Daijiworld Media Network – Goa (SM)
Goa, Oct 29: Bernardino Evaristo Mendes was awarded Antonio Pereira Konkani Puroskar for his contribution to Konkani literature, for the last sixty-two years.
The award was conferred to him at a gathering held at Thomas Stephens Konkani Kendr (TSKK), Porvorim here on Thursday October 25.
Fr Antimo Gomes, the parish priest of Church of Immaculate Conception, Panaji presented the award, consisting of a shawl, memento besides a cheque of Rs 25,000/-
The function began with a prayer song sung by Gurudas Kalangutkar a composition of Bonaventure D'Pietro followed by one minutes silence prayer to the departed soul of Fr Moreno D’Souza, the founder of TSKK.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Pratap Naik, SJ director of the TSKK informed the audience that the award is given to the person who has made substantial contribution to Konkani irrespective of the script, caste and creed of the recipient. The money has been collected from the public mostly lovers of Konkani in Roman script, he added.
Bernardino Evaristo Mendes shared his few experiences about how he sold Konkani books in Mumbai by visiting each and every house.
Fr Antimo Gomes, the chief guest stressed the need of speaking Konkani among natives and preserving its culture. Rabin D'Pietro entertained the gathering by singing Konkani film songs.
Preeta Naik compered the programme while Shilpa Salvi gave a brief history of the recipient Bernardino Evaristo Mendes and Netra Kundaikar proposed the vote of thanks.
On this occasion Mendes released the twelfth issue of ‘Sod,’ a Konknni research bulletin of TSKK.
This issue of ‘Sod’ consists articles Konkani sahityacho moila factor, Franciscan contribution to Konkani by Shilpa Salvi, Bhas ani Bhugoll by Dr Matthew Almeida, Gaspar de Sao Migue, notes on the study of Indian languages by the Franciscans by Achilles Meersman, the contribution of Jesuits to education and Konkani in Goa by Pratap Naik and the evaluation of this paper by Dr Kyoko Matsukawa, Romanticism revisited by Dr K Shripad Bhat, multi-culturalism and language by Marion Valladares Smith, language and beyond by Eduardo Faleiro and composite culture in a multicultural society a paper presented at World Book Fair seminar.