The name of the Prof. Joaquim Antonio Fernandes' book is KONKNNI NAD-XASTR Vo Romi Lipient Borounchi Rit published in 1972 by Fr. Casmiro D'Mello. As far as my knowledge goes Prof. Fernandes taught Konkani in "Insitituto Indo-Portugues" and Parel diocesan Seminary. He has also written KONKNNI VACHOP poilem ani dusrem pustok for beginners between 1946 & 1948. We used to publish lessons from these books in The Goan Review for some time. Fausto
Eugene wrote: I don't know how many netters have seen or have a copy of Konkani Ord Xastra (maybe my spelling is incorrect) written by Prof. Antonio Fernandes (not sure if I got the name correctly). He was called "professor" because, I believe, he taught at the Rachol Seminary. I had mentioned this to Tomazinho Cardozo during one few meetings at the NRI Meet at the Kala Academy. He wanted a copy of it. Unfortunately, the copy is at a different location than I am currently at. I think I also talked about the professore's small booklet with Fr. Mathew Almeida, when he came to Toronto, more in passing than its merits and demerits in the context of present-day Konkani. Since the structure of Roman script Konkani has undergone changes over the last decade or so, Konkani Ord Xastra would not meet the present qualifications. It could be dismissed as "old Konkani". The late Prof. George Mark Moraes paid a glowing tribute to Prof. Fernandes in an article in The Examiner under the heading, Konkani Man of Letters. I think I mentioned about Prof. Fernandes before on this forum. I had requested his daughter to get his works published, but she said that her brother was in possession of his papers. It's hard sometimes to convince people that publishing a learned man's material for the common good of the community is better than hanging on to such works for whatever personal reasons. In the context of the new form of Roman script Konkani, I would have loved to hear the views of Prof. Olivinho Gomes. Has any journalist approached him for his views? If not, could some of the journos on this forum get Prof. Gomes to talk. It would be nice to have an all-round debate on the subject that's hot issue now. Eugene Correia