Kittall.com - Stepping into third year trailing a blaze in Konkani literary world

By Alphonse Mendonsa
Bellevision Media Network

Mangalore, 02 Mar 2013: It was just two years ago Kittall.com a unique and complete Konkani literary site was born.  It was a bold step taken by Henry Mendonsa, popularly known as HM Pernal supported by many Konkani writers and well-wishers.  It was his dream and he had set some rules to run this Konkani site and practiced it with a clinical finish. He had a goal set to publish only quality articles and in the meantime he also supported many new talents in the literary field.

 

 

HM Pernal is very popular among Konkani community mainly with Konkani authors.  He has immense knowledge of Konkani and has been a selfless writer, editor and poet.  So far HM has four books to his credit , three collections of poetry ( Chalyank Chotrai , Koydhyacho Kovitha , Bamunachem Chedum ) and a collection of short stories ( Devaak Sodullo Pado ). He is the  winner of ‘Daaiz Poet of the Year’ award of 2006. Presently he is the president of Konkani Writers Forum(R), Mangalore.
Kittall.com was inaugurated on 05 February 2011 by Sahitya Academy awardee  Konkani poet, President of Kavita Trust® and Director (operations) of Daijiworld Media Private Limited, Mr. Melvyn Rodrigues. In his inaugural address Melvyn has said “We have seen and experienced that small spark carries tremendous energy to ignite a burning fire. We also know that the ash from the fire has the ability to spring fresh shoots in a plant or tree. I hope HM will be able to create a better society by igniting "Kittall" to its fullest energy” Today, HM has proved what Mr. Melvyn has said two years ago.  Yes, HM has used his complete energy for Kittall and hundreds of Konkani viewers log on to this site every day.  Once a person visits this site he gets glued to it as its contents are attractive and HM has been admired for his art of writing, editing and publishing.  It is a one man show and he does this perfectly.

 

Kittall is the only complete literary site in Konkani which publishes short stories, serialized novels, essays, poems, book reviews, interviews, special reports and news related to literary activities and events. Edwin J F D Souza, Melvyn Rodgrigues, Dr Austin D’ Souza Prabhu , Hemacharya, Editor of Daijiworld Weekly,  Stan Ageira, Mulky, Ron Roche Cascia, Kishoo- Barkur , Prof. Stephen Quadros, Rev Fr Denis Castelino, Dr. Na D Souza, Sikeram Surathkal, Avina Miyar , Wilma Bantwal , Vinod Colaco  are regularly contributing to the columns on kittall. Edwin J F D Souza’s sensational and controversial novel ‘Reventle Fathor’ already completed 29 episodes. This novel series is updated on  1st and 15th of every month.

 

Henry Mendonsa, Pernal

 

One  needs a lot of patience and relentless efforts to keep this site updated regularly, colleting articles, contacting writers, communicating, typing and finally editing which is a real daunting task and I have observed HM doing all this work very patiently.  He is an honest and straightforward person and never hesitates to criticize. While many admire his guts, some cannot stand him and in the process he has been targeted and criticized but he never flinches as he has nothing to worry and stands by what he thinks right.

 

Since the past two years, Kittall has become a platform to a host of young writers, thinkers and new talents. It has successfully bridged the gap between young and old writers in Konkani in past two years. Apart from this, Kittall has introduced new experiments in internet based visual media first time in Konkani and striving for more under the leadership of Kishoo-Barkur. Kittall Café.  Kittall Time Out, Kittall Sandesh , Kittall Close up are some of the unique programmes produced and presented on Kittall Konkani Channel.

 

One of the  dreams of HM has been to award and honour youth writers and poets  who have contributed continually to Konkani literature and for that he has initiated Kittall Yuva Puroskar.

 

Why Kittall Yuva Puroskaar ?

It is said that love for Konkani language and literature is dying among the younger generation. To ignite the spark, recognize, encourage and sustain young talents,  KITTALL YUVA PUROSKAAR was introduced on Kittall’s  first anniversary. A rule was made that the writer should be below the age of 30 years and he or she should have published at least one book. In the first year, Jo Cy Siddakatte, promising young poet and playwright was honoured with the ‘Kittal Yuva Puroskaar’.

 

 

This year as suitable writers who published a book below the age group of 30 were not found, the jury considered other aspects of the writer as consistency, involvement in literary movements and organizing skills of literary meets.  Finally, Wilma Lavina D’Souza ,popularly known as Wilma Bantwal in Konkani circle was picked up for this prestigious ‘Kittall Yuva Puroskaar 2013’ based on her immense contribution to Konkani literature.

 

Wilma, Bantwal started writing while in grade 8. Today she has more than 50 poems and 75 essays / articles to her credit. Presently, she is the editor of ‘Ballok’, parish magazine of Infant Jesus Church, Bantwal. She also served on the editorial board of ‘Amcho’Yuvak’, diocesan monthly magazine published by ICYM. She was actively involved in the activities of Konkani Sangh of St Aloysius College, Mangalore and served as the editor of the magazine of Konkani Sangh. She has been participating in literary meets in Goa regularly for the past three years and had won the first prize in the Poetry Recitation competition organized by Kavita Trust in the year 2009. She regularly contributes essays to a column named ‘Ankri’ on Kittall.com,  poems to konkanipoetry.com and other magazines in print.  Recently, Wilma translated my article “History of Konkani Catholics of Mangalore” which was published in this site last year  to Konkani and published it in Christmas issue of Modankap Parish magazine ‘Ballok’.

 

After completing her post-graduate studies (MSc)  in Mathematics with first rank from St Aloysius College (autonomous)Wilma is now teaching at the  Canara Engineering College, Benjanapadavu.

 

My personal views on Kittall:

When I log on to Kittall,  first I look at the latest item.  There are 7 tabs to click on.  The home page gives  a complete picture.  See the arrangements of columns and HM sticks to this rule and then there are other tabs, such as HM Vichar, Vishes(Special), Sahith(Literature), Her (other), Khabro(News), Abipray(Suggestion), Sampark (Communication) and Video.  My favourite columns are HM Vichar, Vishes and Sahit.  Have look at the articles published under these tabs and you will know why Kittal is so popular.  HM has in-depth knowledge on Konkani literature, Konkani associations, academies, books and publications and if you are an honest Konkani person, you will surely admire these articles.  The second favourite tab is Vishesh or Special.  I won’t quote any articles but have a look at the issues he has published, his hard work to trace the people who have gone through  in life, pain, suffering and the downtrodden.  I leave it to the readers and judge themselves.  The third favourite tab is Sahit (Literature) which is very unique and the stories and poems which have not been published before or some may have been published on only by public demand.

 

Finally, before concluding, HM has not compromised on his articles and never ventured into big donations or sponsors.  A few good hearted men  have been supporting him and he is just surviving and despite all hurdles and obstacles be it in monetary or literary, he carries on with determination.

 

Those who want to support KITTALL can extend their support by becoming KITTALL FAMILY member, Patron, Sponsor, Benefactor or Well-wisher.  Anyone wishing to be a part of the Kittall family can contribute. After all the cause is Konkani language and literature.

 

During  the Decennial celebration of Bellevision.com at Lions Bhavan Udupi on 29th December 2012 which was graced by Dr. Rev. HE Gerald Isaac Lobo,  HM had helped the organizers in many ways.

 

Congratulations to Kittall on successfully completing two years and while stepping in to the glorious third year whishing HM all the best and let us join and support in his mission.