QUEPEM: For now, he’s probably the most ‘googled’ Goan. From the data-driven pathways of Silicon Valley, Sanjeet Hegde Desai, Senior Manager of Business Systems is amidst the beautiful labyrinth of village roads at ‘home’ in Quepem. After putting Goa and Konkani on perhaps the biggest content stage in the world, Google, he is spending some time in the salubrious climes, logging on to his roots
He readily agreed when Herald wanted to go over and meet him in his backyard, considering that the Voice Of Goa was the first to report about the ‘Goan in Google’ who put Konkani on the Google Translation map.
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In a chat at home, Hegde Desai said the inclusion of Konkani in Google Translation Service is not an end, and hence the Konkani community, especially the youth, needs to contribute more and more to enrich the ‘Maim Bhas’ on Google. The improvement in data and the beauty of machine learning will definitely help to improve the Konkani language on Google, feels this son of the soil. These thoughts are especially important at a time when a section of Marathi lovers still claim that the official language of Goa is a dialect.
A simple and humble man, Hedge Desai believes that he is not a Konkani activist as such but an ordinary person who chose technology as his path to his career. However, keeping the Konkani language in his heart, he wants to serve his ‘Maim bhas’, as and when he gets opportunities.
Thanking Herald he said that it is only because of the Herald he got much publicity and due importance.
Hedge Desai was born and brought up in Quepem, and his childhood was a very beautiful one just like other true Goans. He feels proud to be a Goan and ‘Konkani Mogi’.
Speaking to Herald he made a point to draw a parallel between one of his childhood incidents and his role in including Konkani on the Google Translation Service.
“Once, my cousin left me in the deep waters, at a time when I didn’t know how to swim. However, that incident not just helped me to learn swimming but to be skillful at it. Similarly, in this project of Konkani, wherein Konkani activist Chetan Acharya and his team left me in the deep waters with the proposal of including Konkani on the Google translate service,” he said, with a warm twinkle in his eyes.
Hegde Desai further said that this opportunity resulted in yet another victory for the Konkani language, with him playing a small role through his skills pertaining to technology.
He said it is personally exciting to see Konkani being available on Google Translate. “It was more than a yearlong process, from the moment of having logged a request, to it finally being available. All credit to the incredibly talented team of software engineers at Google,” he said.
He added, “It was a learning experience for me personally, to see the sheer number of Konkani dialects spoken across various States and realise how they represent our cultural evolution and history.”
“My mother and all my family members were very joyful and felt proud about my role in bringing Konkani on Google Translate Service. I got more attention only because of the combination of me as a Goan and working for Google,” Hegde Desai said.
“Many have inquired with me about the other scripts of Konkani to be included in Google Translate service. However, people should realise that there are two different issues, and that is language and its scripts,” he added.
“So the first translation that comes out needs to be definitely in the Devanagari script which is recognized at the international level. I must go back and ask the team at Google about the inclusion of other scripts of Konkani on the translation service.”
He importantly said that there is not much matter in Konkani on the internet or on the web, and hence more and more people need to write in Konkani so that more data is available with Google for better service.
Presently working in Google, as Senior Manager of Business Systems, he did his primary education in the primary schools, just opposite his house, which is now a temple. He worked in Bangalore and then went to the US for further studies.
