On 8th May, 2010 Msgr Sebastião Rodolfo Dalgado (May 8, 1855 - April 4, 1922) 156th birth anniversary, the Black Box at the Kala Academy, witnessed a motely gathering for the posthumous release of the book "KONKANI LITERATURE - a brief history“ written by late Prof Dr. Olivinho Gomes, at the hands of Mr Vinayak Naik the Editorin-Chief of the monthly English magazine Goa Today in the presence of Ms. Eslinda Gomes wife of Prof. Dr Olivinho Gomes and others.
This 228 pages, English edition book priced at Rs.190/- (inaugural price Rs.100/ ) and sponsored by the Dalgado Konknni Akademi an institution working since 1989 (with an intermittent non functioning) for the promotion of Konknni in Roman script , dispels the myth spread by the votaries of “one language - one script” Konkani in the nagari script - our mother tongue, of the ground realities associated with the growth and flourishment of the Roman script that stands the test of time despite adversity. With chapters dedicated to a) Introduction to Roman script, b) prePortuguese remnants c) the “Golden age” of Missionary endeavours d) the Dark age e) stylised Folk Poetry and song f) the Konkani renaissance – Journalism, literary translations, drama, fiction- novel novelettes & short stories etc , poetry, biography, applied literature, linguistics sociology, history, science, miscellaneous g) the Modern Konkani movement –The Konkani marathi controversy , the Opinion Poll 1967 , Konkani language agitation, dalgado Konknni Akademi, diocesan contribution, and the Romi Lipi Action Front on reading this book one is well armed to refute the allegations made the adversaries of the Roman script. This book to my mind satiates the thirst of those doubting Thomases on the richness of Konknni in the Roman script. It is an irony of fate that this book had to be released posthumously - the last one indeed of Prof. Dr. Olivinho Gomes before he breathed his last on 31st July, 2009. However late Prof Dr Gomes minced no words to suggest that the Official language Act 1987 enacted on 4th February, 1987 clearly …” tantamounts to a political genocide of an entire community in violation of the Constitution of India by the Government “ and above all, he takes pains to castigate “ the Church that stood steadfastly by the people in their movement for recognition of Konkani as a sole official language of Goa later did not take up the cause of its flock and appeared to have buckled under pressure from the vested interests when it failed to voice its genuine grievance over the deliberate exclusion of the Roman script its community uses in its day to day life from the purview of this Act". The President, of the Dalgado Konknni Akademi, Mr. Premanand A Lotlikar has promised the Konkani edition of this book by May 2011. It is the appeal of this writer to all Konkani mogis to spare no effort to buy disseminate the contents of this book and equip one self for the battle ahead. That the battle for giving the rightful place to Konknni in the Roman script in the OLA 1987 by merely deleting in its definition (in devanagari) must be revived in right earnest 23 years later and before the golden jubilee after the Liberation of Goa --is clear from the speech of the Chief Guest Mr Naik a Gaud Saraswat Brahman himself. With the kind permission of Mr Vinayak Naik, editor-inChief Goa Today his excellent thought provoking speech delivered on the occasion which was applauded by the audience is being reproduced for the benefit of Romi lovers and also for the benefit of the adherents of the nagari script. Speech by Mr. VINAYAK NAIK quote ....."Respected president of the Dalgado Akademi , Mr Premanand Lotlikar, respected Mrs Eslinda Gomes, respected President of the Tiatr Academy Mr. Tomazinhobab Cardozo and all the rest of the members of this grand gathering here , a very good evening to you all. It’s a feeling of tremendous gratification for me to be here this evening to formally release the invaluable tome – Konkani Literature in the Roman Script , A Brief History – written by the late Prof Dr Olivinho Gomes , whom I would always address as Olivinhobab, and with whom I had the good fortune of interacting for a period spanning no less than two decades. Thanks a million to the Dalgado Konknni Academy, the hosts of this function, for bestowing on me this honour. In a way, it is a bit sad that Olivinhobab’s last book has to be unveiled this way – posthumously – I mean, without his physical presence on this occasion. Nevertheless, I am pretty certain, his absence in body notwithstanding, in spirit, he is very much with us this evening. Olivinhobab was born in St. Estevam (Zuem) on the 20th of January 1943, which, as per my calculation, was a Wednesday. That’s the one thing, incidentally, I share with the late Olivinhobab. I mean, the day of my birth, not the date. Wednesday, or Budhvar, as we call it in Konkani, is a day associated with Buddhi –knowledge. People born on Wednesdays, it is believed, develop into knowledgeable human beings. Well, I am not too sure, how far that applies to me, but I am pretty sure, it did apply to Olivinhobab, who was very, very knowledgeable indeed! Olivinhobab passed away, to everyone’s huge dismay, a bit too early, since he was still in his mid-sixties. If anyone deserved to live longer, Olivinhobab certainly did. But the Heavenly Umpire had other ideas. His divine finger went up to adjudge him ‘out’. And that being an irreversible decision, Olivinhobab had to accept it