Why can't we celebrate diversity? By Valmiki Faleiro.

WHY CAN’T WE CELEBRATE DIVERSITY?
By Valmiki Faleiro.

I generally respect men with beards. At the risk of digressing, and of being accusedof male chauvinism in these days of the swine flu, may I recall the old ditty: Beards and wisdom,Beards and wisdom go together,Men have it sometimes,But women, never! SM Borges is no exception. A grey full beard dominates his countenance. As a senior friend, I respect his experience and wisdom. Even if at times, I cannot concur with his opinion, like on the naked injustice to Konknni written in the Roman alphabet. Without naming, but obviously alluding, to what I wrote here (“Konknni’s twins,”HERALD, 13 May), Borges (HERALD, 20 May) asks, rather rhetorically, a few questions to drive home his point. I shall pointedly answer them.

Before that, may Iremind that I’m not against Konknni in the Devanagri script, just as no votary of theRomi script I know is. I’ve publicly said that Devanagri is the natural script of Konknni. Everyone, save ostriches who prefer to bury their heads in sand, knows the genesis of how bulk of Konknni users in Goa came to use the Romi script. And how crass injustice to them crept in since 1987.

I’d go a step further. Middle East-based Wilson Coelho, upon my 13 May piece, actually brought this toattention. I would urge all Goan parents to encourage their children to master theDevanagri script – to stay competitive in the job market of the country. Jobs in Goa are at saturation point. India is the USA of tomorrow. Goans, Catholics in particular,are disadvantaged here. The advantages of knowing Devanagri in India can hardly be overstated. The soonerGoan Catholics realise this, the better. Take the personal case of the other unnamed target in SM Borges’ piece, Prof. (Dr.) Olivinho Gomes.

My senior respected friend Olivinhobab quit a cushy job in the Central Civil Servicesto serve the ‘Konknni Mission,’ as Professor and Head of Konknni Dept at Goa Univ.He is as much at home with Marathi and Hindi, as he is with Konknni in both scripts.He mastered Marathi during his nine-year IRS tenure in Maharashtra, and wrote in it.He had studied Hindi from his school days in Don Bosco’s, Panjim, and perfected it inthe North Indian milieu while serving in the Tax Research Unit of the Union FinanceMinistry. Few will know that Olivinhobab was honoured at the ‘Hindi Literary Conference’ ofAllahabad (the ‘Prayag,’ meeting point, of India’s three sacred rivers) in March-2001.He delivered its key note address, in Hindi, on the complex theme “Sahitya Kyon?”(why literature.) The citation read, for “his remarkable services to the cause of thespread of Hindi.” He contributed to the Hindi magazine press at the national level.

Comparisons are odious, but I can’t help noting that no Goan votary of Konknni in Devanagri comes anywhere near Olivinhobab’s credentials with the script. Others may yap. He writes, extensively, in Konknni, Marathi and Hindi. Devanagri and knowledge of Indian languages stood Olivinhobab in good stead.(Even if it – to his pain, flowing from his love for his mother-tongue, and to thechagrin of his critics – helped him pinpoint the ‘Marathisation’ of vocabulary andsyntax of Konknni written in Devanagri script!) Olivinhobab is clear about the Official Language Act being crippled, in definingKonknni ‘as Konkani in Devanagari script.’ He wryly says, “It is like saying a womanmeans a woman clad in a sari.” All others dressed differently are not women!

Over to Borges’ questions of 20 May: *Is writing/reading in Konkani in Roman script banned? *Does the Governmentcensor private correspondence in Konkani (in the Roman script)?Obviously no! *Are they forced to read and write Konkani exclusively in Devanagari script?Yes, at primary school. *Isn’t there sufficient Konkani literature being published in Roman Script?With the ease, finance, awards, etc., that writers in Devanagri have cornered for themselves? Did you hear of a Konknni author in the Roman script ever bestowedwith a Sahitya Academy award? Why? Because he is a second-class writer in hisown country? I’m not suggesting Borges hang by his own beard in shame. Fact is only Konknni books in Devanagri script can get an award, under rules framed by a latter-dayAdvisory Board of Konkani, contrary to the position when Konknni was recognized asan independent literary language of India in 1975.

A lecturer in geology that Borges was, he then takes us to an ‘experiment.’ Perhaps,five Romi Konknni writers will write the same passage differently. What about spoken Konknni? Borges needn’t cross Goa’s rivers to find out. As he steps out of his ward inVelim, he knows how, for something lost, villagers say ‘por poddlem’ or ‘sanddlem’ or‘xendhlem’! That, precisely, is my point. Why can’t we celebrate diversity – why try to herd thelarger segment of Konknni users into imperious ‘uniformity’? Why not treat all at par?Give me one good reason and I’ll join the anti-Romi brigade! (ENDS.)======================================================================

CONDOLENCE MEET IN KUWAIT FOR M. BOYER.

On Saturday, 6th of this month, in the evening, along with this writer, lovers of Tiatro and the late Tiatrist M. Boyer will organise a condolence meeting in Kuwait City to mourn the death of M. Boyer. This is to pay highest respect for the great and iconic Tiatrist the late M. Boyer.
May the soul of the late M. Boyer Rest In Peace.

A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.

KKK CONDOLENCE ON M. BOYER'S DEATH.

KUWAIT KONKNNI KENDR LEARNT WITH DEEP REGRET THE SAD DEMISE OF KONKANI TIATRIST M. BOYER ON 30TH OF LAST MONTH IN GOA.

KUWAIT KONKNNI KENDR OFFERS ITS PROFOUND SYMPHATIES TO M. BOYER'S WIFE AND ALL HIS CHILDREN.

MAY THE SOUL OF M. BOYER REST IN PEACE.

MARIO REBELLO,
For KUWAIT KONKNNI KENDR,
KUWAIT.