No, I do not believe Goan Christians want everything the easy way. I think
they want everything the practical way, because they are forward-looking
and, unlike most other Indians, they look beyond the borders of India. They
Know only too well that the Devanagri script is as alien to them as Japanese
or Arab script, and its knowledge will serve no pratical purpose in their
lives. Devanagri was imposed on Goans by the "liberators" (just as Hindi was
imposed), without the consent of the people, and ignoring the fact that at
least the Christian population has no previous knowledge of it, at all. It�s
not just the older generation that worries about the Roman script. I don't
know any kid from Goa that does not grumble about Devanagri konkani and
Hindi. Unfortunately they do not realise they are the victims of a massive
campaign of forced "Indianisation" of Goans, which translates into efforts
at forced assimilation into the culture of the majority, much as the
Portuguese did in Goa 500 years ago. Christians in Goa should be able to be
perfect citizens of India without having to be culturally assimilated into
the mainstream, thus preserving what was their distinct identity (what has
become of it anyway? Remember what Nehru promised?) ). As long as they go
along without resisting this process they will go on loosing each and every
feature of their erstwhile distinct identity, until they become
undistinguishable from other Indians. That's the ultimate goal of the
"liberators". And this is happening in the era of globalisation, of
multiculturalism, of preservation of each and every difference! A time when
Portuguese hindus sport their sarees in Lisbon, go to their temples (partly
paid by taxpayer's money) and don't even care to speak Portuguese (some of
them), even though living here for some decades now. Welcome to the real
world!
Rui Manuel Colla�o
Lisbon
From: "Teotonio R. de Souza" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet]Re: Konknni disappearing in Goa
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2004 18:24:43 +0000 (Hora padr�o de Greenwich)
Dear Simon,
We know that Roman script is still an important issue to older generations
of Goan Christians, but we cannot confuse the script issue with strength or
weakness of Konknni language today. Just because Roman script is failing,
it
is no proof that Konknni in Devanagri is not doing well and even
flourishing
But from the recent discussion about the use of sh or x in the writing of
Konknni in Roman script it was clear how little interest is there on the
part of Goan Christians to learn such rules of writing. Can we conclude
that
Goan Christians want everything the easy way?
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