Mumbai: Konkani Poetess Sheela Khambadkone Passes Away

Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai (CN)

Mumbai, Sep 5: Konkani poetess Sheela Khambadkone died at a city hospital following a brief illness on Monday September 5. She was in her late 70s. Her husband Keshav Rao and son Anil were with her when she passed away.

Khambadkone had been very active until recently and had participated in various Konkani poetry sessions held in Mangalore and Mumbai. She had recited poems during the World Konkani Cultural Convention held at Kalangann last year.

Khambadkone did her schooling from Mangalore and passed her Matric (SSLC) in 1948. She was brought up by her aunt who was a retired teacher and social worker.

Since her schooldays she wrote songs, poems, and small skits. Khambadone had a small group of friends and neighbors who used to sing and enact these with her.

She shifted to Bombay (Mumbai) in late 1948 after the demise of her aunt. She pursued her interests and continued to write poems and read them on All India Radio and at social gatherings.

Khambadkone also joined college and completed her graduation in English Literature and German with encouragement from her husband. She used to write in the college magazine also.

She has written two Konkani dramas. A two-act play ‘Haas Ajje Haas’ was enacted in 1984 at the Konkani Natya Mahotsav and the one-act play at Santa Cruz Colony during Diwali in 1983. She had also read a few poems at the World Konkani Sammelan in Mangalore in 1995.

Her main object in writing was to make people laugh and be happy. She wrote in a light vein and tried to bring out the beauty of Konkani language which she loved very much.

In March 2008, Khambadkone received the ‘Lekhana Puraskar’ from Saraswat Mahila Samaj, Mumbai.