Dear friends, In the earlier two parts, I have pointed to the pitfalls of nonchalantly permitting faulty dates to remain in literature (print or digital), especially in this age of information explosion, with particular reference to Dalgado Konknni Akademi (DKA), and shown the abject falsity of the claim that DKA was originally established to "fight against the injustice meted out to Konkani in Roman script." I have thus proved beyond a modicum of doubt that Tomazinho Cardozo's claim of the DKA being established in 1989 to fight the injustice meted to Konkani in Roman script is utterly frivolous. And I have been doing this for at least the last three years. Now, let me probe into the possible reasons behind the repeated dinning of this piffle into the minds of Goan people. There may be other and better reasons of which I am presently not aware. All of us are liable to make mistakes some time or the other. Inadvertently, we may make false statements; but an honest person will never repeat a statement once it has been shown to be untrue. But Cardozo's behavior, in this respect, is peculiar to say the least. The first time that this statement appeared, I thought it was an unintended error. And I pointed out to the error. In spite of this, Cardozo repeats the same statement every now and then and I point to the error every time. It cannot be genuine amnesia or forgetfulness. Then what is it? Obviously this is dishonesty. Moreover, his write-up in November 2004 (provided in my Part II) begins with the sentence "Dalgado Konknni Akademi (DKA) was established in 2008." This means, even after a lapse of sixteen years in hibernation, he correctly remembered the date of establishment of DKA, but forgot it soon afterwards at a time when it was active! And went on forgetting, time after time! What could be the cause of this incurable amnesia? Obviously, he derives some benefit from this untruth; he has a vested interest in propagating this blatant lie. Otherwise, there is no valid excuse. What could this reason be? >From 1988 to 2004, Cardozo has been the Secretary of DKA. For most of this >period, he has also been one of the seniormost members of the ruling >dispensation in the State of Goa. Obviously he could have used his position to >push forward some of the avowed objectives of DKA of which he was the >Secretary. There is no record of his ever having lifted a little finger in >that direction. Instead, he allowed the DKA to go into limbo; no election, not >even a meeting, was held. But the situation changed when his voters decided >that he should sit at home instead of sitting in the Goa Legislative Assembly. An idle mind, it is said, is the devil's workshop. And an idle politician is the devil incarnate. One of the most handy tools of such a devil is some variant of the "divide-and-rule" policy. So, with some prodding and help from the then ruling new dispensation, he hit upon a new ruse. He realized that a large number of Goan Catholics read Konkani in Roman script, especially in the Church. So he decided to take up this 'cause'. He raised the banner of 'injustice' to Roman script, in the very presence of the leader of the new ruling dispensation who had earlier moved a private member's bill to make Marathi the official language of Goa. He exploited the fact that the Goa Konkani Akademi (GKA) had not published a single Konkani book in Roman script for over a decade at least, glossing over the fact that he was himself partially responsible for this situation. (The GKA had given him an assignment to compile an anthology of Tiatr songs, which he has not completed till date, nor expressed his inability to do so!) But the reason for this famine of Roman script books was not that the GKA had rejected any such manuscripts; the fact is that none was submitted to it. Today, he is himself grumbling that Roman script writers do not submit their manuscripts to DKA and Tiatr Akademi of Goa (pl. see V.IXTT 22/05/2010, pg. 6). Please note that one of the objectives listed in his write-up on DKA written in 2004 says: to preserve, foster and develop Konkani written in Roman script because GOAN CHRISTIANS read it. The write-up also ends with "It is also our paramount responsibility to see that our CHRISTIAN community loves their mother tongue Konkani and is proud of its Goan identity". Please note that this communal slant is not discernible in either the Editorial or the Acknowledgements of Goencho Pormoll 1989, although much of the "new" aims and objectives match with the "old" ones listed therein. It was only later that "to fight for equal status to Roman script in the Official Language Act" was added as the main plank of DKA's agenda, and a "movement" was set afloat. Thus the DKA was effectively hijacked to pursue a new agenda, to embark on a course for which it was not originally intended. This hijack had to be regularized and given the appearance of legitimacy, a notion was needed to be created that this indeed was the declared intention of the founding fathers of DKA. The fact that DKA was formed barely a year after the passage of the OLA, and that preparations for its formation began even before the Act received the requisite Presidential assent, would be a hindrance to its being accepted as a fact. Hence the date was conveniently shifted by a year, so that a claim could be made that "we waited for two