graciously and trudge his way back to His Maker, leaving all of us behind, deeply distraught. Taking into account Olivinhobab’s monumental literary and professorial achievement, to my mind, the epithet ‘Crown Jewel of Zuem’, would be most befitting for him. Olivinhobab was erudite in the real sense of the word. His knowledge of everything that interested him was encyclopaedic. Yes, he was an extraordinary Konkani person. The profundity of his knowledge of just about every aspect of the Konkani language, was simply incomparable. I would go to the extent of saying that what Olivinhobab did not know about Konkani was just not worth knowing. No question about it, he was, as they say, the ne plus ultra - I mean the ultimate - in the field of Konkani language and literature. It was Olivinhobab’s irrepressible love for Konkani that made him cast away his plum government post and plump for the one of Konkani HOD at the Goa University. The number of Konkani students who became the beneficiaries of Olivinobab’s expert tutelage over the years is indeed enormous! Olivinobab was a born bibliophile. No, I am not hyperbolizing one bit when I say that. His fondness for books was almost maniacal. As a writer, he was well and truly fertile. The fact that there are today no fewer than two-score books bearing his authorship is a telling commentary on Olivinhobab’s prolific penmanship. I am sure, but for his ill-timed demise, he would have taken his personal book-tally to well over a half century. My dealings with Olivinhobab began when I joined Goa Today in 1987. What was a rather tepid kind of relationship between the two of us at the beginning, developed into one of thick camaraderie, with the passage of time. At times, after his retirement as the Vice Chancellor of the Goa University, he would show up in my office, in shorts, right at the start of the working day – at nine-thirty itself – and have a chat with me, before heading for home with the fish bought from the Panjim Market. Like a typical son of the Goan soil, he would eat fish with relish. Indeed, he was a piscivore to the core. Olivinhobab kept writing for Goa Today, on a variety of subjects, fairly regularly. His association with our publication continued, in fact, till he took his last breath, in the literal sense. I say this because Olivinhobab passed away just a few days after having submitted what was almost certainly the last article he wrote before his death. The article in question was on the Portuguese poet Luis de Camoens. It duly appeared in Goa Today’s edition of August 2009 – barely a week after Olivinhobab had shuffled off this mortal coil. Olivinhobab was a globe-trotter in the truest sense of the word. Among the countries he repeatedly visited in connection with his varied scholastic activities were Canada, Portugal, Germany, Malaysia, not to forget, China. In fact, I can recall how keyed up he was after he returned from what turned out to be his last trip to China, a couple of years ago. He wrote about it all - I mean, his China experience - in the form of a travelogue, which I gleefully published in our magazine. Olivinhobab had the enviable aptitude to express himself most impressively in both the Romi-script-Konkani as well as Devnagari-script-Konkani. Nevertheless, he made no secret of his consternation at seeing the Romi-script-Konkani writers at the receiving end of the Sahitya Akademi’s discernibly discriminatory stick. On his part, Olivinhobab used every available forum to garner support for the Romi Konkani’s cause. But with the concerned authorities adamantly refusing to budge from their stand, his efforts bore no fruits till his end. We remember with gratitude, Olivinhobab’s hefty contribution towards Konkani’s inclusion in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. It helped Konkani join the select band of 17 other official languages of India then. Today, of course, the strength of the select band I just mentioned has gone further up to 22, with four more languages having come in. By the way, I have ‘saved’ this list in my mind. These languages are Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarathi, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Tulu and Urdu. This is just for the benefit of those who might be interested in knowing what this Eighth Schedule is all about. Anyway! Looking back, obtaining the ‘Eighth-Schedule status’, I would imagine, was akin to winning for Konkani only half the battle. The victory in the other half of the battle – I mean, the battle for the recognition of the Romi-script-Konkani - is still to be accomplished. And it is towards this end that all the consummate Konkaniphiles must now endeavour. With Olivinhobab gone, it is now their responsibility to pick up the threads from where he had left them. They must go all out to realise that unfulfilled dream of the late Olivinhobab. Only then, I am sure, he will be able to eternally rest in real peace and bliss. Personally, my sympathy for the writers of Konkani in the Romi script is not synthetic, as some might believe. I would like to assure all of you present here, that there is cent per cent genuineness written all over it. It is something born out of my conviction. Of course, I am entirely in agreement with all those who suggest that one-script-one- language should be the norm. But in some ‘abnormal’ cases like that of Konkani, for instance, making an exception is a must. By that I mean, in such cases, more than one script should