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MANGALORE: A change of guard at the Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy here ushered in a few new ideas that could give a fillip to the way the language, its culture, music and literature is passed on to the GenNext. Recognizing the fact that the printed word often struggles to make a mark in the digital world of information explosion, the academy has envisioned a scheme to take Konkani literature and music literally to the door steps of people.

 The academy hopes to achieve this by way of Konkani Bazaar. Unlike other bazaars that are stationary, the academy’s bazaar will be on wheels wherein it is planning to lease or rent out a vehicle which will take Konkani literature in the form of books and CDs to places where people gather. This could be weekly shandies, or other places of public gathering such as government programmes or functions of the Konkani speaking communities.

 The brain child of Roy Castelino, president of the academy, the academy through this objective hopes to get more people on board the Konkani literature train. "There is even otherwise a major problem in providing a sustained market for Konkani literature," Roy said, adding that the academy in its role of upholding the language and its cause has come up with the idea of Konkani Bazaar that will give a market to publications and CDs of the academy.

 This venture will ensure that Konkani literature reaches a wider audience given that a vehicle can go in unchartered territories. Hitherto, people had to come to select shops or the academy office to lay their hands on Konkani books or CDs. With this Konkani Bazaar, the academy is in a position to send the same to the doorsteps of people, enthuse them to buy it and thereby elicit their support in patronising the language, he added.

 This new initiative will be launched at the state level at the Vasantha Sambrama function that chief minister Siddaramaiah and minister for Kannada and culture Umashree are expected to attend in Bangalore on May 24. Various academies will be part of the Vasantha Sambrama function in Bangalore, Roy told TOI, adding that the academy will hold a soft launch of the Konkani Bazaar in the city where it is headquartered at a later date.