Media Release
Mangaluru, Dec 23: A milestone at the Institute of Konkani of St Aloysius College (Autonomous), here, was on December 19 which will go down in Konkani history.
The president of Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Akademi, Dr K Jagadish Pai inaugurated the long-awaited project by scanning a page of A T Lobo's famous Konkani novel 'Vell Ghedi'. This memorable programme commenced with a documentary on the life and literature of A T Lobo; Dr Edward Nazareth presented an analysis of A T Lobo’s novel; John M Permannur presented an analysis of A T Lobo’s dramas and Melwyn Rodrigues presented an analysis of A T Lobo’s poetry. Late A T Lobo’s niece, Celine Sequeira spoke on ATL’s life. Alice Lobo, president of A T Lobo Foundation was present on the dais and spoke on the many awards he was honoured with.
Welcoming the gathering, in his inaugural address, the president of the programme Dr (Fr) Melwyn Pinto, SJ rector of St Aloysius College said that even after the demise of A T Lobo, the great Konkani writer we could still feel his presence in our midst; he said that the period during which such a prolific writer as A T Lobo wrote, can be considered the golden age of Konkani writing in spite of all the trials and difficulties faced during those transforming days. Socially and culturally seen as a very vibrant and productive period for our regional Konkani literature.
Gurudatt Baliga, the director of Vishwa Konkani Kendra, Shakti Nagar, gave an enlightening talk on digitalization of old books. He stressed that St Aloysius College is the one great factor, as a home for Konkani and it is 42 groups of diverse user speakers of Konkani from different communities. "This great institution has worked tirelessly for the development of Konkani as a language and culture for more than 100 years. Therefore, it is a matter of great satisfaction and joy that such an institution should take up the work of digitalization of the works of A T Lobo. This type of digitalization of the regional works of A T Lobo will now be accessible to people internationally." Further, he reiterated that the process of digitization was a multifold one, including scanning and converting the text into OCR, which can then be translated, transliterated, into any number of languages. Besides, the font format can also be changed. In the future, this venture can be used with the help of artificial intelligence to generate the 6th volume from the existing 5 volumes of ATL's famous novel 'Vell Gheddi'. We wish to assure you at St Aloysius College that Vishwa Konkani Kendra is ever-willing to extend keen and heartfelt support to all the literary endeavours of the Konkani institute."
The rector, Fr Melwin Pinto, concurred with Gurudatt Baliga and K Jagadish Pai and said that this digitalization of A T Lobo's works would help bring out his books from the dusty shelves and cupboards into a virtual world available to all. One major reason why people do not elicit interest in books is because of their fragile condition after being kept on library shelves for years. Digitalization will encourage readers to access works of literature from their own locales. Therefore, we need to work hard to facilitate the transition of books in their physical state to a virtual one.
Fr Praveen Martis SJ, the principal noted that the Konkani institute, which is 41 years old now, was begun to commemorate 100 years of service of St Aloysius Institutions. He said that the Konkani Institute has been working hard over these years for the social, cultural and linguistic development of Konkani in this region. In this direction, the institute has for the past 40 years been publishing or bringing out Bi-annual editions of a research-oriented journal called 'Amar Konkani'. The institute has always accorded great importance to research, apart from the recent efforts to digitise old books. In the light of the work going on to get recognition of St Aloysius Institution as a deemed university, the contribution of the Konkani Institute towards the growth of the language and research is now parallel to the work done in various departments of this historical college of Mangaluru.
Alice Lobo, the president of A T Lobo Foundation was present on the dais.
At the beginning of the programme Dr (Fr) Melwyn Pinto welcomed the gathering. In his welcome speech he said that despite the demise of A T Lobo, a great Konkani writer, we could still feel his presence in our midst in his literature. The period during which such a great writer as late A T Lobo wrote, can be considered as the golden age of Konkani writing in spite of all the trials and difficulties faced during those changing days.
Joachim Pinto, the programme coordinator proposed the vote of thanks. Raoul Samuel Noronha, a first-year student of SAC compered the programme. A documentary on the life and literature was shown at the beginning of the programme. In that, Dr Edward Nazareth presented an analysis of A T Lobo’s novel, John M Permannur presented an analysis of A T Lobo’s dramas and Melwyn Rodrigues presented an analysis of A T Lobo’s poetry. Late A T Lobo’s niece, Celine Sequeira spoke on ATL’s life and Alice Lobo spoke on his rewards.
Brief look at late A T Lobo:
Late Apollo Thomas Lobo, popularly known by his pen name T Lobo' is one among the so-called 'Pancha Pandavas' of Konkani literature. This year 2020, is the centenary year of his birth.
A brief look at Institute of Konkani:
One of the prestigious institutions of SAC, the 'Konkani Institute', stands out for its unique history and track record. It has registered in the development of Konkani language and literature, an Indo-Aryan language spoken by over 5 million people world over and written in five different scripts namely, Roman, Devanagari, Kannada, Perso-Arabic and Malayalam. Having and nurturing the Konkani Institute is a feather in the cap for this great College (now autonomous), the seeds of which were sown by Fr Anjelo Savario Maffei SJ way back in 1878 when the first batch of Jesuits landed in Mangaluru and started the St Aloysius College in 1880.
