Though a month has just completed since Dr. Olivinho Gomes, a Konkani pundit, died yet it looked that he died just yesterday. He was very close to me since we both got ourselves involved in Konkani movement. He made lot of sacrifices for the cause of Konkani by remaining in India and Goa even giving up his lucrative job for the cause of Konkani and I on the other hand suffered lot of setbacks in Kuwait while fighting for the cause of Konkani. The sacrifices that I made for the cause of Konkani from Kuwait will never be compensated. Only those who are close to my movement will bear the testimony of my statement while others will laugh as if it is nothing.
Dr. Olivinho Gomes presence in the Konkani movement especially in the literary movement was a big booster for the cause of Konkani. Though he was well versed in both the Konkani scripts yet he was a pride of Romi Konkani. The many Nagrivadi “Konknnes” were jealous of his efficiency in outsmarting them; they tried their level best to detach him from the top post he was holding in Goa University. Many times I noticed him at TB Cunha Hall, Panjim speaking with authority on matters related to Konkani and how everyone giving him due respect to his discourse. I don’t think currently after his death there is anybody in Konkani circle in Goa in general and Romi Konkani circle in particular who will fill the void created by him.
In Romi circle we have many “fottaxi” who are fit only to boast of their fake love for Konkani. There is so much of clamouring for the cause of Romi Konkani in Romi circle but nothing is moving forward because with our leaders there is no dedication to fight strongly for this cause. They have their own agenda to carry forward in the name of Romi Konkani. The very person on whom we were relying for doing something worthwhile for the cause of Romi Konkani also betrayed our cause with a Judas kiss. We sent him to Legislative Assembly where he was raised to the pedestal chair due to which he could have used his influence to influence others especially the ruling party to get benefits for Romi Konkani but he failed. He failed because he was a “Baizon”, interested only in grabbing power and using Government facilities for living a luxurious life. “Atam soddtta Candoe, kuddo mus passun poina davea dollean”. He wants Konkani only for his benefits and he is using Konkani now to remain afloat in public life otherwise he is a gone case. I don’t know why our Romivadis are still relying on him to deliver the goods. Is Romi circle so bankrupt intellectually to judge such traitors? With such people at the helm of affairs, Romi Konkani will never attain the desired status. These third class teachers turned politicians should be kept out of Romi circle otherwise Romi Konkani will never attain its goal.
That Romi Konkani should get its due recognition our Tiatrists are also shouting. I support their voice but are they in position to acquire the required result? Among them there is not a single gigantic figure who commands allegiance from Tiatrist fraternity. Tiatrists are scattered in factions and they too have their own agendas. For many of them this Romi movement is just like another Tiatro or Non Stop Show, to perform today and forget about it tomorrow. In their history Tiatrists are not known to perform superlative feat, they are good for squabbling among themselves. I doubt they can do anything in this matter and besides there is no leader among them to command allegiance from all.
Romi Konkani came into prominence because of the great Romi Konkani writers of yesteryears, namely M. V. Mendes, A. V. D’Cruz, Dr. Simon C. Fernades, Evagrio Jorge and many eminent priests. So also by the renowned Romansi writers such as Damacian Caridade and Reginaldo Fernandes etc. There are many more still who were responsible for the development and promotion of Romi Konkani. Those readers who read their works know the high quality of their writings. Those who did not read their works they say there is no rich literature in Romi Konkani. How a blind person will see what is white and what is black? Such blinds are innumerable in Nagri script Konknni who think they are “chodd zannar” while others are “chodd nennar” . These Nagrivadis are idiots who imposed Marathik Konknni on us against our wishes and our Romi Konknnivadis involving in KPA movement like fools accepted everything Pundalik Naik and other Naiks told them as if it is Gospel truth. Now all the Pundaliks, the traitors in Konkani movement are sleeping “uskea meklle”. There is a saying in Konkani “Kam zalem – voiz melo”.
