PANAJI
The Reader's Club of Konkani Bhasha Mandal 'Konkani Vachan Vishwa' was launched recently on the occasion of International Literacy Day in the presence of writers Jose Lourenco and Kamal Kishore Sharma.
In his inaugural speech, Lourenco expressed hope that this platform will produce new readers and writers hence boosting the status of Konkani in Goa. Lourenco also stressed on the importance of reading and encouraged the readers to hold discussions on Konkani literature books.
Sharma, on the other hand, delivered a keynote address in Hindi on ‘The relevance of literature reading in teaching and writing’ and highlighted the importance of mother tongue.
Acknowledging the efforts of Konkani Bhasha Mandal, Sharma encouraged others also to make similar efforts and mentioned that providing elementary education in mother tongue will greatly help in the development of the language. He also suggested that children should have a personal library.
The president of Konkani Bhasha Mandal Anwesha Singbal in her welcome address highlighted the objectives of the organisation and the reason to start the book club. This will act as a platform for book reviews, presentations, discussions and author’s interviews, she said.
The club launch was attended by over 180 participants and there were even more viewers attending live sessions on Facebook. Sonia Gadkar coordinated the programme, Shalaka Desai introduced the chief guest Jose Lourenco and Sabina Mulla introduced the keynote speaker Kamal Kishore Sharma. Poorva Gude proposed the vote of thanks.
The first activity of the book club will be held on September 22 on Google meet which is a session to discuss the writings of Konkani stalwart Shenoi Goembab, based on the book ‘Vajralikhni’ compiled by writer Shantaram Varde Valaulikar.
