By Muktha Kartik
‘Words travel worlds and the translator does the driving‘! Whoever said this has hit the nail right on the head. How else could great epics like Odyssey cross the shores of Greece and reach every corner of the world? In a world that is increasingly becoming international, stories from across cultures and languages take center stage. Award winning author Chaitali Sengupta takes the driving seat in ‘Timeless Tales in Translation‘ to bring selected classic Indian short stories to the Netherlands.
Handpicked collection
Chaitali has selected an ideal mix of short stories from various well-known Indian writers. From Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore to Saadat Hasan Manto, the authors, and their works cover a wide variety of topics from history to morals. The collection features two stories by Munshi Premchand that revolve around endurance. A ‘Winter’s Night‘ is a delightful tale about testing the endurance of a farmer to the elements whereas ‘The Salt inspector‘ is a heartwarming read about how the integrity of a young officer endures various trials. The stories featured in this book are like chalk and cheese and yet, they bring to life the true picture of India during colonial times.
Truly timeless
All the stories were written between 1855-1955. How can the stories from over a century back still be relevant? Readers will be pleasantly surprised that the themes are all the more pertinent in modern times. Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Bolai’ deals with the evergreen theme of the conservation of nature as seen through a young boy’s eyes. in a world fighting deforestation and climate change, we need more Bolais in this world than ever before!
Read the full article here: https://eindhovennews.com/culture/2023/03/from-india-with-love-timeless-tales-in-translation/
