Nagesh Karmali

Nagesh Ramadas Karmali is a Indian freedom fighter, writer, poet, Konkani activist. He was active in Goa Liberation Movement. He was born in Quephem, a village in Goa. He completed his education in a Portuguese school in his village. Famous Poet Bakibab Borakar was his teacher.

Career
Nagesh Karmali started writing poem at the age of 15. Borkar gave him a deeper insight into the wider realm of poetry. He developed love for reading books and he read Premchand, Rabindranath Tagore, Krishna Chandar, Amrita Pritam, Khalil Gibran and so on. He actively participated in the Liberation Movement of Goa, which was given a new impetus by Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia. His activity against Portuguese cost him a few years of jail. The solitude of the jail shaped both his poetry and personality. He was active member of National Congress of Goa. He organised several activities to evoke anti-Portuguese feelings among the people. He was firm about his role of saving the motheland and mother tongue. in 1966, he joined All India Radio, Panaji, as a staff artist. Being a writer, he felt he was reborn when he chose to write in Konkani. He wrote several radio scripts, plays and other programmes. Being a Government employee, he could not directly involve in Konkani movement. He took the lead in organising poetry recitation programmes in remote villages. Karmali has published his poetry collections including Zorgot, Sanvar, Vanshkullachem Dennem (41 poems) and Taang Athaang. He encouraged young talented writers to write and publish their books. Karmali has contributed many articles on literary, social and critical evaluation subjects to various magazines and dailies. He has translated Mohan Rakesh’s Hindi play Aadhe adhure into Konkani. He also translated Adya Rangacharya’s play Kelu Janamejaya into Konkani. He was founder member of Konkani Bhasa Mandal, Goa and All India Konkani Parishad.

Awards
Karmali won the Sahitya Akademi Award for his Vanskullachem Dennem (1992). He was awarded the Tamra Patra by the Central Government and honoured him as a freedom fighter by the President of India (2008). He was honoured with State cultural Award by the Goa Government (1993) and State Literary Award (2007). He was honoured by Goa Konkani Sahitya Akademi Sahitya Pratibha Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar (2009). He presided over the 13th All India Konkani Sahitya Sammelan held in Kerala.