Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (MD)
Mangaluru, Nov 6: The Vimala Pai Vishwa Konkani Sahitya Awards 2015 and Basti Vaman Shenoy Vishwa Konkani Seva Awards 2015 were conferred on eminent personalities in a befitting ceremony held at T V Raman Pai Convention Centre here on Thursday November 6.
The award ceremony marked the culmination of the two-day 'Vishwa Konkani Sahitya Samaroh - 2015' literary festival organised by World Konkani Centre (WKC) in association with the department of Kannada and culture, government of Karnataka and the department of English, Goa University.
The Vimala V Pai Vishwa Konkani Sahitya Puraskar was bestowed on Meena Kakodkar for her Konkani novel 'Vastu', while the Vimala V Pai Vishwa Konkani Kavitha Krithi Puraskar was presented to veteran Konkani poet Andrew L D'Cunha for his anthology of poems 'Anjurachem Paan'.
Vimala V Pai Vishwa Konkani Jeevan Siddhi Samman (Lifetime Achievment Award) was conferred on Suresh G Amonkar for his immense contribution to the Konknai language movement.
The Basti Vaman Shenoy Vishwa Konkani Seva Awards were conferred to Grace Pinto and H Shantaram for their exeplary service in the field of education.
Each of these 5 awards consisted of Rs 1 lac cash, a citation, shawl and memento.
Addressing the gathering, chairman of Manipal Global Education, Bengaluru, T V Mohandas Pai said, "Today we are honouring ourselves by giving awards to these eminent personalities. In every society there is a group of people who have stood up for the betterment of our country and society. These are the people whom we should not forget. These people are the real role models to our kids and they are the ones who inspire us to do good things for the society. Every now and then we face challenges which may be good or bad. But power of knowledge and unity can help us face those challenges."
Acknowledging the honour, Andrew D'Cunha said that he loves society and life. "Society and life are my real inspiration. I try to depict society and life in my poems and I try to inspire others to love them," he said.
Suresh G Amonkar in his speech said that his heart is a poet and is very romantic. Meena Kakodkar said that the stories which she writes comes from her heart.
Dr Uday Narayan Singh, chair, Centre for Endangered Languages, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan in his presidential address said, "Konkani is emerging slowly as a powerful language and as a literary language. A lot more people must emulate or follow these kind of eminent people. Vishwa Konkani Kendra should honour more people like them, and the awards presented to the eminent people should inspire the youth of today."
Basti Vaman Shenoy, founder president of Vishwa Konkani Kendra presented a memento to Uday Narayan Singh.
Grace Pinto lauded Vishwa Konkani Kendra and said, "Long live Vishwa Konkani Kendra and let it shine throughout the whole world. Look forward with hope, not backwards with regret. Never look back for what you have lost; forget, look forward and move on."
Dr H Shataram said, "Service must be rendered without hatred. Today girls are ahead in education and are intelligent, but they are not recognised by the society. We have to give them proper guidance to lead the society. My responsibility has doubled with this award."
Basti Vaman Shenoy welcomed the gathering. Naresh Kini proposed the vote of thanks.
Roy Catelino, Pundalik, Ramdas Kamath, Ramesh Pai, Vivekananda Shenoy, Ravindra Kini, Geetha Kini, Dr Kiran Budkule, Uday L Bhembre, K Jagadish Shenoy, Allen C Periera, Venkatesh N Baliga, B Prabhakar Prabhu and others were also present on this occasion.
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