Book Review by Syed Badrul Haque Farida Shaikh attends a live performance of an extract from Aruna Chakravarti's novel The Inheritors and talks to the author at a book club meeting

On Tuesday, November 6, we, the members of The Reading Circle (TRC), were traveling from the Central Public Library in Shahbagh, towards Gulshan, heading through a maze of the mad tangled up traffic, as we finally arrive at Words n' Pages - a delightful den for book lovers. The occasion was a live presentation by the celebrated author and translator Aruna Chakravarti from her first novel The Inheritors.
   In front of us was the writer Aruna Chakravarti, reciting an extract titled 'Radharani 1987' (pp.31-75) from her novel along with three theatrical artists Averee Chourey, Minoti Chatterjee, and Joyati Ghosh. The recitation was accompanied by exaggerated emotional exclamations, lyrical interlude and Bangla lingo to create the ambiance of pain and pathos of widowhood among women within households.
   'Kuhu-u-u Kuhu-u-u...a cuckoo sang in the branches of a bakul tree... 'Mar mukhpuri!' Radha scolded.
   Shoosh! Shoosh! Radharani flapped the end of her than. Today is ekadasi. She is a girl, widowed at sixteen, suckling her infant son, and it has been ten years.
   Her mouth is missing half a dozen teeth; she is thin and looks like a scarecrow. Her breasts wisp of shriveled skin with mottled tips, swung from an emaciated cage. At twenty-four, she looked close to eighty.
   The mother of the widow, a middle-aged woman, gives a lemon to her daughter, telling her to prick it with her nail and sniff it, to keep her from feeling thirsty. She warns her to hide it. The widowed daughter had not touched the lemon, for even to think of thirst on ekadasi was taboo. It was a sterile rite with no special merit. But non-observance leads to hell everlasting, for her and generations after her.
   After the performance, a discussion with the writer followed:
   TRC: What inspired you to write The Inheritors?
   Aruna Chakravarti: I had been thinking of writing a piece for a long time. There were many, many thoughts, which were kind of crowding my mind. I had heard many stories and folklores especially from my father. Some of these were true stories about my own extended family members while others were in the form of oral tradition. Some stories ended quite naturally, I understood those well, while some were quite confusing with many untold portions that raised questions in my mind. I began to wonder if what I heard was true or at least possible, I was, many a times, talking to and trying to explain things to myself. But this did not quite settle my mental agitation. I had to write in order to explain to myself, what these untold parts were all about.
   Someone interviewed me for the Desh Magazine and asked me if I was thinking about creative writing - and I said that I was thinking about it. However the printed section of the interview announced that I had already started work on my first novel. So then I started to seriously consider it. I put aside the nagging question of 'what shall I write about?' Consequently, I thought of how Charles Dickens started David Copperfield with 'I was born.'
   The stories were all within me, and as is the case with most first time novels, my novel is also autobiographical, mixed with fiction. The idea of Alo's diary is made up, which I thought would be useful in stringing the various parts of the novel.
   TRC: You are well known for your translated works; please elaborate on your experiences with translations:
   AC: I depend on my instinct for translations. I read the work to be translated a number of times, penetrate through it and start getting a feel for the work. Only when I begin to feel at unison with the work, I write and translate. There are a lot of challenges that I face when translating works. Questions such as 'which is more important? Fidelity or the readability of the text?' spring to mind in the process. There is a need for making a conscious choice, the choice of being faithful to the letter or the spirit of the text. And then, also, the different stakeholders in relation to the works also need to be taken into account. The criterion of readability most often takes precedence over other requirements of translation. And this is not all. The author's voice should also be heard. The transfer of the writer's sensibilities to the translator should occur and it is for this reason that translational writing on the one hand, has earned the attribute of being very close to creative writing, while on the other hand an Italian proverb tells us a translator is a traitor!
   It was at the three-hundred-year anniversary celebration of the city of Kolkata that a magazine cover had a picture of Sunil Gangopadhyay with my translated work, titled 'Tagore: Songs rendered in English (1984)' which won the Vaitalik Award for excellence in literary translation. This translational work of mine is connected to Bombay/Mumbai. I was visiting my sister. On one occasion, there was a mixed audience during a session of Rabindra sangeet where some Gujarati speaking persons, who are ardent admirers of Tagore songs, were present. Soon they became restless, and were craving to better understand these songs. Since I was a teacher of English, all eyes turned to me to translate these songs into English. I translated verbatim and extempore the songs, on that occasion, and I felt as if the words were flowing from within my heart. Those were indeed moments of mutual delight and joy, the spring of my desire to do more translation work in future.
   Initially when Penguin Books India made an arrangement for the English translation of Sunil Gangopadhyay's seminal work, Shei Shomoy, I was approached by the publishers to undertake this work. My previous translated work was held in high esteem by the author. Upon signing the contract, the publishers said that the two parts of the Bangla book be made into a single concise volume. Immediately I informed the author and asked for his advice on which portion of the book to reduce. The author said that he had full confidence in my abilities and I was free to edit as I thought best. This freedom was so inspiring, and in my opinion very essential for any translation work. I felt this was my own and I was not doing this for someone else. I was able to work with devotion and the translated work came to occupy a significant place. The author very graciously proclaimed 'Those Days' as my work and he was the author of Shei Shomay.
   TRC: Thank you, for giving us your valuable time.
   AC: Thank you too.

