Fr Antimo Gomes, Principal of St Xavier’s College, Mapusa, presided over the function and gave away the award. Fr Tiburcio Ferrão, SFX, the Superior General of Pilar Society was the guest of honour. Mr Prakash Vazrikar, Konkani lecturer at Government College, Khandola–Marcel, was the compere at the function.

Ms Maria Pinto has resigned from her job of clerk cum typist and has joined her husband in the Gulf. Her place is taken by Ms Ditta Gomes for the time being.

Mr Manoj Kamath and Sr Margaret Rodrigues have taken up higher studies and have left us. In their place Ms Shilpa Shinde and Ms Melita Fernandes, who have just passed M.A. Konkani in First Class, have joined TSKK to help out with research and teaching the different courses.

On 4 January 1999 Fr Pratap Naik received an official letter informing him that he was recognised as a Ph.D. guide in the Konkani department of Goa University with effect from 14 December 1998.

Fr Francis Alves, who is doing his doctoral course in Linguistics as a preparation to join TSKK, came from Georgetown University, Washington DC, in the month of June for a short stay here to survey the field of Konkani for his study before submitting the proposal for his doctoral thesis.

Br Roland Coelho is at TSKK for an intensive study of Konkani for a full year. He also helps in the running of the institute and in conducting courses. On weekends he helps in conducting value education for groups of Konkani youth studying in higher secondary schools of Goa.

From 18 January to 18 February, Pratap conducted a course of 30 lectures to M.A. part 2 students of Department of Konkani at Goa University.

From 23 April to 22 May 1999 Fr Matthew Almeida conducted the Konkani Basic Course with the help of Ms Brenda Fernandes and staff members. For the first time two of the students could be accommodated at TSKK itself.

From 20 September to 15 October 1999 Pratap delivered a course of 20 lectures to M.A. part 1 students of Department of Konkani at Goa University.

From 28 October to 13 November 1999 TSKK staff Shilpa, Melita, Roland and Pratap conducted the course ‘Konkani Nursery Rhymes and Educational Games’ in 5 batches at TSKK, Alto Porvorim and Loyola High School, Margão. In each batch there were 30 teachers from Konkani primary schools. Pratap has composed the lyrics and music for the nursery rhymes used in the course. Shilpa was the choreographer, and Roland selected and arranged the games for the course. Since many could not get a place in any of the 5 batches, the same course will be conducted once again at Alto Porvorim from 24 to 26 April 2000.

From 7 to 17 December 1999 Pratap conducted a residential course on ‘Orthography rules to write Konkani in Kannada script’ for 25 philosophy students of St Joseph’s Seminary, Mangalore. The course was held at Pastoral Centre, Bajjodi, Mangalore.

The main reference library has been organised and laid out in the two units on the first floor of the stacks, and it contains about 10,800 volumes. On the second floor of the stacks, one unit has over 700 titles in the spirituality section, and the other unit holds the small lending section and the periodicals section. The subject wise catalogue is under preparation, in addition to the existing author and title wise catalogue.

The following multi-volume works have been acquired in 1999: Flora of Goa, Diu, Daman, Dadra and Nagarhaveli, Vol. I & II, by Rolla Seshagiri Rao; Mahabandho (First Part: Prakrit Bandhadhikara), Vol. I & II, by Bhagvan Bhutabali; Pauma Chariu, Part III, edited by H.C. Bhayani; An intensive course in (Sindhi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Tamil, Panjabi, Oriya, Urdu), Series 1 to 14 books, published by Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore; Ancient Indian tradition and mythology, Vol. 55, 56, 58, 59, 60, translated and annotated by G.V. Tagare; The encyclopoedic district gazetteers of India, Vol. I, II, VII, edited by S.C. Bhatt; An encyclopaedic dictionary of Sanskrit, Vol. V, edited by S.D. Joshi et al.

At the request of Goa University, Pratap prepared the draft syllabus of the optional paper ‘Kon’nodd lipiyentlem Konknni Sahity’ for M.A. Konkani Part 2, and submitted it on 22 December 1998.

