DR JACK DE SEQUEIRA - A Konkani poem

[walter menezes]

Dear all,

 

Here is a Konkani poem dedicated to JOAO HUGO EDUARDO DE SEQUEIRA [20 April 1915 – 17 October 1989], popularly known as Dr. Jack de Sequeira.

A prominent politician, he is remembered in Goa as the Father of the Opinion Poll.

 

Written by Felix P da Cruz of Aldona, Goa, it is included in his book of poems, Chintnam ani Sopnam [published by Dalgado Konknni Akademi in 2014].

 

I have translated the poem in English and look forward to suggestions to improve the same…

 

walter

 

 

DR JACK DE SEQUEIRA

Konkani poem by Felix P da Cruz

 

Umed sfurti aslolo

Soglleam sovem mogacho

Khuxal hanstea tonddacho

Tosoch thir monacho

Manest fuddari Dr. Jack Sequeira amcho

 

Unch vidhyen ani huxar

Khorench to kitlo zannar

Goribanchem borem dekhnnar

Dekhun vojem gheun khandar

Vavurta mellounk amkam boro fuddar

 

Voddil ‘Ekvottit Gõykarancho’

Kampero to dusmanacho

Thorthoro ghorchea bhediancho

‘Gõykarancho Moses’ mhonn

Sogott kortat vakhann tacho

 

Boreantlo boro fuddari

Vollkhota zobabdari

Konknnicho vhodd zhuzari

Ubo korunk Gõycho prant

Sogllea nettan tozvit tachi

 

Khoddop Gõyche Vidhan Sobhent

Chintop ulovp vegllech bhaxen

Vavurta aiz soglle urben

Gõykaranchea sonvsarant

Nanv tachem soglle kodden

 

Rakhunk amche hok’k man

Aiz Gõykar tacheach pattlean

Kurpa taka diunchi Devan

Zhuzunk tannem sogllea bollan

Jivont korunk Konknni prant

 

 

DR JACK DE SEQUEIRA

Konkani poem by Felix P da Cruz

English translation: Walter Menezes

 

Enthusiastic and inspiring

Affectionate to everyone

Cheerful with a face ever smiling

And of a mind unyielding

Is Dr. Jack Sequeira our respected leader

 

Greatly qualified and clever

He is immensely learned

He sees the good of the poor

And with a load on his shoulder

Toils for our bright future

 

Patriarch of ‘United Goans’

The dread of enemies

Betrayers tremble before him

The Moses of Goans

Is how everyone hailed him

 

One of the finest leaders

He knows his responsibilities

Great warrior of Konknni

For the state of Goa he will struggle

With all his mettle

 

A rock in the Goa Legislative Assembly

His thoughts, his words are distinct

With much zeal he strides

Across the globe of Goans

His name has traveled far and wide 

 

To safeguard our rights, our respect

Every Goan behind him has rallied

May he be blessed by God

That he may fight with all intensity

And galvanize the Konknni county

[augusto pinto]

Dear Walter,

Nice to know that Felix who's from Aldona and whom I know, has written a book of poems. This time I won't comment about the translation which is as good as it goes.

Rather I'd like to quiz you about the poem itself. I could have written about sensibilities which think that writing blindly eulogistic and completely uncritical accounts of say Jack Sequeira is poetic.

But no, I'd rather query you about Konkani prosody (defined as the study of poetic meters and versification). I notice that most of the poets published by DKA lean heavily towards rhyme as their technique of versification; in fact often their only technique. This is rhyme in which the final accented vowel and all succeeding consonants or syllables are identical, while the preceding consonants are different, for example in Felix's poem: aslolo / mogacho / tonddacho / monacho / amcho.

Surely they should be aware that there are several other tools of poetry - metaphor, image and rhythm for instance. Poetic forms can themselves become technical means of expressing oneself. Too many poets published by DKA are clueless in this regard.

Sadly it appears that Konkani poets rarely read other Konkani poets forget about other national or foreign ones. I say this because there are a few poets in Konkani who are quite interesting.  One person like this Soter Barretto of Margao who is getting on in years now but whose Mogachio Kovita and Somajik Kovita might inspire others. Look at this whimsical little lyric.

Moga Tuka Yad Zata?

Tea disachi

Tuje mograkolleam

Sarke dolle

Mhojea dolleank lait

Tuvem mhaka vicharlem...

"Moga tum mhaka

Kitem divxi?"

Ani hanvem

Tuje viluda sarke pole

Poxet, poxet,

Tuka mholl'lem

"Tuka zai tor kitem?"

Ten'nam

Tum hollu

suskarli...

"Chondr haddun

Divxi mhaka?"

Ani hanv

Mat porian kanchvenastanam

Udgarlom...

"Itlench mugo?

Bore bhoxem,

Punn hea disanim Omas mugo,

Pun've meren ravonk zaunchem nam?'

Ani tum nir'xel'li polleun

Hanv porot gunngunnlom...

