Translations from across India

potpourri

...The elders of the two households pronounced:

“Now, the boy and the girl may speak alone.” “Alone?”

“Yes… that means, in private…they must have something to say to each other… after all, things are not like they were in our day.”

“That is indeed true. Now let us leave them to it. What role do we have in here, in a private conversation?”

As both parties continued the celebrations in the background, the boy and the girl found themselves alone in the room. Raising her head which had until now been kept lowered with deliberate practice, the girl looked up at the boy. In his low- waist jeans and tight-fitting shirt, the boy looked rather stylish. Very slowly and with a great deal of trepidation, the girl asked:

“I…I have only one thing to ask you…may I?”

“Sure, why not. Ask right away," said the boy.

He had of course come prepared and was expecting a number of such questions. After a brief pause and a moment’s hesitance, the girl asked:

“How is your personal hygiene? I mean… bathing? Brushing? Change of clothes? What is your routine when it comes to these things?”

The boy was taken aback from this sudden question which came completely out of the syllabus.

“Please do not take this the wrong way…but this is all I want to know…I am adamant that the person marrying me must be someone with good personal hygiene…”

On hearing this bold response, the boy’s jaw dropped. And the girl, unable to bear the stench that came out of his open mouth, fell to the floor, unconscious. 

This is an excerpt from a short story written by Dr. Silvikutty, a writer from Kottayam in Kerala who served as a faculty of Malayalam in various government colleges in Kerala for over three decades. The story is ably translated by Jomy Thomas, a student of English literature for a book which is an interesting and intellectually stimulating compilation of revered works of renowned authors from across a spectrum of Indian languages translated largely by students from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). 

German novelist and Nobel prize winner Gunter Grass once famously said, "Translation is that which transforms everything so that nothing changes." His words ring true and find inspiration among students of MA Literature from IGNOU who came together under the leadership of their professor Anand Krishnamurthy to bring out, 'Potpourri' - An anthology of poems and tales from India, published on July 23 and now available for purchase on Amazon. 

The book consists of 15 poems and 10 short stories translated from various languages in India of works by famous authors and eminent writers including Padramarajan, Paul Zacharia, O.N.V. Kurup, S. Joseph, Madhavikutty, Vylopilli, O.V. Vijayan, Sarweshwar Dayal Saxena, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Amrita Pritam, Makhan Lal Chaturvedi and Fakir Sena Pati, as well as writings from a young dalit poet Chandramohan S. and short story writer Lakshmi Das.

Since time immemorial, translation has played a major role in helping literature cross the barriers of language, place and time. Without translations it would have been nearly impossible to celebrate writers like Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Gabriel Garcia Marques among others, writes professor Anand Krishnamurthy in the preface to the book. "Translation has also helped in archiving works across the ages. For instance, Aristotle’s renowned work on poetry and drama titled 'Poetics' was primarily written in Greek language, but over time most parts of 'Poetics' were lost while some parts were retrieved later. Students of English literature will be familiar with the work, as it is generally prescribed for their study of Literary Criticism and Theory. But most of them are not aware of the fact that the English translation of 'Poetics', whether by Janko or St. Halliwell or Gallimard or Butcher, were not based on the original work in Greek but of its available translation from Arabic (eighth century A.D.) It must be observed that this live nature has kept the domain of translation a raw field even today. It presents the modern-day translators with immense (unexplored) opportunities to delve deep into," tells Krishnamurthy to THE WEEK.

The book is a treat to read especially for the remarkable variety it offers in terms of the selection of the authors and their works. Each story or poem is short and crisp and that makes it easier to complete the entire book in one reading within a couple of hours at a stretch. Take for instance 'The Deserted Room,' a poem by Rashtrakavi (national poet) Padma Bhushan and Jnanpith awardee Ramdhari Singh Dinkar from Bihar which is beautifully translated by IGNOU student Vandana Jha. It is nostalgic to read Dinkar's work, and that too in English. Another student, Unnimaya A.S.  translates 'Cattle' (originally, Kannukaalikal) by renowned cartoonist, short story writer and novelist O.V. Vijayan who gave us  his masterpiece, Khasakkinte Itihasam (translated as The Legends of Khasak).  

At a time when students across the country and the world have taken to studying online, IGNOU classes too adapted to the new method of teaching with the help of online platforms. "It meant that I had a group of 30-40 students for MEG 14 (Modern Indian Literature in Translation) from varied parts of India. Our initial sessions were focussed on theoretical concepts of translation, blended with works prescribed for study. Towards the end of the first leg of sessions around May 23 this year, the idea of attempting translations of short vernacular literatures came forth. To my surprise, I had received more than twenty entries by the time the second leg started around June. In order to escape any copy right issues, it was decided to work on such vernacular works," says Krishnamurthy.  

A few IGNOU students such as Sreedevi Menon have taken to translate the works of newer and upcoming writers. In 'Through Me,' Menon translates a poem by Dhanya Unnikrishnan a post graduate degree holder whose first publication is a collection of poems written in Malayalam, titled, Mouna Mandranangal which appeared in 2019. The key highlights of her poems are the description of equations shared by man and his environment. "This is an opportunity of a lifetime given to us by our faculty at IGNOU. It helps us immensely as students of literature to understand the nuances of translation and apply them in our own work," says Sreedevi Menon.

Book: 'Potpourri' - An anthology of poems and tales from India

Edited by: Anand Krishnamurthy

Pages: 82

Price : Rs 150

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