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Dear friends,
The following letter was sent to the editor of GT on the morning of Friday, 14
Nov. but has not been published yet. I take it as an attempt to suppress
truth by conveying to the readers that I failed to substantiate my statements
as demanded by Tomazinho Cardozo. And this is not the first time; it is quite
a habit. But you be the judge.
Fabricated statements
Sir,
Your sense of fair-play has touched the nadir. You have two weekly
calumnists who hammer on one side of an issue with a whole lot of falsehoods as
has been shown time and time again. To that you add your own front-pagers and
those of your staffer Nilesh Khandeparkar. But the other side hardly gets a
look-in. Their reactions are salted for over two weeks before they are
published, if at all. Yet, the rejoinders to these by the same calumnists are
aired the very next day (not in their regular column!). I have at least two
recent letters pending with you (and a couple more I have not sent).
Nevertheless, I am sending this, knowing fully well that you will not publish
it.
In GT of 10/11, Tomazinho Cardozo asks me to substantiate my “fictitious
statements”: (1) that I volunteered to transliterate meritorious books in Roman
script, pre-selected by DKA or some such body, and (2) that Cardozo was one of
the two persons who were requested to shortlist Roman script books for
transliteration. Here is the evidence.
My offer is found in Gulab (a monthly magazine in Konkani, Roman script)
of Sept. 2004. It is also found in at least two internet forums in Nov. 2005.
I can PROVE that Cardozo has read at least one of these.
The second statement, as I had stated, “was told” to me. Now, can one
prove an oral communication especially to one who feigns ignorance of published
material he has read? But I have another reason to believe my informant. In
around 1990, a colleague had undertaken to compile and edit a representative
anthology of literary essays. He cannot read Kannada or Malayalam scripts.
Not wanting to miss any quality Konkani essays in other scripts, he prevailed
upon the Sahitya Akademi to appoint a collaborator each for Roman, Kannada and
Malayalam scripts. Cardozo was the one chosen for Roman script. But even
after repeated reminders for over a year, he did not procure even a single
essay! This fact finds mention in the introduction to that book. My
colleague, on his own, collected about half a dozen essays. I know this
because I had transliterated two of the Kannada script essays. Now, what is
more burdensome, selecting an essay or
shortlisting of a few books?
Cardozo says that I project myself as “a person who does not make any
statements or allegations without proofs.” Though I have never made such a
claim, guess my track record vouches for that as against his. And the possible
reason for this difference is that, not having ever participated in electoral
politics, I have not cultivated Cardozo’s pet habit of making wild accusations
and then invariably failing to provide the proof; even your readers are aware
of this.
As for “projecting myself as a crusader of Konkani in Roman script,” I
assure him that I have no intention of usurping his business.
Yours truly,
Sebastian Borges
Nagdoli, Velim.
.................
Sotachench zoit zatolem.
Mog asum.
Sebastian Borges
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