years". To begin with, a new logo was prepared with the seemingly innocuous "Sthap 1989" being displayed prominently; the original emblem (as seen on Goencho Pormoll 1989) did not contain any date. And this date and this aim are being drummed up mainly by one person. Finally, please see (a) who has personally benefited the maximum from this campaign during the last five years, (b) who is the next greatest beneficiary, and (c) what is the difference between their benefits? The answers to these questions will provide the requisite motive behind this tomfoolery. Please also note that in his letter that appeared in GT of 26 June, 2009 Cardozo wrote: "In fact this movement has compelled the government to recognize the importance of Konkani in Roman script and hence DKA has been granted financial assistance, Tiatr Academy of Goa has been formed..." But he knows for sure that the amendment to the OLA, if brought forward, has absolutely no chance of getting through the Assembly without simultaneously conferring the Official Language status on Marathi. His colleague, the Convener of "Romi Lipi Action Front" is on record that his outfit has no objection to Marathi being made the Official Language as long as Romi Konkani is given a status on par with Devanagari Konkani. But the Government will not move the bill because it would not want to take the risk. Hence the stalemate will continue indefinitely. And this by itself is to his advantage: as long as the stalemate continues, he can carry on with the "agitation" and rake in the moolah! The foremost objective of the founding fathers of the DKA was evidently "to bring about a uniformity in the writing of Konkani in Roman script." This is reiterated in both the Editorial and the Acknowledgements contained in Goencho Pormoll 1989. It is also reflected in the fact that the very first task that the Akademi undertook was to compile and publish a booklet of orthographic rules. The urgency of the matter is obvious from the fact that the Rules were compiled in less than 3 months, even before the Constitution was framed and adopted, and the same were published in just another month, i.e. by December 1988 at the latest. In the Acknowledgements, Prabhakar Tendulkar laments that because Konkani writers in Roman script do not write in a uniform manner, editors of periodicals are put to considerable hardship in rewriting de novo whatever matter has been submitted for publication. He calls upon the authors to help alleviate the editors' burden by learning the rules and by writing in the new Orthography. One of the activities charted in the Editorial was to hold classes to teach the new rules. This action plan appears to have been jettisoned immediately after its "establishment" in 1989. For, during the 20+ years of its existence, the Akademi does not appear to have taken any steps in this direction; it is not mentioned in the list of the activities it had undertaken during its initial years and it does not figure in the least in the umpteen objectives and proposed action plan listed in the write-up of 2004. Else, by now we should be having hundreds if not thousands of Goans capable of writing the language in a uniform manner. Consequently, the Secretary of DKA alone would not be burdened, as he is now, with the tasks of typesetting, proof-reading, editing, publishing etc. of each and every book that the Akademi brings out. Yet, there might be a few persons who have, despite the DKA, slogged on their own to acquire some degree of expertise in these fields. But please do not dare issue an invitation to them to come to the Secretary’s aid. A Gilded Weekly Tickler will immediately jump to the conclusion that you are jockeying for a piece of the cake, your aversion for pastries notwithstanding! He sincerely believes that, by the divine grace of the Doubting Little Fellow, the entire cake is his protege's inalienable patrimony. Very good-naturedly, he will suggest that such people as you be given a toffee to munch, so as to keep their mouths shut. And he will go on to prognosticate that, instead of haggling over inane matters, had the debaters sat down and shared the spoils, not only would the Konkani language progress by leaps and bounds but the non-Goans would also be kept at bay. He will also record all this for a History of Konkani he plans to write in 2020 AD. Who says that a gratuitous TA of a hundred bucks apiece does not take you far? It is also unthinkable that, amongst the several authors who are claimed to have been bypassed while bestowing literary awards (the list has never been published), the DKA cannot find even a handful who are capable of either handling the above tasks or guiding youngsters in the art of writing in a uniform manner! This is akin to saying that we have several eminent writers who cannot write correctly in Romi Konkani! Or, is this situation of the Secretary’s own making, for his own advantage? Should any reader have a better explanation for the facts that were stated herein earlier, please come forward and share it with us. I shall be most happy to learn about it. It will only help to correct any skewed notions I may be harbouring on this account. Let us get to the bottom of it all and unveil the truth. It is not a question of winning or losing an argument but of mutual enlightenment. Sotachench zoit zatolem. Mog asum. Sebastian Borges
