Media Release

Panaji, Jan 9: Under the auspices of Dalgado Konkani Akademi (DKA) organized a poets’ meet at Campal on Saturday, January 8.

Round 20 poets from different parts of Goa participated in the meet entitled ‘Otlelim Bhavnam’, which was moderated by editor of periodical ‘Konkan Divo’ Konkani poet Ashok R Chodankar and presided over by the president of DKA Premanand Lotlikar.
 
At the very outset, the gathering resolved to congratulate Melvyn Rodgrigues, the Konkani poet from Mangalore who was declared the recipient of the National Sahitya Akademi award recently and Tomazinho Cardozo who was declared Goan of the Year-2011 by the Federation of Goan Cultural, Social and Literary Organizations.

The highlight of the programme was that it attracted people from different communities belonging to different age groups and created a harmonious and enjoyable atmosphere.
 
Ashok Chodankar in his address said that poetry not only encourages imagination but also it instills courage to fight odds of life. Quoting Rabindranath Tagore he said that his precious words ‘Okela Chalo’ inspire people to go ahead in life even if left all alone to do so.

Chodankar urged the young poets to cultivate reading habits so as to enrich their poetic expressions with suitable words and phrases.
 
Premanand Lotlikar in his presidential address said that the Dalgado Konkani Akademi would come forward to publish the literary work of the young writers and the poets if submitted in Roman script.

He further appealed to all present to take pride in conversing in Konkani language on different occasions.
 
Yusuf A Sheikh, Pandharinath Damodar Lotlikar, John Aguiar, Former Goa speaker and chairman of Goa Teatr Akademi Tomazinho Cardozo were present among other protagonists of Konkani language and literature.

A certificate of merit and a memento was presented to each participant. Secretary of the DKA Jose Salvador Fernandes proposed the vote of thanks.