“Happy Liberation Day” !
(An Article by: Wilmix Wilson Mazarello)
(Day 19th December 2010,…. Time : 8 am)
(Shri Flavio meets Ms. Aurol )
Flavio: “Happy Liberation Day”!
Aurol: What is so happy about “Liberation Day” ?
Flavio: It is the 19th of December, remember ?
Aurol: Yes I do remember. It is the day we Goans fell from the “frying
-pan” into the “fire”.
Flavio: What ? Are you suggesting that we were “better off”, during the
Portuguese Rule ?
Aurol: No! I said , it was like being in a “frying-pan” then & now
it is like being in “hot burning fire”.
Flavio: Why do you say that ?
Aurol: Because then, I was being robbed by “outside thieves”. That was
tolerable. But, today I am being “looted- wholesale”, by my own
fellow-Goans. That I cannot tolerate.
Flavio: Oh ! you are talking of “thefts” ? “Thefts” were there during
the Portuguese Rule , too.
Aurol: Yes they were definitely there during the Portuguese Rule, but
the number of thefts, murders , rapes, and acts of corruption during
the last 50 years is 10 times more than those that happened during the
450 years of Portuguese Rule.
Flavio: You may be right there, but what I am talking about is not of
“thefts” and “rapes” . I am talking about is that with “Liberatrion”
, our “Human-Rights” were restored.
Aurol: What “Human Rights” are you talking about ?
Flavio: Could you openly criticize the Portuguese Rulers ?, If you did
, you would be in jail.
Aurol: And who says you can criticize the Government now ? Today , if
you criticize a Minister X, he sends goondas to your house, to beat
up your entire family. If you criticize a Minister Y, the next day he
sends the “Income Tax Department” to raid your house . If you criticize
a Minister Z , he sends the “Police” to arrest you , for doing
things you would’nt even dream of doing. Do you need to know more ?
Flavio: No! No ! but those are “misdeeds” of some individual
Ministers. What I am saying is , things like, you can now, openly
talk in your own mother tongue Konkani.
Aurol: Who says we could not openly talk in Konkani , then ? In fact
more people talked in Konkani then, than people are talking now.
Flavio: What I mean to say is , you can even write to the Government in
Konkani now.
Aurol : Is it so ? Well let me tell you my , recent , personal
experiences of writing to the Government in Konkani. Recently, our M.L.A
came to us and told us that the Government is implementing the ‘Official
Language Act’ and that if we want our works to be done fast, then we
should send all our correspondence to the Government in Konkani. So
everybody in our village, started writing to all Government Departments
in Konkani . Believe me , not only did our works not happen fast, but
from that day onwards , all our works at the Government Departments,
came to a ‘grinding halt’.
Flavio: How can that be ? That’s just not possible. Why did’nt you go
back and enquire ?
Aurol: We did. I myself met one Mr. Ramalingam, in the Power Dept.
and the following is the gist of our conversation :
Aurol: Sir , why is my application not attended to for the last one
month ?
Ramalingam: Did you send your application in English , Konkani or
Marathi ?
Aurol: I sent it in Konkani .
Ramalingam: (showing me 3 bundles of applications on his table) This
biggest bundle is of applications received in English , this one
second biggest bundle is of applications received in Marathi and this,
the smallest bundle is of applications received in Konkani.
Aurol: Then my application must be in that bundle.
Ramalingam: I have attended to all these Konkani applications and there
is no application bearing your name.
Aurol: How is that possible ?
Ramalingam : (Bending over the waste-paper basket, next to him , he
pulled out a crumpled paper and said to me ) By the way, is this that
something you are talking about ?
Aurol: (Recognising my application) Yes, that’s it. That’s my
application.
Rmalingam: But what language is this ? French or Latin ?
Aurol: That is my mother tongue Konkani .
Ramalingam : No ! No! That is not Konkani. Konkani is this . (showing
me another application from his table which was written in the Devnagari
Script).
Aurol: But my application is in Konkani in the Roman Script .
Ramalingam : What is this Konkani in the Roman Script ? Madam , I am
from South India and I have been given training by the Government of
Goa , to read & write this Konkani in Devnagari Script. Anything else
that we don’t understand is thrown into this ‘ waste-paper basket”.
Aurol: Ok! Thanks for your information . (and I left the Office of the
Power Dept.)
Flavio: Is that so ? Then why did’nt you go back and tell that to your
M.L.A who asked you to write in Konkani ?
Aurol: I did. Not only I , but the entire village went to him and told
him that the only Konkani we have learnt is in the Roman Script . And,
you know what he said ? You better send your application again in
English. Just forget all this Konkani business. What can we do if the
Government Officers don’t understand Konkani in the Roman Script ?
Flavio: So you sent your application again in English ?
Aurol: Yes ! And we also told our M.L.A , “why don’t you take up the
cause of Konkani in Roman Script ? It affects lakhs of people in Goa”.
Flavio: Then , what did he say ?
Aurol: “I will , I will “ ,he said , ‘just wait till the next elections
are announced. That is the right time to take up that issue”.
