During the four years of its life, SOT played a heroic role in exposing corruption and above all in safeguarding Goa from merger with Maharashtra during the Opinion Poll and for the recognition of Konkani. Later he trained his guns on the Deputationists -- the colonial-type bureaucrats from across the border who were lording it over the Goans in the Goa administration and looting Goa. It would be no exaggeration to say that though GOENCHO SAD and SOT lasted for only half a decade, the standards they set for responsible journalism, bold exposure, informative comment and uncompromising adherence to Truth, is a beacon for Goan journalism for all time -- that too on antiquated machinery and a shoe-string budget! However, unknown to most readers, publishing the SOT was a daily struggle for its editor-publisher who had to sell off the few family heirlooms (that still remained unlooted by his relations and others during his sojourn in jail), to finance it. His uncompromising love for Konkani and his intolerance of corruption and injustice inevitably placed him in the bad books of the powers that be. Corrupt businessmen irked at his espousal of the cause of labour, even hired hoodlums to beat him up as he cycled home one night. Unmindful of the pain, he heroically brought out the next day's edition! Stung by his exposures, the then MGP Government shut off government ads to the fledgling paper. As the red ink mounted, well-wishers mooted what appeared to be a good idea -- the merger of the struggling SOT with A VIDA the Portuguese daily (which, after Liberation found its circulation dwindling), to produce DIVTTI the first broad-sheet Konkani daily with a page in Portuguese. But the chemistry was not right. Unyielding Truth is not a sought-after commodity especially for the establishment to whom some of the new partners belonged. After a few months, Felicio quit rather than compromise his editorial independence. After his departure, DIVTTI sputtered on for some time before folding up. For a short time after that, he published LOKSAD, a weekly. Thereafter, another broad-sheet daily UZVADD was launched from the house of Chowgules. He was invited to be its editor, but because of the conditions imposed, which would compromise his editorial independence, he declined. He was then asked to suggest a name. Eminent freedom-fighter Evagrio Jorge whose name he suggested only agreed on condition that Felicio would be its Margao correspondent. Ironically Evagrio also met his death in a tragic car accident. After the demise of UZVADD there was yet another attempt called NOVEM GOEM. This daily tabloid, despite the back-breaking labour put in by Felicio, who was not even thanked for his efforts, did not last, because of the venality of those in charge. Meanwhile he resumed his education 23 years after it was interrupted by his involvement in the Liberation struggle, consequent incarceration in Aguada Jail and his involvement in journalism . He completed his SSCE, went on to finish his graduation and almost completed his LLB while beginning a new innings as a teacher in Rosary High School, Navelim, where he made his mark as a real guru with encyclopaedic knowledge and a rational, liberal outlook. He gave vent to his literary and journalistic urges by contributing a regular column 'Dixtti Kon' to the first Devanagari Konkani daily SUNAPARANT and by his close friendship and association with Fr. Freddy da Costa. Together they forged the GULAB into a class Romi Konkani monthly with a large circulation both inside Goa and abroad. It was firmly anchored on the bedrock of Truth and Justice and regularly gave its readers gleanings from the best of Indian literature by its translations from other languages and by transcribing quality Konkani literature from Devanagri and Kannada scripts. GULAB reflected its editors' concern for the loss of values, environmental destruction and above all stood for the primacy of Konkani in safeguarding Goa's patrimony. On special occasions, the newspaper GOENCHO AWAZ would be brought out. The death of these two stalwarts together in a tragic car crash dealt a double blow to Goa -- two powerful voices for truth, justice, rationalism and open inquiry have been forever silenced. More tragically, a beacon for leading a large segment of people back to Konkani has been snuffed out. Is all lost? Truth and Justice are eternal values. They reside in each and every one of us even though many a time we do our best to sacrifice them at the altar of untruth and expediency. And Konkani? Can we continue to be myopic and pretend that Konkani is only for the semi-literates and die-hard protagonists, that it will not feed us, that it is undeveloped, that it is a dialect etc etc? When shall we Goans realise that Konkani is the very soul of Goa, the thread that binds all Goans irrespective of caste and creed. Remove it and you have an empty shell of selfish groups dancing to the tunes of out-of-state puppet-masters and jostling for the crumbs thrown out by them. Do we want to be masters of our destiny? Or will we continue to be ruled by bureaucrats from all over India except Goa. Does any other state of this country tolerate so many non-local civil service officers? Goa does it because we never implemented the Official Language Act unlike other states where no affront to the mother tongue is tolerated. The cause of implementing the Official Language Act and safeguarding local jobs for Goans is left to valiant groups like the Hitrakhan Manch fighting lonely battles while the official bodies like the Official Language Cell remain mute? Prophets, unlike the pompous pygmies that strut about on the political stage, puffed with ill-gotten wealth, ego and self-importance are largely ignored in their lifetimes, but, unlike those ludicrous figures, they are not immediately forgotten, but are remembered even centuries after their deaths. Perhaps at this yearly milestone of the death of Felicio Cardoso -- genuine freedom-fighter, champion of Truth and Konkani savant, we should rededicate ourselves to reclaiming the soul of our Goanness. Who knows, the spirit of Felicio Cardoso who recognised Romi-script as a necessary bridge to lead thousands of marginalised Goans back into the Konkani mainstream, may yet inspire a high-quality self-sustaining Romi-Konkani daily which will be a byword for courageous, credible journalism for a new Goan Renaissance! FOOTNOTE: At the end of the anniversary mass at Seraulim Church which had a touching homily based on the Sermon on the Mount by Mons. Jaime Couto (a professor at Saligao Seminary)and the blessing of the grave, Felicio Cardoso' friends and admirers gathered at his house where Goa's Poet Laureate Dr. Manohar Rai Sardessai unveiled a commemorative plaque. He remarked that a person like Felicio turned up very rarely. He expressed the wish that every politician who aspires to be a minister today, should first undergo at least one month's solitary confinement at Aguada jail and taste a hundred strokes of the infamous Agente Monteiro's cane as did Felicio Cardoso. Adv. Uday Bhembro said that we as Goans do not treasure and preserve our history. He remarked that we should have converted into museums and pilgrimage centres of learning the residences of Goan greats like Francisco Luis Gomes, Mon. Dalgado and Xennoi Goem Bab so that posterity should know that such towering persons are our ancestors. Writer Damodar Mauzo appealed to the heads of Asmitai Pratisthan and Konkani Akademi to bring out a collection of Felicio Cardoso's writings and his biography,. Soter Barreto, close confidant of Felicio, thanked the people for coming announced that the house which had been renovated by him and where Felicio's considerable collection of books was housed, was available to students of Konkani for reference work and for small literary gatherings. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tanzania-born Xavier Cota is a Salcete-based former banker who retired early to spend more time with his first love -- writing. He is one of the few skilled translators of Konkani works into English, and his translations have earned him praise from Konkani writers like Damodar Mauzo. GOANET READER WELCOMES contributions from its readers, by way of essays, reviews, features and think-pieces. We share quality Goa-related writing among the growing readership of Goanet and it's allied network of mailing lists. If you appreciate the above article, please send in your feedback to the writer. 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