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GITANJALI DAS

SEVEN states, myriad cultures, eachculture rich in its own traditions the Northeast is perhaps themost diverse region in a country thattakes pride in her diversity. Each eth-nic group is prosperous with its ownpriceless treasures of literature, yet only a few languages have seen the lime-light, mainly owing to issues like writ-ers convenience. For a population thatlives geographically so close to one an-other, we are strangely, unfamiliar withthe literature of the others cultures.

Translation is a path which bridgesthe divide between different groups.Caroline Marak, retired professor of the department of Garo in NEHUsTura campus says: The role of trans-lation is to know about different lan-guages, literatures and cultures. How-ever, we are isolated in our own liter-ature. A writer or a reader, efficientin one particular language, seldomtries to explore other languages. Trans-lators in the Northeast usually opt forpopular languages like Assamese andEnglish while translating a literary work and Garo, Bodo, Mising, Karbiand others do not get the exposurethey deserve.

Though organisations like the Na-tional Book Trust and Sahitya Akade-mi translate books in different re-gional languages, the translations arevery few in number. Anwesha, agroup based in Guwahati, has re-cently taken an initiative in collabo-ration with Indira Gandhi NationalCentre for the Arts (IGNCA) to changethe scenario of translation in the re-gion and mend the linguistic divide.The project was launched on 14 De-cember 2011 and as many as 180books are being translated in As-samese, Bodo, Garo, Manipuri, Mizoand Khasi languages. 30 books willbe translated in each of the six lan-guages in this project, says PareshMalakar, president of Anwesha. Theproject has brought together littera-teurs like Desmond Kharmawphlang,T Bijoy Kumar Singh, HarekrishnaDeka, Arup Kumar Dutta, Caroline

Marak and Laltluangliana Khiangte

to make stories from folklore andabout heroes who have done com-mendable work for the communities,available to different groups.

Politically, Assam is a region whichhas seen countless conflicts betweenvarious ethnic groups. The same canbe said of her neighbours. The rootcause of such problems, according to Malakar, is the ignorance of peo-ple about the literature, culture andtraditions of other languages. Liter-ature is a way to understand the psy-che of people. He believes that if athorough study of folklore, storiesand cultures of the different tribes isdone, one can find that we have anumber of things in common. Weare scared of others because we feelthey are different and we dont un-derstand them. We complicate ourproblems by not understanding ourcommonalities, says Malakar. Another endeavour along the same

lines has been taken up by the Sri-manta Foundation and the AssamSatra Mahasabha. They launched aprogramme Setubandha, literally meaning building bridges, in 2003under which people from differentethnic groups in Assam are trainedto perform bhaona s (plays), the cre-ation of Sankardev. But even thoughthe bhaona s are performed by dif-ferent tribes, they are in Brajabuli or Assamese language. However, someof them have been translated intotribal languages recently for the firsttime in history. An ankiya nat , SitaHaran Bali Badh has been compiledby Nirupama Mahanta and translat-ed into Mising by Rameswar Madak.Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta, IGP (Train-ing), Assam, who is associated withthis project feels that though this isthe land of Sankardev who haddreamt of a community where peo-ple could live with dignity and broth-erhood, the various ethnic groups in Assam have been drifting apart. Theidea behind this project is to makethe tribes feel comfortable and caredfor. Why should Sankardev belong toonly one particular group of peoplein Assam? He is a guru for other tribes

also, says Mahanta.

Though these organisations havebeen doing commendable work, thereare very few writers who are driven to- wards translating a work into or fromthe lesser spoken languages. Some lan-guages in the state like Bodo and As-samese are more developed than oth-ers and many works from other lan-

guages have been translated into them.

When Bodo language received recog-nisation under the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution in 2003, it wasa major development towards the bet-terment of the group. Moreover, or-ganisations like the Sahitya Akademiand some publishing houses have al- ways encouraged Bodo translations.

Anjali Daimary, social activist and

teacher in Barama College, was award-ed the Sahitya Akademi Award fortranslation in the year 2007. Being ateacher and a student of literature, Ifelt that if I cannot create something,I must contribute through translation,says Daimary. She felt that children inher community could not read As-samese and they must have access toliterature in other languages. Herawareness of the responsibility as a writer led her to translate.

Another Bodo author, MaheswarNarzary, received the Bal SahityaPuraskar from the Akademi in 2011for his work Puranni Cholo Pithika .It saddened me to see that Bodo chil-dren could not read in other languagesof the region, says Narzary, whoseaward-winning book consists of talesfrom the Ramayana, the Mahabhara-ta and the Puranas.

