Dear FN, Please excuse my bluntness. But I do feel that you barked up the wrong tree and proceeded to commit the same crime which you falsely accuse me of. I wish to assert that every sentence of mine is a verifiable fact. Which part of my post can even remotely be construed as "bringing Devanagari-versus-Romi politics into the debate"? In fact, there was no debate here until you intervened, since Augusto had accepted my observations in the spirit that I had made them. So, who is bringing in politics and polemics? Augusto did not say he developed any complex as a result of my observations; but I do feel that you should do something about yours. Are you embarrassed of being a Goan Catholic? If not, what makes you say that Augusto is? But I sure am glad that you did not label my observation as "ethnic insult." (;-)) Where is the "excluding, labelling and stereotyping"? Where did I say that Konkani should not be promoted in all its forms, dialects and scripts? Where did I say that we need to cut at the roots of English usage in Goa? Do you know for sure that I have sent my children to English medium schools? If not, why direct the question to me? Why don't you take it up with the right people? Did I ever say that we do not need translations? What relevance do our beards and their colours bear to any debate? If they don't matter, why bring them up at all? Is it necessary that I should have something against you in order to justify an honest difference of opinion? Is it not possible for two nice persons (and both of us are indeed nice!) to hold divergent, even contrary, views about a matter even in spite of strong personal bonds? It is obvious that you have entirely misunderstood my post. Therefore, let me explain. I read Augusto's post first on GRN. When I saw Soter Barreto's name in the subject column of my Inbox I was surprised. I could not understand why anyone should be searching on the Internet for the Soter Barreto I know because, far from being a netizen, he is not even computer-savvy; for this, he relies on his daughters and nieces. So I presumed that it must be someone else. But when I read the post and the poem, I was convinced that it was my friend that Augusto was looking for. Hence I decided to respond. I already knew that Augusto has published translations from Konkani in Devanagari; so, obviously, he reads the language in that script. But two things told me that he does not read Roman Konkani: (1) his orthography and (2) he missed the poem when it appeared in Romi. This was surprising because (a) he is a Catholic Goan (GC), (b) self-styled "protagonists of Konkani in Roman script" (PKR) shout from the housetops that this is the "language" of GCs (pl. see the last two issues of Vavraddeancho Ixtt), (c) some time back, in a Review, Augusto had castigated (if I may say so) Damodar Mauzo for using the 'Antruzi' dialect in his novel "Sunami Saimon" (Tsunami Simon), a dialect which is anathema to PKR. I have always debunked the above-quoted claim of PKR, since I know that a large number of GCs do not read Konkani in any script. But, in my opinion until then, this did not apply to the likes of Augusto who do read Devanagari Konkani (besides subscribing to one of the contentions of PKR). Hence my surprise and "complex-giving" observation. I trust that this clears the cobwebs. Mog asum. Sebastian Borges
On Thu, 9 Dec 2010, Frederick Noronha <[email protected]> wrote: On 9 December 2010 05:22, Sebastian Borges <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear friends, > > Augusto's post makes it obvious that, despite belonging to the Goan > Catholic community, he does not read Konkani in the Roman script; and he is > certainly not an exception! > Also, why give Augusto a complex about "belonging to the Goan Catholic community [and]... not read[ing] Konkani in the Roman script"? We are great at excluding people, labelling them and even stereotyping. I would see this as a half-full glass kind of issue and instead say: "Augusto's post makes it obvious that he is trying to appreciate writings in Konkani, is immensely skilled at translations, and that such individuals have great roles to play as bridge-builders." My only complaint against Augusto is that he doesn't do enough translations, and wastes a lot of his talent :-) He will one day have to answer to his maker for this :-) As far as Prof Borges goes, I have nothing personal against him, appreciate his work on the language issue, but feel that we all need to see this all as more than a zero-sum game, not just a you-lose-if-I-win scenario. I've met Prof Borges in real-life, and he's a fine, softspoken gentleman (with a long white beard) with whom it is difficult to disagree or fight. At least that's my experience... FN On Wed, 08 Dec 2010, Frederick Noronha <[email protected]> wrote: Dear Prof Borges, I think you're bringing Devanagari-versus-Romi politics into the debate. To my mind, the issue is that Konkani deserves to be promoted. In all its forms, dialects and scripts. (To do this, we do not have to cut at the roots of English usage in Goa either, as protagonists of Konkani who send their children to English medium schools acknowledge in practice.) I appreciate Augusto's post... whatever the script and dialect politics, we do need more translations (and also language learning tools), when it comes to all languages -- more so Konkani. FN Frederick Noronha :: +91-9822122436 :: +91-832-2409490 Sebastian Borges
