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Remembering Aquino Braganca (b. 6 April 1924), who fought for freedom
of the former Portuguese colonies in Africa. An online tribute
http://aquinobraganca.wordpress.com/ (includes many historical
references, some photographs and documents)
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Mr. Borges Please Awake!
By Tomazinho Cardozo
I have gone through the reply of Sebastiao Borges posted on Sunday, 5 Apr 2009
at
22:33 hours. It reminds me of a proverb in Konkani, "Nidloloeak zago korunk
zata
punn nidechem ddong ghetloleak matr zago korunk zaina." This is exactly the
state of
mind of Mr. Sebastiao Borges. In order to shorten my reply, I see two major
confusions being created by Mr. Borges in his reply in order to create more
confusion in the minds of the readers. This is how Mr. Borges and his lobby
always
functions. These confusions are:
1. According to him it is not possible to identify 'who are' and 'who are not'
the
protagonists of Konkani in Roman script among the people appointed by the
Government in various departments.
2. The second major confusion that he creates is that according to him if one
writes
in Konkani in Roman script he/she cannot be against Konkani in Roman
script.
Before I clear the perception about these Borges-created confusion let me first
unfold the lies and mischief of Mr. Borges in other minor issues.
(a) For the information of Mr. Borges let it be known that my manuscripts in
Roman
script were not considered by GKA pointing to the fact that OLA defines Konkani
as
Konkani written in Devnagori script. It was politely rejected requesting me to
transliterate it into Devnagori script which I did not do.
(b) One thing is good that Mr. Borges agrees that GKA started promoting
Konkani in
Roman script since 2005 only. He questions about the type and number of books
'assisted/promoted' by GKA during this period. Mr. Borges you are the member of
the
General Council and the Governing body of GKA during that time. Being an
important
member of GKA can you not yourselves find out the statistics? Please do it.
(c) Mr. Borges and his likes are again and again harping on one book that
could
not be published in 1992 during the Tiatr Centenary Celebrations. The book was
an
anthology of 101 Kantaram in Konkani. I was entrusted to compile that book. I
could
not do it because prominent Kantaram composers did not co-operate. This has
been
explained many times but people like Mr. Borges tries to stress upon it for
reasons
best known to them. My article to which Mr. Borges has replied is the "Adverse
Impact of OLA". For the sake of argument, let us suppose that the said book was
published. Would it change in any way the adverse impact of OLA on Konkani in
Roman
script? Or does he try to project that GKA did not do any injustice to Konkani
in
Roman script? If only three books in Konkani in Roman script and hundreds of
books
in Konkani in Devanogori script are published by GKA, does that affect Mr.
Borges in
any way? No, because this is his concept of justice to Konkani in Roman script.
Thirdly Mr. Borges harps on non-publication of one book. He has no courage to
state
that I have written and published 23 books in Konkani in Roman script which
includes
Tiatrs, Kantaram, Short Stories, Poems, Mando & Dulpods, One Act Plays, Essays,
etc.
How many books have you written and published Mr. Borges?
(d) He talks of a Monograph of M. Boyer, a book of C. D'Silva and a CD of a
project which, according to him, was left on the table of the President of GKA.
What
relevance this has got to the adverse impact of OLA on Konkani in Roman script?
He
asks me throw some light on them. Mr. Borges, as I have stated earlier, you are
a
very important member of GKA. What prevents you to throw some light on all
these
'issues'? I hope Mr. Borges will focus his writings only towards the issue in
question in future.
(e) Mr. Borges states that the demand for equal status to Roman script along
with
Devnagori script is stupid. According to him it will end in making Marathi also
the
Official Language of Goa. This is yet another myth of Mr. Borges. The Official
Language Act of Goa says that Konkani ( in Devnagori script) shall be the
Official
Language of Goa and Marathi shall also be used for all official purposes. Today
Marathi enjoys almost equal status to that of Konkani in Devnagori script. If
one
analyses the usage of Marathi and Konkani in Devnagori script in Goa one finds
that
use of Marathi is far ahead of Konkani in Devnagori script. Government funding
to
Konkani in Devnagori script as well as to Marathi language is same. Sometimes
Marathi has received more funds than Konkani in Devnagori script from the Goa
Gvernment. For example there are about 8 dailies in Marathi with a total
circulation
of more than one lakh readers while there is only one Konkani in Devnagori
script
daily whose circulation is a mystery. In the field of education same situation
prevails. Anti - Roman script deeds of Mr. Borges and his likes have already
intentionally allowed the Marathi language not only be on par with Konkani but
helped it to grow faster than Konkani. Mr. Borges and his likes support these
happenings because they are benefited through both - Konkani in Devnagori
script as
well as Marathi language. The demand for equal status for Konkani in Roman
script
has nothing to do with the language. The language issue has been settled in
1987.
