JAY JOSHI
TG: How did you successfully teach Indian language and culture to your children?
Children learnt Konkani and Goan culture by our ensuring that the environment at home is not different from a Goan home, in terms of the language, what we eat and how we act. Konkani is the only language of communication at home. We celebrate all the Goan festivals at home and invite all Goans from Toronto and surroundings. For example, you will see 30-50 people at my home celebrating ‘Chavath’, ‘Akash Divo’ for Diwali hanging in our balcony, etc. The interesting part is, when we come to Goa, we find our children speak in Konkani while some of their cousins born and brought up in India struggle with Konkani and need to speak in English to communicate. Presence of my father-in-law (Mohan Colvalcar) at home also helped as some of the words which he uses, especially the Portuguese ones or Bardez slang, are now rare even in Goan usage. These words are part of my children’s daily usage. We also make it a point to visit India at least once in a year and possibly for a month. That way they remain attached to Goa/ India and remain eager to visit there.
TG:What were some of the difficulties you faced while doing so, and how did you overcome them?
Because here in Canada the entire environment outside our home is English, children find it difficult to fit in with their classmates. At least for the first one-two years of their schooling, their spoken English proficiency was worse than the others in class, while they were on par or better in written language and vocabulary. My daughter Saanvi, for example, won spelling competition while in grade 1 against grade 3, although her spoken English was not on par with the classmates. However, within a year or so after this, the situation changed as her spoken English language proficiency started converging with the classmates, while her Konkani remained as good as any Goan of her age.
TG:You have stated that your love for India grew after you went to foreign country. How is that so? What new things did you realise about India when you were abroad?
There are a few things you realise when you start living abroad:
First, you can never get rid of your Goan or Indian tag. The culture, upbringing and habits help you to differentiate, which in turn helps rather than hinder your progress. I deal with many company owners in aerospace industry who have strengthened rather than abandoned their ties with their home culture- Mexican, Colombian, Polish, French, etc.- which never interfered with their success. In fact, they build on their life and business on the foundation of their culture.
Second, Goa has a special place in the eyes of people. Even people who may not have positive outlook towards the rest of India have lot of positives to say when it comes to Goa. They will be the first to ask you why you left a heavenly place to come here?
Third, Camaraderie of Konkani culture or “Niz Goenkarponn” or similar affiliations that you are born with, cannot be matched with any other affiliations and cannot be acquired. You take all these things for granted while you live in Goa but realize them when you step out.
TG:How do you think the knowledge about their roots is helping your kids?
If you see the second or third generation children of immigrants, many are cut off from their roots. But they cannot eliminate their identity that separates them from the local kids born in dominant culture of the place they live in. So, they end up becoming neither a Goan or Indian and nor an American. As I tell people, you cannot grow cherries on tree when the tree root is of mango. The uniqueness is what helps to bring the unique perspective. If you are one among the many, world will choose anyone from the herd. But if you are unique than the world will be interested in you- your unique ideas, outlook and contributions to this world coming from your unique roots and upbringing.
TG: What value do you think culture and staying rooted holds in a globalised world?
Let me give an example of Toyota, the automobile manufacturer. Toyota management had been very open to American researchers to allow entry into their Japanese factories. Their production technologies that are now known as TPS, Lean, Just in Time, Kanban, Kaizen, etc. had been freely available for anyone to see, study and research. Why did Toyota give such a free access to current and potential competitors without losing their competitive edge? The answer is, their technologies were rooted in their culture and hence Toyota knew that a non-Japanese manufacturer who do not share their culture will not be successfully able to implement such systems. That is the power of culture.
What is true of corporate is also true with individual. The views, ideas, habits, written and unwritten rules constitute the culture. The culture not only gives you your unique proposition helping you to differentiate and win, but also the difficulty to copy it easily helps you to retain the edge. That said, culture is a palimpsest, and we should welcome influences of changing society and science. So, anyone trying to bank on the past traditions at the cost of new positive influences would harm the evolution of the culture.
