"Gourahari Das Kathalu " ( A Review in English)

 Translation from Oriya to Telugu has not been new and going on from many decades and Puripanda Appalaswamy, an iconic translator was known for his brilliant translation work of Gopinath Mohanty's Amrutha santanam and Kalindi charan Panigrahi's novels into Telugu. In the same way Dr.U.V.Narasimha Murthy translated the poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra and Pratibha Ray's Yajnaseni was also brought in recently. Everybody knew about Nikhileswar's translations of Seetakant Mahapatra.

And now here, another master piece "Gourahari Das Kathalu" came into Telugu, rendered by well known translator Murthy Kvvs. Gourahari Das is a foremost story teller from the soil of Orissa. Most acclaimed writer and he received many coveted laurels including Sahitya Academy Award. Well, coming to the translator, Murthy Kvvs is synonymous with Mario Puzo's magnum opus "The God Father". Though he translated many other works, his name popular with such one.

Now Murthy has come up with 13 stories of Gourahari Das. Translation stlye is expressive and reader friendly. In nutshell, simple and lucid. Titles of stories like Gajubomma, tanDri, Kasinda chettu, Illu, Ekumeku, Ahalya pelli, Bangarapu mukka, Saripoyindi, Urmila,Neramu siksha, Maya vruksham, Chinna pantulu. All the stories filled with warmth and tender human aspect. Every Story begins and ends with a precision of special strategy. The reader gets teary eyed and electrified with many unspoken thoughts.

Each story encompasses the intricate feelings of human relations at the level of  individual and society. And the writer's anguish to set right things is evident all along. Stories like Illu, Bangarapu mukka, Saripoyindi, Urmila, Chinna pantulu are really outstanding and on par with international standards in every way. Illu Story will haunt the reader all along the life. Human emotions especially the identity crisis in the senior citizens portrayed in a subtle way. Exactly that quality made this story an unforgettable piece of work.

Each of us would behold our own reflections in all the stories, sometimes which could be good and sometimes bad, the dual role inside. And the same time , there is a stream of thoughts felt flowing in us. That special quality made Gourahari Das apart from others. A master story teller can only create and carve a character like Anupam, the bureaucrat in Saripoyindi story. 

Urmila story is all about an ill fated woman. In her school days, she was a beautiful flamboyant sort girl, always kept teasing the hero or protagonist , in return, he was cursing her to astray. After failing in exams, her life took worst ever turns like eloping with a Tantric and she surfaced in a hospital after some years as a poor paramedic. Protagonist asked her whether she was his classmate but she refused to reveal her identity as her life was doomed. But she kept crying behind the shutting doors. With flashing their nostalgia, the reader too get tearful and resolved to get there to solace her.

Translator Murthy Kvvs deserved our heart felt appreciation as he brought in these moving diverse stories of Gourahari Das. That too, without losing the original flavor of Oriyan culture and ethos. Let the more of it come in the future.

( Reviewed in Telugu by Muralidhar Alajangi in Disha news paper and translated into English by Murthy Kvvs) 

Ruskin Bond's The Railway Gang

 

 The Railway Gang written by Ruskin Bond always makes me think about several anecdotes that invariably happened in my own life. The description regarding Chottu the young stray dog exactly connects to the one I have seen and which keep moving me whenever there is a stray dog seen out anywhere. In general, most of the people do not care their existence unless they are in the news for having bitten some child. As I probed deeply, found that in almost all cases, the said victim have had bullied or provoked first but people would forget it or would not notice it in hurry as the child was hurt is seen on surface. So everybody goes against the dog naturally.

And having leftovers and unwanted stuff is a matter of big fight with fellow dogs. Who knows sometimes they could go hungry for days. And hardly anyone is there to provide some morsels of food. In our Ruskin Bond's story, Chottu has some shelter in that Railway station and somebody like Kishore would throw a parota now and then. But there were many Chottus are there without any shelter and It's clueless who is there to turn to address the problem. Somewhere we have to end this pathetic life for innocent puppies but how..? Yes, here is a solution. Every dog lover should adopt a stray one and our indigenous dogs are no way inferior compared to any foreign breed.

Ruskin Bond described passionately how happy Chottu was when it came back from a new place. I don't think a writer without an immense kind heart towards animals couldn't tell that sort of soulful tale. We see exquisite warmth and compassion all through the story of The Railway Gang. It told us that animals too have heart wrenching interaction among them and to decipher it one must have empathy towards them. And one more eyeopener is not to getting asleep while we are in swaying compartment, else we would land up in an unidentified station like our Chottu to slunk away in the crowd. And who knows there might be a tough gang of semi wild hounds.

----- Murthy KVVS  

Seven Samurai

 Here I have spoken about "Seven Samurai" movie and you all knew that which was created by Akira Kurasowa, the Japanese film director. Though it was made almost 70 years back, the charm and glory is same with it. That's why Kurasowa was renowned for his genius in film making. Story conceiving, photography, dialogues, screenplay, music composition and everything is exceptional. The actors too were awesome and just lived in them. Our Indian movie Sholay has also been inspired by it and it can be understood when we were watching. I have expressed my feelings in this video. Hope you enjoy it as there are English subtitles option enabled.

