Author Archives: Nostalgoa
Redde-padde zhogoddtat, zhaddar kall!
It’s a situation that occurs regularly in the world of nature but has several parallels in the world of man: the mighty and powerful try their stunts; the helpless innocent bear the brunt. When armies wage war, civilians perish, infants vanish and fugitives live in anguish. The proverb is used to describe a situation of … Continue reading
Nhal’li-dhul’li ostori ani xenn kaddul’li dorthori
An awful portrait, don’t you think? But it isn’t quite as revolting as you might think. In those days, cow-dung floors were the norm, and “cow-dunging” a floor was like painting a wall: the floor would be prepared by scraping off some of the old dried and worn-out cow-dung and then “polished” with a fresh … Continue reading
Mel’lê mhoxik bara xer dud
Literally: Twelve seers of milk to the dead buffalo. The dative (to the … ) has the meaning of has. Thus: a dead she-buffalo has twelve seers of milk. That amount of yield for a single Indian female buffalo is beyond normal expectations and therefore isn’t true. This proverb can have double significance. It may … Continue reading
Konkani Grammar: Prelude
Like all languages, Konkani has its own peculiarities. One of its characteristics concerns the genders attributed to people and things, and the genders of the pronouns and adjectives that bear reference to those objects. Genderly speaking, the English language is perhaps the most down to earth and matter-of-fact. People have their sexes, it seems to … Continue reading
Chuddtêcho sorôp
Meaning: An empty threat (literally: a palm-leaf snake) When I was a kid, we didn’t have TOYS Я US where we could hope to get our birthday presents from. And in Goa, where I grew up, there used to be no such thing as a birthday celebration in the first place, though I must admit … Continue reading
Chitt Ailea?
In the days of old, there used to be two common forms of greeting. One was the usual “How are you?” or preferably “Are you well?” To a male person: “Tum boro ahai mum?” To a lady: “Tum bori ahai mum?” To a younger girl: “Tum borem ahai mum?” To two or more males: “Tumi … Continue reading
Amchi Bhas Uloi
You may wonder what sort of Konkani I am planning to dish out here, so let me give you some idea of what I have in mind. Sanskrit and Marathi Sanskrit being the Mother of all Indian languages, no one who hasn’t had a good grounding in Sanskrit can claim to be a scholar of … Continue reading