1 to 17 June 1999 the Academic Staff College of Goa University invited Matthew and Pratap to deliver lectures to the Konkani teachers of the university who were attending the refresher course in Konkani. Matthew gave two lectures: ‘Standardization of Konkani’ and ‘Phonological processes in Konkani’. Pratap delivered six lectures on ‘Some aspects of Konkani grammar’.

Asmitai Pratishthan of Margão organized a seminar on ‘Vocabulary and its importance for the development of Konkani language’ at the Black Box of Kala Academy, Panaji. Matthew, Pratap and Francis Alves took part in the seminar.

9 to 13 August 1999 Pratap taught the Novices and staff of Xavier Training College, Belgaum, to read and write in Kannada script. This will enable them to learn both Konkani and Kannada.

Kazulo, the Konkani children’s monthly in Kannada script, published 12 poems for children during the year.

From September to December1999, Divo, the Mumbai Konkani weekly, published 33 short poems called ‘Chirputtam’.

Gulab, the Konkani monthly published one poem this year. Raknno has regularly published his poems.

On 8 January 2000 at 3.00 p.m. Konkani primary teachers will have an in service programme at TSKK, Alto Porvorim. In the subsequent months, this programme will be held on first Saturday of every month. The programme is open to all primary teachers.

18 January: Fr Gabriel Codina, S.J., the Secretary for Education of the Society of Jesus, Rome, came to TSKK on an official visit. He expressed his satisfaction at the work being done here, and appreciated the well thought out plan of the new premises we have put up.

15 February: Fr Julian Fernandes, S.J. made an official visit to TSKK. He is the Regional Assistant to the Superior General of the Jesuits in Rome. He represents the South Asian Region of the Society of Jesus. Being an educationist and a Konkani speaker, he took a lot of interest in our institute. He appreciated the spacious new buildings, the work that is being done, and the various plans and projects that are being taken up in keeping with our objectives. We are grateful to him for taking personal interest in our work, and for the valuable suggestions he has given for improvement.

From 2 February to 2 March Fr Stany Fernandes from Mangalore was a resident scholar with us. He has a good mastery of Konkani in Kannada script and is interested in the peculiarities of Goan Konkani. He spent the month using our library and in field visits to different parishes to come into contact with many speakers of the Goan varieties of Konkani. We hope many such scholars come to TSKK to exchange their views on Konkani language and culture.

From 16 to 20 March Mr Edwin J.F. D’Souza, the well-known Konkani novelist from Mangalore, was at TSKK doing reference work in our library. He was getting a part of his correspondence course in Kannada script Konkani ready for publication. This correspondence course is offered by the Konkani Department of St Aloysius College, Mangalore, and it seems to be quite popular among those who are familiar with Konkani written in Kannada characters.

13 April: Lt. Col. S.P. Ohrie (Rtd.), a resident of Defence Colony, Porvorim, came specially to introduce himself as a nature lover. He who was interested in observing the different types of trees found in the TSKK compound, and requested to be allowed to spend time occasionally on the premises to acquaint himself with the different types of plants and trees.

The Affiliation Inquiry Committee appointed by Goa University, visited TSKK on 18 May. It consisted of the following members: Sr Margaret Angela, A.C., member Executive Council, and Principal of Carmel College for Women, Nuvem; Shri Louis Vernal, member of Academic Council and Principal of GVM’s College of Education, Ponda; Shri Donald Rodrigues, Assistant Registrar; Prof. O.J.F. Gomes, Professor and Head of Department of Konkani (co-opted by the Committee). The committee members observed that TSKK has all the necessary infrastructure, and after examining all the requirements recommended that TSKK be granted recognition as a Research Institute for a period of one academic year as mentioned elsewhere in this report.

1 June: Fr N. Tete, Senior Lecturer, St Xavier’s College, Ranchi, visited TSKK. As an academician he took a lot of interest in the running of our institute and the layout of the new premises.

