That Konkaniwadis in Goa and elsewhere are at war within themselves based on scripts, dialects and the regions they come from is no secret.
In Goa, particularly, these wars are particularly intense on the devnagri-roman script or the antruzi-saxtti lines. It now seems, though, that the warring parties are tired of the decades-long sparring or warring and have begun to see the virtues in the maxim ‘unity in diversity’.
Protagonists of these multiple hues of Konkani came together under a single roof recently at Pilar to explore a possible synthesis. The occasion was a two-day seminar on ‘Unity of Konkani Communities through Art, Culture and Literature’.
Clearly an attempt to foster an elusive unity among the culturally diverse Konkani communities by the never say die Michael Jude Gracias in collaboration with the Agnel College at Pilar, it’s another matter that the jury is still out on whether the gathering of hundreds of Konkani culture buffs achieved the goals it was meant to.
Cultural performances, poetry and poster contests and deliberations on topics that personify the identity, script and other differences were part of the two-day seminar, as delegates from Goa, Kerala, Mangalore and even abroad rubbed shoulders.
Perhaps the first such shedding of differences within by the Konkani gang since the movement for recognition of Konkani as Goa’s official language and its inclusion in the Constitution’s eighth schedule, the even was a laudable effort, irrespective of its tangible outcome.
The icing on the cake was the sharing of stage by Anwesha Singbal, the current President of Konkani Bhasha Mandal and Celso Fernandes, the President of Dalgado Konkani Academy and Prof Elston D’Souza of Mangalore to deal dealt with the practicality of forging unity among the many Konkanis.
Hope for the future? Perhaps.
