Konkani as a state language hasn’t been given its due in the past. Besides, in the words of Joed Almeida, “We have millennials born and brought up in Goa who can’t speak more than a couple of words of this beautiful language. We’ve come to a point in time where our youngsters exposed to a lot of the culture of the western world find it “uncool” to speak in our mother tongue. That’s what scares me,” he says. “And we’re not going to sit down and let that happen. Personally, I don’t care if you write in Devanagari or Romi, or if you speak like the Salcetekars or Bardezkars, as long as you speak and write the language. There is a deep-rooted problem and we plan to do something about it.
“This issue will also be addressed at the mini Konkani World Convention we’re having at the conference hall from 3 pm to 5 pm at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao. And from thereon, we will take some concrete steps to resolve this issue.”
“Staying on that same train of thought, what I love this year about the celebrations, is that we have a bunch of these young students( millennials) from a popular school in Margao, who you could say are the ones who are exposed to a lot of the western mannerisms yet are proud of their language and will enthrall you with their music performances as a band, the Uncut Diamonds by Neil D’Cruz.”
Another highlight of the event will be a mini Konkani World Convention that will highlight the following topics:
- The beauty of our language
- Konkani and the importance of her to our culture
- Romi script or Devanagari script. Or can both coexist together
- What are the problems the language faces in this day and age
- What are the concrete measures to nurture the language? What is the way forward?
Gracing the occasion are eminent personalities from around Goa like Hrishikesh Kadam (Host), Sandesh Prabhudesai – Editor of Goa 365, Anvesha Singbal – Konkani Bhasha Mandal, Mariano Fernandes – Tiatrist and Divya Naik – Singer.
As the evening unfolds, a host of entertainment programmes promise to enthrall the audience from 6.30 pm onwards at the open air auditorium. Beginning with felicitation of noted and renowned author Shri. Damodar Mauzo at the hands of Shri. Mahabaleshwar Sail (another stalwart in the field of Konkani).
Dance performances by the all ladies dance group, ‘Maitrini’ and ‘Fit Zone’ by Sneha, Uncut Diamonds Konkani Band, performance by singers Cielda Pereira, Divya Naik, Shaistah Thapar, Yogita Yaji, Praveen Dias and Sidharth Yaji, Sitar performance by Pt. Yograj Naik and a stand-up comedy and mimicry performance by renowned mimicry artist, Saidutt Kamat.
Besides, lots of prizes to be won along with a lucky draw by PNG jewelers.
Let’s keep ‘Amchi Bhas’ (our language) alive by supporting this initiative of World Konkani Day.
Information & Pic. credit: Joed Almeida
