SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
After decades of perseverance and dedication, it is surely rewarding when the hard work pays off. For Fr Myron Barreto and Jyoti Kunkoliekar, the award winners of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar and Sahitya Akademi Bal Puraskar, respectively it serves as a means to continue working in the field of Literature. The award winning books were novel, ‘Mayuri’ by Jyoti Kunkolienkar and ‘Tallo’, a compilation of essays, by Fr Myron Jeson Barreto.
Fr Myron Jeson Barreto from Sadolxem, Canacona, is the manager of New Age Printers, Verna, and assisting in the Pastoral Ministry at Jesus, Mary and Joseph Church, Nuvem. After completing BCA through St Xaviers College, Mapusa, with a distinction, Fr Myron completed two years course in Philosophy and a four-year course in theology at Patriarchal Seminary of Rachol. Throughout these years, his passion for writing in Romi Konkani was burning bright.
Fr Myron has been writing since 2010 on various topics including morality, social issues, Christian and social values. He has participated in several literary workshops held across india. He has also composed and penned lyrics to many songs on YouTube. He has contributed to Romi Konkani literature by writing and publishing seven books including ‘Kannientlean Sondex’, ‘Oparintlean Sondex’, ‘Sukhi Jinn’, ‘Tallo’ in Romi and Devnagri script, ‘Bhorvanxeachem Kirnn’ and ‘Porzollit Paulam’ and nine religious books. Besides being a regular writer for Konkani bulletins, magazines and periodicals, he is also the co-editor of Goa Diocesan tri-monthly magazine, ‘Vomp’pi’, and is on the editorial team of ‘Gõycho Pormoll’ magazine, published by Dalgado Konkani Academy.
Besides winning the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar for ‘Tallo’, Fr Barreto previously won the Goa State Yuva Srujan Puraskar 2021 for Konkani literature, Konkani Bhasha Mandal’s Late Narsinha Damodar Naik award for Literature 2021 and Dalgado Youth Award 2018. “Oparintlean Sondex’ (Romi) won the Konkani Bhasha Mandal’s Late Narsinha Damodar Naik award for Literature and now ‘Tallo’ in Devanagri script won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar. I am very thrilled and delighted to receive the award. It is the fruit of my hardwork. I have worked zealously and selflessly to promote Konkani literature, still working and will work with enthusiasm and dedication to promote Konkani Literature,” says Fr Myron. He also won the Best Lyrics award for two consecutive years in 2020 and 2021 for ‘Capuchin Voice de Goa’, a Konkani song competition organized by Capuchin Friary.
Speaking about the award-winning book, Fr Barreto says, “Tallo’ highlights various voices that we hear in the society. Each voice speaks out the feelings of what is going on in the society which affects himself/herself/itself. We need to listen to each voice of the society and natures. Becoming a voice for the voiceless is our responsibility. There are different voices which goes unheard. There are some voices which we listen but we don’t ponder and act upon. Amplifying the voice of others and respecting the feelings of their voices is our utmost duty.”
He hopes to continue working with the same energy ans enthusiasm for Konkani as he has done for all these years. “I will promote Konkani Literature (Romi and Devnagri) through books, newspapers, periodicals, magazines and bulletins. I am working on promoting children’s literature and I am planning on starting a magazine to promote Konkani literature,” says Fr Barreto.
Jyoti Kunkolienkar’s novel, ‘Mayuri’ is about a young girl who grows up in her maternal grandmother's home in Canacona and her journey to become a Superintendent of Police. “The novel is written in very lucid language and even an adult can relate to it and experience nostalgia. One can find detailed description of a Goan village and culture,” says Kunkolienkar, who has written 33 books in different genres in over 30 years. She has won won four National and seven State awards for literature, acting and film making and has been actively involved in making 25 documentaries.
“I am extremely happy to be a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi’s Award. I received congratulatory messages from CM Pramod Sawant, Central Minister Shripad Naik and MLA Yuri Alemao. I also received phone calls from different dignitaries like Jnanpith awardee Damodar Mauzo, Saraswati Sanman awardee Mahabaleshwar Sail, Padmashree Vinayak Khedekar, Konkani stalwart Adv Uday Bhembre, senior writer Meena Kakodkar and Srinivas Dempo which were very special,” says Kunkolienkar.
“As a writer I feel in children's literature one should focus on overall development of child including school life, friends, social life, sports, art, reading and also on maintaining relationships. Writing children's literature is very challenging compared to other genres because here our target readers are children and we have to leave a positive impact on them as they can get influenced easily. Secondly, children should not feel that particular piece of literature is artificial. A good piece of children's literature should make them aware about future challenges and inspire them to be better. At the same time, the books should be readable and interesting and it should motivate them to read more in the future,” she explains.
Her recently produced and directed documentary on Goa's Freedom struggle, ‘Goy Swatantryache Homkhan’ has been submitted for the Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India 2022. “Through the documentary, we have covered how and why Portuguese entered Goa. We have tried to cover the entire Freedom Struggle, right from first revolt in 1583 which took place in Goa against the Portuguese, which was first revolt in the whole of Asia against the European power to Operation Vijay in 1961. We have covered all the memorials related to Goa's Freedom Struggle. We have also interviewed all the Freedom Fighters who are alive. Our anchor, Prajal Sakhardande, is a renowned historian, who has done all the research for this documentary. One can see everything related to Goa's Freedom Struggle, right from 15th century to December 19, 1961. It is our initiative to document the brave history of Goa's Freedom Struggle for our future generations,” says Kunkolienkar.
