The night is dark,The sky is filled with teeming cloudsFriend, what can I say to you?By virtue of many lives, Him I have won.
-Chandidas
-Brian Mendonca
When I was studying we used to have a paper called Indian Writing in English (IWE). This included stalwarts who set their stories in India and wrote in English. These included R.K. Narayan (1906-2001); Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004), and Raja Rao (1908-2006). This triumvirate of Indian English fiction ruled the Indian literary scene for almost the entire 20th century.
This year I am teaching an exciting new paper called 'Modern Indian Writing in English Translation.' Rather than focus on writers writing in English, this new paper focusses on writing in the vernaculars. This invests power with the local language of the people. From this language the English translation is culled out. The primacy of the source language remains supreme. In the earlier paradigm English was the base language. There was no need to translate anything.
My students came up with some amazing topics for their power-point presentations on IWET. I encouraged each student to draw on her own resources to choose a topic and work on it. Rather than come up with cliches, I asked them to work from the periphery, the only criteria being that the chosen topic should be 'out of syllabus.' This seemed to go down well with the students and they took to it with a sense of being empowered.
The small wound of a rich man,Is sensational news in this world,But even the marriage
in the house of a poor man goes unnoticed,Hear me Vema, the friend of Abhirama and Viswa.
Afiya worked on the Urdu ghazal Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi by Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869); Andria shared the Konkani poem Jeene Mhaka Sagle Dile / Life Gave me Everything' by Manohar Rai Sardessai (1925-2006). Ansu unravelled the complexities of the short story 'The Lies My Mother Told Me' by Ashita (1956-2019) written in Malayalam. Ayesha explored the short story 'Kallu' by Urdu writer Ismat Chughtai (1915-1991).
Danya spoke on Trishanku by Hindi writer Mannu Bhandari (1931-2021). Griselle held forth on Tenali Raman and his short stories. Jessenia explained the significance of 'Othra June' by Manohar Rai Sardessai in Konkani. Lianne compared the poem 'The First Stage of Radha's Love' by medieval Bengali poet Chandidas (1370-1430) with the poem 'Why Marry?' by the 17th century Telugu poet Vemana.
Rachel discussed war poetry through the poem Hiroshima by Agyeya (1911-1987). Reshma spoke on Gitanjali by Tagore (1861-1941). Maria took up the short story 'The Blind Dog' by R.K. Narayan. Shainaz took us through the story in Hindi of 'Kalyani' by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan (1904-1948).
The poem, 'I Want to be Killed by an Indian Bullet' by Thangjam Ibopishak Singh (b. 1948) was the topic of Venice's PPT. Lizella chose to speak on Karukku by Tamil Dalit writer Bama (b. 1958). Mayelle explained the poetic intention in Madhushala by Harivansh Rai Bachchan (1907-2003).
Srijana discussed Tagore's short story 'The Punishment'. Shania looked at the the poem 'Dignity' by Urdu writer Bilquis Zafirul Hassan (b. 1983). Pritika discussed the Kannada novel Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbagh (b. 1962). Mercy led us to appreciate the Tirukkural by the Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar who lived in Mylapore, Chennai in the 5th century.
Malasha analyzed 'Teresa's Man' - a short story by Damodar Mauzo (b. 1944). Rouella chose to speak on another short story by Mauzo titled 'These Are My Children.' Ninoshka discussed 'The Weed' written in Punjabi by Amrita Pritam (1919-2005). Priyanka unravelled the short story 'Bhua' by Nanak Singh (1897-1971).
Sephera took the class back to the stories of Vikram aur Vetaal centred on King Vikramaditya of Ujjain. Shital. Shital introduced the class to the searing poetry of Dalit poet Namdeo Dhasal (1949-2014) and his poem in Marathi titled Mansane. Riya also spoke on Marathi poems.
Stacy worked on the poems of Mirabai (1498-1547). Swena spoke on the poem 'When that day will come.' Tanisha spoke on 'Ramma' by Konkani writer Jayanti Naik (b. 1962). Ankanni threw light on the short story 'Kalyani' by Kamala Das (1934-2009). Godlane chose to focus on the poem 'His Death in Benares' by Kabir (1440-1518).
Preparing the PPT was easy enough for most students for the tons of material out there on the internet. It was nice to see the students hold forth with confidence on the topics of their choice. While it was a copy-paste job in some cases the exercise encouraged students to think for themselves and be touched by the work of a short story writer, or a poet, or a novelist - that too in an Indian language translated into English.
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