The root of the barriers between dif-ferent ethnic groups in the region, along with understanding different languagesis, therefore, education. If a child istaught about different cultures and lan-guages from a very young age she willdevelop an interest towards the sur-roundings, which will in turn lead toan understanding about the neigh-bours. The project undertaken by An- wesha targets the children because of this reason. When children are givenexposure to something at a tender age,it tends to make a better impressionon them, says Malakar.

He also points out that one of the ma- jor problems in the area of translationis that 90% of the works that are being translated are fiction. There are great works in the area of non-fiction avail-able in English but not enough in re-gional languages, says Malakar. Eventhough English has become the ac-cepted medium of instruction in city-based schools and colleges, there arehundreds of institutions that follow lo-cal dialects. Malakar feels the pictureis the same in other states as well.

Though this is just the beginning of a growing awareness of people towardsgetting acquainted with literary trea-sures through translations, a lot needsto be done if we are to stay united in a

culturallydiverse region. T

Pradip Acharya is a former professorof Cotton College in Guwahati and aprolific translator in Assamese andEnglish. He has some well known

translations to his credit, including

Ancient Gongs and When Seas Meet (translated from Assamese); andKrishnanga Kabir Kabita (ananthology of Black poetry translatedinto Assamese). Talking to Gitanjali Das, he says that writers from theNortheast have mastered differentidioms and will evolve a vision of lifein the years to come

u What does literature mean to you?Do you think it has any relevance inour day-to-day lives? According to you, does it have anything to do withall that is happening around us?t Literature is enrichedunderstanding of life. And since it isthe understanding of life, it hasrelevance in our day-to-day life inevery way possible. When it comes toliterature one does not write aboutsomething that is not relevant to ourlives. When you advertise a fridge ora microwave, it relates to life in adifferent way. But when I talk of literature I mean creativeliterature. Anything you writecannot be literature.

u How close is your relation with literature in general, and with literature of the Northeastin particular?t Literature cannot be general. Italways has to be qualified. Often, it isqualified with reference to the regionor language it originates from. Thus we have literature from the Northeastor we have Assamese literature, orMeitei, or Naga, or Hindi, or English.

u What future do you see forliterature from the Northeast?t I feel the future of literature fromNortheast is very bright because thereare so many good writers. We havedifferent realities to express. Our writers have mastered differentidioms and in time, they will alsoevolve a vision of life.

u Name one book that had a lasting impact on you. In what way?t Dantes Divine Comedy has madea lasting impression on me inmany ways.

u What book would yourecommend for our readersand why?t No, I will not make any suggestionsto the readers. Readers will find out what kind of books are to their liking on their own. Why should I impose my taste on them? My taste, like everyoneelses will be limited.

PAGETURNERS

PRADIP ACHARYA

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SEVENSISTERS

NE Lit review

3

M OST Assamese shortstories are beauti-fully seasoned andflavoured. The vet-eran writers are themselves sea-soned; the flavour spills out nat-urally. Younger and upcoming writers have a completely dif-ferent twist in their writings. Itis in entirely new vistas, thatopen up into a huge canvas, of a medley of events and situa-tions covering passion, crime,poverty, corruption, intriguesand pathos. They make for in-teresting and easy reading. When I first started reading

Assamese short stories, I had

been battling cancer. During my most horrid hours, thesestories helped to keep my mindaway from my misery. That is when I decided to translatethese stories. It seemed a pity that those of my friends whoneither spoke nor understoodthe language were missing outon a good thing. Also I felt thatthese stories should get a widerexposure in other states of ourcountry, and perhaps outsideas well. That is when I had start-ed translating some Assameseshort stories into English.

My first venture was my book Moments . It was a collectionof a dozen short stories, pub-lished by Cambridge India.Earlier, Arupa Patangia Kalitahad asked me to translate Fe-lanee . I had then told her, thatI needed to gather enoughcourage to translate so many pages at one go. But I promisedto translate the book, if and when I felt confident after my first venture with short stories. Moments included one of herstories too. After Moments , I took a holi-

day from translating and wrotemy own stories for a while. Andthen, I decided to translateFelanee . Arupa was delightedand so was I, for being confi-dent. This was a most power-ful novel that I had decided totranslate! I looked forward todoing it.

It took me seven-and-half months to complete the trans-lation. Zubaan very kindly agreed to publish the book.They did not know me, b ut they had previously publishedDawn which had been au-thored by Arupa. They knew the quality of her writing.