Regarding Dr. Olivinho Gomes, his writings in Konkani brought life for Konkani especially for Romi Konkani. He was the pride of Romi Konkani followers and promoters. Currently Romi Konkani is suffering from dearth of high profile writers and intellectuals. The very few that are existing now are unable to create an impact. They are good in their own circle and they have their own parochial readership whose intellectual capacity is below normal just as the writers whom they read. These writers are not impact creators because there is not much richness in their writings, even though they are doing a good job of keeping the Romi Konkani flowing.
Dr. Olivinho Gomes was not only a writer of repute but he was also a very reputed personality. Such persons are very essential for the promotion of Konkani. He was not a “Ladru-Pedru” type of a writer but highly educated and smart with lot of high reputation attracting automatic allegiance from the readers and others. When I first came to Kuwait and when I embarked on Konkani movement first time in Kuwait and in the Gulf, I could not get a single person whom I could rate as a rich writer. Later on I came across two - three Konknni writers who proved to be “F-A-L = NAL” and who were responsible for lowering the image of Konkani in Kuwait though they were thinking they were great. Because of such low grade Konkani writers and promoters, Konkani suffered a lot. Konkani movement got a booster in Kuwait only when we formed Novem Goem Pratishtan Kuwait Somiti with the induction in it of great and reputed Goans including A. B. Fernandes - Gen. Manager Bahar Shipping Co., Estanislaus Alemao – the Principal of New Indian School, Jabriya and Advocate Lobo. The so called Konknni writers from Kuwait had no place in this movement because they were too small and still are to fit into NGPKS. They are intellectually and literally babies. These babies have brought the prestige and image of Romi Konkani down, for this reason intellectual giants dissociated from them.
Somewhere in the mid eighties we were having our open meeting in the Church Hall on behalf of NGPKS. Suddenly one dead drunk person got up from his chair to ask some silly questions with the Chairman. When I enquired who this idiot was, I was told that he was a “Konknni Potrakar”. Unfortunately for Konkani movement in Kuwait he never did anything and I never got him involved either with me for Konkani movement to prevent him from lowering the prestige of Konkani movement I initiated in Kuwait on very strong base with the help of my colleagues minus these third class Romi Konkani writers. In our midst there is not a single Romi Konkani writer who show high caliber. Those who are there they are fit only to talk ill of me out of jealousy because they are unable to do even an inch of what I did. Good that no high grade people are reading them, not even me. Such Potrakars will never give booster to Romi Konkani. Hence it is an imperative need to have among us more and more Dr. Olivinho Gomes. Will we get them in our circle? God alone knows.
May God give eternal rest to the Konkani soul of Dr. Olivinho Gomes.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
August 30, 2009
‘The Thief at the Night Vigil’ - a short story
Sometimes it is not so much the message that a story gives, but the message that the reader takes.
What would such a story say to you? Or, from another viewpoint, what message would you take from that story?
'The Thief at the Night Vigil' could remind some people of an existential humor, others of a biblical theme. Yet, some may see no message at all, and yet others may find it to be a tale told in their own language....
Read the story at http://gaspersworld.blogspot.com/
What would such a story say to you? Or, from another viewpoint, what message would you take from that story?
'The Thief at the Night Vigil' could remind some people of an existential humor, others of a biblical theme. Yet, some may see no message at all, and yet others may find it to be a tale told in their own language....
Read the story at http://gaspersworld
With Windows Live, you can organize, edit, and share your photos. Click here.
G'BYE GOA:Goan Emigration-7. By Valmiki Faleiro.
G’bye Goa: Goan Emigration-7
By Valmiki Faleiro
By 1920, Goa’s population dipped to 4.69 lakh (from 7.00 lakh in 1914.) The figure was
inclusive of the seven New Conquest talukas, from where emigration was minimal. Over
two lakh Goans had left for India/Burma/Pakistan, Africa/Gulf, Europe, the Americas,
and aboard ships. Bombay alone had close to one lakh Goans in 1920.
