‘Preserve Konkani literature of yesteryears’

Sahitya Academy Award winning writer B Gopalakrishna Pai has said that there is an urgent need to preserve the large repository of Konkani literature.

The Vishwa Konkani Awards 2018 ceremony was organised by the Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation at the T V Ramana Pai Convention Hall in Mangaluru on Sunday and Gopalakrishna Pai spoke after being conferred the award.

“There are many folk songs and limericks in Konkani in both the oral tradition and in written form. All such works need to be documented,” said Pai.

“While studying history, we find that many documents, including those of Konkani literature were carried away by the Portuguese from Goa to their country, during the liberation of Goa in 1961. If these records were available to us, Konkani literature would have been richer,” said Pai.

He added, “These records are still, however, preserved in the museums in Portugal (Europe).”

He suggested that the Vishwa Konkani Kendra sponsor researchers to take up studies on these documents.

T V Mohandas Pai, Bengaluru chairman of the Manipal Global Education, said that Konkani language is a major tool in any language towards popularising the culture. The current generation needs to be properly introduced to our culture, he advised.

The Indian culture is basically sustainable, with people living in harmony with Nature, unlike the Western culture, which is authoritative, said Mohandas Pai, adding that there is still a need to pay attention to the environmental sustainability in terms of utilisation of resources.

Vimala V Pai Vishwa Konkani Sahitya Puraskar was conferred on H M Pernal for his work ‘Beeg Ani Bigat’, a
collection of Konkani short stories.

The Vimala V Pai Vishwa Konkani Poetry Award was conferred on Saratchandra Shenoy for his work ‘Idam Na Mama,’ an anthology of Konkani poems.

The Vimala V Pai Vishwa Konkani Lifetime Achievement award was conferred on M Vishwanath Shet, while the Basti Vaman Shenoy Vishwa Konkani Seva Puraskar was conferred on Dr U V Shenoy for exemplary service in the field of health care and on Dr P Gowri Pai for exemplary
service in the field of elderly care.

Each award carried Rs one lakh cash and citation.

Dr U V Shenoy announced that he would contribute the award money that he received to the ‘Naga Seva’ project taken up by the government of Nagaland.

Dr P Gowri Pai, meanwhile, contributed Rs 25,000 to the haemophilia foundation run by Dr U V Shenoy and also a significant amount to the Vishwa Konkani Student Scholarship Fund.

Vishwa Konkani Kendra president Basti Vaman Shenoy, vice president Venkatesh N Baliga, Secretary Shakuntala R Kini, Vishwa Konkani Student Scholarship Fund (VKSSF) chairman Ramdas Kamath U and secretary Pradeep G Pai were present at the ceremony.