KONKANI WRITING NEEDS TO BE MADE ACCESSIBLE TO A LARGER AUDIENCE
[Based on the speech delivered at the release
function of Konkani writer Damodar Mauzo's "These
Are My Children" (Katha, 2007, Rs.200), translated
from Konkani into English by Xavier Cota. The book
has been called "a bittersweet slice of life from
Goa about empty nests and affections betrayed."]
By Maria Aurora Couto
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Congratulations to Damodar Mauzo, and to the translator
Xavier Cota and of course to Geeta Dharmarajan of Katha [1],
for making Konkani writing accessible to a larger audience.
Actually, I was not aware of the extent of work
done by Katha until I read the information sent to
me by Bhai Mauzo [2]. I now realize that the Katha
not-for-profit project educates over a thousand
children up to the age of sixteen, has special
programmes to educate children with disabilities,
for the empowerment of women, as well as a number
of activities, apart from a major contribution in
the field of translation of stories from regional
languages.
Although Mini Krishnan who is now with Oxford University
Press, has been doing a great deal in the field of
translation, it is Geetha Dharmarajan who started Katha, who
is perhaps the more active. She spearheaded the movement with
a publishing house entirely devoted to making the rich and
varied literature in our regional languages accessible to a
wider readership -- both within India and internationally.
I think Katha is now working with 21 languages or more. OUP
has just published a translation of stories in the four
languages of South India -- Tamil, Malayalam, Telegu and
Kannada -- with annotations to be used as a text book . And
so the world of translation is opening up in India, but not
sufficiently in Goa as yet.
The responsibilities of the publisher in this regard are
immense. We are inclined to think that the only principle for
selection is economic viability. Will the book sell?
The more important issue, however, for publishers and
translators to understand, is that translation is more than a
linguistic exercise. It is a cultural and sociological
exercise -- for both the publisher and the translate -- the
the choice of stories, the approach to the source culture,
the need for absolute integrity in dealing with the source
text are essential. And this is not an easy task. Indeed the
translator needs to love both the text and culture of the
source language and the target language and culture.
I have six friends who are active in translations, all women,
four of whom have been teachers of English literature. They
translate from Tamil, Malayalam (including providing
subtitles for films in Malayalam) and Hindi.
Lakshmi Holmstrom says she has grown up loving two languages
and two literatures -- Tamil and English. Similarly Ira
Pande, daughter of the very popular Hindi short story writer
Shivani (whose other daughter Mrinal Pande is equally well
known as writer and journalist in Hindi and English) has
translated her mother's stories, written a biography of
Shivani based on her work ('Didi', Penguin) and writes that
she and Mrinal grew up in a home in which both languages and
literatures were alive.
Both of them are students and have been teachers of English
literature. I bring in these examples to suggest how
important it is for the translator to love both the source
literature, culture and language as the target language and
literature.
Bhai Mauzo has probably lived all his life in a
predominantly Christian environment in Majorda and
shares the experiences of those around him,
observes and absorbs vignettes of life that make up
his short stories. And he has chosen a translator,
who, apart from being familiar with both languages
also belongs to the source culture and hence brings
in a dimension of lived experience into the
translation.
Not everyone will agree with me, but there is also the need
to choose stories that illuminate current political issues
which are considered important either from the regional or
national point of view. Stories which address questions of
social and community relevance but are firmly rooted in a
humanist vision. Since literature is a source of constant
moral reflection and sustains individual introspection,
translation of material that is unfamiliar in context can
only enrich and deepen one's understanding of life.
Bhai's stories deal with migration, the upward mobility in
Goa in the last few decades, the plight of ageing parents
rooted in a rural way of life whose upwardly mobile children
have aspirations that cause conflict. He takes in history,
geography, environment, human relationships and the pressures
caused by the changing face of Goa.
Indeed the translation of his stories introduce the Indian
reader not to a Goa of beaches and fun filled days, but a Goa
of people who are deeply rooted, grounded through our
passionate love of our land, our trees, and birds.
If in 'The Upheaval', Pundalik Naik evokes the devastation
caused to an agricultural community by mining, Bhai brings in
the builder and the bulldozer who rip open and deprive simple
village folk of their priceless possession. What comes
through, though, in these stories, is the unaffected humanity
of the characters.
Equally, the issue of gender and culture in India
has been addressed at various levels in regional
literature and Bhai does it with great sensitivity
in 'Karmelin'. Indeed he breaks the mould, as it
were, by setting Karmelin's experience, even if
tangentially, within the context of female sexual
desire. Although working in the Gulf is an economic
necessity, it is also portrayed as an escape from a
loveless relationship at home and a drunken
husband. Without addressing the problem of sexual
politics directly, it is a subtext within the
family situation and the main text, as it were,
within the experience of Karmelin as migrant
worker. The characters are portrayed with a
realistic understanding of male and female desire.
There is no moralizing, only a compassionate
understanding of the human situation.
Bhai requested me to talk about translation and not about his
books, since his books were being discussed by other
speakers. I cannot speak eloquently about the theory of
translation, which is now a vast academic subject. Indeed it
is a complex subject with several schools of thought which I
will not go into except two suggest some questions that have
been raised.
