I’m not sure if it is Blogchatter or women’s web that wanted us to share our reading of book translated by another woman. Of course, writing the Kannada translation of a Gujrati novel by Mrs. Pratibha Pandya some twenty years ago, it serialized in the Kannada magazine ‘Taranga’ of course this could have been the centre of my story.
Then there were the results of the workshop conducted by the Goa University under the guidance of Dr.Kiran Bhutkuley. The book, “That Long Silence” by Shashi Deshpande was translated by Prashanti Talpankar as Dheerga Maun Teim.prashanti is an amazing storyteller in her own right. But translating another’s work is even more challenging. For the original flavour has to retained, that would require the translator to shut the authentic author in her.
Frankly let’s look at the merits and demerits of translations. For example, the recreator of ‘that long silence’ in itself is contradictory. While Prashanti is an exuberant person who is vocal about her likes and dislikes, Shashi Deshpande the creator of the original is vapid, of course I could be judgemental here after all my interaction with Shashi Deshpande was exactly for 30mnts at the GALF. I did not really find it stimulating.
Coming back to the merits and demerits of translations:
- Somehow books chosen for translations are warped in time.
- The effectiveness of the translation depends more on the reader than the writer.
- Translation to English from vernacular would mean, relearning the vernacular for many Indian authors, for many contemporary Indian authors think in English while people of a generation or two back would think in vernacular.
- The feminist flavour might be the point of view of the reader and not necessarily the author.
Many translate seem make a deliberate choice both in choosing and recreating books that are rather morbid and do not really talk of the language of the woman, but speak the language that a man thinks a woman would speak. The oppressed Indian woman seem to be the favourite theme, but gender power play, and domestic violence happens across the globe.
The rural woman, are more empowered than their educated urban counterparts, for they live by their instinct and not by the Victorian or Hindu revival moral code of their urban sisters.
One of the literary meets were translations was dissected in minuteness, an author mentioned that swearing at the cultural demands as written in the original vernacular was a challenge and the nearest she could get was, “cultured damn!damn!” well to me as reader it was bad translation, for I would experienced the authors frustration, better if the translation was, “Cultured! My foot!” or “cultured! What rubbish” the younger generation would have their own equivalent.
The Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna has an interesting observation to make that reading a book is a new experience each time, because the rasa experience varies. This happens as the readers anubhava or experience would have altered in between. There are somethings that do not make sense anymore, like the arrival of a telegram well this in itself has vanished. So how do we expect the younger generation to know the anxiety that a telegram would bring.
Well… well… talk about getting lost. I began writing this as I felt neither the gender of the creator or the gender of the recreator should matter. What should be important is narrative. There are two stories that I have read both in the original vernacular and the translated version.
Both authored by Mitra Venkatraj, in her book “pachigattida pagara” she talks about coastal Karnataka or karavali as we like to refer to it the culture pre-independence and post-independence the trails and triumphs of that generation. The language in itself spanning the dialects spoken from Kundapura to Mangalore. The other is “bilisere” which is an anthology of women of her generation, or a little older than her Mitra Venkatraj is in her early 70’s now. None of the women in the anthology fit the common belief of what the women of that generation were. She talks about stalking, lesbianism, depression and many other issues, she allows the reader the luxury of using their imagination instead of handing down the graphics.
Here is what I wanted to share, her books were translated to English by Mr.U.Venkatraj Rao, who happens to be her husband. He has perfectly recreated Mitra-aunties books. The nuances, the elegance, the subtlety, everything in place. He does not show up in the translation, its Mitra Venkatraj who still remains the narrator. For me this was an amazing experience.
The only way I think it is possible because of Venkatraj sir’s absolute understanding of Mitraji. The bonding and respect that the creator and the recreator have for each other.
Mr. Venkatraj’s rendering of Mitraji’ s turn of the century kannada novel to contemporary English or Prashanti Talpankar’ s rendering of Shashi Deshpande’s colonial English novel to contemporary Konkani are both feats in themselves.
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