"Moga, tache bodla

Tuka Surya haddun?"

Ten'nam tujer akant ailo

Ani mhoje hat sanspit

Mhonnunk lagli...

"Naka, naka,

To naka,

Tuje hat

Ogich bhaztole mure!

Ani tum

Mhojea dolleank layit

Tuje dolle

Koso poxetalo

Mhoje pole?"

Moga,

Tea disachi

Tuka yad zata?

Love, Do You Remember?

That day

Your mogra-like

Eyes

Locked into mine
And you asked me...

"Love, will you

Give me something?"

And I

Caressing

Your silky cheeks

Said,

"What is it you want?"

You softly

Sighed...

"Can you bring

Me the moon?"

And I

Without the least fluster

Exclaimed...

"Is that all, Love?

Surely I will

But these days

It's new moon

Won't you wait till full moon?"

And seeing you discontented

I again murmured...

"Love, instead of that

Can I get you the sun?"

Then you got alarmed

And fumbling with my hand

You said...

"No, No,

That I don't

Your hands unnecessarily

Will get roasted, man!

And locking

Your eyes in mine

How you caressed

My Cheeks?"

Love

Do you remember

That day?

Augusto

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[walter menezes]

Mogall Augusto,

Last few days I was reading Felix da Cruz' Chintnam ani Sopnam and when I did a google-check, realized that today [17 October] was the death anniversary of Dr. Jack de Sequeira.

Thought I should translate the poem and share it...which I did.

walter

[augusto pinto]

Ahhh...

Mogall Walter,

What a waste of a lecture! BTW in my lecture I wrote "I notice that most of the poets published by DKA lean heavily towards rhyme".

Actually I meant true rhyme where the final accented vowel and all succeeding consonants or syllables are identical, while the preceding consonants are different like aslolo / mogacho / tonddacho / monacho / amcho.

Incidentally I'm doing a course on Coursera the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)NUniversity on poetry https://www.coursera.org/learn/poetry-workshop/home/welcome I find it a useful refresher course. The workshop in it is in English but really the mentions to metaphor and irony and rhythm and rhyme and imagery are universal and its knowledge can be transferred to any language. BTW lately Coursera courses are increasingly becoming fee based and are no longer free so don't procrastinate if you are interested.

Augusto

[walter menezes]

Mogall Augusto,

Mea culpa...

In my anxiety to 'explain', I totally forgot to acknowledge the points you have raised regarding the 'form' of the poem.

I shall surely reply. But not today....

Borem magun,

walter

[Frederick FN Noronha * फ्रेड्रिक नोरोन्या * فريدريك نورونيا‎]

Okay, so who decides this? The poet? Or the critic? Does each poet and/or linguistic tradition not have the chance to choose for itself?

Different languages have diverse traditions when it comes to rhyming. It's sometimes said that French and Spanish have more rhyme in them; either because they are more 'musical' languages per se. or because English has since lost the use of its case endings [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/case_ending]. It is even  claimed that rhyme was imported into English via the French and Italian routes.Early English poetry is said to have used alliterative rather than rhymed verse.  But in pop music, rhyme is alive and kicking (singing?) in English.

Modern English poetry tends to avoid rhyme -- as it is now thought   to lead to predictability.

Free verse is poetry that discards the use of metre. While it's tough to get a comprehensive understanding of  the situation in other languages, I'm sure their own traditions would allow for diversity when it comes to defining the 'norm'.

In English, we are told of a number of literary devices that create rhythm [http://study.com/academy/lesson/poetic-devices-definition-types-examples.html]: repetition, anapest (two unaccented syllables with an accented one right after it, such as com-pre-HEND or in-ter-VENE), dactyl (anapest in reverse), rhyming, internal rhyme, end rhyme.  Then there are literary devices like the simile, symbol, metaphor, imagery, onomatopoeia (which we heard of so much in school), etc....

My point is this: do these theories necessarily have to fit across all languages? Can a language decide as to what suits it better, and which traditions it chooses to follow? Can't a language's traditions shape up organically on its own, rather than having to peek over its shoulders and resort to whattheothersaredoingery?

Earlier too, Augusto has made a plea that Konkani (read Romi) writers should read more. The implied argument is that they need to read from other literary traditions, since they are obviously reading each other's work. To my mind, this seems to be an argument in favour of the homogenisation of literature. Of smaller language groups copying from the bigger.

Why should this be done? So that it makes it easier for the critic to fit his views into some more established critical tradition?

Who decides whether Reginald Fernandes was successful or not? Is the literary critic best suited to judge someone who writes for the commonman? Should we question Rap music because of its (so effective but) heavy dependence on content, flow (rhythm and rhyme) and delivery? 

