CHRISTIAN COMIC BOOK IN ROMI KONKANI

[walter menezes]

Dear all,

REV. FR. MANUEL GOMES, the former Director of Diocesan Centre for Biblical Apostolate (DCBA), Goa and presently the Parish Priest of St. Francis Xavier Church, Borim will feature in Dalgado Konknni Akademi's 'Meet the Writer' programme on Sunday, September 20, 2015 at 4.00 pm.

Noted Konknni writer and columnist Daniel F de Souza will anchor the programme.

Venue: Conference Hall, Ravindra Bhavan, Margao

Here is my review of Devachim Vortim Vismitam, a Christian comic book translated in Romi Konknni by Fr. Manuel Gomes which first appeared on Gomantak Times dated June 18, 2009.

walter

Book review of:
Devachim Vortim Vismitam
(Dhormdutancho Itihas)
Konknni Translation of 
Rev. Fr. Salvatore Putzu, sdb, and his collaborators’ comic book, Acts of the Apostles

KonknniTranslation: Fr. Manuel P. Gomes
Publisher: Diocesan Centre for Biblical Apostolate, Old Goa.
Price: Rs. 110/-

It was the fourth of June, 2009. The function to felicitate Prabhakar Tendulkar, the doyen of the Konknni Movement, was over. The photographer was busy arranging the mez-karbhari of Dalgado Konknni Akademi and Omor Prokaxon for a shoot with the ‘birthday-boy’.

Those who had assembled to greet Prabakar-bab on his 75th birthday were heading towards the lift to take them down to 0-level. Among the many prominent personalities who attended the celebration was Fr. Manuel Gomes, Director, Diocesan Centre for Biblical Apostolate (DCBA), Goa. He presented me a copy of Devachim Vortim Vismitam (DVV) and Zannvayecho Ulo Ani Provadiancho Tallo (Part II), two of DCBA’s most recent publications which were released by Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrão on Pentecost Sunday, May 31, 2009 at the Sé Cathedral, Old Goa.

Comic Book in Romi Konknni

DVV immediately caught my attention. It was a comic book in Romi Konknni, explaining through striking visuals and graphic details The Acts of the Apostles, the fifth book of the New Testament. Seeped in valuable history of the early Christian church, The Acts, in essence, is the story of St. Peter, largely responsible for the growth of the Christian community in the early days, and the missionary journeys of St. Paul, aka ‘the Apostle to the Gentiles’.

As one who grew up with Archie, Veronica, Betty and Jughead and the likes of Phantom (the ghost who walks!) and Denise the Menace, reading comic books and comic strips has always been my fascination. Someone once said that a single picture is worth a thousand words, and how true he was! I may have forgotten the many stories that I have read ever since I was a boy. But to forget Denise, with Ruff in tow, or the other comic characters, is simply impossible! That I would one day do Out Of My Mind, a regular comic strip for GT, is another story altogether.

By the time I could even think of properly thanking Fr. Manuel for the two books, he had already left and was nowhere in sight. A comic book and that too in Konknni warmed the cockles of my heart, and upon reaching Kepem, I began in right earnest.

Acts of the Apostles

DVV is the Konknni version of Acts of the Apostles, the comic book prepared by Rev. Fr. Salvatore Putzu, sdb, and his collaborators in the Word and Life Publications, Philippines. While Fr. Manuel, who has done the Konknni translation, has been spared the daunting task of executing the visual frames, his assignment was not easy either. To empty the ‘dialogue-boxes’ and then replace the English words with Konknni within the available space, must have been quite a challenge.

‘The original comic book was in black and white. But we have made the Konknni version still more beautiful by having it in colour,’ Fr. Manuel said when I got in touch with him a week later.

The colours have been selected with much care and Fr. Manuel has done an exceptional job. From the time the apostles meet to choose Judas’ successor to the final pages where St. Peter is crucified ‘upside down’ and St. Paul puts his head ‘on the block’ to be executed, DVV is one religious comic book which transports you back in time, to a period when early followers, led by the Holy Spirit, spread the Good News ‘to the ends of the earth’.

St. Peter’s first miracle, the stoning of Stephen, the dramatic escape of St. Paul as the Jews watched the city gates to kill him…all this and more is what you find inside DVV. Every frame, with an eye for detail, has been painstakingly planned and illustrated. Interspersed with maps charting out the various journeys of St. Paul, DVV is appealing and interesting.

Comic Book and More…

The comic book, in fact, is more than a comic book. It stops at regular intervals to make way for the full text from the scriptures of what one has just seen in the ‘visual’ form. While children and gen-next may absorb themselves in the comic book and skip the text, I thought of enjoying the book, one sip at a time: a part of the comic followed by some serious reading of the text and then a well-deserved break to assimilate what I have just ‘seen’ and read.

This way, I managed to almost read the complete text of Dhormdutancho Itihas while at the same time enjoying the comic, a spiritual ‘exercise’ which not only lifted my spirits and improved my Konknni but found solace in the words of Jesus which St. Paul wants the elders of the church to remember (20:35): dusream koddchem gheunche poros dusreank divop odhik vhodd bhag (There is more happiness in giving than in receiving).

A few ‘spelling errors’ apart, Devachim Vortim Vismitam is a great offering from the Diocesan Centre for Biblical Apostolate, Goa. While helping the Church to reach out to a larger and a younger audience, DCBA has simultaneously done its bit to promote Konknni in Romi script also. With the Acts unfolding through 208 pages of glossy paper and priced at Rs.110/- only, Devachim Vortim Vismitam is a steal.

The comic book is available at DCBA Office, Old Goa (Phone: 2284296) and at the usual Diocesan outlets.

END OF ARTICLE

Pics:
1. Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrão releasing Devachim Vortim Vismitam. Fr. Manuel Gomes, Director, Diocesan Centre for Biblical Apostolate, Goa is also seen.
2. Cover of comic book
3. Frame showing the stoning of Stephen
4. Frame showing the escape of St. Paul 
5. Frame showing the crucifixion of St. Peter
6. Frame showing St. Paul moments before being executed.

[Basil Sylvester Pinto]

It was wonderful meeting up Walter yesterday at the Meet The Writer Programme organized by DKA yesterday which featured Fr. Manuel Gomes. Keep up the good work mate.

Rgds,

Basil

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Basil Sylvester Pinto
Mob: 9970627610

[walter menezes]

Mogall Basil,

Dev Borem Korum!

So happy to see you @ DKA's Meet the Writer programme. And yes, so happy to meet you in person too!

walter

PS: I have also reviewed Fr. Manuel Gomes' book in Romi Konkani, Jezuchim Jivim Kirnnam (JJK) which appeared on Gomatak Times on a day when the 2010 Dalgado Award for Literature was conferred on him [April 15, 2011]. Apart from containing over 80 articles on saintly lives - some beatified, others canonized -  JJK also contains a commendable opera, Goychem Mannik - Juze Vaz!

Now that Juze Vaz has become a saint, this opera will perhaps come handy to those keen to stage the musical in their parishes. There is however a clause attached: Fr. Bernardo Cotta has to be approached for the music.

[Basil Sylvester Pinto]

Very interesting. Walter, kindly give me your contact number.

Rgds,
Basil