Fr Maffei SJ, was no linguist in this local dialect. Being Italian, even the English language was alien to him. Perhaps, he did not consider learning to read and write English as a greater challenge, but he took up the study of the language of the locals here, very seriously. That language was Konkani! Within a short span of time, Fr Maffei not only learnt to speak Konkani but in 1882 he prepared a Konkani grammar handbook and got it printed too. Further, he prepared a lexicon Konkani - English, English - Konkani. So valuable was this work that the erstwhile Government of Madras Presidency got it printed at its own cost and in 1892, the revised edition of Konkani grammar was printed and published by the Codialbail Press in Mangaluru.
Eventually, Fr Maffei became the rector and principal of St Aloysius College and ensured the love of Konkani was ever burning bright - this paved the way for this Konkani Institute at SAC.
In the centenary year of the College, 1980, a unique gift was given to the Konkanis of Mangaluru – The Konkani Institute of St Aloysius College, thus giving a new lease of life to Konkani. Fr Herbert Noronha SJ was the first director of the institute. As the first step towards the propagation, development and preservation of the language, an exclusive Konkani library was established which has now grown to a strength of nine thousand books plus one thousand bound volumes of various Konkani periodicals. The proud possession of the library is a handwritten copy of 'Krista Purana' of Fr Thomas Stevens written in 1614. 'Amar Konkani', a bi-annual Konkani research journal was started in 1981 under the editorship of (late) V J P Saldanha (Khadaap). The journal has published 57 issues to date in two prominent scripts of Konkani, Kannada and Devanagari. Presently, Konkani litterateur Edwin JF DSouza, who is also the executive director of the Konkani Institute, is the editor. Fr Joseph Rodrigues, SJ is the patron of the institute with Fr Swebert D’Silva, SJ as the director.
Post Graduate Diploma Studies in Konkani: What started off as a one-year, four-module diploma course in the study of Konkani language, literature and culture culminated within a span of three years, into a full-fledged, nine-subject two-year Post Graduate Diploma Course which is thrown open to all Konkani enthusiasts, who have completed their Pre-University studies, in India and overseas by nature of it being a ‘distant education’ (postal-correspondence) course. This was in 1997. Till now, over 800 students have obtained the diploma, the first convocation being held on September 2, 2000. The Konkani Institute is now in the renovated Office in the 'Red Building' on the SAC High School Grounds and could be contacted on Mobile: 9481527394
Update: Webinar series 2020- on Konkani Media:
At this point, please be aware we are ever proud to briefly record St Aloysius College Institute of Konkani and Konkani department along with the department of MA Konkani, University Evening College held a webinar series on 'Konkani Media' on August 1, 8 and 15 at St Aloysius College, Mangaluru. Soon after the serious lockdown ended, no time was wasted and on August 1, the first webinar was on Konkani print media and the topic was ‘Present scenario of print media and its influence on the quantity of Konkani literature produced’. Dr (Fr) Melwyn Pinto SJ, director of the Institute of Konkani, Radio Saarang and AIMIT, Mangaluru and Wilson Kateel, Kannada, Konkani poet, editor 'Arso' Konkani monthly as the resource persons. Dr (Fr) Praveen Martis SJ, principal of St Aloysius College (Autonomous), Mangaluru gave the inaugural address. Flora Costelino, lecturer of the Konkani department, SAC was the host. The vote of thanks was proposed by Elson D’Souza of II BCom.
The second webinar on Konkani Digital Media was held on August 8. The topic again was, ‘Present scenario of print media and its influence on the quality of Konkani literature produced’.
H M Pernal, poet, editor of kittall.com and Melwyn Rodrigues of Sahitya Akademi award winner poet, editor of kavitaa.com presented papers on the growing digital media as an alternative to Konkani print media and their impact on the quality of Konkani literature produced. Basti Vamana Shenoy, founder of Vishwa Konkani Kendra gave the inaugural message.
The 3rd and last webinar of the Konkani Media webinar series was held on August 15. The topic was ‘Sensationalizing mainstream visual media v/s the responsive Konkani visual media reaching the aspirations of the masses during the Kovid-19'. Dr Devadas Pai, coordinator, of the department of MA Konkani, University Evening College delivered the inaugural message. Fr Richard D'Souza, director of Canara Communication Centre, Mangaluru and Stany Bela, sub-editor of www.daijiworld.com presented essays and were the resource persons. Both second and third webinars were hosted by Dr (Fr) Melwyn Pinto SJ, director of the Institute of Konkani. The vote of thanks was proposed by Joslin Marina D’Souza of II BCom. The entire programme was overseen by the program coordinator Joachim Pinto, SAC Institute of Konkani. Fifty-six students from various colleges and universities and several enthusiastic Konkani writers participated in the webinar.
Videos may be viewed by clicking the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z29ZDHtSdC8&feature=youtu.be
The hope of all Konkani lovers is that this premier language and culture will revive and grow by focused consistent action of SAC Konkani Institute, Mangaluru.