My 11th book in 12 years-

 `The Search and other stories`- my first attempt at a translation job

My 11^th book in 12 years is out. It is a translation  of selected  short stories of Dr.J.Bhaskaran (JB)  from Tamil to English.  Based in Chennai .JB is a practicing Neurologist and Dermatologist whose articles/stories have been published   in popular Tamil Magazines  and also posted on his  Face Book page. He has so far published  nine books in Tamil - 3 medical, 4 general essays and 2 short story collections. He is a rising star in the world of Tamil literature.

When I decided to take up my next book project of translating a Tamil book into English I chanced upon a collection of Tamil short stories by JB  titled ‘Thedal’.( Search) The stories in the book, covered a variety of subjects with different settings, different characters, some serious and some humorous—but all of them with some message. Doctor was more than delighted to give me permission to translate any 15 stories from the book. As this was my first attempt at a translation job I started translating the first story with great trepidation, as I was worried if I would be able to get the correct translation of all the words and phrases in English. I did not have to worry. The ubiquitous Google Search which has replaced every  available dictionary/ Thesaurus in any language came to my rescue. When I sent the translations of two selected stories to JB, his response was more than encouraging..

 

You may wonder what is my credential for translating a Tamil book into English. In my student days in Bombay, where I studied in a Tamil medium school until 8th standard

I was a Tamil fanatic. An active student member of Bombay Tamil Sangam, I was an avid reader of all the popular Tamil weeklies and books by well-known authors of the time. I also tried my hands at writing short stories and plays in Tamil. I was active on the Tamil stage in Bombay donning character roles. But all this was behind me when I took up the demanding advertising career and left Bombay for good in pursuit of better opportunities in Delhi and Chennai where I am settled since 1974. Though I completely lost touch with writing in Tamil, I continued to keep in touch with the Tamil literary world by being a regular reader of the popular Tamil magazines.

 

In the meanwhile, the success of my autobiography in English published in 2009 paved the way for my taking up writing as a serious hobby post retirement. Very early in my evolution as a writer /author I had decided that I will try and cover all genres of writing. So far I have covered six genres: autobiography, rural marketing ( an industry), essays, history of an association, short stories and  novel.

 

As the seventh genre of writing, I chose  a translation job because of my comfort level with both English and Tamil. Besides I also had the lessons I learnt from my good friend (late) Charukesi, a well-known bilingual writer of his time, who had translated my autobiography into Tamil.

 

This book titled `The Search and other stories`  has a Foreword by R.Seshasayee, Vice Chairman of Hinduja group. Following is an extract:

 

“There is something that is very simple and elegant about Dr J. Bhaskaran’s short stories- like the  murmur of a small brook; like a modest nandiavattai flower. Like the strumming of a thampura, like   an unpretentious, tasty milagu rasam that only your mother could make. Every story has an uncluttered theme, characters being built up just to the point where they are ready to carry the story on their shoulders without losing speed or straying from the storyline. Not surprisingly, the stories leave you feeling good and satisfied

A word about the translator. Language needs to remain unobtrusive in a translation, never coming in the way of the narration. Like the right measure of salt in your sambhar, unnoticed, yet contributing significantly to the taste. R. V. Rajan, being a seasoned hand at writing, achieves this effortlessly.”

The book was informally released at the end of  a small event held  to commemorate the release of the 90^th Anniversary Special  of Kalaimagal, the popular Tamil monthly.

The book is published by Creative workshop, designed and printed by Compuprint.. Priced at Rs 150/- the book is available with the author ( bhaskaran_jayaraman@yahoo.co.in) and from me. It  will soon be available on Amazon.

Like a student awaiting the results of an examination he/she wrote, I now eagerly await the response from readers to my first translation job!