Translation
Taming the forest
SELINE AUGUSTINE
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An attempt at capturing rural lifestyles...
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The Defiant Jungle; Tr. Vasantha Surya; New Horizon Media; Rs 200.
Sa. Kandasamy made a name as a writer to reckon with, with his very first novel, Saaya Vanam, written when he was 25. An intense novel, it focussed on the issue of change and development in the rural milieu when not many writers would have wanted to take on a theme like that. The novel was much acclaimed when it was first published 40 years ago. The book and the ideas it espouses find an echo in the present day setup and cry aloud to be taken note of. Reading Vasantha Surya's translation of the novel titled The Defiant Jungle makes for a wonderful experience. The Tamil writer won the Sakitya Akademi award 12 years ago for his work, Visaaranai Commission.
The plot unfolds
A powerful novel which flashes light on a whole way of life as was practised a century ago in interior Tamil Nadu. Chidambaram was a young man who had returned to the native soil, Tanjavur, after living in Ceylon and Singapore. Coursing in his veins was the fire to make true his dreams of entrepreneurship. It seemed to him the whole fabric of the village was a knotty tangle that defied all reason. He buys the forested land from Sambamurthy Iyer. In the introduction to the first edition, Kandasamy writes, “agriculture was a way of life earlier now become a profitable occupation”. How he accomplishes his purpose without riding rough-shod or treading on too many toes is the crux of the story. The villagers' immense regard for his superior wisdom and financial status pave the way for the forest to be cleared minus heartache. His uncle, Sivanandi Thevar, a splendid character with his heart in the right place, and with great dignity lends a hand in the mammoth task of cutting down trees and thorn bushes. When they reach the bamboo clusters they are left with no other option but to set fire to them. Saaya Vanam, meaning a forest that cannot be felled, is at last cowed down and laid bare. His dream was to grow a cash crop like sugarcane and build a sugar mill and he realises it. While telling the tale, Kandasamy makes several scathing attacks on traditional rituals and beliefs. One such is against the stereotypical Brahmin who even when a fire breaks out in his house in the middle of the night will call out for help instead of doing the needful himself.
Flawed
Vasantha Surya says she wants the readers to remain constantly aware as they turn each page that they are listening to people who speak and think in Tamil who live and work in that particular part of Tamil Nadu. Translation which is so smooth that the reader forgets he or she is reading a translation is a failure, she asserts. She has deliberately retained several Tamil names like iluppai, poovarasu, nettilingam and karuvaadu. But when you read sentences like this, “the bride lowered her head and taali ascended her neck”, it sounds like what may be called Tamil-English: Here is another: “Chidambaraam smiled a small smile”. Why say “house-entering” when there is “house-warming” referring to grahapravesam?
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