The Hindu : Karnataka News : A passion to learn new things

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Friday, Apr 04, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

A passion to learn new things

T.V. Sivanandan

Ratna S. Mannur has translated Urdu works into Kannada

Achiever: Ratna S Mannur.

GULBARGA: In a male-dominated society, 46-year-old Ratna S. Mannur stands apart. She has become the first non-Muslim woman to translate works in Urdu into Kannada.

It was not an easy task for this woman coming from a traditional Brahmin family to first learn Urdu and later translating Urdu works into her mother tongue Kannada. Her journalist-husband Srikantachar Mannur, who is the resident editor of the Gulbarga edition of Samyukta Karnataka, is the motivating force behind her.

A Physics graduate, Ms. Mannur is employed in Gulbarga University as superintendent in the administrative section on the main campus, and amid her busy schedule she kept aside some time for her passion of learning new things and new languages.

“My love towards Urdu, which is a classical language, drove me to learn the language and take up the translation of the Urdu works into Kannada for the benefit of the Kannadigas to know the cultural and literary richness of Urdu”, said Ms. Mannur, who learnt to read and write Urdu in eight months.

She, along with her friend, Mehmuda Begum, who helped her to improve the knowledge of Urdu, translated “Urdu Ki Kahani” penned by Ehtisham Hussain, consisting of the brief profile of the great Urdu writers who enriched the language through their poems and stories, as “Urduvina Kathe” to become the first non-Muslim writer to translate a Urdu work into Kannada. The translated work was published by the Karnataka Anuvada Sahitya Academy few days ago in Bangalore.

Ms. Mannur said that it was her father R.K. Joshi, an Assistant Commissioner, who ignited her passion to learn Urdu by teaching her the script of the language. Mr. Joshi had his entire education in Urdu at that time. Later, it was her colleague in the University S.S. Quadri who taught her the basics of the language.

Ms. Mannur has authored more than 500 articles in Kannada on various aspects of science and published in different science magazines and has also written two articles in Urdu on renowned mathematician Leonard Euler and about the “Burning Eye” syndrome in the Urdu Science Magazine “Science Ki Duniya” published by National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources from New Delhi.

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