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.

Thirumandiram in Malayalam

It all began with a love for Tamil language which gradually grew into a passion.
Five years after he came out with the Malayalam commentary of Tamil epic Thirukural, K G Chandrasekharan Nair has now completed the commentary and translation of yet another Tamil epic - Thirumantram.
The three-volume translation, to be published by DC Books, is all set to be released in August.
A visit to his house at Kundamankadavu turned a revealing journey as we are received by a father-daughter duo, both bound together by a common thread - a love for Tamil literature.
While Chandrasekharan Nair had brought out the commentary on Thirukural in 2002, daughter Shailaja Raveendran has translated the couplets in simple Malayalam, the pocket edition of which was brought out by DC Books last week.
At the house, we are greeted by books and more books. Among them are the three thickly-bound books, the translated volumes of Tamil epic Thirumantram. And even before we ask, Chandrasekheran Nair tells us what made him translate them. ‘‘It has in-depth meanings which Malayalis should not miss out. Many have translated it earlier but I wanted to earn an experience for myself, of having imbibed a great epic.’’
But Thirumantram, the devotional songs by Sidhar Thirumular, still remains largely ‘untouched’ in terms of translations.
‘‘This translation includes commentaries and references, and is called a bhashyam.’’ Chandrasekharan Nair seems a satisfied writer.
An employee with the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Department for 36 years, it was his settling down in the city after retirement and his acquaintance with the late poets Ayyappa Paniker and Guptan Nair that opened the doors of literature to him.
He is the brother-in-law of ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair, a relation that he cherishes and carries with pride.
It was upon his insistence that Shailaja set out to translate Thirukural for the pocket edition. ‘‘If his translation is scholarly, mine is simple - for the common man,’’ she says.
Shailaja has translated the short stories of Tamil writer S Murugaiya (Chudar) and is now into yet another translation of a Tamil work - one of Kannadasan’s books on Hindu philosophy.
Shailaja marks out certain couplets from the translated Thirukural that are oft-repeated by President Kalam in his speeches. And they mean: ‘Those who have the courage to carry out their wishes as they dreamt will reach their goals as they wished.’ It is a similar dream that carries this father-daughter duo on a mission to make available to Malayalis some of the finest literary works in another language.
Courtesy: Newindpress