‘Kodpam fatramnim sodlem, Sadea utramnim ghuspailem, Attun pottun maddlem, Anim hanste toddan vincharlem – Kitem tem sang?’ The answer is Parkonnem or a Konkani riddle. This was the last riddle that was posed for the third edition of the annual ‘Parkonnem – Kitem Tem Sang’ but it is not that easy to get the answer as everyone gets super competitive over the next two months.
Organised by the Chicalim Bio-Crusaders, the fourth edition of the ‘Parkonnem-Kitem Tem Sang’ riddle competition will begin from today and Herald readers will be able to receive their daily riddles right here on Herald Café! These mind boggling one or two-liners can have really simple answers but solving them can be nerve wracking. It can be anything from something found in a Goan house to an activity usually carried out in the good old days. These oral traditions of passing parkonnem from one generation to another has now taken on a new avatar as the riddles are shared on social media through the initiative by Chicalim Bio-Crusaders.
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The competition which will begin today, December 19 will continue for 50 consecutive days with a riddle every day. This edition will feature parkonnim, the plural of parkonnem, by noted Goan personalities from Goa and around the world. A researcher about Goan history from the tribals’ perspective, Cyril Fernandes is the convenor of Chicalim Bio-Crusaders. During the pandemic lockdown, Cyril began by casually posting a riddle on the Chicalim Bio-Crusaders Whatsapp group, this eventually led to a great response encouraging him to post the riddles on the Facebook page. “This year, a member of Chicalim Bio-Crusaders, Dr Wanda Araujo will be introducing Goan singing sensation, Mark Revlon, who will be presenting the first riddle in a short video,” adds Cyril.
“Last year, the competition received a great response on land and sea. We had participants in different countries who were still in touch with their roots in Goa. We received answers from Portugal, UK, USA and even people working on Merchant Navy ships. This year, we thought of including many Goans who are making a difference for Goans abroad. Parkonnims from abroad are expected from countries like Sweden, Australia, Canada, Portugal, US, UK and the Gulf countries. It will be an opportunity to address the Goan diaspora in Konkani for the presenters,” says Cyril.
This year, the organizers have also increased the prize money to Rs 15000 for first prize, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5000 for second and third prize respectively. There will be five consolation prizes of Rs 1000 each. The other highlight of this contest is that every participant who provides right or wrong answer qualifies for two prizes offered by Nirvana and Goa Chitra Museums. The winner will also be entitled to lay hands on the heritage silver trophy, the CG Varkey Heritage Silver Rolling Trophy.
To help them reach out to a larger audience of Goans globally, the e-magazine Global Goans has offered to promote the event among its readers. The Global Goans, based in Melbourne, Australia has a huge subscription of over one lakh. They also have the popular Friday video news magazine – Susegad Donpar, hosted by Franky Fernandes.
Raisa Fernandes from Vasco and Ashley Afonso from Porvorim were both declared as the joint winners of the first Goan heritage ‘Parkonnem –Kitem Tem Sang’ competition. The second edition was won jointly by Raisa Fernandes, Ashley Afonso and Aquila Rodriques, originally from Verna and working in Kuwait. For the third edition, the tie-breaker system was applied as Ashley and Raisa Fernandes were both competing for the win. Finally, it was Ashley who won the competition.
Three times winner of ‘Parkonnem Kitem Tem Sang?’ and the winner of the CG Varkey Heritage Silver Rolling Trophy, Ashley Afonso has successfully completed 150 riddles in the last three editions of the competition. However, this year he hopes someone else will win the competition. “This year, I want someone else to win. It takes a lot of efforts, dedication and research to solve the riddles. I have lived in Curtorim, Margao and Fontainhas and now Porvorim and it is very important to understand the language of the riddles. Solving it is the next step. The competition is very addictive and you can’t find these answers on Google. Once you are committed to the competition, you have to complete it,” say Ashley, a musician who performs as a one man band.
The popularity of the competition has increased over the years and this year, to smoothen the process of scrutinising the answers, the organisation will be using Google sheets. There will be five Google sheets with ten riddles each. “We are expecting an overwhelming number of responses from Goans all over the world. For the earlier editions, we managed on the mobile but there are possibilities of the mobile crashing, so we shifted to Google sheets. The riddles are also circulated on Whatsapp with link to the YouTube channel,” explains Cyril. The game is easily available on social media, on the Chicalim Bio-crusaders Facebook page and the answers can be sent to the numbers mentioned in the posts. Anyone who wants to compete can catch up before the 50th parkonnem is out and send all the 50 answers in one go, too. However, the winners will be judged on who has the most answers right.
