Dear Editors, Please notice the alterations made & ignore the previous post inadvertently pressed before completion. MEDIUM OF CONTRADICTIONS: KONKANI. Soter seems to to have got the right turn of phrase when he calls demands by proponents of Konkani in the Devanagri script as being animated by personal agendas relating to caste,creed and crass regionalism. Again a purely anecdotal incident comes to mind which perhaps would reflect a tinder of the larger reality obtaining in some Goan families speaking Konkani at home.My family is Goan by origin, but whilst my grand-parents lived in Goa , much prior to the Liberation of Goa(having come back to Goa from foreign lands) my parents lived in Bombay. We spoke Konkani at home(the BARDEZ variety) But I was sent to study in the English medium at none other than the ST. SEBASTIAN GOAN HIGH SCHOOL at Dabul in Bombay ( The ONLY School in India still continuing to carry "GOAN" in its name. Glen and Giles Perry were my classmates) When I was in School, I was challenged by a Konkani speaking boy from SALCETTE to give the exact word in Konkani for "Rosary". I could not succeed. The boy from Salcette told me that the Konkani word was " RosaraKontt". Similarly,on another occassion I was told that the word for knive in Konkani which according to me was "Suri" was wrong. He told me the word in Konkani for Knive was" Pisscatt" Perforce, I had to tell him to "Pissoff" to save my Konkani pride!! When I returned to Goa in the nineties, after my stint with the Indian Army, I found myself & still continue to find myself , all at sea with the Antruzi Konkani as taught in Devnagri script in Schools in Goa. My children have learnt the"Official" Konkani in the Devnagri script, but yet we speak the Bardez brand of Konkani whenever we wish to communicate to each other in Konkani. Else we find ourselves more comfortable speaking in the English language. If this be the plight of Konkani, does it make any sense to thrust Konkani in the Devanagri script, and more so the Antruzi variety down the larynyx of kids and parents? It therefore seems to be neccessary, nay it is imperative that Parents be accorded their Constitutional right to decide the medium of the language which they ,in their wisdom as Parents wish that their children accquire knowledge and grow in age and wisdom. It is the Constitutional obligation of the State under the Constitution of India to ensure that funding to Educational Institutions is not refused on the basis of language. As an enlightened modern,young State, Goa has continued to accept and discharge its Constitutional obligations with ease and panache. This is evidenced by the large number of existing Schools in Goa which receive Grants & Aid from the Govt. of Goa whilst imparting education to children in the Kannada, Urdu, and Marathi languages. Most certainly the State of Goa should not be found wanting when it comes to English----- which is constitutionally recognised as the Link language of India. As far as Konkani is concerned it lives in the hearts, mind and psyche of Goans, notwithstanding the geograpical co-ordinates of the territory they may find themselves to be stationed in.My grand-parents in pre-liberation Goa used to write to my parents and we used to write back to them in Konkani in the Roman script. Whilst in the Indian Army, I learnt to read and teach my men in Hindi ,using standard approved teaching plans in Hindi which were written in the Roman script. Yet I daresay that I am personally comfortable with Konkani,Hindi,and Marathi as well, written in the Devnagri script!!!. Konkani does not need the tender attention sought to be bestowed on it by deadbeat protagonists of the Devnagri script whose hidden agenda and goal is to cleave Goans along communal and pocketborough regional lines for electoral benefits. JAI GOA! JAI INDIA, THAT IS BHARAT!! Regards, Gerry
