National Integration, Literally

‘Mile sur mera tumhara’ a popular song aired on Doordarshan during the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure symbolized the unity in diversity of this great nation of ours. We have had jugalbandis between Hindustani and Carnatic vocalists and instrumentalists dwelling on the theme of national unity and integration. We have food courts under one roof such as the Dilli Haat in Delhi where the rich cuisine from different parts of the country are showcased, not to talk of variety cultural programmes involving troupes from different regions.

We have also seen organizations such as the National Book Trust translating major classical works from different languages into English, Hindi and regional languages for the benefit of the common reader and to bring home to him the rich literary legacy we have inherited over the ages. Among the first things that I discussed with my Oriya wife at our first meeting was the novel written by my novelist neighbour and Jnanpeeth award winner Thakazhi Shiva Shankara Pillai, which she had read in Oriya. That gave her the first impressions of my home state Kerala, which later became her home too.

But all these efforts, by and large, were state sponsored, directly or indirectly, somehow giving the impression that except rhetoric by leaders and such symbolic ‘stage-managed’ initiatives, we Indians remain parochial and linguistic fanatics. The regular protests and outbursts by our friends in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and other states only serve to reaffirm this theory.

However, two recent individual efforts, sans any media hype or publicity, caught my attention. I thought I would share these original, spontaneous yet unconscious attempts at national integration with our readers.

After excelling in fine arts (Shovana Narayan and others) and literature (Upamanyu Chatterjee et al), bureaucrats are making a mark for themselves even in the difficult and sensitive literary art of translation and Umesh Kumar Chauhan, who was till recently Managing Director with NAFED, chose a Dravidian language to prove this point.

He learnt Malayalam as part of his job but the Kerala language left such a deep impression on him that this IAS officer from Uttar Pradesh got attracted to its literature.

Falling in love with Malayalam literature, Chauhan, a 1986 batch officer of Kerala cadre, translated 21 poems of Akitham Achutan Namboodiri, the well known Malayalam poet and a recipient of Kabir Samman and Kendra Sahitya Academy award.

"As I was posted with Kerala cadre, I had to learn Malayalam. It was part of my job. I had an interest in literature and I started reading newspapers and books,” he said.

In ‘Selected Poems of Akitham’ published by Bharatiya Jnanpeeth, Delhi, Chauhan, who already has to his credit two volumes of Hindi poetry, has translated 21 poems including the Malayalam poet's famous 'Irupatham Noottandinte Itihasam' (The History of 20th Century) which is often compared to T S Eliot's monumental 'Waste Land'.


In the words of Dr Aarsu, Head of Hindi Department at the University of Calicut, “To read popular poems of Akkitham in Hindi would be a rare experience for poetry lovers. Umesh has successfully transfilled the emotions and charm of poetry of Akkitham into his translation, besides doing apt linguistic conversion of lyrical Malayalam verses into free Hindi verses, which gives a pleasure similar to reading original Malayalam poems of Akkitham, while reading these poems translated into Hindi. This translation of Akkitham’s poems by Chauhan is a significant contribution made by him towards bringing Malayalam and Hindi literature closer to each other. He has been continuously doing the job of literary exchange between the two languages.”

The book also carries an article written on Akkitham by the renowned Malayalam Writer and Jnanpith Awardee M.T. Vasudevan Nair and a write-up titled ‘Mera Kavya Sansar’ written by Akkitham himself on his poetry.

Chauhan’s lyrical collection in Hindi ‘Ganth Mein Loon Bandh Thodi Chandni’ was published in 2001 and the poetry collection ‘Dana Chugte Murge’ in 2004. His several poems have been published from time to time in various Malayalam magazines also.

The officer is now back in God’s Own Country and has promised nothing short of a literary ‘Sadhya’ (traditional Kerala feast).

ITISHESH
An equally significant work, not a translation but an original piece, has come out from another retired Government official,
‘Itishesh’ is an autobiographical work written in Hindi by Neelakantan Namboodiri, a retired officer with the Commission for Scientific and technical terminology under the Ministry of Human Resource Developement. His main job was evolving Technical Terminology and compiling Dictionaries of Mathematics in Hindi and other Indian languages.

The book is divided into four parts. The first part describes the social background into which the author was born. This part elaborates the complexities of the parallel existence of matriarchal and patriarchal systems of inheritance prevalent in Kerala in the early parts of 20th Century. The miseries meted out to low caste Hindus and Brahmin women and the fight against these evils are also described. Although the part played by orthodox Namboodiris in perpetrating these social maladies are condemned in the book, their simplicity of life, straightforwardness in dealings and contributions to art and literature are also highlighted.

The second part describes the education of the author which remained informal for a long period of his childhood causing delay in starting formal schooling. His school and college life are vividly recollected up to his emergence as a post-graduate in Mathematics. His initiation to the study of Hindi is claimed as a turning point in his life.

The next section describes his service story where he retrospects his work under great scientists and linguists. He claims that he worked to the satisfaction of his seniors and to the affection of co-workers.

Namboodiri concludes the book with a portrayal of his retired life and evaluates the gains and losses. He feels that his closing balance (Itishesh) is on the positive side.

While Namboodiri is the best judge on his closing balance, he has done a commendable job by writing an original work in Hindi and thus contributing to literature and the cause of national integration.

India needs many more Umesh Chauhans and Neelakantan Namboodiris.