12 July: Mr Suresh and Mrs Sudha Amonkar, the well-known educationists of Mapusa, visited TSKK. Mr Suresh Amonkar, who is busy translating Sanskrit and Prakrit literary and religious works into Konkani, took a keen interest in our collection of Prakrit and Old Marathi works. He was specifically interested in the different editions of Krist Puran of Fr Thomas Stephens. He could also consult the photocopy of the Devanagari manuscript of the same work found in our library.

3 to 5 August: Mr Nozomi Kodoma, Department of Linguistics, Kumamato University, Japan, came for the second time for reference work in our library. He is working on a comparative study of different Konkani dialects spoken in Goa and Karnataka. His special interest seems to be the Konkani spoken by the Sidhis of North Kanara.

10 August: Mr Giri Suzuki, Nerima, Tokyo, spent a day here consulting our library. Being a scholar devoted to the study of different languages, he found the structure of Konkani quite different from that of the languages he is familiar with.

8 September: Fr Mark J. Dawson, S.J., a Jesuit educationist from Kansas City, MO, U.S.A., came on a visit to TSKK

17 September: Prof. N.N. Anandan of Sanatana Dharma College, Alleppey, spent a day with us at TSKK. Besides attending a meeting he did reference work in our library in preparation for a conference on children’s literature in Konkani to be held in Kerala.

6 November: Fr Aubrey A. Mascarenhas, S.J., Director of Heras Institute, St Xavier’s College, Mumbai who had come as a visiting professor at Mater Dei Institute, visited TSKK. He is very keen on learning Konkani. As a matter of fact, he had registered himself for our Konkani Basic Course last summer, but he could not make it.

In the course of 1999 a number of people came to TSKK to see our new premises. Right from 1997 architects have come to study the plans of our buildings. This year Ms Lisa Fernandes, an architect from Mangalore came in February, prompted by some architect friend of hers. So also Mrs Sonali Mathias, another architect from Mangalore, came along with her husband and family.

On 29 March 1999 our good friend and benefactor, Dr Francisco M. Rebelo, passed away. He loved Konkani, and he worked with zeal for the welfare of his mother tongue. He was in the forefront of those who fought for the rights of Konkani. He always had an encouraging word for those who were dedicated to the progress of Konkani.

On 30 June 1999 we lost another friend of TSKK, Fr José Bacelar e Oliveira, S.J. In spite of his busy schedule of Rector of a university, he found time to help us to acquire photocopies or microfilms of a few of the rare Konkani manuscripts and of books published in Goa in the seventeenth century and are now found in Portuguese libraries. May God give rest to these two generous souls!

We would like to thank all our friends and benefactors who have been helping us donating books and periodicals, and giving us financial and other help. We mention below the names and places of our benefactors who have helped this year without following any particular order: Mr K.N. Rao, Dandeli; Ms Priyadarshini Tadkodkar, Santa Cruz; Ms Elvira & Mr Michael D’Silva, Mapusa; Fr A.F. Pais, Old Goa; Mr N. Purushottam Mallaya, Cochin; Mr Geoffrey Carvalho, Pune; Mrs Ubaldina D’Souza, Miramar; Fr Stany Fernandes, Mangalore; Mr Sharatchandra Shenoi, Kochi; Dr Gerald Pinto, Kallianpur; Mr Suresh Shenoi, Hubli; Swami Prabhudhar, SJ, Saundatti; Prof. KR. Vasantha Mony, Alleppey; Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore; Mrs Norma & Mr Gratian D’Souza, Mumbai; Mrs Elma and Mr B. Dhanjal, Mumbai; Konkani Nursery Rhymes and Educational Games Course Batch No. IV, Margao, and Batch No. V, Margao; Mr Joseph Couto, Paitona; Mrs Prisca D’Souza, Porvorim; Mrs Geeta Prabhu, Mapusa; Swami Supriya, SJ, Haliyal; Dr Avita and Mr Joe D’Sa, Miramar; Mr M.K. Jos, Panaji; Mr John Carvalho, Pune; Fr Peter Cardoso, SFX, Pilar.