With Inputs from Sanjay Borkar
Daijiworld Media Network—Goa
Vasco, Jul 30: Noted writer Dr Olivinho J F Gomes passed away on Thursday July 30. He was a noted scholar, polyglot writer, poet, translator, broadcaster and telecaster, and has over 40 published books to his credit.
At a condolence meeting in Vasco, the Goan Poet's Forum mourned the death of Dr Gomes. Yusuf A Sheikh, president of the Forum, expressed shock at the sudden passing away of Dr Gomes, who, he said was a gigantic personality in the development of the Konkani language.
“He was a self-made man of extraordinary qualities and a great scholar who kept himself involved in the pursuit of knowledge. He was a rare Goan in the Indian Revenue Service. With unflinching interest he dedicated his time to conducting spectacular research on Konkani language and literature. We have lost a towering Konkani personality”, Sheikh added.
Pandharinath Damodar Lotlikar described Dr Gomes as a distinguished Goan who made everyone proud by occupying the post of the Vice Chancellor of Goa University. “His contribution to translation of Indian classics and his dedication to Konkani language and education at the university level are laudable”, he said.
Ashok Chodankar, condoling the death of Dr Gomes, described him as a great patriot who had in-depth knowledge of Indian history and Indian culture.
Clarence Furtado described Dr Gomes as a Konkani writer of exceptionally high standard which had resulted in him being on the executive board of the national Sahitya Akademi representing Konkani language.
Anil Kamat Shankhwalkar said that the literary work of Dr Gomes has both local and national flavour and is a great source of inspiration to upcoming Goan writers.
Gopinath Shah, Andre Fernandes, Stanley Vaz and others paid tribute to the departed soul and expressed heartfelt condolences.
In a message written on a Goan website, renowned fashion designer Wendell Rodricks wrote, “A terrible loss. I referred to his books a lot for my work. Sympathy and prayers for his family.”
Born in St Estevam, Goa, in 1943, he served as the official translator (Konkani, Portuguese, French and English)for the Goa Government Secretariat from 1965 to 1970.
After his IAS, he joined the IRS(Indian Revenue Service –Customs and Central Excise,Class-I) in 1970. He retired as Additional Collector of Customs and Central Excise at Aurangabad, Maharashtra in 1987.
He quit the service to serve the cause of Konkani as the first full professor of Konkani language and literature at the new Goa University, in accordance with UGC norms in October 1986.
He set up from scratch, as it were, the new Department of Konkani Language and Literature at the post-graduate level in the varsity while introducing it at the under-graduate level.
He formulated courses from under-graduate to post-graduate levels of education in Konkani for the first time and implemented them in a phased manner.
A noted scholar, Dr Gomes has presented papers and lectures at regional, national and international seminars and conferences in India and abroad on topics relating to language, literature, translation, history, sociology-anthropology and culture in general, and covering inter-disciplinary themes, some of which were later published in reputed professional as well as specialized journals and conference proceedings.
He has been a member of the expert’s panel of the UGC, NCERT, UPSC, K K Birla Foundation and other national academic and literary bodies including the Indian Languages Promotion Council headed by the Prime Minister.
He has won various awards nationally and internationally including the National Sahitya Akademi Award for Translation in 1993.