Report and pictures: Maxim Lobo
Bangalore, Jun 25: Konkani Niyall, an innovative two hour meditation/reflection on Konkani language was presented on the lawns of Carmelite provincialate, Sadbhavana, Bangalore by Eric Ozario and his troupe on Sunday June 23.
The event was organized by Rajajinagar Konkani Catholic Welfare Association and Konkani Catholic Sangh, Yeswathpur along with Jagathik Konkani Sangaton (JKS) and Mandd Sobhann.
The motto of Niyall was igniting the Konkani light in Konkani minds and creating Konkani awareness among Konkan ipeople. The programme commenced at 5pm with Eric Ozario and his team rendering some of their popular numbers like ‘Voddaponda’, ‘Manddo’ etc.as the people settled down. Fr Archie Gonsalves, the provincial of carmelites of Karnataka-Goa province welcomed the gathering and stressed on the need of such an event.
He lamented Konkani people’s disdain for the mother tongue and their overly zeal for English. Giving the example of Israelites through their roller coaster journey down the centuries up to establishing a nation for themselves against all odds, he called upon the Konkanis to unite, to be proud of their mother tongue and work towards its preservation.
Once Eric Ozario took the centre stage he went about chalking out his 10 Upades (commandments) to keep Konkani alive. One by one he expounded the 10 commandments, briefly commenting on each one of them with his humorous, witty reflections, ever egging the audience to take stock of the reality and brace for the battle ahead. He maintained that the issue was not religion as is perceived but Konkani language.He urged the audience to shed their greed for other languages.
Giving due credit to English, he said that it is our ‘PottachiBhas’, a language that gives our daily bread. But he pointed out that only our mother tongue gives us identity and self-esteem. Citing plenty of examples, he underlined the beauty and richness of Konkani.
The one 'Upades' message that resonanted more than any other among the gathering was the fourth one. ‘Thou shall speak to your God in Konkani’ as increasingly the people in Bangalore have been deprived of celebrating mass in Konkani despite their best efforts. Eric quoted Vatican II and the Indian constitution that empower one to worship in their vernacular. He warned if Latin, that was the language of the Roman empire that ruled the world (so the world’s language) became nearly extinct after it wasn’t used in liturgy, Konkani could also have a similar fate!
The reflections were interspersed with Konkani songs like ‘PuddemascheaMhazonnanobhashemhogkora’, 'konkaniamchibharamchibhas’, ‘hinduzanv, muslimzanv’ penned by the great Chapra, Eric himself and others. Eric meticulously led his troupe through the flawless execution of these songs along with the nostalgic and culturally rich folk songs, ‘vovio’ and ‘verse’.
On the stage, Eric was joined by his wife Joyce Ozario in the vocals, Cajetan Dias on melodeon, Sunil on Violin, Norbert on Gummat and percussions and Dhillon on Guitar and vocals. It was heartening to see the audience joining the chorus and making it a veritable Konkani fest. Eric kept the 100 plus audience spell bound for about 2 hours. He called upon them to progress from Niyall (reflection) to Nichev (decision).People truly left the venue invigorated and empowered to work for Konkani. Hand-outs were distributed towards the end that contained the Upades along with the decisions people could take.
The organizing of the programme was the need of the hour considering the untoward incidents by a few disgruntled Kannada activists who have been taunting, threatening and assaulting Konkani activists and devotees against the use of their mother tongue Konkani in the liturgy at various places in Bangalore in the recent past. All kinds of defamatory literature has also been published during the period.At the end of the programme a 15 minutes photo-video clip was shown documenting all such instances that have marred the Konkani people along with the recent restraining order imposed on the miscreants as well as other measures that have been spearheaded by Konkani activists.