The issue of Official Language Act (OLA) has been going making big noise for
the past couple of years after being in silence for a long period after it was
passed.
Whether the issue at stake, that is giving Roman script equal status, is
politically motivated or promoting cultural divide is hard to decipher. As I
understand it, it was political move to soothe the anger of the Konkanivadis
who, then, were only keen to have Konkani given official recognition. At that
time, it mattered little whether the recognition was for Devnagiri script.
Proponents of the Roman script let go a big opportunity to make their demand.
For many, the very recognition of Konkani as official language was a victory.
It was better to have half a loaf than a full one.
I concur with Sebastian Borges that Dr. Olivinho Gomes should have known better
before making his statement regardng "cultural genocide". In fact, he wrote a
lot in Devnagiri script. As a member of the Sahitya Akademi and head of Konkani
department at the Goa University, Dr. Gomes could have spoken out more
vigorously for Roman script.
I do not think the OLA should be taken as a weapon of genocide regarding Roman
Catholics or those for Roman script. It, however, does create a cultural
divide, adding to the one on religious line. But then many non-Catholic Goans
support Roman script as many Catholic Goans support Devnagiri script.
Instead of OLA being a "political and cultural divide", it would be sane on the
part of the government to have both languages. In such a case, both groups
would be winners. But perhaps the government thinks that such an action would
amount to political mis-step, meaning it could alienate the non-Catholic Goans.
It could be true that Catholic Goan student struggle with Devnagiri script. I
had trouble with it during my school days while studying Hindi and Marathi.
Students of my time and even now in Mumbai have no choice but to study the
Devnagiri script. Many Catholic Goans suffered on their total average because
of low marks in Hindi at the SSC level.
As for other issues, such as uniformity in writing, educated Goans speaking to
each other in English instead of Konkani, it is very much true. But that should
not be an obstacle to grant equal status to Roman script.
Jose Colaco's remark that the Devnagiri script is an "imposter" is whacky. It
is as irrevelant as his remark about "ex-priests."
Konkani experts such as the late Prof. Lourdino Rodrigues and late Fr. Mathew
Almeida, to mention just but two, agreed that Devnagiri captures the sounds of
the Konkani language better than Roman script.
When speaking, the Devnagiri-script Konkani sounds indeed like Marathi but it
is because it has "loan words" or modified words from Sanskrit. There are
indeed the "new Konkani" and is also included largely in the liturgy which, in
the olden days, had more "loan words" from the Portuguese. Igreza or Igorz is
now dev-mondir.
Forget the naunces of the language, the fight should be to have both languages
on equal par. In this respect, Borges should have no problem because he is
writes both scripts efficiently.
Time to bury the hatchet on which script is good or bad. Let both prevail.
Eugene
