Goanet meets in Goa: December 27, 12 noon and January 7, 4 pm (meeting point: Kala Academy canteen). See you there! ------------------------------
The real cause for Goans not accepting the Konkani language as widely as one could expect is because of four factors: the present protagonists of the Konkani language the Hindu Saraswat Brahmins a)have successfully promoted albeit clandestinely and using devious means --- the "sanskritised" version of konkani -- so when one hears words like "votalo magelo tagelo etc" one realises this is NOT the Konkani spoken by the majority Hindu (Bahujan) lower castes or the Catholic and Moslems: b)the devnagiri script was forced upon the majority Goans with a political view viz; to enthuse the Hindu (Bahujan) lower castes conversant with marathi medium primary education to familiarise and accept Konkani instead of Marathi (Take note that the first Chief Minister of Goa Bhausaheb Bandodkar in his education policy believed in empowerment of the citizens and this he belived could be achieved by ensuring that there would be atleast ONE school in each Village Panchayat - and the language of convenience was Marathi (and "bhais" a pseudynom for the female teachers were appointed mainly from Maharashtra to meet this requirement especially in the New Conquests viz: Sattari Sanguem Quepem Canacona Pernem Bicholim Ponda which are predominantly Hindu (Bahujan) lower castes; and some pockets in the Old Conquests Salcette Mormugao Bardez Tiswadi (Ilhas) But this has not happened and one can see that the number of Konkani and Marathi schools are being shut down even in the New Conquests and English medium schools are mushrooming like tea shops even in Pernem Bicholim and Ponda c) despite admitting with statistics that there are among the Konkani language speakers whether in Karnataka Kerala or Konkan using the Malayalam Kannada and even Urdu script the Goan Hindu Saraswat Brahmins ignored this reality and managed to promote only the devnagiri sanskritised scrip for Konkani. This is a blatant distortion of facts and has ensured that only the script viz; devanagiri with its sanskritised version - is accepted as the official language ( it is on record that the present CM of Goa himself has publicly admitted that though he himself is a Saraswat Brahmin he has never been able to understand this version of Konkani -- the "Sunaparant" Konkani daily now in its new - avtaar- is the product of this "Group of speakers". d) the conclusion of this gimmick played by the Hindu Saraswat Brahmins on the Goan masses viz Hindu (Bahujan) lower castes Muslims and Catholics is that it is only the 3% Hindu Saraswat Brahmins can get employment in all the Government jobs which are in todays terms guranteed employment, no accountability lucrative in some posts and entire families of Hindu Saraswat Brahmins clamour for these jobs. This they suceeded by fooling gullible politicians like Churchill Alemao, the Roman Catholic priests infact the entire Diocesan schools. To give a semblance that this sanskritised Konkani in devnagiri script is accepted by the masses some Bahujan leaders Catholic priests and tiatrist are propped up in Konkani Sammelan committees and other fora while the Hindu Saraswat Brahmins calls the shots. In fact it is the traditional passtime of this Hindu Saraswat Brahmin community to use the Catholics as the stepping stone to their sucess while the Hindu (Bahujan) lower castes have been historically exploited for centuries when even hot oil was poured into their ears for daring to read the scriptures. Look at all the "posros" in the villages of Goa specially the Old Conquests they are run by Hindu Saraswat Brahmmins. One may argue that this was in the past it is clandestinely practices today in all fields by ensuring that when it comes to chosing between a Hindu Saraswat Brahmin and a Catholic or a Hindu "Bahujan" Lower caste - MERIT by one's Birth and not worth is the yard stick. To conclude three steps need to be taken a) codify the COMMONLY (not the sanskritised version) spoken Konkani and the Priests THomas Stephen Kendr could play an active roll in this direction with some linguistics from the Konkani Hindu (Bahujan) low caste community -- please do not include the Hindu Saraswat Brahmins into this team. b) once a) is accomplished one can promote the devnagiri script for the convenience of Hindus while others could opt for the Roman script -- with multilingual computers coming into being and e-governance this will not create much problems; d) thus with knowledge of Konkani as in a) and b) once achieved it can be used to safeguard the demand for Goans first in matters of employment in the Government or semi Government or autonomous bodies The politicians in Goa should be compelled to pursue this agenda right away as the jobs for Goans are up for grabs by the non-Goans. This is happening only in this State all other States have safeguards for the natives of the respctive State. This 42nd Goa Liberation Day let us begin to sound the death knell for the promoters of the "sanskritised' version of Konkani -- GODFREY J. I. GONSALVES Borda Margao Goa [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Mobile: Download the latest polyphonic ringtones. Go to http://in.mobile.yahoo.com ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
