KKSA holds Chappara Muhurat for ‘Konkani Lokotsava’
Mangaluru: To Mark the ‘Konkani Lokotsava’, the Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy, held the Chappara (Pendal) Muhurat at the Town hall premises here on February 8.
The Konkani flag was hoisted by the president of Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy Roy Castelino along with other dignitaries.
Speaking to mangalorean.com, President of KKSA Roy Castelino said, “The Konkani Lokotsava -2017, is a mega cultural festival of Konkani speaking people spread all over the state. From February 10 to 12 we will see a conglomeration of Konkani’s of different community and diligence here. We are trying to showcase the different cultures of Konkani may be the Christians, Kharvis, GSBs altogether 41 communities will gather here. There will be a rich show of both the cultural and literary programmes. Stalls will be erected depicting the different culture of our community and there will be a big stall of ancient artifacts. The Lokotsava will be a programme where the Konkani speaking people from different communities will come together in one place to show our strength and unity in diversity.
Speaking to mangalorean.com former president of KKSA Eric Ozario said, “The academy is celebrating Lokotsava on February 10, 11 and 12. It is a big event and the Academy is preparing for this event for the past 6 months. This great event is the last event under Roy Castelino and his team. It is the climax of the team which has done many events for the past three years. I was also the president for three years but with great confidence, I can say that the work that has been done during Roy’s tenure I too have not been able to during my time. We will surely miss him as the president after his tenure is over. It is a befitting event in his period of full of activity and I hope the next president will follow in the footsteps of his predecessor and achieve greater success for Konkani. We are very much part of the efforts and we wish the Konkani Lokotsava a great success”.
When asked whether the government will be pressurised by Konkani people to retain Roy as the president of the Konkani Academy, Eric said, “No it is not fair to pressurise the government, because there are many people who are waiting in line to be the president of the academy and to take over the responsibility. It is a big responsibility most of the people think that it is a big position and privilege. If executed well the academy will do good otherwise for three years the academy may remain stagnant. The Konkani academy is so active if we compare to other academies. We cannot pressurise the government to extend the tenure of Roy Castelino as the president. Roy is an able leader and in his tenure, he has performed his duties well and organised many programmes.
Academy members Louis Pinto, Lawrence D’Souza, Geetha Kini, Vitori Karkal and others were also present.