Soul of Goan Identity Isidore Domnick Mendis Being a Goenkar to the core, one takes immense pride in conversing with a fellow Goan in one’s mother tongue- Konkani. However it often becomes a bitter experience while interacting with fellow Goenkars in offices, shops, church etc; these haughty Goans just do not feel comfortable in continuing their tête-à-tête in Konkani. Today Goans particularly the Roman Catholics are reluctant to communicate in their mother tongue. It is not only the elites form higher caste/ class but even the humble flocks belonging to lower caste/class today feel inferior to communicate or express themselves in Konkani. It has become a fashion to eat, drink and sleep in English or any other language than in Konkani. “Goans are suffering from island mentality. They feel terribly low when it comes to speaking and writing in Konkani. Inspite of Many Goans being excellent orators and writers in English, Portuguese and other languages they refrain to talk and write in Konkani. ” Opines Fr. Pratap Naik S.J., the director of the Thomas Stephens Konkkni Kendr (TSKK) based at Alto Porvorim. Roman Script is an important component of Goan uniqueness “If we need to protect the identity of Goa, it is important to preserve and spread the use of roman script of Konkani.” Let us not forget that Konkani in Roman script has existed in Goa for the past hundreds of years. It has played a stupendous role in the development of the Konkani language. In the sixteenth century Jesuits and Franciscans priests in particular were instrumental in the dissemination of Roman Konkani. It was around 1556 that the first printing machinery was brought to Goa by the Jesuits. Even Konkani’s first grammar was prepared in Roman script by Father Andre Vaz in 1563. A considerable section of Goans associate themselves more with Roman than with Devnagri script. Importantly, Devnagri is largely connected with Hindi heartland whereas Roman Konkani has a greater global appeal. “The Roman script can also act as a great cementing force to Goans settled all across the globe. It can unify the Goan Diaspora” says the Jesuit priest Fr. Naik. Though Devnagri was incorporated in the Official Language Act on 4th Feb 1987, Roman script has still not been given its due importance.” It is a high time that the State Government ends its cruel apathy towards Roman script. The State should finally grant the much needed official recognition to Roman script at the earliest ” opines Sebastiao Fernandes and Caetano Pereira of Roman Konkani Goykaranchi Konkani Bhas , Songit , Kala ani Sonskrutai Kendr Merces. Since the readership for Roman Konkani has considerably dwindled in the present times, hardly any material is available in Roman Konkani. Today there are few monthlies and weeklies in print like Vavradeancho Ixtt (workers friend from Pillar), Gulab, Jivit, and Goykar. By the way Vavradeancho Ixtt has already been in print for the past seventy five years. There was a time when even dailies like Divtti, Sot, Uzvadd, Goa Times (from Bombay) etc were published in Roman script. These newspapers died due to lack of funds. However the most important literature of daily use in Roman Konkani continues to still be the Holy Bible i.e. Povitr Pustok Like in the past Goan Catholic priests are still in the forefront of their endeavor to preserve and propagate the Roman script. But the effective spread of Roman Konkani is only possible if every Goan starts loving this language. Yes as Goenkars we should all feel proud to converse with each other in amchi mai bhas- Konkani and at the same time we should not despise the role of Roman script. Let me make myself very clear that when one talks for the preservation and propagation of Konkani one is not despising the role of English or Hindi or any other Language. Yes I agree that in the 21st century world of tough competition English has an important place as a Global Language. There is no doubt that there are tremendous educational and job opportunities available if one learn English. We should master English but not blindly embrace it at the cost of our own mother tongue Konkani. A couple of months back a Goan priest friend hailing from Benaulim and now based with Delhi Arch Diocese visited me. I was in utter disbelief to learn that whatever I would ask him in Konkani he would answer it back in English. Sadly, today in all their dealings connected with their social and public life it is Goans themselves and not non Goans who are killing Konkani. Today even at homes an educated Goan gets a sense of pride no matter how false and hollow that might be by conversing with their kids in English. As a result when these children grow up they are not able to speak even a single sentence in Konkani. Why are we hell bent in passing an artificial legacy to our children? Why are we Goans so adamant to cut ourselves from our own roots? To tide over the heavy influx of migrants almost all Goans have now started talking about saving Goa for Goenkars. Our local politicos have started talking about getting special status for Goa from the Centre under Article 371 of Indian Constitution. For this endeavor of protecting Goa’s unique identity, it is very important for all Goans whichever part of the globe they might be residing be it Mumbai or Pune or Delhi or Banglore or Vancouver or Melbourne or London or Nairobi etc to have a sense belonging to Konkani. “People belonging to other states of India whether it is West Bengal or Gujarat or Kerala or Maharashtra etc, proudly say they are Bengali, or Gujarati, or Malyalee or Marathi. Why can’t son’s and daughters of Goa say they are Konkani? When will haughty Goans stop their disdain towards the mother tongue of Goa? ” asks Fr Naik passionately Otherwise , I dread , the day is not far when a Goenkar while filling a school/ college/ job form would type in the mother tongue column as English or Hindi or Marathi or Portuguese /or any other language instead of Konkani as his or her mother tongue. God forbid if that is going to be the fate of Konkani than in Goa we will soon be writing an elegy for this great language which is also spoken in other coastal areas of Western and Southern India like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala . Let us all Goans take a pledge now not to be a bane but a boon for Konkani. At home a Goan child’s first from of verbal communication should be in Konkani and not in English as the present trend is with all modern day parents.
