Dears,
Just two quotes from the report of the current President of the South Goa
Marathi Patrakar Sangh, Margao, and former award winning correspondent of
"Loksatta" Marathi newspaper besides being the second editor of the Konkani
newspaper "Sunaparant" in Devanagri script and current English language
Journalist of Times News Network, Goa, all rolled into one, Raju Nayak :
#1. Vincy Quadros, working president of the first Roman Konkani Meet,
considered a soft-liner, says the demand for amendment is not echoed by
the entire Catholic community. "Except for some MLAs and some writers
there is no larger demand for a change in the Act. The present Act was
passed as there was greater demand from all walks of life for the
Devanagiri script," Quadros says.
# 2. The reason for the specific mention of the community, is that those
promoting the inclusion of Roman Konkani in the Official Language Act
say that most Catholics are not familiar with the Devanagiri script.
It will be interesting to know what the apparently somnolent members of the
Executive Committee of the Dalgado Konkani Akademi [DKA] that organised the
"Sommelon" have to say of their "Working President". Did they welcome a Trojan
Horse within their fortress walls?
Will the DKA be another Goan Catholics for Devanagri [CFD] by another name?
Will they learn from their mistakes of Konkani Porjecho Awaz or simply repeat
them??
Will the Presidentship of the proposed Tiatr Akademy spell disaster??
Is a sanctioned budget Rs.15.00 lakhs for the proposed "Tiatr Akademi" the
price tag for forsaking the Presidentship of the Goa Konkani Akademi.
Was the "1st Konkani [Roman Script] Literary & Cultural Convention" just a
NATOK to project that the "culture" of Konkani in the Roman Script was limited
to the Tiatr and Kantaram ... that singing the Manddo and Dulpods as well as
dancing the Manddo, Dekhnni, Kharvi, Xetkari, Fugddi, Kotti fugddi, Mussoll and
other dances were not really our culture?
We need to answer these questions before we go any further with this TIATOK
... Tiatr in the Natak format!!
Mog asundi
Miguel
Date: Thursday, 25 December, 2008,
TIMES OF INDIA page 7
Konkani bags Jnanpith, but the language community stands dividedRow between
Supporters of Devanagri And Roman Script Drives a Wedge.
TOI, 25 Dec 2008
Raju Nayak/TNNIt was a parody of sorts for Goa's official language Konkani in
2008.
While writer Ravindra Kelekar bagged the prestigious Jnanpith literary
award, a first for Konkani, the language itself stood divided on script.
On November 23, Kelekar, a writer credited with influencing the fight to
make Konkani the state's official language, was declared the joint
winner of the 42nd Jnanpith Award for the year 2006. However, at the
award function at Ravindra Bhavan in Margao the shadow of a divided
language fell on the ceremony.
While the Official Language Act recognises Konkani in Devanagiri script,
there is a demand that Roman/Romi Konkani be included as well.
In his speech at the function, Pundalik Naik, president of the Konkani
Academy warned that if the Official Language Act was touched, it would
set a bad precedent and the Konkani movement would not keep quiet.
To understand the sentiment, one needs to step into history.
The language movement, spread over six decades, has seen not just the
production of literary works of repute in Konkani but the language's
inclusion in the Sahitya Academy, the eighth schedule of the
Constitution and the latest, the country's highest literary award.
Since 1975, Konkani writers, many of them young, first-time writers,
received Sahitya Academy awards. More importantly, Konkani shed its tag
of being the literary monopoly of the higher strata of Goan society,
mainly the Saraswat Brahmins, as accused by the Marathi protagonists.
"More and more writers from the Bahujan Samaj are coming up who produce
literary works of high value. This is proof that the language movement
has percolated and continues to strike deep into society," says
award-winning writer Dilip Borkar.
Pundalik Naik explains that after Goa's liberation in 1961, just like
the Dalits in Maharashtra, Goan rural youth came out in large numbers to
write in Konkani. "These rural folk had a different cultural background
and they had different things to say, the literature was with force and
aggressive," he says.
"Prakash Vazrikar and Prakash Parienkar coming from remote Sattari
taluka are the rarest of all and they have that unique distinct cultural
ethos and style, which portrays a different rural life," Naik says.
Volvoi-native Naik, incidentally, himself created a separate rural'
writing style when he entered the literary field, which at the time was
dominated by urban writers like Chandrakant Keni, Uday Bhembre and
Damodar Mauzo. Inevitably, he was the unanimous choice for convenor of
the Konkani Prajecho Avaz, the organ that spearheaded the Konkani
movement for official status for the language in 1985. Naik's fiery
speeches enlightened youngsters, many of who started working for the
language.
"A plus point for the movement is that after the language agitation many
Konkani kendras opened in rural areas and are still working for the
language and culture," says writer N Shivdas.
Another positive is that at the Goa University "the Konkani department
gets the highest number of students in the language faculty," says
Chandralekha D'Souza, head, Konkani department. She adds that while many
of the students are from rural backgrounds, a number are Catholics "who
have no difficulty with the Devanagari script," she says.
The reason for the specific mention of the community, is that those
promoting the inclusion of Roman Konkani in the Official Language Act
say that most Catholics are not familiar with the Devanagiri script.
Naik asserts that not only do "Catholic students answer six papers in
Konkani just like the rest of their classmates, writers Jofa Gonsalves,
Petsi Pereira, Afusto Barreto and Gudalup Dias have a distinct style and
have attracted readers".
"A speciality of these writers is that they don't have any influence
of Marathi as they have no elementary training in that language. Their
writings are the finest examples of a language's purity," says Naik.
"The Konkani movement was secular, above communal and casteist barriers
and gave our writers the courage to express themselves. If the demand by
Roman Konkani protagonists is for economic reasons or for (government)
posts then the Konkani leadership can redress it suitably. If it is
related to promoting Roman Konkani writers, this can be done in a big
way too. But, if it is only on religious lines and if it promotes
communal divisiveness, we will oppose it firmly," says Naik.
Tomazinho Cardozo, noted tiatrist, however, contradicts Naik's view on
the divide being communal, "Our country believes in unity in diversity.
Goa has similar circumstances where scripts and dialects are for
diversity and I feel the only way to unite Goans is by supporting the
demand."
Vincy Quadros, working president of the first Roman Konkani Meet,
considered a soft-liner, says the demand for amendment is not echoed by
the entire Catholic community. "Except for some MLAs and some writers
there is no larger demand for a change in the Act. The present Act was
passed as there was greater demand from all walks of life for the
Devanagiri script," Quadros says.
Konkani activist Fr Mouzinho Ataide says the view that Catholics in
large numbers support Roman Konkani is "not true". "Though it is
claimed that Catholics support the Roman Konkani script nobody has any
statistics and no effort has been made to ascertain their opinion," says
Ataide. "If one wants to ascertain opinion they have to talk to students
studying in Konkani. We who never learnt Konkani should not comment on
Konkani and force our opinion on others," says Fr Ataide.
--
ENDS
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