This story is from April 17, 2016

For this octagenarian, life has been like a road trip

"Today, Konkani has suffered a setback. The Konkani movement gave us our statehood. How did we endure Konkani's only daily closing down? Only those who love Konkani will build Goa's future. The future belongs to them.
For this octagenarian, life has been like a road trip

"Today, Konkani has suffered a setback. The Konkani movement gave us our statehood. How did we endure Konkani's only daily closing down? Only those who love Konkani will build Goa's future. The future belongs to them."
As 86-year-old Gurunath Kelekar laments over the failure of the Konkani movement in losing its direction, the veteran Konkani ‘lover' feels that a Konkani man should play a pan-India role and not confine himself to the geographical boundaries of Goa.

"Apart from the 2.5 lakh Konkani-speaking people in neigbouring parts of Karnataka, you will find a sizeable population anywhere you go in the country. We should shun our myopic vision about Goa. How much richer do you want Goa to be? We are already being counted among the first two states, but there seems to be no end to our problems. It's time the Konkani man reached out to his fellow Konkani-speaking people from across the state's border," Kelekar voices his opinion nonchalantly.
A veteran in various fields — an acclaimed freedom fighter, well-known social worker, founder of MARG (Movement for Amity towards Roads in Goa), a dedicated Konkani worker or ‘lover' — Kelekar should know.
"It's in this sense," Kelekar elaborates, "that I visualize a Konkani man playing an all-India role."
"Whatever may have been the reasons for it, we learnt Marathi. Couldn't we, by the same token, learn Kannada, the language of another of our neigbours? Now we have more people from Karnataka in Goa than those from Maharashtra. When we have no qualms in writing Konkani in Kannada script, what stopped us from learning Kannada in the first place?" Kelekar asks, provoking introspection.

He reasons: "If Konkani writers were to learn Kannada, and if even 10-20 of them were to go to Karnataka to reach out to the Konkani-speaking Kannadigas, we would have endeared ourselves to them. We would have been in a position to get whatever we wanted from them. But today, Karnataka is not giving us Joida, it is not willing to part with any of its Konkani-speaking territories, because we failed to extend our hand of friendship; we treated them as strangers."
A Gandhi-admirer and a self-professed fan of the Nehru-Gandhi family and Nehruvian polices, Kelekar veers the discussion to the demand for special status for Goa. "Every other state demands special status for it when the Centre has already made known the futility of such a demand. I would say, Goa shouldn't demand special status, instead demand for Goa its rightful place as assured to us by Jawaharlal Nehru."
Ask him which of all the various causes he strived for has been the closest to his heart, and prompt comes the reply — MARG, the organization he founded with the objective of teaching road culture.
"My life has been like a journey. In one of my readings, I came across a tale in the ‘Panchatantra' which made me ponder over the importance of roads and what a crucial role they play in the lives of man. I decided then and there—if Sunderlal Bahuguna embraced the cause of trees and Maneka Gandhi championed the cause of animals, it makes sense for Goans —not Gurunath Kelekar alone—to espouse the cause of roads. And that was how the seed of MARG began to germinat," Kelekar explains, with that un-missable glint in his eyes.
Though it was disenchantment all the way for the MARG movement, Kelekar has now hit upon a novel way to achieve its goals — catch them young and give Goans lessons in citizenry. Towards that end, MARG has started the Institute for Citizenship and Civic Sense Education at Raia for conducting diploma, certificate, and short-duration courses in various disciplines with the avowed objective "to inculcate values in school and college students in particular and the public in general."
"The overall objective is to work with students, youth, women and social groups through education, training, extension activities and motivation for creating a community of citizens. America did just that — taught its people citizenry," Kelekar avers.
He intends to take the movement further to the national capital once the Goa mission takes shape.
"I am an instrument, that's all. From MARG to citizenship, it's like an internal growth for me," Kelekar says, when asked what drives him to work for the society at his ripe age. "It's my passion that keeps me going."
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