Children's Literature in Goa

As the title suggests this paper is based on Children's literature in Goa. The paper aims to discuss how local language can protect through children's literature, secondly what are the problems faced by the people who publish such literature and lastly it will discuss some selected stories. Also in this paper I won't be discussing the elements and history of children's literature as I have discussed them in my other paper.

          I would like to start my paper by quoting Sahitya Akademi Award winner Shri Ramesh Veluskar encapsulates the importance of one’s mother tongue beautifully in these words: “A mother tongue for any individual is a natural expression; its spirit comes from within. Every other language that one learns as we grow is an acquired understanding of a new language. The most natural quality of one’s expression will reflect coherently in one’s mother tongue. That is why there is a need to safeguard and replenish it.” What he is trying to say is that one normally thinks in his mother tongue and his mother tongue has a lot of effect on how he is learning other languages. That is subconsciously we are learning other languages by translating our language into aim language.

         During a seminar on Children's literature in local language N S Madhavan, a Malayalam writer said “Children’s literature should present social reality instead of explaining the fantasy world,” . We can see similar motives in Quadros’s stories.

        Vincy Quadros is Bala Sahitya award winner for Konkani literature. His book, Jaduche Pettul(Magic box) is a fantasy middle grade novel which was first published in 2011 and won the award in 2017.  The Konkani language has five scripts- Devanagari, Romi, Malayalam, Kannada and Perso Arabic. Vincy’s award winning book has been written in the Romi script. The story revolves around Abdul, a poor boy who finds a fairy in a box. Abdul inherits a kingdom without an heir and resolves conflict between kingdoms, fostering brotherhood between warring kings and promotes the message of peace.  He never returns home. The story ends when Abdul becomes an adult. The main character of Abdul was named after a school student Quincy met in one of his school workshops.  He was teaching the process of ideating stories and posed a question, “What will you do if you find a magical treasure box?”  A student named Abdul started the story about a boy inheriting a kingdom with no heir and a world without wars. The moment Quincy heard the answer he knew it would make a good story.   He promised Abdul he would write the story and name the main character after him.  Quincy has not met or heard from the boy again. Abdul remains immortal in the pages of Jaduche Pettul.

          Second we have Irene Cardozo, who is former headmistress who took two years to select a set of children's stories which she then translated in Roman Konkani the legendary tales we have all read in English, and thread them into a book titled, Kirnnam (the rays). The book was published under the Bhurgeanche Sahitya Yeuzonn imprint by the Dalgado Konkani Academy in 2019.

There are several stories in Kirnnam which have a distinct Indian origin. Sopnam tim Sopnanch Urlim is a translation of ‘The Milkmaid’s Dream’. Cardozo has changed the milkmaid’s name from Radha (as in the source text) to Shanta, perhaps because the name rings familiar with girls’ names in Goa. There is the Arabian story ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’, the tale of Ali Baba who finds a treasure trove secreted away by bandits, translated as Ali Baba ani Cheallis Chor. So also, the Akbar-Birbal tales make their note-worthy presence felt in this collection. Birbal Fottounk Nam, Burgeak Samballop Kotthin, Akbar-an Dilolem Utor Pal’lem and Samratt Akbar-acho Rag Nivolltoto are creative translations from the opus, Akbar-Birbal. They embody the wit and wisdom of Birbal, the intelligent minister of Akbar’s court, and familiarise the Konkani readers with these personages from India’s history.

In her translator’s note Cardozo notes the driving reason for bringing such a diverse collection together is not merely to entertain, but instil good values. However, though the translation is well-rendered, the spoon-feeding of ‘morals’ is not necessary when appealing to an intelligent 21st century generation, who can interpret multiple morals within each story. Specifically stating the moral, limits the vision of the story receiver.

          Apart from this other folk tales like Don Babe (Two Frogs), Murtikar ani tacho bhurgo(Sculptor and his son), Allxi Put (Lazy Son), and Kavla ani Chimni (Crow & Sparrow), are passed down to one generation to another by word of mouth hence we really don't know who there writer is or Any other thing related to their origin. These stories are similar to the stories of Panchatantra, as here they have animal characters representing human quality and each story has a moral to learn from. Elements like settings, language, allegories, idioms, songs that make these stories unique. Apart from morals these stories also teach us how to survive in situations wherein we don't have advanced technology, as most of these stories are set in yesteryear.

Using Children’s Literature to Preserve the Konkani Language

Across the world, linguists and language champions are fighting the good fight to ensure that languages are preserved for posterity. For when a language dies, we not only lose the words and sounds it makes, but also swathes of heritage, history, and culture.
No one understands this better than the crusaders at the Konkani Bhasha Mandal. Founded in 1962, the organisation has devoted itself to reviving Konkani, a minority language spoken in Goa, pockets of Maharashtra, and the coastal belts of Karnataka and Kerala. The Konkani Bhasha Mandal  has focussed much of its work on children and children’s literature. As a part of their efforts to revive children’s literature in Konkani, the Mandal has put into play a number of initiatives, including a quarterly magazine for early readers named Chirput, and a project to produce a series of CDs of balgeet (children’s songs) named Shani Masti. The Mandal also organises ‘Shenoi Goembab Kathamaal’, an annual children’s storytelling competition in all the talukas of Goa, every year to encourage confidence and pride in the mother tongue amongst younger readers and speakers of the language. This year, close to 4,500 children took part in the event.

Challenges faced by Konkani writers:

Schools in Goa teach Konkani in Devnagri script. Most Konkani children books are written in the Romi script making it difficult to market them.  Vincy suggests introducing books as a part of compulsory reading in schools. “Marketing children books is not a one man show. People should come forward and support all forms of literature. Children should be involved in regional literature through writing stories, narrating poems and elocution competitions after they finish schooling. The world of a Goan is incomplete without the Konkani language.  Children should feel honoured to write, speak and read in Konkani.”