It was while I worked on Fe-lanee that I realised how diffi-cult translation work could be,more so when the matter wasas steeped in cultural contextsas this book was. There were As-samese expressions that werecolloquial, but beautiful. They were faithful representations of

a persons moods of sullen re-sentment, sympathy, passion,love and hate. But translatedinto a different language, they soon lost their original essenceand true flavour. To cite an ex-ample, the word abhiman doesnot have an English counter-part that would faithfully con-vey the mood of an Indian woman in an Indian setting. Itis truly a very typical Assamese word portraying a very uniqueand subtle emotion.

Then, also, there are forms of address such as heri, hera andherou in Assamese. The first is arespectful address for a senior,the second is usually an affec-tionate address between hus-band and wife, which can alsobe used with youngsters, whilethe third is the common form of address reserved for a domestichelp and also for children of thefamily. The word, used in con-text, automatically creates themood of the situation. This can-not be conveyed in a differentlanguage. Also some of the col-loquial expressions are beauti-ful but defy translation. At times, the translator is at

loss. Has she been successful inmaintaining her fidelity to theauthor? Has she been able toretain the flavour of the original work? This doubt can bea source of acute misery forthe translator. While translating Felanee , it

had been necessary for me toreplenish my stock of swear words and not too pleasing abusive dialect, in keeping withthe text.

Once the work is with thepublishers, it is possible to setaside some parts of the origi-nal during editing. But then,the translator does not possessthat right.

By the time I had completedtranslating the novel, I had de-cided that such work was no joke. When I finished, I decid-ed once again to take a holi-day from translating. I went

back to my own writing andpublished The Plum Tree . Itsoothed me.

But then, I had this commit-ment to myself. I went back totranslating many other shortstories, Burhi Aair Xadhu andthen Makam . In Burhi Aair Xadhu , I encountered thesame problems with culture-based words. But I thorough-

ly enjoyed translating Makam .It made wonderful reading,and the language flowed nat-urally and smoothly. As such,translation was good going. Very rarely did I have to goback to my own work, with asense of irritation or discon-tent. This translation broughtto me a sense of freedom andfulfillment. The book wasstraightforward, educative anddotted both with anguish andhumour. I was happy with what I produced by way of translation.

However, I do have this to say about translation. At the endof the day it makes you feel thatit is really a thankless task.

Considering the hours youspend on a paragraph to bring about the desired effect, it isafter all a reproduction of a work of art produced by some-one else. You can only hopethat the author and the pub-lisher would be happy with the work. In reproducing it in an-other language, you mighteven have recreated some-thing. It might give you a senseof fulfillment, no doubt. But you are still taken for granted.

Publishers for translated work are difficult to come by,unless you are a renowned writer. Then, when you find apublisher, it is usually monthsor a couple of years, at least,before a translated book gets published and reaches themarket. You tend to forget that yours is not the only job withthe publishers. By thattime your enthusiasm is atzero level.

Personally, I have been inor-dinately fortunate to havefound a straightforward, rea-sonable and cooperative pub-lisher like Zubaan. I haveknown many translators whohave been fed up looking for apublisher for their translated work. Eventually, when they do find a publisher, they aredisappointed with the termsoffered. I fervently hope thatthings get better for transla-tors in the coming years. T

Noted translator DeepikaPhukan who has introducedEnglish readers to such worksas Felanee talks about herexperiences in bringing stories

from a different language alive

LOOKING GLASSRRRRRRTG

AT times, the translator is at loss. Has she beensuccessful inmaintaining her fidelity to the author?Has she been able toretain the flavour of the original work? Thisdoubt can be a sourceof acute misery for thetranslator

TAKE TWO

BOOK ABLECFP: UGC SeminarOrganiser: Department of English, Kakatiya

University, WarangalTheme: Multiculturalism in Indian LiteraturesDate: 19 - 20 March 2012What to submit: Hard and soft copies of abstracts/papers (3000 words) to MRajagopalachary, Coordinator and G Damodar,Deputy Coordinator/ M Rajagopalachary,Convener of the Seminar, Department of English, Kakatiya University, Warangal-506009,Andhra PradeshDeadline for abstract: 17 March 2012Email for abstracts/papers:

mrgcharya@gmail.comgdamodar@gmail.com

Contact: +919866558275, +919849142641

Mending bridges across old divides

P ARESHM ALAKARPresident, Anwesha

G G

WE are scared of others because we feel they are different and we dontunderstand them. We complicate ourproblems by not understandingour commonalities G G

The art of literary re-creation

Corrigendum: The author of the review 'Swarnalata : A journey towards light' inPostscript 04 March 2012 is Anjali Sarma.

Bitopan Borborah