Bravo!! Pleased to read... I am immensely and equally amazed by your
in-depth knowledge of Konkani... On a serious note Domnic, from where do you
comeup with all this. Your konkani notes; flood memories back of bygone era.
Thnx and keep going.
hAVE a nICE dAY !!
Seb
Post by domnic fernandesSometime ago, one of the Goanetters in the USA asked me through private
email: "You mean to say you taught yourself to read and write Konkani?"
My
Post by domnic fernandesreply was: "Yes". Many Goanetters, active as well as silent, have
recently
Post by domnic fernandesposed the same question to me privately and my answer remains the same.
My father was a musician and a parochial school teacher first at Oxel,
Siolim and then at Vai-Dongor, Mandrem. He told us he earned Rs.5.00 per
month and supported his parents and three sisters. He then shifted to
Bombay where he played for a resident band in the "Green Hotel". I am yet
to find out this hotel, if it exists. He finally left Goa for Kuwait in
1947 and joined Kuwait Oil Company for Rs.90.00 per month, so he told us.
He retired and returned to Goa in 1970 and passed away on April 28, 1983.
From my childhood, I always saw four big metal trunks piled upon each
other
Post by domnic fernandesin a corner in one of the bedrooms. These trunks were placed on two flat,
round grinding stones which belonged to a "Dantem" (manual grinder).
Whenever I chased rats at night with my gun (they came to eat paddy stored
in the room), they would run and hide under these trunks. The trunks were
quite heavy. One fine day I asked my mother what they contained. To my
surprise, she told me she did not know. Although there were no locks on
the
Post by domnic fernandestrunks, my mother had never bothered to check the contents. In those
days,
Post by domnic fernandesa wife did not touch anything that belonged to her husband unless she was
asked to. So, I suggested to my mother that we would open the trunks and
check the contents. When we opened one of the trunks, we had to run away
because cockroaches and silverfishes came out of the trunk and ran in
every
Post by domnic fernandesdirection. Since it was night time, we gave up, closed the trunk and
continued with the operation on the next day, Sunday. My mother, sister
and
Post by domnic fernandesa neighbor of ours carried the trunk out of the house. As soon as we
opened
Post by domnic fernandesthe trunk, again armies of cockroaches and silverfishes ran out of it. As
we kept on digging into the trunk, we found nothing but music notes
(solfas)
Post by domnic fernandesbut all of them were very badly eaten up. We emptied the whole trunk and
set fire to those notes. My mother was upset but I consoled and told her
that I would explain everything to father when he came home on vacation.
We continued checking/emptying the remaining trunks - one trunk per week.
In the fourth week, we emptied the last trunk. On the top of this trunk,
I
Post by domnic fernandesfound a crumpled violin in a cloth bag which had been completely eaten up
by
Post by domnic fernandessilverfishes. I also found some books but again they were all eaten up by
silverfishes except for one book which had 35 pages. Its cover was quite
intact but the title was eaten up and so was the writer's name except for
the last four letters of the name - "dade", and the last three letters of
the surname "des". I figured out later in my life that the writer was
none
Post by domnic fernandesother than CARIDADE FERNANDES. I opened the book and tried to read it.
Yes, I was able to read it slowly but could not understand anything. I
did
Post by domnic fernandesnot throw away the book. Over the weekend, I decided to give it another
try. As I kept on reading, the words sounded very much like the ones we
used in our daily conversation; I had a connection. I started comparing
day
Post by domnic fernandesto day words with those on the book and bingo - they matched. I gradually
read the whole book and was able to understand some of it. Thus, barely
at
Post by domnic fernandesthe age 10, I was able to read Konkani without anyone's guidance. I liked
the new language very much. I had found something different to read
besides
Post by domnic fernandesPortuguese which I was studying. I read the book several times until I
had
Post by domnic fernandesa fair idea of its contents. I wanted to read more Konkani books but did
not know where to get them. I enquired with my friends and neighbors but
they could not help me. They did not know what I was talking about.
I finished my Segundo Grau in Escola Primaria de Anjuna (anyone could get
a
Post by domnic fernandesjob then if he/she passed this qualification). When I appeared for the
final exam of Segundo Grau in Mapusa in the school premises adjacent to
the
Post by domnic fernandesPost Office, a 60-year old gentleman from Tivim appeared for the exam with
us. I joined Escola Technica (ET) in Mapusa at the age of twelve. This
is
Post by domnic fernandeswhere I came across one Domingos Mendes from Ucassaim. He too had a
liking
Post by domnic fernandesfor "Romansi" (Konkani novels). In fact, he brought Romansi to ET and
read
Post by domnic fernandesthem during lunch time. We were in the same class but he was about eight
years elder to me. There was another boy at ET, Conceicao Lobo, from
Corjuem, who also shared his Romansi with me. I had at last found the
source of Konkani novels which lasted for two years. By then I had found
a
Post by domnic fernandesshop in Mapusa which sold Romansi. Later, I also came across a person in
our ward who read Romansi. So, we exchanged Romansi.
Next, I began to read "VAURADDEANCHO IXTT", the only Konkani newspaper
written in Roman script then and now. I laid my hands on everything that
was available in Konkani at that time and educated myself. My Konkani
remained dormant in Saudi Arabia from the time I arrived here in 1981
until
Post by domnic fernandeslast year. I began writing Konkani on Goanet last year after around 22
years!!!
The purpose of this message is to reaffirm the fact that nothing is
impossible. "Mog aslear, hun-hun vodde ghanttar pavtat, nam zalear xevele
torui pavonant" (where there is will, there is a way!)
Today is an auspicious day because it happens to be the day Konkani was
included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. So, why are you
waiting, go for Konkani and be a proud Goan!
Viva amchi maim bhas Konkani!
Moi-mogan,
Domnic Fernandes
Anjuna/Dhahran, KSA