[Goanet-news]08 SEP 2003: GOACOM DAILY NEWS CLIPPINGS
KERALA'S KUDUMBIS MAINTAIN A SLENDER LINK WITH THEIR ROOTS IN GOA
Centuries after they left Goa, it's the slender link of language that keeps them in touch with this region. But then too, the dialects of Konkani they speak is not easily comprehendible here, and vice versa. Kerala's Kudumbi community forms a significant part of the Konkani-speaking community in that southern state. Members of this linguistic group, who trace their roots to the Goa of the sixteenth century, say their community could be upto five lakh strong currently. Retired teacher from Trichur K.G.Lakshamanan (65), Kerala State Road Transport Corporation chargeman Raman (52), retired teacher P Raman Dhodhan, government employee Govindan (53), social worker Ms. Sharada, and seven-year-old Charudha were among those attending the Konkani literary conference which concluded in Alto Porvorim on Sunday. Over the centuries, they have come under the influence of the dominant local language, Malayalam. "We live in small groups, surrounded by a number of Malayalam speakers. When we use Malayalam, we tend to lose touch. We continue to speak Konkani in our families though," says Lakshamanan. He says that for this Konkani-speaking community, the language has been preserved largely in oral speech. "We do not learn it in schools or colleges, and have no literature or written documents as such," he says. Kudumbis in Kerala have been recognised as a OBC (other backward community). Its members have taken up work as fishermen, pappadam-makers or agriculturists, informs Dhodhan. Currently, the grouping has an organisation called the Kudumbi Seva Sangham, which has affiliated groups for women, youth and students. Most Konkani-speakers in Kerala are located around the districts close to Kochi (formerly Cochin) in the central part of the state. Lakshamanan lists areas like the Kochi Corporation, Trichur district, Koddumgallur, Sharthala, Allhapuzha (Allepey), Kollam (Quilon) and Changanacherry as the pockets where Konkani-speakers, or Konkanis as they are sometimes called, reside. To cope with the deprived status of the Kudumbis, the government had recommended Scheduled Caste status for them way back in 1968. But nothing has happened then, says Lakshamanan. Currently, the grouping brings out its monthly magazine 'Marg Deepam' in Malayalam. This magazine also deals with the Konkani language, and the problems of the Kudumbi community. Its claimed circulation is 4000. Last year, the published a cassette called 'Porob'. "You'll get an idea of our accent and pronounciation from it. It's a bit difficult to follow (for other Konkani speakers). We also find it difficult to follow the Devanagari script," says Lakshamanan. The community has memories of its migration from Goa. "But we don't know which villages we went out from," they say. Currently, from India's most-literate state, the Kudumbi community is trying to get its youth educated and pull itself up by its bootstraps. "We have educated people. Many have studied upto SSLC. Some are graduates, lawyers, doctors, engineers, agricultural officers and teachers," adds Lakshamanan. "But we have no IAS officer, no MP and no MLA (from our community). We've had a couple of councillors in the municipalities though," he adds. Do they think of Goa, or a return? "Never. We don't know why, but we've not thought of that," adds Lakshamanan. Perhaps it is the centuries that have made memories fade far back into the background. "We are settled there, have no problems. Our properties and lands are also there," he adds. Literacy in the community grew only in the past 25 years or so, thanks to the local government policy of spreading literacy. Their 18-hour journey back to Goa helped to revive some centuries old link. Other Konkani-speaking communities in Kerala include the Saraswats and the Vaishas (traders). "Under the new Census, Konkani speakers there could touch about seven lakh. Five lakh are Kudumbis, and the rest are mainly (Saraswat) Brahmins and Vaishyas," says Shivananda Shenoy PN, a junior mechanical engineer of the Kochi Port Trust, who was also down in Goa for the literary meet. "In our daily use with outsiders, we speak Malayalam, but Konkani is used in our homes. "Malayalam is our 'pot-bhas' (language for a livelihood) while Konkani is our 'avoi-bhas' (mothertongue), said retired Physics professor K.R.Vassanth Mani of Allepey. R.S.Bhaskar of the Cochin University of Science and Technology says his Konkani poems have been translated into Hindi, by Prof Dr A Arvindakshan who "has done a better job than the original". Shivananda Shenoy says that Kerala Konkani speakers can sometimes tune in to All India Radio-Panjim, despite the distance, to hear radio programmes from here. Based in Kottayam, this mechanical engineer points out that some Konkani writers in Kerala have shifted to the Devanagari script. "We have no problem with it, since we study Hindi till the tenth standard," he says. He concedes however that following the language of some Konkani speakers in Goa can be a "little difficult to understand". Keeping his links with Konkani, Shenoy says he visited Goa in 1980, as a young man in his late twenties, and puchased as many books as possible dealing with Konkani. "We picked up some from the Konkani Bhasha Mandal and others even from the Mapusa market during our heritage trip then. Perhaps I must be having the maximum number of books among any personal library (in Kerala) in Konkani...," he says with a touch of pride. (ENDS)
KUDUMBI.COM |
|