Re: Goan Kokno - *Elizabeth Carvalho* Hello Elizabeth,
I have read your interesting comments. I am not sure if you were one of my friends while I was studying in Goa!! We had a lot of friends in the neighbouring Convent schools, however, I cannot recollect your name! Please jog my memory By the way, I was apologising on behalf of my friends who still call Hindus 'Kokno' in a derogatory manner. As a matter of fact we should all be called 'Koknes' and this term should not be restricted to 'Hindus' only. Here is the rationale for saying what I say and this has been backed by one of my learned friends. Let's learn something here. Dictionaries are not always a good example of practical things. 'Konkno' has nothing to do with being a Hindu. A 'Konkno' is a person from the Konkan region of India. Some Goans do use the term in a derogatory sense as they do consider the non Goans who live in the Konkan region inferior to them. Poverty may be one of the factors that influenced this thinking. Other than that, all Goans are 'konknes' [plural]. I know of Goans who even now refer the term Konkno for Hindus particularly to those Hindus who took many of our fields. Soime Goans say "thea Konknianim amchem shehth Kharlem". Personally my relatives and I have lost a big paddy field in Khorlim to a Hindu called 'Godekar' in Khorlim, Mapusa. Many approaches to him and his children to pay us something for the illegal possession of the fields proved futile etc, I am not a happy chappy, yet I do not refer Godekar as 'Konknes' in a derogatory manner!. I hope the Godekar siblings or relatives or one of our Hindu friends in Goa, who read these exchanges will be able to relay this message to Godekar's in Khorlim at Khorlim Bandhar (opposite Mapusa Police station). (Alternatively, it would be great if one of our educated young Hindu brothers in Goa, could reach Godekar to see if they could intervene to settle our fields with conscience). Did you know that some Portuguese people used to refer/some still joke about Kokno's as "Corte o shendi e ponha-o no fogo".Do you know what this means?. Is apology removing a piece of our flesh? You make a mention of "Attitudes". This is a buz word in modern world. Attitudes are planted at home on concrete slabs and not on sand. If attitudes need to be changed then the crab mentality, knee jerk reaction, tall poppy syndrome and spanners at work need to be eradicated from our DNA composition. We need to be like frogs - move forward - and not crabs pull one another down. Intelligence has no time for Barazaranleo Ghozalli! Cheers Oscar C. Lobo Melbourne Victoria Australia. _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list ([email protected]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: %(user_optionsurl)s This email sent to %(user_address)s
