Panaji, Oct 22(TNN): Sahitya Akademi award-winning Konkani poet and writer Ramesh Bhagwant Veluskar passed away on Sunday following a brief illness while on a visit to Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh.

Born in Pale, Sattari, Veluskar, 70, was a multi-linguist with a strong command over Konkani, Bengali, Marathi, Hindi, Portuguese and Sanskrit. Post Liberation, Veluskar moved to Pilar, and after completing his graduation began teaching at St Andrew’s High School at Goa Velha.

During his 33-year career as a teacher, he taught Marathi and Hindi, but he started out teaching Konkani, a language he himself had never studied in school. A decade after he first began teaching his students Konkani, Veluskar published his first collection of Konkani poems ‘Morpakham’ in 1979.

His pen has not had much rest since, with the writer’s long and diverse list of works ranging from collection of poetry to essays and novellas, poetry and dramas for children. It was only a matter of time before Veluskar’s work was recognized by the Sahitya Akademy for his 1989 collection of poems Saulgori.

It is during his stay in Bhubaneshwar that the writer met his Uttar Pradesh born wife, Mithilesh Kumari Srivastava, whom he married in 1982. Veluskar won the Non-Hindi Writer Award of the Union HRD ministry for his poetry collection Samudramudrika in 2011.

From translating Sant Tukaram’s abhangs and Rabindranath Tagore’s Geetanjali to Konkani to bringing Portuguese poet Carlos Drumond de Andrade’s works to Hindi readers, Veluskar has used literature to bring the world to readers of Indian languages.

Following Veluskar’s death on Sunday, former chief minister Digambar Kamat said, “Veluskar immensely constributed to Konkani literature. Goans will always remember his work for the promotion of Konkani literature. My heartfelt condolences to his family members.”