Found In Translation

By IE

The spate of English translations of Bengali novels have found maximum takers among Bengalis themselves, busy discovering the literary gems of their mother tongue
"Trouble in Graveyard, Danger in Darjeeling and The Buccaneer of Bombay, these are my favourite Feluda stories," says 24-year-old Shalini Choudhury, a research fellow with Indian Statistical Institute. Most Bengalis who have grown up on the Ray family's seminal children's magazine, Sandesh, will find this bit of information preposterous. After all, Satyajit Ray never wrote them in English. "Buccaneer of Bombay? You mean Bombaiyer Bombete? I have grown up reading Feluda stories in Bengali and I can't imagine reading them in any other language," says Meghraj Moitra, 28, an employee of ABN Amro Bank.

While many other Bengalis might identify with Moitra's dismay, yet the truth remains that a generation of Bengalis have started identifying these perennial Bengali classics in their Anglicised avatars. "I studied in an English medium school. My second language was Hindi, which means I have never studied the Bengali language. Which is why I found the idea of even reading Bengali newspapers scary. My parents always used to talk about Feluda and other Bengali classics, which made me want to read them. So one fine day I picked up a translation of Feluda and have been hooked ever since," says Chowdhury. Sreyasi Ray, HR manager, Veloz Software, echoes the sentiment. " I read English translations of Bengali classics simply because it's the language I am comfortable in. as long as the essence of the novel is captured I don't care what language it is in," says Ray.

"Most translations of Bengali classics like Ray's Feluda series and Sunil Gangopadhyay are bought by young Bengali readers. Even though there is a growing number of non-Bengali readers too, almost 80 percent of the readers of the translations are Bengalis. This has always been the case. It's probably because there are many young readers who can't read or write in Bengali," says Pradeep Choudhury, manager in charge, Seagull Bookstore. Raju Burman, partner of Rupa & Co., which has published many Tagore translations, corroborates the observation . "There is a huge market for translations in Bengali classics in India and abroad. A lot of non- Bengalis and foreigners buy these books to initiate themselves to Bengali literature. But the bulk of our customers comprise Bengalis who don't have the means to read the original books. They can be NRIs or Kolkatans," says Burman.

Popular Bengali contemporary classics like Ray's Feluda series sell more in Kolkata than anywhere else. "As much as 40 per cent of the sales of Feluda books are made in Kolkata itself," says a senior official of Penguin India, which has published the translations of most Feluda novels.

For many Non Resident Bengalis these translations are, ironically, their only window to the Bengali milieu. "In translation such as Shankar's Chowringhee, Sunil Gangopadhyay's Those Days and of course the Feluda stories, I find the warmth of Bengali culture. I have never lived in Bengal and my perception of it is basically based on the accounts of my parents. So obviously, it's nostalgia-hued. And these translations in many ways have strengthened the perception," says 24-year-old Arunlekha Sengupta, an employee of Google Hyderabad, who is planning to buy many more such translations during her yearly trip to the city.

Reputed Bengali author Sankar, whose Chowringhee was recently translated by Penguin, acknowledges Sengupta's feelings. "My book is a celebration of the middle-class Bengali heartbeat as well as the cosmopolitan wave that washed the City of Joy with the fading of colonial rule. So naturally it can be seen as a way to cling on to the Bengali milieu which eludes most non resident Bengalis," says Sankar. He sees the translation of his works, as a way of reaching out to those who love and understand literature. " Vikram Seth had earlier read the Hindi translation of Chowringhee. So impressed was Seth that he suggested to the publisher that the book be translated into English so that readers across the world can read it. So the language in which my book is read doesn't matter. If it's appreciated for its qualities I'm more than happy," he sums up.