Prutha Goa

Damodar Mauzo is a name well known to connoisseurs of good literature. A Konkani novelist and short story writer, he has won fame in the world of English literature too; having had his short stories and novels translated into English and his short stories  Teresa’s Man and These are my Children  included in Goa University’s syllabus for the BA course in English Literature. He has earned countless awards for his work, which include the Sahitya Akademi Award (1983) for his novel Karmelin and the Vimla V Pai Vishwa Konkani Puraskar (2011) for Tsunami Simon . A childhood attachment to books that grew from the age of ten, serves as the foundation of Mr Damodar Mauzo’s skilled authorship. He confesses his earliest choices, for lack of guidance, were not desirable in the sense of literary value. As time passed, however, he came upon writers who would shape his intellect and understanding, and enhance his skill as a litterateur. Sane Guruji, Sharadchandra Chatterjee, Premchand and others of

Kala Academy’s School of Drama brings us another gem from the playwright Pundalik Naik, performed by its students. Chaitanyak Matt Naa , which loosely translated means that one cannot contain consciousness or enthusiasm within an edifice, was written in 1989-90. The Konkani play, much along the lines of Naik’s novel Achhev ( Upheaval ), Chaitanyak Matt Naa serves us with a view of the consequences of our actions, or alternately, our inertia, and the impact of an awakened consciousness. This play was initially performed as an exercise in improvisational class with the first year students, and soon the possibility of performing it for an audience was envisioned. The ensemble play was appreciated for its potential to encompass students from all the three years of the drama school, giving them a chance to bond with each other, particularly the first year students. Padmashree Josalkar, the director of the School of Drama, says, ‘When you see them loading and unloading the sets from the bu