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Awakening darkness
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Noted Goan writer Datta Damodar Naik speaks his mind on language, culture and development
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Datta Damodar Naik
"A true creative writer should march towards darkness to awaken the darkness from its deep slumber," says noted Goan writer in Konkani and columnist Datta Damodar Naik, who won this year's prestigious Sahitya Akademi award for the Konkani language, for his collection of short literary essays "Jai Kai Jui?"
A truly unconventional thinker-writer, 52-year-old Datta Naik refuses to believe in the adage that writers should "lead people from darkness towards light". Fondly addressed by his admirers and well-wishers as Datta, Naik is a multifaceted personality.
Apart from being a prolific writer and a columnist, he is a fifth generation businessman, a builder, an orator with a gift of the gab and a socio-political activist who has taken stands on various socio-political issues affecting Goan society from time to time.
The contradictions
Unassuming by nature, Naik tries to explain his multi-cornered personality with a tinge of humour. "There are lots of contradictions in me, I live multiple lives: I am a poder (Goan baker - he owns a bakery with a Monginis franchisee), shopkeeper, builder, social activist (he heads a socio-political organisation by name Janashakti), and a writer (three books to his credit and two more to follow soon)".
Naik's award-winning book of "creative essays" manifests a strong lineage towards the matriarchal family system. Naik dedicated the award to his 87-year-old mother who, he says, is his inspiration as a writer. "Whatever I am today, I owe to her," he says humbly and explains, "As a creative writer, it is not enough that you have the hard skills of writing, you also need to inculcate the soft skills, and the biggest of them is the `sensitivity and sensibility' which I gained from my mother."
A flair for language, distinct style, depth of thought are the strengths of Datta Naik's literary works. The author also says that with "Jai Kai Jui?" he made an effort to write essays, which was a shift from his usual thought-provoking writings taking a particular stand on issues. "I had to alter myself while writing the essays," he confessed.
For Naik, who writes with equal felicity in Konkani as well as Marathi, "language is not important, culture is important, because culture is greater than language and life is greater than culture." The award-winning book is a collection of "women-centric" essays, where delicate relationships of mother-son, brother-sister, father-daughter and grandfather-granddaughter have been sensibly and sensitively explored.
In an informal chat, Naik describes himself as "a sensitive writer and at the same time a businessman who functions on more practical ground realities." He finds his views more balanced rather than dreamy idealism of a litterateur.
Regional plan
At a time when Goa is in the midst of a people's agitation against reckless development triggered by what the agitators describe as a "monstrous State sponsored Regional Plan 2011", Naik is unequivocal in his bold stand.
He is opposed to the demand of "scrapping the regional plan". He advocates a balance between development and eco-activism.
Commenting on the extreme "pro-environment and anti-development" views coming up in the State at this juncture, Naik asserts that writers and literary figures must " shun silence because it is criminal to be silent".
He wants writers to be vocal but to have more balanced views to guide society in favour of "sustainable development". Writers should no doubt be sensitive but should also be sensible about realities.
"Writers must adopt out-of-the-box thinking. They should disregard both extremes, the eco-fundamentalism which is purely guided by emotional approach and also the consumerist reckless and indiscriminate development," argues Naik.
He feels that many of the problems on development fronts confronting the state are because Goans have traditionally been "reactive" rather than "proactive."
About Goan writers, he complains they are not vocal on issues.
"The knowledge economy that we are in, we writers must have `knowledge' as also understanding of the `economy'," observes the award-winning writer.
"A writer cannot be a mere entertainer. He should educate. For that he himself should have clarity of thought and conviction to give balanced views," he says.
Writing has not come to him as an accident. A grandson of a Margao-based businessman and historian Kashinath Damodar Naik, Datta Naik unveils his upbringing saying, "Personally I am a strong atheist but I am brought up with strong progressive values."
A compulsive traveller who has virtually globe trotted, mixing business with adventure, Naik expresses himself well through his travelogues like "Kalighat te Karunaghat" and "Arabian Days".
PRAKASH KAMAT
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