-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Add your name to the CLEAN GOA INITIATIVE | | | | by visiting this link and following the instructions therein | | | | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/033926.html | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Mr.Fernando do Rego,
One cannot be a party to a dispute and still sit in the chair of a judge. Take your pick: dispute or judge. One cannot mark cc to many, and even include several Net groups [at least one of which has over 10,000 subscribers world-wide, many of them not Goans or of Goan origin or any Asian race,even!], and then command [disguised as 'request']that no one should "Reply all". That is patently unfair. A football player should not try to tell a baseball team how to 'play ball' for the good of its children. You write your Portuguese as you please, and your English as best as you can, leave Konkani to us that speak and write the language. It is our "Mai bhas", not some Pangim to Miramar bus that you can flag to a stop at Fontainhas and board enroute!! Do you think that Konkani speakers are some kind of morons or toddlers requiring your help? If you think so, you are sadly mistaken. Increasingly Devanagri antruzi Konkani-conversant Catholics will not intergrate with the Marathi learning Hindus. Either the Catholics should learn Marathi [go the whole hog] or both, Hindus and Catholics should learn Hindi or English. Unless by Hindu one means only Hindu Brahmins who are Konkani literate in Devanagri script. Which schools are the Hindu Brahmin children going to these day Senhor Fernando?? How many of them are studying in Konkani medium primary schools?? One language can bring intergration of society that two languages in one script can never hope to do. That had been the unifying strength of Konkani till 1987. Adv. Uday Bhembre can speak about Konkani and will be heard. He knows the language. He loves the language. He has fought for its recognition at various fora. He has been a part of the winning team. I strongly disagree with his views on the "script for the future" . Each one of us, and the others, have a right to our opinion. We will discuss, debate, argue, fight or even break a few heads. We may agree, disagree or compromise. That is solely our right. It is a family fight among the Konkanis[ Bhandaris, Brahmins, Chardo, Kunbi,Kurmi,Bunts, Mangaloreans et al]. We do not need any hegemony from non-Konkanis. If we need advice, we will ask for it. The others should either learn the language of their forefathers...or hold their peace on the subject. Mr. Tomazinho Cardoz needs to make good his threat to prove how Adv.Uday Bhembre writes/says different things in different fora. As far as I know, he did call the Romi lipi Konkani protagnists " agents of Imperialists" trying to make the 'English language the sole language of the world' while writing in the daily SUNAPARANT of 14 October,2005, and calling on all lovers of Konkani to "Ostracise TSKK and its leaders" the target being Fr.Pratap Naik, sj, Director of TSKK and Council member of XCHR where Adv.Uday interacted with Fr.Pratap on 20 October, i.e. less than a week later. I did not hear Adv. Uday Bhembre talk about "ostracisation" or even refusing to talk to Fr.Pratap in the open forum at the TSKK-XCHR's common campus in Porvorim. Is Adv.Uday Bhembre not a lover of Konkani then? Or is he setting up double standards as in the historical past when pretty, nubile "untouchables" became eminently suitable for sex with brahmin 'sawkars' through the process of "dedication" as "devidasi". Was Adv. Uday Bhembre "dedicating" Fr.Pratap Naik on 20 October?? Soundatti/Yellapur, where pompous public dedications ceremonies were held till 1980, is not too far away. It took armed Police action to finally stop it in 1981. Part of Goa was ruled by the Saundekars [or Sondes or the Rajas of Sunda, as one may prefer] even during the Portuguese colonial rule. Ancesters of present day Goans also must have been 'dedicated' to Yellamma or Renuka devi. Till today, the Sonde clan is Konkani speaking ,too. I had breakfast with a Dr.Sonde on 20 October in Sirsi before coming back to Goa for the talk by Adv.Uday Bhembre at XCHR. Konkani is the language of the Konkan. In fact the Portuguese called it the "lingua canarese". Mangalore is the capital of South Canara district of Karnataka. I hope you can see the connection of the Language of the Konkan or Canara coast. If we need to remember Tristao Braganca e Cunha's famous essay on denationalisation of Goans, then those who do not know their mother tongue, Konkani, should rank first among the "denationalised catholics" of Goa. Can you think of anything, or anyone, worse? One does not learn one's mother tongue in schools and colleges. What one learns there is either the "Medium of Instruction" or "Languages". 'Mother tongue' is what one learns in one's mother's lap as a toddler. It is the language that comes to one's lips in times of need, pain or joy. Pity the one whose mother does not know "Nossa Lingua". One cannot make amends by teaching another's children in Devanagri script. That is where the well-meaning Portuguese-speaking 'intelligentia" in the laity and the clergy err grieviously! Viva Goa. Miguel
