News - Goa

Panaji:- Noted Konkani writer and Sahitya Akademi award winner Prakash Thali expired on Wednesday.

He was 65. Thali is credited for translating the Indian constitution in Konkani up to the 85th amendment and contributing to the Konkani-English dictionary.

Born at Chorao in 1945, Thali has written works in Konkani and Marathi. He has also translated Bengali dramas 'Sagina Mahato' and 'Badal Sarkar' and Kannada play 'Hayavatani', besides a Marathi drama into Konkani.

He was a professor who taught English at P D Lions College, Mumbai and Damodar College, Margao.

Thali was also editor of the Konkani monthly magazine Kullaghar and worked as assistant editor and news editor with Konkani daily Sunaparant. Among his achievements is a Sahitya Akademi award for a translation of 'Sanskar' - a book by Kannada writer U R Ananta Murthy.

On February 8, he was admitted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim due to ailing health.

Although doctors tried their best, Thali expired on Wednesday morning and was cremated at Chorao later in the evening. He is survived by his wife Sarojini and two children.

"We have lost a dramatist of great calibre. He was also known as a critic of literature. Not forgetting that he was a great helping hand at the Goa Konkani Akademi," says N Shivdas, president, Goa Konkani Akademi and a Sahitya Akademi award winner himself.

"I remember him directing plays in my village at Bandora, including one 'Fullam ani Fogotteo'. He has also written a monograph on Laxman Rai Sardessai, a Konkani short story writer," Shivdas added.

"He had developed his own style of directing. And, he was a brilliant critic," remembers Pundalik Naik, convenor of the Konkani Advisory Board and an executive member of the Sahitya Akademi.

"He was a good writer, translator, and fiction writer. He had translated a French play using English as a filter language. His translation of the Bengali play 'Sagini Mahato' was well appreciated and his efforts must be commended due to which the Konkani stage flourished," Naik said.

"He had a sharp memory, was well read and could quote from great literary works. Of course, as a friend, he was close to me along with a few others," said Naik, who is also a Sahitya Akademi award winner.

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