Vincy Quadros from Raia has mastered many languages but his love for his mother tongue is
evident in his choice to speak in Konkani. Writing since the age of 12,
his books have reached out to readers of different age groups. A noted Konkani
literary personality, Vincy was recently awarded Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya
Puraskar for his book ‘Jaduche Pettul’. “Bal Sahitya Puraskar is a national
award and I am proud of myself as I can now be called a national writer. Before
this, I have been awarded state awards for my books and this feels really special,” says Vincy, humbly.
The book for children was written in Konkani and released in
2011. “‘Jaduche Pettul’ is a story about a poor young boy, Abdul, who comes across a magical box. When he
opens it, a fairy,
Janice, comes out of it and asks for his wish. He tells her that he wants to
become a king. Since his village and the surrounding area hasn’t had a king for many years, he has
to now take all the decisions, provide justice, unite the kingdom and keep good
relations with his neighbouring kingdoms. Through this, he comes across a
person who writes his autobiography, titled, ‘Jaduche Pettul’.
The story is for children with the moral that one should live their life
with good qualities. The story was earlier written in Romi script for magazines
and then written as a novel in both Devanagari and Romi scripts,” explains
Vincy, about the book that won him the Bal Sahitya Award.
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The selection process for the award requires a lot of time; at least five years has to lapse post the release of the
work for it to be considered. “The selection consists of three rounds
with a lot of ground work about the writers. The awards are presented for 24
languages including Konkani which includes writers from the states of
Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka. In 2017, I was the only Konkani writer in children’s literature to win
the award. The award will contain an engraved copper plaque and a cheque of Rs
50,000 and the presentation ceremony will take place on November 14, 2017. I am
also excited to be the second Catholic writer in Goa to be presented this award
after Jess Fernandes,” adds Vincy.
As a child, Vincy spent a lot of time with his uncle, John Quadros, who was a tiatr writer, and accompanied him to many
literary events. He first started writing poems and short stories in Konkani,
Hindi and Marathi for his school magazine. He then penned tiatrs, with his first being ‘Chintunk Naslem’. He now writes five articles a month for
various Konkani magazines in Goa,
including two children’s stories. He will also release two children’s books
this year. Vincy’s book, ‘Fuldani’, in Devanagari,
had won the Konkani Basha Mandal Award in 1990, ‘Turo’ in Romi Konkani had won
the Thomas Stephens Konkani Kendr Award in 2010 and ‘Porsum’ in Romi Konkani
had won the Goa Konkani Akademi Award in 2013. Vincy writes in both Devanagari and
Romi scripts and has written 18 books, from which six books have been written in both the scripts.
Presently the Secretary of Dalgado Konknni Akademi, Vincy
has been encouraging the youth
to read and write Konkani in both the scripts. “You are a Goenkar because of
Konkani and one should be able to write and read in Konkani. Through the
academy, we organise different programs for children as well as adults to adopt
the reading habit and in this financial year, we aim to cover at least 1,500 readers in Konkani,”
says the award winner.
