Saturday, September 9, 2006

THIS ABOVE ALL
Who’s the most egotistic of them all
Khushwant Singh

ALL of us have problems coping with our egos. Those who rely on others for praise have them vastly exaggerated. The three professions which top my list of egoists are film stars, politicians and writers, including poets, novelists and journalists. If people don’t praise them on their faces, they do so themselves. Of self-praisers, Sheikh Saadi wrote a nasty put-downer in Persian:

Sana-e-khud bakhud guftan

(It does not behove a man of wisdom

To use his tongue in praise of himself)

Film stars are as vain as peacocks and expect everyone to recognise and admire them. Politicians expect people to praise them for what they are doing for the poor and their country. Writers go one rung higher: poets have a hotline with God and believe whatever they pen in verse is divinely inspired; novelists believe they are messiahs conveying messages of the Almighty; journalists think they are caretakers of society (one boasted of doing the second most important job in India next to the Prime Minister’s).

It is ironic that though paan, bidi and cigarette sellers make a better living than writers because there are more takers for paan, bidis and cigarettes than for books, writers have bigger egos. However, writers’ egos are easier to massage. All one has to do is to ask one to autograph his book for you, or if he happens to visit you, have one of his books lying on the table for him to see. And you will have an admirer for life. You don’t have to read it, just have it lying around.

Indian writers have bigger egos than writers of any other country. One has a letter-head printed with his name with his life’s ambition "to be the first winner of the Nobel Prize for literature for Urdu". He lives in some remote village in Himachal. Another living in Uttarakhand describes himself as a "thinker, philosopher and poet". The Nobel Prize Committee in Norway receives more applications for the Award from India than from any other country of the world. In recent years, three Indians claimed to have won the prize and many more had it announced to the media that they were short-listed for the award. None of them got anywhere near winning it but that did not deter them from saying "may be next year". Ego springs eternal in the writers’ breasts.

Musts for translation

Having tried my hand at translating poetry and prose from Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi — into English, I have my own yardstick to measure their merit. First and most important is that while knowledge of language of the original is essential, it is more important to have full command over English, very often scholars of regional languages translate their own works. They often make a mess of them; or they get someone who has been teaching English literature in a college to do so. It also turns out to be second rate. Teachers of English in our colleges may be familiar with the classics but are rarely aware of the subtle nuances of the language as it is spoken today. That is why translations of Indian languages by British or American scholars read better than those done by Indians.

Secondly, verse should be translated into verse; otherwise translations will read flat and prosaic.

Thirdly, before translating religious texts, the translator must familiarise himself with the language of the Bible — the Old Testament and the New Testament. Both have been translated and polished many times over, they deal with almost the same themes as the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagvadgita, the Koran, compositions of Bhaktas and Sufi saints and the Gurbani. Biblical language is the best.

And, finally, a translator should consult earlier translations of the text he is about to translate and only make the attempt if he feels he can do a better job of accuracy and readability. I make no claim of having do so in my translations, but I did the best I could.

Having said all this, I come to Jaswant Singh Neki’s five daily prayers ‘Divine Intimations Nitnem (Hemkunt). Neki is an acknowledged scholar of Sikhism with a good command of the English language. He is accurate but despite translating verse into verse, he is not always as poetic as he should be. He is at his best translating Guru Gobind Singh’s writings, which few people have done before. I produce one example which Hindi-knowing people will understand despite Panjabified Sanskrit words like rakhsha (protection) into rachha:

(With your hand protect me sire/ And fulfil my heart’s desire.)

(By your feet Lord, let me dwell/ Make me yours, protect me well.)

And so on.

Neki’s book is as good an introduction to the Sikh religion, as you will find in any library.

Natwar-Jaswant get-together

Khushwant Singh is away. There will be no column next week.