For instance, Aijaz Ahmed, the left-wing cultural historian
writes about the politics of power at play in translation
into mainstream languages such as English. Although
apparently it is understood that the source language stands
to gain by translating (Konkani stands to gain for instance),
in reality it is the language into which the translation is
done that benefits much more. Source languages rarely get a
chance to come on the stage of world literature, and this, he
argues, rightly, is another dimension of imperialism.
Then there is the school of resistant translation which
insists on the retention in the translated text of the deeper
differences between the source culture and the target
culture. In the interest of readability, such differences are
glossed over. The process surely deprives the translation of
important culture specific dimensions. And in today's
globalised world, such glossing is becoming the norm which
can be an unhealthy trend.
When working with the first draft of the translation of 'The
Upheaval', Pundalik Naik commented: "This is excellent
English but it is not Pundalik Naik." The end result was
possible because of the translator's willingness to accept
advice and work with the author.
Another question that has been raised is about the
positioning of the translator. Has one the right to translate
stories about sensitive issues if one does not share the
social position of the writer? Dalit writing, for instance.
Is it possible to do so with sensitivity and precision?
Cultural Translation involves the transposition of thoughts
expressed in one language by one social group into the
appropriate expression of another group. This entails a
process of cultural de-coding, re-coding and en-coding. As
cultures are increasingly brought into greater contact with
one another, multicultural considerations are brought to bear
to an ever-increasing degree.
There is no one Indian experience, nor is there one
Goan experience . Besides, the rural and the urban,
in Goa in particular, are not separate given the
great social change of these decades. The
translator's perception of world views, nuances,
connotations, vocabulary, style and theme are
crucial to the process. Because what is being
translated is the resonance and the thought
process. Xavier Cota's translation draws the reader
into the world evoked by Bhai, with an emotional
and intellectual grasp of the Goan experience of
the source text.
The Turkish Orhan Pamuk's translator, Maureen Freely, who is
English, has written evocatively about the immense difficulty
posed by the complicated syntax of the language itself and
the complex socio political world of the text. She spent much
of her early life in Turkey, been a student of the University
of Istanbul, and has worked in close collaboration with the
author for the translations. Pamuk is poised culturally
between Asia and Europe and trying to forge an identity that
combines the old traditions and world views with contemporary
visions of modernity, an exercise that we experience in Goa
as well as within the nation.
The importance of translation has also been stressed by
Amartya Sen who has written of the dialogic process initiated
by translation -- a process of communication and dialogue
between cultures and peoples that deepens understanding.
Translation studies are popular in Europe and the UK in
particular, because of the emphasis on multiculturalism. The
demand for translations from India is growing. This
present-day phenomenon, has had an impact on almost all
peoples worldwide as well as on the international relations
emerging from the current new world order.
Moreover, as technology develops and grows at a hectic pace,
nations and their cultures have, as a result, started a
merging process whose end is difficult to predict. We are at
the threshold of a new international paradigm. Boundaries are
disappearing and distinctions are being lost. The sharp
outlines that were once distinctive now fade and become
blurred. I met a Dutch couple recently who said they love
India because differences are respected whereas in Holland
the emphasis is on an European identity as emphasized by
European Union policies.
The target text hence becomes almost a political tool, since
it is used to transmit sociocultural information to a
globalised world. Hence the need for ethics and commitment to
the source culture and text.
Mini Krishnan writes: "While literatures written in Indian
languages enjoy a social and cultural rootedness, the elitist
nature of the use of English in India gives writing by
Indians in English a "national" character and the status of a
national literature. Nevertheless we should not view either
of these categories with an air of prejudice. Translations
promote national understanding of the different regional
"selfs", in the country. Thus through literatures in
translation, the idea of a certain social vision is
possible.
I am happy to say that, apart from old stalwarts, there are
young writers and translators waiting in the wings in Goa. I
have received emails in this regard and from Fredrick Noronha
who writes : "As I have argued in the past I think it is
important for Goa's diverse communities to understand each
other. We live more or less peacefully together but there is
very little understanding. Translations of work by young
writers would help this process of understanding."
It is purely through his efforts that an essay by Ravindrab
Kelekar was translated by Augusto Pinto for Goanet and
subsequently published in Navhind Times. I was merely the go
between, enabling the writer's work to reach the translator.
We need much more of such initiatives and I am convinced it
will happen if we work together. Fredrick has already short
listed nine young writers. These are new voices expressing a
richly varied experience which reflects the Goa of today. I
hope very much that we can all come together to see that this
happens, particularly with cooperation between the Konkani
Akademi and members of the Goan Writers Workshop. (#)
[1] Katha defines itself as "a 'profit-for-all' nonprofit"
which works in the broad areas of language, culture and
translation, as well as poverty alleviation. Story and
story-telling are two powerful tools they use as agents of
change, teachers and publishers. See http://www.katha.org
Katha is "a non-profit, 'profit-for-all' organization" and
currently a "leading publishers of translations, bringing the
best of Indian Fiction into English." See its blog at
http://kathamedia.blogspot.com/
[2] Pronounced as 'Bhaiyee', this term is a form of address
for an elder brother, conveying affection, a term which
Konkani writer Damodar Mauzo is known by.
