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Doha Qatar Sept 13: The Nativity of the Mother Mary is a day close to the heart of all Mangalureans, especially for the people of Mangalurean origin who are now scattered in different parts of the world.   It is a day which evokes memories of days goneby, of our childhood when we would clamber to collect the best flowers from the neighbourhood to take to church for the nativity novena and eagerly await the sugarcane that was distributed after the feast mass on the 8th of September. It is a day when we would partake in a vegetarian family meal and drink the roce with the blessed grains in it. 
 
Mangalore Cricket Club, Qatar endeavours to retain and nurture the rich traditions of our hometown and initiates various events to make its members feel at home and the celebration of the nativity feast is one such event.
 
This year, the traditional Monthi Fest with Novem Jevaan was held on Friday, September 11, 2015 at Al Jazeera Academy, Qatar. The celebration was attended by over 500 Mangaloreans. The chief guest for the evening was Mr. Roy Castelino, President of Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy who flew in from Mangalore to join the celebrations.  The guests of honor were Rev. Fr. Anil D’Costa, OFM Cap,  Principal of Trinity Central School, Perampalli, Udupi Rev Fr Anand Castelino, OFM Cap Assistant parish priest and the Spiritual Director of the Konkani Speaking Community at the Lady of Rosary parish here in Qatar .
 
The evening began with an introduction from Prabha Rego, emcee of the evening. This followed by an opening prayer by Jane Pinto seeking blessings from Mother Mary.  

MCC President Norbert Corda & Vice President Prakash Noronha then escorted the guests, Roy Castelino, Fr. Anil D’Costa and Fr Anand  and MCC Advisory council member and MCC’s pillar of strength Jerald D’Mello to the dias. President Norbert Corda then delivered his welcome note giving his message to the members. MCC Cultural secretary Riana Pinto conducted the felicitation of 13 academic achievers of 10th & 12th Class students who have excelled in academics in the 2014-15 who were honoured by Chief Guest Mr. Roy Castelino.  The Academic Achievers were: Shawn D’Souza, Christopher Pinto, Dylan D’Souza, Hazel Tellis of 12th Std, Ashton D’Souza, Rebeca D’Souza, Megan D’Souza, Melroy Crasto, Gishal Cordeiro, Tanya Lobo, Liyan D’Souza, Blacious D’Souza and Cletus D’Souza of 10th Std.

MCC has been spotting and honouring the achievers and those who have rendered yeoman’s service to the club and society. Prabha Rego introduced this year awardees Mr. William Lobo Kemmannu and Mr. Anson Sequeira who were honoured for their long service to the club by Jerald D’Mello presenting them a memento. 

This was followed by the honouring of chief Guest Mr. Roy Castelino who was introduced to the gathering by Vice president Prakash Noronha. Roy Castelino was draped with a shawl and was presented memento by MCC President Norbert Corda. Acknowledging the honour, Mr. Roy Castelino then addressed the gathering giving his message on the importance of preserving our mother tongue Konkani, mentioned the history of Konkani, how it originated and using it in our daily lives to motivate our children to speak it.

Acknowledging the honour Roy thanked MCC President Norbert Corda and Executive Committee members for inviting and honouring him. He said, “True to the great Indian spirit which practices “Unity in Diversity” we Konkani speaking people also can identify ourselves in the same league. Konkani is a mother tongue to all the 3 major religions - Hindu, Christian and Muslim, 41 communities, having 5 scripts and numerous dialects, culture and traditions.

Konkani is a very complex but interesting language. Though its origin and period of existence not very clear. The traits of migration are very clear. Its influence on languages like Bengali, Bhojpuri, Haryanvi, Rajasthani, Gujarati and Marathi shows that the Konkani’s have faced great odds before creating and settling its own space along the Konkan Coast amongst the Dravidian languages. Possibly because of these challenges, the Konkani people are very vibrant and enterprising community. Konkani’s are found all over India and in every nook and corner of the world. They have made their mark and shown their presence in every industrial/knowledge sector - be it banking, education, health, IT, corporate world. They are also not far behind in Government by showing their caliber as bureaucrats, politicians, cine actors, sportspersons, and many other fields, you name it. Konkani’s by nature are very shy, honest and dedicated lot. Though the Konkani’s consist of a very miniscule percentage of the Indian population, they have made a indelible mark of their own in this great nation," he said. He urged the Konkani speaking community of Qatar to teach their children to speak in community so that Konkani can be preserved and passed on to the future generations.

The winners of MCC’s 9th Annual Talent Competitions held in May 2015 were honoured and it was conducted by Mishal Lobo, Joint Cultural Secretary.  The prizes were given away by Fr. Anand Castelino, Fr. Anil D’Costa and Prakash Noronha. The talent competitions included cookery contest, Poster making, Konkani Story Telling, Elocution & Pick-n-speak, Hair Styling, Singing, Fancy Dress and Dance competition.

MCC Throwball team - champions of MCC’s 13th Annual Ladies Throwball Tournament held in October 2014 and MCC Khokho team winners of ICC’s tournament held in February 2015 were felicitated.   Della Rego,  Membership Secretary conducted this session.  

Renowned singer and MCC member Norbert Pereira’s, music album Vol 6 CD “Moga Uthar” was released in Qatar by Mr. Roy Castelino.  First Konkani short telefilm titled “Manasa” by Maxim Pereira was released by Norbert Corda.

Fr. Anand and Fr. Anil gave their short festive message and then Fr. Anil invoked God’s blessings on ‘novem’ prepared with the new corns. The home prepared ‘Roce’ by Vivian D’Souza and his team of volunteers with ‘novem’ was then distributed to one big Mangalurean family gathered for the celebrations..

The stage was then thrown open for some fun games and short cultural program.  Main emcee Prabha Rego conducted some funfilled spot games in her fluent Konkani language and did a fabulous job.  Short skit and a joke written by by Savious Crasta was presented by himself, Della Rego, Alphonse D’Silva and Joel Pinto and entertained the audience.    
 
Winnie Saldanha, Joint Facilitation secretary proposed the vote of thanks. People then enjoyed sumptuous dinner with 5 vegetable dishes, and delicious vorn prepared by Jossy D’Souza and his team of volunteers. Home prepared sannas were also there. The evening came to an end with a Bingo game conducted by Harry Correa.
 
Earlier during the day, many volunteers gathered at the residence of Jerry and Leena D’Mello to cook roce and vorn.

MCC executive committee members take this opportunity to thank all the volunteers who helped and contributed in different ways to make this program yet another successful one. 

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