From then, among Goa’s eternal ironies, began the largest, and yet surviving, wave of
emigration/out-migration...
Such it was that the colonial administration saw it as opportunity, and promptly slapped
an “Emigration Tax!” Even on impoverished maidens fleeing for better life in Bombay,
where at least 510 (largely from temple dancing traditions) worked as whores in 1923.
Emigration was a mixed blessing. Aptly reflected in its two categories. Transient émigrés
left families behind to take up jobs elsewhere, but returned home on retirement. The
permanent ones took all they had, including families, to their new domicile.
Permanent émigrés returned only on pilgrimage to family deities or on special visits.
Those settled in Europe, the Americas, and Australia/NZ, never will return. (It is this
genre of emigrants, paradoxically, whose hearts ache the most for the metamorphosis
currently overrunning Goa…) They were a loss to Goa.
Transient emigrants, though, were a gain. By 1928, they enriched Goa annually by a
whopping Rs.134.25 lakh (multiply that by 1,000 for today’s value), in remittances. That’s
the only bright side to the story of Goan Emigration. Away from home-‘n’-hearth, they
shed sweat and tears, to remit savings, raise local living standards, and engineer a new
economic model, the “remittance economy.” The singular credit for boosting Goa’s
economy, on both sides of the 1961 divide, goes to these sons and daughters of Goa,
who worked elsewhere in India, the Gulf and on ships, and built her Remittance
Economy.
In contrast, mining, the state’s blue-eyed baby, did little (save screw the environment.)
Its profit was concentrated with a few. What trickled, via ancillaries, was a slender slice.
Today’s tourism, save its luxury lobby, is infinitely more egalitarian.
Expat remittances, now at 33% of Goa’s revenue receipt, provided purchasing power. It
enriched shopkeepers, hawkers, and service providers. And don’t forget banks, which,
like mineowners, benefited much but ploughed back little. Forget deposits to advances
ratio, India’s nationalized and scheduled banks financed just nine percent Goan émigrés
to lay the golden eggs for them!
Remittances are estimated by the CDS survey (see this column of 09 and 16 August) at
Rs.800 crores per annum, 72% of it received by Goan Catholics and 36% by Salcetans.
A large section (82% local households) uses it for daily sustenance. A substantial share,
heartening to note, goes into education and healthcare. A quarter of households deposit
it in banks. Twenty percent build houses or purchase land.
Émigrés and remittances, paradoxically again, created most of the problems we wail
about today, often at the wrong wall.
Remittances fuelled a never-before demand for goods and services. The demand was
not met by locals. Skilled and unskilled Goans of prime working age were already in the
Gulf and elsewhere. The few back home developed skewed ideas about manual work
and dignity of labour. As larger numbers of Goans left in the *Petrodollar-Rush*, to fuel
more wealth, and more demand for services they themselves once provided, they left a
ballooning local vacuum in their wake.
Nature abhors vacuum. Mass emigration by Goans presaged equal and opposite waves
of immigration by others. In the 19th century, as Catholics went overseas, Goan Hindus
from the hinterland talukas took their place, changing the demographic profile of Bardez,
Tiswadi and Salcete. In the 20th century, while Goans went to the Gulf, Goa became the
Gulf to India’s poor. They took the place vacated by expats.
As kids, we would tease in a chair-taking prank, “Quem foi à Madeira, perdeu a cadeira”
(s/he who left for Madeira – the Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic – lost the
chair back home), or the original, "Quem foi ao ar, perdeu o lugar" (s/he who went
daydreaming, lost his/her seat.)
Before going to the story of in-migration, let’s check some interesting reader responses
on Goan emigration next Sunday. (ENDS)
The above article appeared in the Herald, Goa, edition of August 30, 2009
By Valmiki Faleiro
By 1920, Goa’s population dipped to 4.69 lakh (from 7.00 lakh in 1914.) The figure was
inclusive of the seven New Conquest talukas, from where emigration was minimal. Over
two lakh Goans had left for India/Burma/Pakistan, Africa/Gulf, Europe, the Americas,
and aboard ships. Bombay alone had close to one lakh Goans in 1920.
