Noted tiatr personalities of the Konkani stage, Wilson Mazarello and Anthony San Fernandes, were presented with the prestigious ‘Gulab Tiatrist of the Year 2020’ and ‘Gulab Tiatrist of the Year 2021,’ respectively.
To commemorate the 60th birth anniversary of the late Fr Freddy J da Costa, the founder editor of the only Konkani monthly, Gulab, the Gulab Awards 2020 and 2021 were presented at a function held in Margao, recently. The event was organized by the Konkani monthly Gulab in collaboration with Konkani Bhasha Mandal, Felicio Cardoso-che Pattlavdar and Fr Freddy J Da Costa Memorial Trust.
The recipients of the ‘Gulab Awards 2021’ included Dr Jayanti Naik (Gulab Personality of the Year Award), Fr Eusebio Gomes SFX (Gulab Writer of the Year Award) and Anthony San Fernandes (Gulab Tiatrist of the Year Award). The ‘Gulab Awards 2020’ were presented to Dr Carlos Fernandes, (Gulab Personality of the Year), Fr Manuel Gomes (Gulab Writer of the Year) and Wilson Mazarello (Gulab Tiatrist of the Year).
Member of the Society of Pilar and ex-editor of the Konkani weekly Vauraddeancho Ixtt, Fr Kyriel de Souza SFX and editor of Prudent Media, Pramod Acharya were awarded the 2021 and 2020 ‘Felicio Cardoso Journalist of the Year Award’ respectively. The ‘Gulab Awards 2020’, which were held back due to Covid restrictions, as well as Felicio Cardoso Journalism Awards 2020 and 2021, were also presented to the awardees at the function.
At the onset, the president of the Konkani Bhasha Mandal (KBM), Anwesha Singbal, shortlisted many tasks to be undertaken towards the development of the Konkani language. She expressed the KBM’s willingness to produce children's literature in Roman Konkani as well.
WHAT THE SPEAKERS SAID
The editor of Gulab, Fausto V Da Costa highlighted several difficulties faced in the publication of the only Konkani magazine, which has survived several storms due to the lack of advertisements and financial support. He called upon Konkani lovers to fulfill their responsibility towards Konkani by merely reading Gulab and other publications in Konkani.
Veteran journalist, Sandesh Prabhudesai, who was the guest of honour, recounted his old days with stalwarts of Konkani, Felicio Cardoso and Fr Freddy J Da Costa, whom he rightly revered as his gurus. “Felicio taught how journalism should be factual, to the point, clear and full of researched work,” he noted in his speech.
Prabhudesai said that the reading habit was decreasing and bemoaned that social media platforms, like WhatsApp, are spreading false news around. “The world, including India, is getting conservative instead of progressive. Under such circumstances, a Konkani magazine like Gulab can play a vital role in guiding society,” he reiterated.
Former Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly, Tomazinho Cardozo, who was the chief guest, opined that Roman Konkani, along with Devanagari Konkani, should be compulsory taught in schools. He said that if any language is to be kept alive today, it is through the process of teaching it to the future generation (GenNext), and only then, will its survival be guaranteed.
Johny B Gud, along with Reza Fernandes and Alberto Cardoso, were present and entertained the audience with some compositions of late the Fr Freddy. Anthony Menezes, president of ‘Felicio Cardoso-che Pattlavdar Trust’ proposed the vote of thanks. Sonia Gomes and Brijesh Shet Desai compèred the function.