Click here

I Translated a D.H. Lawrence work

 My Telugu translation for the novella of "The Virgin and the Gypsy", written by D.H. Lawrence has been released a couple of days back. Picked up this for several reasons precisely. Different shades of love in different times with the people and the rural England shown by the writer. It also tells us that how prejudices and judgements sometimes go unreal and shameful. story sets in a small village in England countryside. A secluded rector's daughter and a social outsider are the principal characters. And there are multiple characters to support the exploration of psychology of male and female in terms of different drives like cultural ethos and sensuality. 

This Telugu translation has been done in view of introducing Lawrence unconventional  magic to our vernacular readers.  Hope it will gain momentum in this corona time. Books can be had from Navodaya book house,Hyderabad, Ph : 90004 13413)   

Blood Sanders : The Great Forest Heist

 

A racing thriller in spirit and a pulsating tale to remember. That's what I can say about this book which described a set of  real time moving incidents of Red Sanders smuggling. The journo turned author Sudhakar Reddy Udumula came out with his experiences of investigation regarding the racket of most precious wood Red sanders or Erra chandanam in Telugu. He exposed the dreadful nexus of politicians and the mafia of the concerned to spin the crores of bucks and how these kingpins would operate the whole game being in the safe havens while the lives of common woodcutters are at the stake. Across Sehachalam hills, the dangerous and most daring attempt keep going on in the form of cutting down the Red sanders trees to sell it in the international market. The chief buyers are China and Japan. This golden wood has much prominence among their societies for a variety of reasons.

Dawood Sahul Hamid, the key player who resides in Dubai is a Tamil origin by birth and he got strong hold on the international market of Red sanders. Kollam Gangi Reddy is anther one from Andhra to tackle the ground level operations. Both have strong ties with some politicians and concerned officials and by that the smuggling became possible with the recruits of henchmen. Hamid was not extradited as Dubai laws in favor of him though our government has asked UAE to hand over. There are multiple smugglers like Kandaswamy Parthiban,AT Maideen,Reddy Narayana,Lakshman and others to name. Every one has their own style of confrontation and smuggling.       

How People of Burma bazar of Chennai got turned into the nefarious business were an interesting story and perhaps, hither to not known to many. Modes operandi was explained in detail. Author all the way has gone into the deep forests to know the ground level situation. We would be surprised to have known about the amassed wealth of the smugglers and legal battles are nothing for them due to their money power. Politicians too work hand in gloves. What you lack when you have plenty of money..? Author recorded many instances regarding game changing attitudes of police officers and the smugglers as well. Pretty excited all they are. 

 there are many things in the book that makes the reader to flip through. To grab your copy call: 70134 13504

----- Murthy Kvvs

Bonding over Ruskin Bond

There are many reasons to have a special interest in reading Ruskin Bond's writings. Mostly people say that he is a writer for children but in my opinion he is a writer for all ages who have a heart for relishing childhood memories. Who hates one's own childhood and its enchanting hues of experiences..? None, I think. In fact, Ruskin Bond came my way in the phase of grown up, accidentally. The first book I read is a paperback titled "Great stories for kids". Wondered at his crafting of tale telling process. But at the same time ,thrilled being transported into my childhood. 

In our surroundings, we have some colonial buildings in dilapidated condition with variety of trees, plants and insects around. Whenever visited the place, we felt a chill in the spine. Of course, haunting spirits were always there to get scared of. The same things I found in one of the stories of Ruskin Bond. On the hill top with such old building having lived by a mysterious Anglo-Indian woman. And a small girl tryst with her still makes me imaging like anything.

And the way the writer portrays every insect, plant, tree and other animals is spellbinding and how badly we ignore sometimes nature's bounty though it stands in front of our own eyes. I started observing flora and fauna of our location soon after finishing this book. It made me a new human being in terms of exploring the nature at its best. Now I knew the names of many kinds of insects and its behaviours. And grew interested in whatever the plant come my way. I became nature sensitive in brief.

After that, the book I read was " Our trees still grow in Dehra".  Escape from Java is the mesmerizing story. It sounds like the first hand experience. An exodus from South East Asia let know us many issues of  bygone years. In this book, stories like "The bent double beggar, Coming home to Dehra and other ones attracted me for different reasons. I am planning to read many more of his books in the days to come and my best wishes to the e-magazine, running by the lovers of Ruskin Bond.

(Written for E-Magazine dedicated to Bond's writings)

Telugu stories got translated

 

"Noteworthy", a translation work of Telugu stories gave me immense pleasure when I received it a couple of days back. Ramesh Rachaputi is already noted for his translation skills through Vipula monthly. This time he has translated 21 Telugu stories into English for a wide spectrum of readers.

 

Do you want to know whose stories got translated, well, it's none other than SasiSree (Sk. Rahmatullah), Palagiri Viswaprasad, Geo Lakshaman, TSA Krishna Murthy, Ranganadha Ramachandra Rao, Jillella Balaji, Adoni Basha, MR Arunakumari, Gannavarapu Narasimha Murthy, Anisetty Rajitha, K.Vijayaprasad(Viyogi), Peruri Balasubrahmanyam, Simhaprasad, Ambala Janardhan, Dr Lakshmi Raghava, Mohammed Khadeerbabu, MV RamiReddy, InduRamana, Dr Mallemala VenugopalaReddy and of course a story of translator himself.

It's an exceptional attempt to have the hues of Telugu stories into English and the translator has done an excellent job. A passionate translation is  no way inferior to the original work and I am sure it will create a Buzz among the reading folks. For Copies, please call: 98667 27042

Or follow the link https://notionpress.com/read/noteworthy