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Cultural Correspondent

Indian rock band Fossils was the main attraction at the Bangla open-air rock festival held in Dhaka last week. Young listeners cheered and danced to the thumping music as rockers of Bangladesh along with a band from India rendered some numbers to mark the first ever international Bangla open-air rock festival held on Friday last, says a press release. The festival titled Dhaka Rock Fest 2007 held at the adjacent open space of Bashundhara Convention Centre at Baridhara in the city, featured leading Indian rock band Fossils along with the local top rockers like Miles, Warfaze, Artcel, Black and this year's Djuice D Rockstar champion, Power Surge.
    The performance started with Power Surge rendering five songs beginning with Aprostut Juddho, followed by title song Power Surge, Black Head (a Metalica number), Shesh Simana, Agrashon.
   The Black rendered three songs; Poytrish (Thirty-five), Proshnobodhok Chinho, Blues and Roath followed by eight songs of Artcell who began with Audekha Swargo and went on to render Bhul Jonmo, Utshober Utshahe, Rupok Prity Shmarok, Poth Chola, Onnoshomoy and Chilekothar Shepai. Warfaze showed up to perform six songs including Ekti Chhele, Hotasha, Mukti Chai, Joto Durey, Moharaj and Bewarish.
   Much awaited Fossils took to the stage, beginning their performance with the number titled O Ma and went on to render 10 songs including Hasnuhana, Cycle-chor, Bishakto Manush, Ekla Ghor, Acid. The band's issue based lyrics were appreciated and rewarded with applause from the onlooker listeners. Final attraction was MILES who rendered 8 songs including Chand Tara Surjo, Neela, Frustration, Jatiyo Shongiter Ditiyo Line, Firiye Dao, Hridoyhina, Jala. Sound Storm was in charge of the sound system and a technical team worked with the engineers, performers and logistic support team for proper execution of stage & backstage management to ensure a smooth show that was held peacefully till the end.

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Ustad Azizul Islam performs flute recital

Cultural Correspondent

Eminent flutist Ustad Captain (Retd) Azizul Islam performed at the main auditorium of the National Museum recently. The programme was organised by the Rotary Club of Dhaka Downtown.
   At the programme he presented eight dhuns including Marubehag (Bilombit Ektal and Teen Taal), Shankara (Teen Taal) a 'Sawaal-Jawaab' in Bhupali, Imon and Bhatiali Dadra.
   His two-hour long solo performance enchanted the audience.
   On 9 November renowned classical flute maestro Ustad Capt. Azizul Islam rendered his mastery over classical trends of traditional flute playing, at National Museum, Shahid Zia Hall. He was invited by the Rotary Club of Dhaka Downtown, (Rotary International District 3280) to perform. He has delivered eight Dhuns which included 'Marubehag' (delayed rhythm of Ektaal and Tintaall), a duet of traditional inter-participation of 'Raga Bhupali' (with Tintaall), 'Raga Imon' (with Ektaal), 'Raga Shankar' (with Tintaal), 'Raga Hameer' (with Tintaal), 'Raga Desh' (with Rupak Taal) and a classical folk tune on Bhatiali (with Dadra Taal). During this hour-long session, Capt. Islam enthralled the audience with his exclusive performance.

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Baghdad to host int'l film festival

Agence France-Presse, Baghdad

Baghdad will host an international film festival next month, the first major cinematic event in the war-ravaged capital in more than two years, an Iraqi film director said on Sunday.
   Films for the Baghdad International Film Festival will be submitted mainly from Egypt, Jordan and Iran. Egypt alone plans to submit 27 movies, director Dr Abdul Basit Salman told AFP by telephone from Cairo, where he is now based.
   The event is being staged by the Association of Iraqi Filmmakers Without Borders and will run from December 16 to 19 at a venue still to be decided.
   A highly popular festival of short films was held in 2005 at the Al-Mansour hotel in central Baghdad but the venue has been ruled out for this year's event after a suicide bomber attacked a meeting of tribal leaders in the hotel's foyer in June, killing 12 people.
   Since February 2006, when a Shiite shrine was bombed in the city of Samarra, Baghdad -- like most of Iraq -- has been in the grip of bitter sectarian warfare which has killed thousands of Iraqis.
   Entertainment, along with most other leisure pursuits, has come almost to a standstill with the vast majority of movie
   houses in Baghdad, once crammed with film-lovers, standing empty.
   According to Salman, Egypt's High Institution for Cinema, television channels one and two, as well as some private production companies will be sending their productions to the Baghdad festival.
   'The HIC will participate with 27 films, including nine feature films and eight cartoons,' he said.
   'These films have an academic stamp and most of them deal with students' non-conventional thoughts and trends. They are mainly experimental short films produced by HIC students as graduation projects.'
   Among the features is 'Eve of Baghdad's fall' starring veteran actress Isaad Yunis, while director Eenas al-Dighaidi will participate with one of her films.
   Participation, Salman said, had been made difficult because the festival will be showing films in the DVD format only whereas many Egyptian features have still to be converted from the 35mm or 16mm standard.

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