TRAILING THE TONGUE
By Wendell Rodricks
wendellrodri...@gmail.com
The mango groves stretch for miles along the coast. In the
hot, humid month of May, Maharashtra sizzles on the Deccan
plateau. But here, near the sea, in Ratnagiri, a cool breeze
blows the luscious perfume of the world's best mango, the
Alphonso, through the palms and well tended orchards.
Then suddenly, wafting on the wind, I hear it. The lilting
melodious sound of my ancestral language. Yes, it is Konkani
indeed. There are few local words that I do not understand.
I speak to the man in my native tongue. He is a Konkan
Brahmin, he tells me. And his dialect of Konkani is called
Chintapawani. We bond in an ancient brotherhood of the
Konkan coast. It happens to me everywhere on this coastal strip.
Further South, the people of Malvan speak Malvani, Goans
speak Gomantaki, Tipu Sultan's influence has resulted in
Konkani with Urdu words in places as far flung as Mysore,
Coorg, Srirangapatna and even in Calicut, I was astonished to
hear Konkani in a jewellery shop. There were some Malayalam
and Tulu words thrown in. The owner recognised me and spoke
in Konkani at length. How his family left Goa twice...in
the 13th century fleeing the forces of Alauddin Khilji and
later escaping the horrors of the Portuguese Inquisition in
1560. There have been Konkan people here always. Before the
Malabar coast, this was the Konkan coast.
Surely, he was misinformed? I had never heard of
this. But let me take you home for lunch and
share more about our common lineage. Over lunch
that comprised steamed red rice, a fish curry and
local pickle, I realised that it was not just
language but food that was also common. So I set
about discovering the Konkan coast... with my
tongue. Through language and food.
Dr. Krishnanand Kamat, has a website that recounts the
history of the Konkan. The seven kingdoms of the Konkan, as
per Hindu mythology, mentioned in the Hindu history of
Kashmir, included the entire west coast of India. The
Pandavas of the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna, the Goddess Durga
and later the Mauryas, the Marathas, the Muslims from the
plateau and the Portuguese arrived on the coast.
Due to the pious nature of the people this strip of land by
the sea has many temples with people faithful to 'their'
temple Gods. Annual pilgrimages all over the Konkan are
common and the events surrounding them colourful and festive.
The capital of the Konkan is supposedly Chandrapur. Is this
the present village of Chandor in Goa?
The Konkan coast may have vanished today, but the
Konkani language lives on. You can hear it in
Karwar, Ankola and Kumta-Honavar. Away from the
Mangalore coast, in the valley of Siddapur, I
attended a wedding where villagers from far and
wide spoke fluent Konkani. The Nawayatis of
Bhatkal speak melodiously with Persian words. This
did not surprise me. In Goa, the famous Chapora
fort area was occupied by Persians. The ancient
name was Shahpura, the town of the Shah of Persia.
I settle down to a breakfast in Karnataka with a Konkani
family. Steaming 'undi' rice balls flavoured with ginger,
curry leaf, chilli and coconut appear. They have a delicious
sweetness as well. Is it local molasses? This addition of a
sweet ingredient in savoury or spicy dishes is popular from
Gujarat to Kerala. There are other commonalities. The
simple broths made with lentils, the humble dishes using
local bananas, rice and vegetables.
Here, in what was once Canara, a region of the Konkan, sour
Ambat and fiery Prawn Gassi find common ground with the hot
and sour Ambotik shark curry and the spicy Portuguese
influenced pork vindaloo of Goa. Rice is a staple. It is
powdered, ground to a paste, steamed, fried or cooked as is.
The neer dosas, the idlis, the sannas, all rice preparations,
grace most Konkani tables in their various avatars. Fruits
like bananas, jackfruits, cashew nut, mango and sour kokum
flavour dishes in numerous ways. Mangoes are eaten raw in
water pickles, ripe as dessert and sun dried when raw as a
souring ingredient. With a limited range of spices such as
turmeric, asafoetida, cumin, mustard, fenugreek, chilli and
pepper a wondrous array of Konkani cuisine has evolved over
the years.
Local ingredients are abundant due to the landscape that
permit agriculture during the torrential rains that lash the
coast in the monsoon and the fertile earth that makes it easy
to grow crops. On my trail of the tongue for language and
food, I discovered a rare natural phenomenon. Along the
entire Konkani coast, near the ocean and on islands in the
Arabian Sea, there are natural spring wells with fresh water.
While in Arambol, Goa, a fresh water lake almost
touches the ocean, the Fort Aguada derives its name
from this natural wonder.
