The challenge lies in finding a place for Goa and Konkani in the hearts of the second generation Goan emigrants

It’s been a week, both weekends included, when Goans across the globe have been swinging their bodies to the beat of the ghumot, singing nostalgically – if not always melodiously – in Konkani, savouring some spicy sorpotel and the unique usal, and just generally partying. They are celebrating Goa Day, a unique concept that was initiated some two decades ago by Goans abroad to mark a rather significant day in the history of the State, a day that generally passes off unnoticed in Goa.

It was on August 20, 1992, five years after Konkani was made the official language of Goa, that Konkani was enshrined in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. While the Bill was passed in Parliament in New Delhi, in Goa a sprinkling of Konkani protagonists gathered at the Azad Maidan to mark the end of an ordeal, as writer Chandrakant Keni put it then, “without parallel in the history of any language lasting for over five centuries.” Goa Day is not Liberation Day, not Opinion Poll Day, not Statehood Day, not Revolution Day, not even the day the Assembly voted to make Konkani the official language of Goa, it is the day the language of the Goans – the language that binds Goans together culturally – found its way into the Indian Constitution. 

Why this day? one might ask. The answer lies in the fact that Konkani is what gives Goan identity its essence, without which Goa is merely a land loved by some and ravaged by others. Take away Konkani and all you have is a land sandwiched between the Arabian Sea and the Sahayadri mountains, substantially peopled today by migrants who do not speak the language.

Konkani is the cement that binds Goans, as described by educationist the Late Dr Bailon de Sá who wrote, “What is important is that it is the recognised language, the common heritage, the common vehicle of culture. That it has hidden in it the binding cement of a common culture has been amply proved during the uncalled for and senseless language agitation; while earlier the Opinion Poll revealed that Goans can come together like one man to defend their land, their way of life and their cultural heritage from external interlopers.”

Ironically, while the Goan diaspora celebrated the day far beyond the boundaries of the land they call home, in that home the Congress threatened an agitation if issues related to the running of the Goa Konkani Akademi were not brought in order within a given time frame. Such demands are not new. Konkani has suffered from step motherly treatment from governments, precisely because the establishment finds it politically advantageous to rein in the growth of the language and divide the people on the basis of language. Across the seas, in alien lands, Konkani unites the people, it is unfortunate that in Goa it has divided them and today it is the script of the language that is causing these divisions. The question of script apart – the language is still written in Kannada, Malayalam and Arabic scripts too – Konkani still is the factor that binds Goans together.

Why then do Goans depend on the government to protect or promote Konkani? This is one language that has survived to still live despite attempts to throttle it in the centuries past and even in modern times. The fact that lives were lost to make Konkani the official language of the State in the ‘senseless language agitation’ is evidence that governments are not going to patronise the language. So the opposition charge of the past week that the government is out to murder Konkani, draws no response from the administration and not even a raised eyebrow in the State. It’s expected that a party in Opposition will raise such demands and hence can be ignored, because apart from the talk and despite the threat of a demonstration, there is little action expected if the demands are not met.

It would be surprising if there be any other language in India that has suffered and been suppressed as Konkani was. That Konkani survived till today is in itself a miracle, its survival from now on could be another and it most definitely won’t come with government patronage.

The use of spoken Konkani in homes, family circles, the city bazaars, among colleagues in offices or among friends is declining. English and Hindi are creeping into the void left behind by Konkani’s slow elimination. While there is no immediate danger that Konkani will be extinct in the next two or three centuries, the pace at which Goans are embracing the English language is a matter of concern, especially since we are currently living in an era where languages around the globe are dying. The pressing worry is that this could dilute the Goan identity, which is so very dependent on Konkani for its survival.

American linguist Michael E Krauss defines languages as ‘safe’ if children will probably be speaking them in 100 years; ‘endangered’ if children will probably not be speaking them in 100 years (approximately 60 to 80 per cent of languages in the world fall in this category); and ‘moribund’ if children are not speaking them now. He estimates that 15 to 30 per cent of languages worldwide are moribund. Going by these figures there may be approximately 10 per cent of languages spoken today that will still be spoken centuries from now. In this scenario where does Konkani stand?

Children in Goa are still speaking the language and now also studying it in school, but are the children of those parents who celebrated World Goa Day in Britain, in the Arabian Gulf, in Canada, in Australia and elsewhere speaking it? The first generation emigrant population from Goa does speak Konkani, does listen to Konkani music, does pay in pounds, dinars and dollars to watch a tiatr in their new home, but do the second generation emigrants identify themselves as Goans through the Konkani language? That is the challenge, keeping Konkani and Goa in the hearts of those who have found new homes in lands far from Goa. 

It is here in Goa, the heart of the Konkani homeland, where the language has to survive. But, given past experience, it cannot be expected that the establishment will ensure that the language stays alive and vibrant even centuries from now. It will have to be the people who do it. Goa Day and other such days should not just end up being celebrations of Goan culture, but also vehicles to carry forward the torch of that culture and that language and that identity to another century. It is then that these can be said to be successes.