*Not just granny tales... in Konkani* *Sunetra Jog's day-job is to help keep Goa's telecom infrastructure up and running. She has been working in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited for the last 28 years. But that's not all there is to her. Recently, she took up an unusual challenge -- translating the work of author-social worker-computer scientist-engineer Sudha Murty into Konkani. Ms. Jog made it possible for the Infosys Foundation's chairperson's first book to come out in that language. She tells FREDERICK NORONHA why and how.*
*FN: Tell us something about the book, please?* The original book 'How I Taught My Grandmother to Read and Other Stories' is a very nice read. Everyone should read it. It tells us about values, morality, how we should face difficulties in life, the importance of education, time, and money. It also tells us about the charity work its author Sudha Murty has done through the Infosys Foundation and so many such things and experiences of the author. I sometimes wonder how a single person can have so many experiences in life. She is really great. *FN: Why did you choose this book?* In fact I liked all of Sudha Murty's books that I read. I strongly felt that at least one book should come out in Konkani and that I had to do it. I choose this book because it teaches us so many things. *FN: Translation can be tough, tiresome and time-consuming work. Did you enjoy it?* This is the my first translation and I enjoyed it a lot. I never found it difficult or tiresome or time consuming work. I loved doing it. In fact I finished it within just one month. I typed directly onto my laptop, no question of writing [in long-hand]. I had the English text and dictionary in front of me and did the translation. *FN: Tell us something more about your family and its strong interest in things literary...* My father, the late Yeshwant Patwardhan, was a headmaster of primary school. He used to write short one-act plays for children and perform programmes along with children on All India Radio. I also started writing and performing for AIR. Besides winning prizes at poetry, story and essay contests at school, I have some poems which are mostly not published. They are for my own self, for my happiness, as a way of giving way to my feelings. My husband Gajanan Jog is a well-known Konkani writer and he has published four books so far. He got a Sahitya Academy award for children's literature for his novel 'Vars Phukat Vachunk Na' [A Year Not Wasted] for the year 2011. My son Snehal has been studying theatre art at the Kala Academy and has also written two plays, which were performed on stage. He is doing commercial shows. Now my daughter Snigdha says that since all in the family are writers, she too should write something. Snehal and Snigdha are twins incidentally. *FN: Would you like to work on further translations of books into Konkani? Why do you see this as important?* I would love to do more translations in Konkani. I have started with Sudha Murty's book 'Wise and Otherwise', and have taken permission for one more book titled 'The Old Man and His God'. Such good books should be translated into Konkani so that [their ideas] reach Konkani readers and the students. Good literature from other languages should make its presence felt in our language too, and for this we need to do as many translations as we can. *FN: What were the biggest challenges for you while translating this book?* The one and only challenge I felt was to manage to express Sudha Murty's writings in the same way she expressed her thoughts in English. I mean, without changing the meaning, without affecting the flow and conveying it in Konkani with the same style and the sweetness of language. *FN: Do you think enough works are currently being translated into Konkani?* I don't know exactly how many books have been translated from other languages to Konkani so I can't say anything on this. I know that a few stories have been translated from other languages. As far as I am concerned, I will surely try to translate as many books I can in Konkani. *FN: What could be done to make more translations happen?* First of all, we should be good readers. I mean we should read good books from other languages. When you read a lot, you can decide what to translate, which are the best books that come out in some other languages. If you don't read much, than how can you do anything? I feel frustrated when students of literature, even those doing their post-graduation, are sometimes very poor in reading. They don't know anything about writers, about the books written. I feel ashamed to say, they don't even know the names of the writers, forget about what they have written. *FN: If you had a choice, which three books would you like to translate into Konkani?* 'Wise and Otherwise' (which I've already started working on), 'Old Man and his God', 'Grandma's bag of stories', and 'Gently Falls the Bakula', among others. My future plans include working on the books of Sudha Murty, plus translating some other books from Marathi and English [into Konkani]. -- *How I Taught My Grandmother To Read and Other Stories* *Sudha Murthy* *Translated into Konkani as Ajeyek Vachunk Shikoyle, Aani Her* *Kanyo * *Translation: Sunetra Jog [email protected]* *Published by Lakshimikant Publications, Siolim* *Rs 120. 2012. Konkani.* * * *See also * *http://www.navhindtimes.in/ilive/i-am-happy-doing-translation* http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=132973 http://www.scoop.it/t/translation-world/p/1526735521/panaji-sudha-murty-s-book-translated-in-konkani Email contact: "Sunetra Jog" <[email protected]>, -- FN +91-832-2409490 or +91-9822122436 [email protected] http://scr.bi/Goa1556Books | http://pinterest.com/fngoa/goa-1556-books/ http://bit.ly/GoaRecordings | http://pinterest.com/fngoa/books-on-goa/