The issue relates to the specific area of the script only. This issue would
have not
come up at all if dishonest leaders of language agitation did not fraudulently
include the definition of Konkani language as "Konkani means Konkani written in
Devnagori script" in the OLA in 1987. This is the greatest betrayal of 20th
century.
Now let me come to his main confusion:
1. According to him it is not possible to identify 'who are' and 'who are not'
the
protagonists of Konkani in Roman script among the people appointed by the
Government in various departments.
Why is Mr. Borges not prepared to put an application for the required
information
under RTI? If he drafts his letter properly he is bound to get the following
information: (i) Number of persons employed, (ii) Whether their primary
education
was in Marathi or Konkani, (iii) Whether they opted for Konkani or for Marathi
from
Std. V onwards. (iv) Experience in their respective field is very important. As
such
Mr. Borges could also get information about their cultural and literary
activities.
(v) The hobbies of the appointed persons can also be found out with the help of
RTI.
If this information is obtained under RTI, it absolutely easy for Mr Borges to
judge
a person whether he/she is only for Marathi language, only for Konkani in
Devnagori
script or only for Konkani in Roman script or for Konkani in Roman as well as
Devnagori script. Mr. Borges, Please do it!
Mr. Borges please note. We live in a society in which there are 'good' and
'bad'
persons. No body has given any proofs or certificates to confirm whether these
persons are 'good' or 'bad'. In spite of that people in the society consider
them
'good' or 'bad'. This perception is based on their acts, deeds, attitudes,
speeches,
writings, behaviour etc. In the same way RTI information will help in finding
the
acts, deeds, attitudes, etc of the appointed person towards Konkani and its
script.
Mr. Borges it is not confusing nor difficult to find out the statistics
provided you
are ready to face the reality.
2. The second major confusion that he creates is that according to him if one
writes
in Konkani in Roman script he/she cannot be against Konkani in Roman
script.
He has also given many names of writers and he wants me to tell whether they
are
supporters of Konkani in Devnagori script or supporters of Konkani in Roman
script.
More than me, Mr. Borges knows them well and hence I shall give him the
criterion to
find out whether they are protagonists of Devnagori or Roman script. The
criterion
is as follows.
There three types of people in Goa as far as Konkani language and its scripts
are
concerned. I am classifying them in three groups A, B and C.
Group A : People who do not wish to amend the Goa OLA in order to give equal
status
to Roman script along with Devnagori. For them Konkani in
Devnagori is the
only real Konkani.
Group B : People who say that Devnagori script should be removed from the OLA
and
only Konkani in Roman script should be made Official Language
of
Goa. For
them Konkani in Roman script is the only real Konkani.
Group C : People who say that OLA should be amended in order to give equal
status to
Konkani in Roman script along with Devnagori script. For them
Konkani will
be flourished if both script are given equal status in the
OLA.
If one analyses the above three groups A, B and C, the inference is as under:
i. People belonging to Group A, are against Konkani in Roman
script.
ii. People belonging to Group B, are against Konkani in
Devnagori
script
iii. People belonging to Group C, are not against any script.
Because some one writes in Konkani in Roman script does not make him a
supporter of
Konkani in Roman script. A true supporter of Roman script is one who ensures
that
Konkani in Roman script live with dignity and honour without any danger of
being
eliminated in the future. Until and unless Roman script is not given equal
status
along with Devnagori script in the OLA, the dignity, honour and the very
survival of
Konkani in Roman script is uncertain. Hence those who oppose giving equal
status to
Roman script along with Devnagori script in the OLA are the worst enemies of
Konkani
in Roman script.
Mr. Borges may apply the above given criteria to decide whether the persons
whose
names he has given are 'for' or 'against' Konkani in Roman script.
Before I end, I am tempted to narrate a story of the life of a pig. In fact it
is
not a fiction. There are many families in Goa, particularly in the villages,
which
rear pigs. Their aim in rearing pigs is that after the pigs are fully grown,
they
are sold them to the butcher who pays good amount of money to the owners of the
pig.
The families take good care of the pig so that it grows fast and they get good
money
by selling bit. The butcher kills the pig and sells the meat of the pig and in
turn
makes money for himself.
This is exactly the attitude of all those persons, including Mr. Borges, who
writes
in Konkani and who give sweet talk about Konkani in Roman script but are not
ready
to give equal status to it in the OLA. Their final aim is the elimination of
Konkani
in Roman script. As the families rearing the pigs do, these persons too try to
take
care of Konkani in Roman script for the sake of earning few rupees. Ultimate
their
aim is only to eliminate Konkani in Roman script. Mr. Borges please awake!
"Nidechem
ddong gheunaka! Oi, sot tench ghoddtolem."
Tomazinho Cardozo
Candolim, Goa.
