Mandd Sobhann Felicitates Roy Castelino for Exemplary Work as KKSA President
Mangaluru: The Mandd Sobhann organized a felicitation ceremony for the outgoing president of Konkani Sahitya Academy Roy Castelino at Kalangann, Shaktinagar here on February 26.
The programme began with an invocation. Well-known Konkani writer CJS Taccode welcomed the gathering. Roy Castelino was felicitated by entrepreneur Albert D’Souza, Narendra Nayak, Louis J Pinto, Eric Ozario and others with a Peta, garland, citation, memento and fruit basket for his exemplary Work towards Konkani during his Tenure.
In his felicitation speech, Roy Castelino said, “I am a builder by profession, after the completion of the projects we are being felicitated. Likewise, I was appointed as the president of the Konkani Sahitya Academy and in my three years of tenure whatever work I have done, I have done it with integrity and dedication”.
Roy further said, “According to UNESCO any language is classified into 4 groups, they are Safe, Vulnerable, endangered and critically endangered. Whichever dialect you may speak, it is time for every Konkani speaking person to be united, we need to strengthen Konkani in our Children. If we want to retain any language or culture we need to speak, write and practice. Let the Konkani community give importance to Konkani language and take it to the next generation. In my tenure of three years as the president, I have tried my best to promote Konkani”.
Roy also questioned, “Do you have the love towards your mother tongue? What is your identity? If you do not speak Konkani where is your identity? If our children speak Konkani, we can retain it. Parents should encourage their children to take Konkani as the third language in school. When we organize Konkani programmes we need to strictly adhere to using the Konkani language. Mandd Sobhann is trying to promote Konkani, we all should join hands to strengthen our Konkani language.”
While concluding Roy said, “In my three years of tenure, we have organized more than 300 programmes and released 75 books with the support of the KKSA team. Through the Lokotsava I have united people of 41 Konkani speaking communities under one umbrella which is a success of my three-year tenure. If we are united we can strengthen our mother tongue and bring a revolution in Konkani. Parents should speak Konkani with their children and encourage them to take up Konkani in school. Let our children read, write and speak Konkani so that our mother tongue Konkani will grow.”
Albert D’Souza, Narendra Nayak, Staney Fernandes, Prakash Shenoy, Dianisia Castelino were present. Smitha Shenoy compered the programme.