SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2024
Dolcy D’Cruz
April 9 is known as World Konkani Day, as it marks the death anniversary of Shenoi Goembab, a noted Konkani activist. The day has been celebrated since 2015 in honor of the Konkani activist and writer, who passed away in 1946. Konkani is a language, mainly spoken along the western coastal region of Konkan of India, including Goa. Konkani is a language that is not restricted only to the state of Goa. The language is spread over the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka with the states adopting its own
dialect and accents. While in Goa, it might not seem like a huge difference to celebrate our language but for Goans living abroad, Konkani is a breath of fresh air.
After working nearly seven years on the book, Sampada Kunkoliekar recently released her new book, ‘Gitarth’, which is an essence of Bhagvad Gita and the first in Konkani in Goa. Sampada has been writing in Konkani, Marathi and English since 2009 and has published 14 books.
Sampada says, "I have mixed feelings while releasing the book, 'Girtarth'. I am proud to be a Konkani writer but u feel that more should have been done in the past 63 years after Goa's Liberation and the struggle to make Konkani the state's official language. It took so many years for great literature to come forward. The language is now learnt not just at school level but also at colleges and the university where students are pursuing their Master’s. Konkani is growing and there is a lot of research oriented work being done but it shouldn't be career oriented but also contribute to the rich language and the culture of Goa."
Sampada is next working on a book on philosophical thinking where a chapter can be summarized within a few paragraphs. "I am also working on a 'book on books' where one writes about the books that they have read or researched. This concept is done in other languages like English and Marathi but I will write it in Konkani," she explains.
Dr Prakash Parienkar was recently bestowed with the prestigious Sahitya Academy Award for his book, 'Varsal' for its depiction of rural life and the struggles faced by marginalized communities. While attending the ceremony in New Delhi, he had the opportunity to interact with writers from across the country. "There were 1,100 writers from 75 Indian languages but only 24 are official Indian languages. There was emphasis laid on the importance of translations. Goa is a small stage and Konkani is spoken and read by a smaller population compared to other languages. My short stories, novels and poems have been translated into different languages including Oriya, Punjabi and Malayalam. It is important to understand that Konkani when translated into Hindi or English will have a wider audience as well as will be picked up for translations in other Indian languages. When one attends such national level symposiums, they know where we stand with Konkani and what our standard in literature is. It is a huge learning opportunity to what can be done to improve the quality,” says Dr Prakash, the vice dean (Research) in the discipline of Konkani at the Goa University.
He further adds, “Translations are the need of the hour. In my experience, my books including ‘Varsal’ was in Kannada by Gita Shenoi and is already translated in English by Vidya Pai and will be released soon. There should be discussions and workshops on Konkani and writers should participate in them. Recently Goa Arts and Literary Festival was held in Goa and my book was discussed but I wish more Konkani writers would talk about their books as well at such an event. Konkani has certainly come a long way and has made its mark in a few years. It is a surprise that a small language has achieved a lot in a short span of time. There are nearly 100 books being released in a year in both Devnagiri and Roman script in Goa in a year as compared to 300 books being released in Karnataka in Konkani.”
The love for the Konkani has to be instilled from a young age and to aid parents in making Konkani easy to understand for children, Annie Rajan, Associate Professor, Department of Information Technology (IT), Dhempe College of Arts and Science, Miramar, has devised ‘Audio Pustakam’. The audio books contains the Class 1 to 4 syllabus and Annie hopes to go beyond just the syllabus.
An MSc electronics, Annie used her skills along with the proficiency of Konkani of two professors from the college, Anju Sakhardande, Associate Professor in Konkani and Head, Department of Indian Languages, Dhempe College of Arts and Science, and Eesha Shetty, who have done MA in Konkani. They both lent their voices for the audio textbooks which are in Devnagari Konkani. have given their voice for the audio textbooks.
“So far, the audio textbooks kit is being used by students of six schools including St Britto High School, Mapusa, St Mary’s Convent High School, Mapusa, ACDIL and Konkani Bhasha Mandal. It is good for student especially those who have no background in Konkani. Many students who are from other states of India are now learning Konkani in school. They can now learn it with the right pronunciations,” says Annie. The device is simple to operate with a single knob to navigate and listen to the lessons.
This is not the first tool that she has developed for Konkani. She had earlier developed an online Konkani spell checker in Devnagari script to help the users deliver error-free work.
It helps those involved in translation work and also PhD scholars who are submitting their thesis work in Konkani.
Speaking about audio pustokam, Annie adds, “There are many parents who are from different states and have now made Goa their home. They find it difficult to teach Konkani to their children and through the audio books, they too are learning the right pronunciations.”