unhesitatingly be permitted. Mind you, some people who are trying to create the impression as though something calamitous is going to happen should Konkani be granted multiple scripts, have, in my opinion, got it all wrong. I can confidently say that no such thing will ever happen. Yes, it is time they shook off the erroneous belief they have been holding on to, all this while. No, Konkani’s would not be a unique case of ‘one-language-multiple-scripts’, because already there are so many other languages, which are written in two or three official scripts. The list is too big to permit reeling it off, off-hand. I’ll mention only some such languages to corroborate my point. Take the case of Kahmiri. It is written in two scripts - Devnagari and Arabic. Then take the Naga language. It’s also written in two scripts -Roman script as well as Bengali. Then take Urdu. It too is written in Arabic and Devnagari. As for our own, the supposedly sacred Sanskrit, there are more people using the Sinhalese script for writing it than Devnagari. Check it out, please! Believe me, these languages that I have just mentioned, the multiplicity of their scripts notwithstanding, are well and truly flourishing. Therefore, the argument of the out-and-out Devanagari Konkani votaries that Konkani would head for perdition should Romi-script-Konkani gain recognition, has absolutely no foundation. Actually, by resolutely refusing to give the Romi Konkani its rightful place under the sun, the Devnagari Konkani adherents are unwittingly contributing towards what could eventually mean the doom of Konkani. And that would be very tragic indeed! A writer is a writer regardless of the script he chooses to write in. His predilection to write in Romi doesn’t make him an inferior writer. It is what the writer writes that is important, and not in which script he has put down his thoughts. I am immeasurably pained to see the advocates of Devnagari Konkani talk about setting for the Romi Konkani writers a time-frame in which to make a changeover to Devnagari. I think this type of thinking is not too different from the time-bound Reservations Policy of the Government of India for the Dalits. If this point of view of the Devnagari votaries is accepted, then, in my reckoning, it would mean Dalitising the Romi-script-Konkani. I have said it before in my writings, and I would like to reiterate it here, that we can do without this type of what I would term as Scriptal Apartheid. Apartheid, meaning, in the literal sense, separate development. You heard about it in South Africa in the racial context - Blacks separate, Whites separate. In our case – it’s Devnagari Konkani separate, Romi-Konkani separate. While the Apartheid in South Africa has been mercifully dismantled, our lingual Apartheid as regards Konkani still awaits its dismantling I cannot forget the avalanche of criticism I had to face when I once wrote that writers like Frank Simoes, Frank Moraes and his son Dom Moraes, would have, in all probability, plumped for Romi if they were to be given an option to choose between Romi and Devnagari. Which means, I said, they would never have been in the running for the Sahitya Akademi prize because of the script factor. I was very honest in saying what I did. That the three writers I named happened to be Christians was coincidental. There was nothing communal about it. Yet, some of the Devnagari Konkani votaries reacted to it in a manner that may well have suggested that I was presiding over the promotion of linguistic communalism in Goa. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have an animus against Devnagari. How can I hate the script I began my learning with? All that I am trying to suggest is this - that there is need for Devnagari Konkani-Romi Konkani harmony. And also that there is need to ‘officially’ accommodate the Romi-script-Konkani also. The sooner that happens the better. In parting, I would like to go back to my observation regarding the inequity the Romi-Konkani writing fraternity, essentially drawn from the Christian community, is apparently being subjected to. The late Olivinhobab’s is a classic case in point. That he deserved to be decorated with the Sahitya Akademi award for Writing in Konkani is beyond question. However, he had to make do with a lesser Sahitya Award, I mean, for ‘translation’ only. As to why he was overlooked for the ‘writing’ honour, by the Sahitya Akademi, all these years, is beyond my comprehension. However, I think, that wrong can still be corrected somewhat, should the Sahitya Akademi Award for Writing in Konkani be conferred on him now – posthumously, that is. Take a dispassionate look at the names of the 33 recipients of the Sahitya Akademi awardees for Konkani Writing thus far . Incidentally, I have memorised all these names too. And without meaning to be boastful, it took me a couple of minutes to do that. Well, when you see that roll, is at once noticeable that only four of these conferees have been my Christians brothers. The reason for this, you very well know. It’s patently unjust. The bias is so very conspicuous. All the more reason, therefore, for all of us to strive to put a period to it. And, to my mind, there is no better way of doing it than by wresting the official status for Romi at any cost. Thank you very much. ____________________________________________________________________________ PS : For free circulation on other websites as well from the Kala Academy Black Box Campal Panaji