From then, among Goa’s eternal ironies, began the largest, and yet surviving, wave of
emigration/out-migration...
Such it was that the colonial administration saw it as opportunity, and promptly slapped
an “Emigration Tax!” Even on impoverished maidens fleeing for better life in Bombay,
where at least 510 (largely from temple dancing traditions) worked as whores in 1923.
Emigration was a mixed blessing. Aptly reflected in its two categories. Transient émigrés
left families behind to take up jobs elsewhere, but returned home on retirement. The
permanent ones took all they had, including families, to their new domicile.
Permanent émigrés returned only on pilgrimage to family deities or on special visits.
Those settled in Europe, the Americas, and Australia/NZ, never will return. (It is this
genre of emigrants, paradoxically, whose hearts ache the most for the metamorphosis
currently overrunning Goa…) They were a loss to Goa.
Transient emigrants, though, were a gain. By 1928, they enriched Goa annually by a
whopping Rs.134.25 lakh (multiply that by 1,000 for today’s value), in remittances. That’s
the only bright side to the story of Goan Emigration. Away from home-‘n’-hearth, they
shed sweat and tears, to remit savings, raise local living standards, and engineer a new
economic model, the “remittance economy.” The singular credit for boosting Goa’s
economy, on both sides of the 1961 divide, goes to these sons and daughters of Goa,
who worked elsewhere in India, the Gulf and on ships, and built her Remittance
Economy.
In contrast, mining, the state’s blue-eyed baby, did little (save screw the environment.)
Its profit was concentrated with a few. What trickled, via ancillaries, was a slender slice.
Today’s tourism, save its luxury lobby, is infinitely more egalitarian.
Expat remittances, now at 33% of Goa’s revenue receipt, provided purchasing power. It
enriched shopkeepers, hawkers, and service providers. And don’t forget banks, which,
like mineowners, benefited much but ploughed back little. Forget deposits to advances
ratio, India’s nationalized and scheduled banks financed just nine percent Goan émigrés
to lay the golden eggs for them!
Remittances are estimated by the CDS survey (see this column of 09 and 16 August) at
Rs.800 crores per annum, 72% of it received by Goan Catholics and 36% by Salcetans.
A large section (82% local households) uses it for daily sustenance. A substantial share,
heartening to note, goes into education and healthcare. A quarter of households deposit
it in banks. Twenty percent build houses or purchase land.
Émigrés and remittances, paradoxically again, created most of the problems we wail
about today, often at the wrong wall.
Remittances fuelled a never-before demand for goods and services. The demand was
not met by locals. Skilled and unskilled Goans of prime working age were already in the
Gulf and elsewhere. The few back home developed skewed ideas about manual work
and dignity of labour. As larger numbers of Goans left in the *Petrodollar-Rush*, to fuel
more wealth, and more demand for services they themselves once provided, they left a
ballooning local vacuum in their wake.
Nature abhors vacuum. Mass emigration by Goans presaged equal and opposite waves
of immigration by others. In the 19th century, as Catholics went overseas, Goan Hindus
from the hinterland talukas took their place, changing the demographic profile of Bardez,
Tiswadi and Salcete. In the 20th century, while Goans went to the Gulf, Goa became the
Gulf to India’s poor. They took the place vacated by expats.
As kids, we would tease in a chair-taking prank, “Quem foi à Madeira, perdeu a cadeira”
(s/he who left for Madeira – the Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic – lost the
chair back home), or the original, "Quem foi ao ar, perdeu o lugar" (s/he who went
daydreaming, lost his/her seat.)
Before going to the story of in-migration, let’s check some interesting reader responses
on Goan emigration next Sunday. (ENDS)
The above article appeared in the Herald, Goa, edition of August 30, 2009
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