Frederick Noronha
On a Sunday summer afternoon, this trip to the North Bardez village of Tivim proved worth it. Annie de Colvale, the Konkani writer, was releasing two of her books. One was a book of verse, titled, rather neatly, ‘Jivit ek Pustok’ (Life is
a Poem).
Annie Arcanja Fernandes, her actual birth name, is currently based in Tivim. As her stage-name suggests, she has been involved with the Konkani stage as a tiatrist from 1989, as a producer from 1997, and finally as a poet-writer from 2012.
She has played a role in Konkani films ‘Xetkar’ (The Agriculturist) directed by Tousif de Navelim and the Hindi-Konkani ‘Unloved’ (director: Dhiraj Singh). Besides, she has two earlier books of poems, ‘Umalle’ (Surge of Emotion, 2017) and ‘Xikar’ (The Hunt, 2019), and won prizes for her work. Of the new two books, the one on cooking (its title could be translated to ‘Cook Tasty, Eat With Relish’, or ‘Cook with Flavour, Dine with Delight’, Recipes in Konkani) was the most catchy to this columnist.
This was for the simple reason is that it breaks away from the tendency of creative writing dominating local language publishing in Goa. It offers us some very specific information, which could be of much use to a number of readers.
Across 138 pages, this Dalgado Konkani Akademi published book (ISBN 978-81-996743-6-3) is priced at Rs. 180 and is packed with a number of recipes. It covers juices, snacks, soups, salads, breads or sannas and naans, rice and macaroni, veggies, meats, fish, pickles and masalas
and sweets.
On launch day, the book was priced at Rs 100 only. It would make sense for book launch organisers to urge those present to buy multiple copies, which could be a good gift to others who were not present, thus spreading the word, and helping to make the small world of Goa-published books more viable too.
Annie de Colvale’s work is a good mix of traditional and newer dishes from beyond Goa. For instance, in the juices category, she has tomato and carrot, along with pomegranate and mint juice as well. One feels that this gives more people a reason to
read Konkani.
Children would be glad that the snacks section includes French fries, pizzas and veg momos together with traditional samosas (including non-veg ones) and veg ‘forminhas’ (The baked casserole gets its name from the Portuguese ‘forminha’, meaning a small mould or baked dish. It is a layered, baked preparation, often with meat or fish, set in a dish and bound with eggs, milk or coconut milk and spices. She suggests fresh green peas, carrots and mayonnaise together with potatoes for the
fillings here.)
In terms of soups, there are only two–a mixed veg one, and the other a ‘tikhott’ or spicy soup. The advantage of this simple, unpretentious and reasonably-priced book is that each recipe comes with a black-and-white photo that tells you what to expect. Of course, colour is always better, but that pushes up costs too.
In times when traditional ingredients, like coconut toddy (‘sur’), are increasingly vanishing from the Goan marketplace, de Colvale reminds us of ‘Surechin Sandnam’ (sannas made of toddy). She points to rice-pancake with white chutney, the Goan dosa of sorts. It’s called the ‘sullollio’ in South Goa and the ‘koilollio’ in North Goa.
This book reminds us that ‘pulao’ comes in different forms and shapes. It can be with chicken or other meats. Likewise, Goa is also familiar with prawn pulao, the mouth-watering ‘khube-tisreo’ (seafood) flavoured pulao, and much more.
Her section on veggies focuses on some unique offerings from Goa and beyond. These include stuffed bitter gourd (karela), caldine made of the Konkan dudhi, mushroom masala, and colocasia leaves’ roll (‘tereachea pananchim kapam’).
There’s more too. But there’s so little otherwise in the field, that this is never enough. Prior to this, one had come across only one book in Romi Konkani on Goan food, which was published at Pilar, a few years back, and another way back in 1914. Maybe others one missed out too, apart from occasional recipes in the Konkani papers. There are intriguing Mangalorean cookbooks, close to Goan food, by Isidore Coelho and Rego. There are a few other Goan cook books in Nagari and Marathi as well.
While on this point, one could stress that Romi Konkani needs far more non-fiction and practical writing. A language survives not just through poetry, creative writing and song but through everyday use. For this, generating (and capturing) useful knowledge is most important on issues which are important to its
readers. Culinary knowledge is one such field.
Konkani is richly expressive in cultural and devotional domains but comparatively underdeveloped in areas like science, history, law, health, technology and vocational guidance. Having more such information in both scripts would surely push readers (including younger ones) to delve deeper into the regional language. English need not be seen as the only language for learning and decision-making.
Expanding non-fiction in Romi Konkani would democratise access to useful knowledge for those more comfortable in the script or language. It could help it to remain relevant in modern contexts rather than confined to nostalgia or identity alone. Without this, it could be culturally cherished but functionally marginal.
Topics which are immediately useful and locally relevant should be given priority. Perhaps the biggest gaps (and opportunities) are in problem-solving knowledge such as practical guides to health (diet, diabetes, mental health, care for the elderly), legal literacy (property, tenancy, wills, consumer rights), and government schemes. People struggle to negotiate this.
Strong demand probably also exists for livelihood-focused content including tourism skills, small business how-tos, digital freelancing, agriculture and fisheries upgrades, and financial literacy (loans, taxes, savings, coping with scams). For Goa, environment and land issues are important too. So are tech explainers in simple Konkani (using smartphones, online safety, AI tools,
digital payments).
There’s also space for accessible history and society grounded in Goa (oral histories, migration, caste or community studies) plus parenting and education guides, career pointers, and translation of key global ideas into the local idiom. This could turn local languages and dialects into what people turn to when they want to understand, decide, and act.
Her second book, of verse, is well titled ‘Jevit ek Pustok’. The poetess explains why – to her, life is a book, one which is created by forces beyond us, and on which our destiny is written on ‘The Sixth Night’ (as the old belief in Goa goes). Depending on how we read this book, we can pass or fail in the exam of life,
she suggests.
This book contains 93 poems spanning 112 pages, suggesting the short length of each, though written in catchy words. Both books should be available from the author (9552818126) in Auchit Vaddo, Tivim, or the Dalgado Konkani Akademi. Definitely worth reading or even gifting to someone.