FN 

On 17 October 2015 at 20:54, augusto pinto <pint...@gmail.com> wrote:

But no, I'd rather query you about Konkani prosody (defined as the study of poetic meters and versification). I notice that most of the poets published by DKA lean heavily towards rhyme as their technique of versification; in fact often their only technique. This is rhyme in which the final accented vowel and all succeeding consonants or syllables are identical, while the preceding consonants are different, for example in Felix's poem: aslolo / mogacho / tonddacho / monacho / amcho.

Surely they should be aware that there are several other tools of poetry - metaphor, image and rhythm for instance. Poetic forms can themselves become technical means of expressing oneself. Too many poets published by DKA are clueless in this regard.

Sadly it appears that Konkani poets rarely read other Konkani poets forget about other national or foreign ones. I say this because there are a few poets in Konkani who are quite interesting.  One person like this Soter Barretto of Margao who is getting on in years now but whose Mogachio Kovita and Somajik Kovita might inspire others. Look at this whimsical little lyric.

--

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P +91-832-2409490 M 9822122436 Twitter: @fn Facebook: fredericknoronha

Goa,1556 Shared Content at https://archive.org/details/goa1556

[augusto pinto]

Dear Fred

You seem to think that a critic is a monster from Mars who has come to eat DKA's poets alive.

Could you instead think of a critic as just  a reader, except that s/he is one who takes the trouble to read and give feedback about the poem?

I could respond to your remarks, but first I would appreciate it if you would take the trouble to read at least Felix D'Cruz's and Soter Barretto's poems available in the thread and give your own feedback about them.

Eagerly looking forward to your response.
Thank you.
Augusto

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[walter menezes]

Mogall Augusto,

I promised yesterday that I would reply. So here I am...

To say that 'poets published by DKA rely heavily on rhyme as their technique of versification, in fact often their only technique' and that 'Konkani poets rarely read other Konkani poets' is a bit unfair, I think.

I may be wrong but Felix probably wrote that poem when Dr. Sequeira was still alive and when writing thus was pretty much the norm. However, young poets are coming out of such shadows and writing poems which don't pay attention to this 'rhyme-n-meter' things.

A good way to make an assessment would be to read 'Kovita Sugandh', a collection of some of the best poems which had appeared on the Romi Konkani monthly magazine, Jivit over a period of time. It has about 100 poems by different poets and is edited by Jasmine Estibeiro.

Soter Barretto's poem Moga Tuka Yad Zata? is 'love'ly! Hats off to Soter and you, too [for the translation]! BTW, is it poxetalo? I think it should be poxetolo...

I will end quoting a few lines from Venisha Fernandes' poem, Jivitachea Humbrear Ubem (On the Threshold of Life). These lines deal with the dowry system, a practice which is still prevalent in Goa. This one is not in the poetry collection mentioned above.

(Quote)

Kolejichem xikop sompoun

Kazarache dis pavle

Sasumai magta tambiachem

Sasupai magta bhangrachem

Novreak poddlam Mercedichem

Atam hannem korchem kitem?

 

My translation:

College education is over

And wedding day is round the corner

While mother-in-law is quibbling about copper [vessels]

Father-in-law is greedy about gold

And the bridegroom is more interested in his Mercedes

Pray, what must she do now?

Borem magun,

[augusto pinto]

Mogall Walter,

Every generalization is unfair to its exceptions. Isn't the poem by Soter which I posted for instance, obviously an exception. The Venisha poem is also nice.

And by the way, don't assume that I'm saying true or perfect rhyme is bad and not paying attention to rhyme and meter is good. Not at all! Rhyme, meter, metaphor, irony and so on are all tools which all poets should have and know when to use.

It's only when poets lazily assume that if all they do is simply make lines rhyme; and further assume that poetry will result, that we begin to make a mess of a fine art and which irritates me.

Secondly when I say that I think that Konkani poets don't read even Konkani poets let alone others - then the appropriate response is not to get defensive; instead it is an invitation to read; and if one does read - to read even more!! And while it is impossible to read everything published I think the desire should be there - especially in a writer.

I'll make it a point to pick up Kovita Sugandh - it's available at DKA I presume. Thanks for the tip.

To end - enjoy this poem that uses true rhyme in English:

The Bells

I

Hear the sledges with the bells-
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.


II

Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And an in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells,bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

III

Hear the loud alarum bells-
Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor,
Now- now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.

Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows:
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells-
Of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells,bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!

IV

Hear the tolling of the bells-
Iron Bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.

And the people- ah, the people-
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All Alone
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone-
They are neither man nor woman-
They are neither brute nor human-
They are Ghouls:
And their king it is who tolls;
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A paean from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the paean of the bells-
Of the bells:
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells-
To the sobbing of the bells;
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells-
Of the bells, bells, bells:
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells-
Bells, bells, bells-
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

[Cecil Pinto]

Augusto, would you consider conducting a workshop on Appreciating Poetry?

[augusto pinto]

No I wouldn't Cecil. It's not my line. There are others better than me at this like Isabel Vas.

However I would recommend the poetry workshop MOOC of Coursera, the link of which is somewhere on this thread.
Augusto

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