Dear Gabriel,
Thank you for your comments and advice.
However, when you say 'benevolence always wins, antagonism always loses',
what exactly did you have in mind?
If you have got the story right, I was talking about a guy who was very much
my junior, born and bred in Moira, went to the States sometime in his early
twenties comes home 3 or 4 times in the past 30 odd years and tells me that
he has forgotten Konkani completely when I meet him after 30 odd years when
I was sparring with him and many others in both Konkani and English. I
would certainly know who knows Konkani well and who does not, who forgets
Konkani completely and who does not. You must give me credit for it.
Therefore I have made it a point to plaster the globe with this example of
Buffoonery from a Goan who cannot forget KONKANI. To say it succinctly "AUM
KAL ZOLMONKNAM"
And, Gabriel, if you meant 'Elections' when you said 'ANTAGONISM ALWAYS
LOSES', then, for your kind information, I don't want to win elections by
licking people's arses. Mine is a different type of politics, and you, above
all, know it very well.
Wish you and fly well.
B/rgds
floriano
goasuraj
9890470896
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gabriel de Figueiredo" <[email protected]>
To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2012 7:53 PM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Goencar..................
Dear Floriano, Vivian and others,
It is all very well to espouse the cause of Konkani. But all people are not
the same as you gentlemen are. People can and do have difficulties with
expressing themselves in a language they are no longer familiar with. It
happens with all cultures, not necessarily Goan.
There are people who have genuinely forgotten the use of of the language if
they have not spoken for years, and I know a number of such people, past and
present. They might understand, but the construct of the language to speak
it confounds them. Then there are other Goans, brought up in today's Goa,
who, for some reason, have not been spoken to in Konkani, and
speak/understand only English (the Indian variety, that is). Yet others, who
have not been brought up in Goa, yet speak Konkani fluently.
I meet all types constantly, and sometimes my greeting in Konkani to the
newly-arrived Goans to Melbourne gets a reply "I am sorry but I don't speak
the language", with the apology followed by some explanation (born outside
Goa, but did secondary schooling in Goa, etc). All explanations accepted by
me, because I understand some of the difficulties people have with
languages.
So please have some tolerance, and rather than getting annoyed, perhaps you
could offer some assistance in getting these people to relearn (or pick up)
the language once again. Think the story of the sun and the wind -
benevolence always wins, antagonism always loses.
Regards,
Gabriel.
________________________________
From: floriano <[email protected]>
To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, 16 December 2012 1:30 AM
Subject: [Goanet] Goencar..................
With your permission, I am going to put up this post everywhere because
GOANS must know that if they despise their own MOTHER TONGUE and run away
from it as if it a leper they are running away, GOA will be hard to SAVE.
Goans shud read the history of Jews and Israel.
----- Original Message ----- From: Vivian A. DSouza
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2012 7:00 PM
Subject: Goencar..................
I appreciated your posts. You stated it like it is. Although I was not born
in Goa nor brought up or educated in Goa, I speak Konkani proudly.
