A Brief History
We are a family of Hindu Konkanis whose ancestors once all lived in Goa . Around 1560, the Portuguese invaded the state and went about forcefully converting the Hindu natives to Christianity. Fleeing the Portuguese inquisition, the Konkani community spread from Goa and moved down south and settled in coastal towns in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. The Portuguese left in 1778 but Goa was a Portuguese colony for many years till India annexed the state back in 1962.
As a result of this mass migration, spoken Konkani is substantially influenced by the local languages (Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam) that are spoken in the regions that the Konkani people settled in.
Roshni’s family is based in Northern Kerala (where the wedding will take place) while Aditya’s family is from Mangalore and so the Konkani that Roshni and Aditya speak is also quite different.
Famous Konkani People
From film stars to business tycoons to illustrious sports personalities, here are some of the who’s who of the Konkani community.
(L-R) Frieda Pinto (Goan Konkani) of Slumdog Millionaire and Rise of the Planet of the Apes fame; Deepika Padukone, a rising star in Bollywood, who came out with the smash hit, Om Shanti Om.
Top-Bottom: Chairman of United Breweries Group (Kingfisher beer anyone?), Kingfisher Airlines and co-owner of F1 team Force India and IPL team Bangalore Royal Challengers, the flamboyant Vijaya Mallya’s personal net worth is estimated to be US$1.4B;
And the next Konkani power couple…
Konkani Cuisine
We have a vast variety of mouth watering vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes. Daali thoy (dhaal or lentil soup) is quintessentially Konkani comfort food and is the first recipe learnt by all konkani people.
And here are some pics of the most unique Konkani dishes which you won’t find in any Indian restaurant:
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