Many a times translation is considered as a technical job where you are expected to furnish the text in a required language. But, it is to get the right essence and flavour of the book, which is sometimes beyond the words.
“When you are translating you have to retain the soul of the original text. The reader should feel that they are reading the original text,” says Ramita Gurav, translator of the Hindi novel, ‘Jaan Di Jayein Ya Chai Ho Jaayein’ which is based on Damodar Mauzo’s Konkani novel, ‘Jeev Diun Kai Chya Marun.’
This Hindi translation which is published by Vaani Prakashan Group, will be launched by renowned writer, translator and critic Prof Harish Trivedi.
Ramita, who is an associate professor of Hindi at St Xavier’s College, Mapusa, maintains that the translator is like a detective as he/she are always in search of that exact word or meaning. She further adds that the translator has to know the social, political, geographical knowledge of the target language along with literal meaning of the words. This is Ramita’s third book of translation based on Damodar Mauzo’s work. She has translated a collection of his short stories in Hindi, titled, ‘Mannat’ published by Vani Prakashan and prior to that ‘Swapna Premi,’ published by RajKamal Prakashan.
The most challenging part for her was the title of the book. “It is a quite an unusual title and when you read the book, there’s a lyrical tone to it. I had to bring in that into the title. Also, the book has lot of references of books and also it deals with lot of human emotions. So, I had to get all that correct,” says Ramita, who took around one year to translate this novel into Hindi.
This novel is a story of self-discovery of a teenager called Vipin Porob, who has spent his childhood in a loveless and lonely atmosphere. The novel also deals with changing Goan social-cultural scenario, while exploring the emotional and existential questions faced by the protagonist.
Damodar Mauzo, while explaining about the book, states that for him exploring the mind of a teenager was not a challenge, “I believe that for any writer his/her childhood memories are indelible, they always remain with them. Being a father of three daughters, they have shared their anxieties with me. Also, I have six grandchildren who are very close to me and I speak to them without any apprehension or agitation, and I believe that I am quite close to today’s younger generation. So, due to all this, it was not difficult for me to get into the world of Vipin Porob.”
This Hindi translation is the fourth translation of the novel as it is already translated in Marathi by Shaila Mauzo titled ‘Jeev Dyava Ki Chaha Ghyava’; in Kannada by Kishoo Barkur titled ‘Jeeva Kodale Chaha Kudiyale’ and recently into English by Jerry Pinto titled ‘Boy Unloved.’
Damodar maintains that Hindi and English are like bridge languages as they help in getting the book translated further in other regional languages. “I have observed that when my book gets translated in Hindi, it gets easily translated in other north Indian languages and when in English it gets translated in south Indian languages. Thus, I get new set of readers like my book ‘Karmelin’ got translated even in Maithili, Sindhi, which are lesser known literary languages. It was an out of this world experience for me to get feedback from these readers.”
He also pointed out that he is very meticulous about his translators and has a long association with them like his English translator, Xavier Cotta. He adds, “Sometimes people voluntarily do the translation and I feel pained and I reject them because I am not happy with it. But with Ramita’s translation I am extremely happy and also the publishers. This is for the first time the Hindi translation of my book is getting released.” When asked if he is planning to write the sequel of this novel, he states, “As the novel has many open ends, I can always pick up and continue. I may do it. But right now I am not contemplating on that.”