Donui vhoddeanr pãy, ekay vhoddear nãy

Donui vhoddeanr pãy, ekay vhoddear nãy

literally means: “If you plant your feet across two boats, you will find yourself on neither”. Life’s choices are often limited. It is certainly frustrating not to have the object of your desire. But if there are two equally desirable and individually attainable objects which are mutually incompatible, it can be an even more frustrating experience. In such a situation one may try to grab both the objects, and in the bargain lose one’s focus and end up with the loss of both.

This happens regularly to overambitious people, but it is also a type of experience that many of us may have encountered at some time in our lives. A young man may be drawn to two equally attractive jobs and is compelled to choose one and let go of the other. Or it may happen to a young lady who meets, or gets proposals from, two equally attractive young men. In such situations, one is usually compelled to make a choice, since one cannot eat the cake and have it too.

However, there are situations when it is possible to go for both the options at the same time even though they are not quite mutually compatible. In such cases the two choices often end up hurting each other, because one cannot do justice to both. That is what this proverb intends to discourage by comparing it to a man who tries to sail on two boats by standing astride both while the boats begin to drift away from each other. Sometimes, however, the incompatibility between the two or more choices may not be as sharp and end up being a form of “a jack of all trades and a master of none”.

Vocabulary and Grammar:

Dôn

means two but donui  means both, with the stress on the number (= “not just one but both”).  and the word donui refers to inanimate objects, not persons.

However, it is used only when referring to inanimate objects, while the Konkani words for persons and animate objects (mammals, i.e. somewhat personified animals) would be as follows :
Dog

(masc), dogi (fem) and dogam (neut)

But if you want to lay stress on the number (which amounts to saying “not just one but both”), then it takes an emphatic form, thus
Doguy 

(masc), dogii (fem) and dogãy  (neut)

Vhoddem (neut)

= boat. In the boat =  vhoddeant; on the boat = vhoddear or vhoddeachêr; in the boats = vhoddeamnim; on the boats = vhoddeanr or vhoddeanchêr.

Pãy (masc)

= foot as well as feet. There are many Konkani words (nouns) that are the same in the singular and the plural.

Ekay 

= either one or neither one.

Nãy

= you (sing) are not

Hanv nam

= I am not                             Ami nanv = We are not
Tum nãy  = You (sing) aren’t                  Tumi nant   = You (pl) are not
To, ti, tem na = He, she, it isn’t              Te, teo, tim nant = They are are not