From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Aug 29: Well-known Konkani writer and Folklore Researcher of Goa Dr Jayanti Naik has been chosen for the prestigious N M Saraswathi Bai Sahitya Puraskar of Konkani Bhasha Prachar Sabha, Kochy, for her play, '' Kunkumadevichidipmall.’

Dr Naik has been chosen for the Kochy Konkani Bhasha Prachar Sabha’s annual award, which is reserved for women writers in Konkani language. The award will be conferred by Kochy’s Deputy Mayor Bhadra at a function in the port city of Kochy on September 24.

The award, sponsored by former Chief Financial Officer of IT major Infosys of Bangalore T V Mohandas Pai, who incidentally hails from Kochy, carries a cash prize of Rs 25,000 and a citation.

Saraswathi Bai was the first woman teacher in Kerala who entered the teaching profession in 1908 defying orthodoxy. But she was relieved soon from the post due to pressure from the management. However, she went on to start a separate school on September 24, 1909 in her native village of Andikadavu near Kochy.

Dr Jayanti Naik has written a celebrated book on Konkani Folklore, entitled 'Konkani Lokved,’ which has several folk tales current among the Konkani-speaking emigrants who made their permanent home in the southern States of Karnataka and Kerala in their original form with regional slant, as they were graphically recounted to her.

She had also compiled and edited, ''Venchik Lok Kannio,” a Collection of Konkani Folk Tales in Romi Script, which was published by the Konkani Academy, Goa, in 2008.