The Linguist

'Land of Gup' as he calls it) and it is filled with Western references, such as using Mozart to invoke the pinnacle of music. Another poem re-tells the famous story of 'The Hare and the Tortoise' using a number of references taken from an extremely Western – or more specifically British – cultural universe. For instance, the story of the race is featured on the BBC – the Beastly Broadcast Company. Consider the following lines: "Dearest frog", the nightingale Breathed: "This is a fairy tale – And you are Mozart in disguise Come to earth before my eyes." You can spot the end rhymes in my unpublished Hindi translation without knowing the language: "Pyaare mendhak," bulbul chehki, "Bagiya aaj hai meri mehki Tansen se guru aap Mujhe sikhaayein taan-aalaap." (Bold indicates a change from the original) While translating these poems into Hindi, I remained conscious of the colonial influence of these cultural references on an Indian English writer. If I was translating a poem by an Indian writer writing in Hindi (since that is the only Indian language I am fluent in) into English, I would not consider transposing the 8 The Linguist Vol/61 No/2 2022 thelinguist.uberflip.com FEATURES FABLED POET Vikram Seth pictured at a book signing cultural universe for a Western audience. I would, in fact, insist on leaving Hindi words as they are, without a glossary, to give the translation a flavour of the original writing. In this case, however, my decision to translate Mozart as Tansen, the 16th-century poet and musician from the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar, came from my reaction to Seth's use of Western references as an Indian English writer. This was also behind my choice of Jeev Doordarshan ('Animal Doordarshan') – a play on the Indian national television channel Doordarshan – for 'Beastly Broadcast Company'. Even the names of places that Seth creates are embedded in the English soundscape: 'Bingle', 'Fauna Fountain', 'Mammal Mountain'. I adapted this soundscape to suit a Hindi-speaking audience, for example translating 'Rhyme and Runny News' as Bhaag Tak (loosely translated as 'until the run'), a pun on the Indian sensational news channel Aaj Tak (which literally means 'until today'). A translator's priorities One of the most challenging stanzas to translate was the section in 'The Frog and the Nightingale' where Seth plays with names of birds and British titles: And the sumac tree was bowed, With a breathless, titled crowd Owl of Sandwich, Duck of Kent, Mallard and Milady Trent, Martin Cardinal Mephisto, And the Coot of Monte Cristo. While seeking literary devices that could invoke the same musicality as the original, I used alliteration to combine names of Indian cities (Hazaarpur, Mirzapur), Indian titles (Huzoor, Maharaj) and bird names (Hans, Mor aur Morni; 'swan', 'peacock and peahen'): Saaras samraat, kauwe maharaj Chhor ke aye sab kaam kaaj, Hazaarpur se Hans Huzoor, Mor aur Morni Mirzapur, Aligarh se Ababeel Ali, Raunak chaaron or phaili. In my translation, I have taken the liberty of creating Indian language equivalents of Western cultural references. This decision is unusual and worth discussing, because when I translate from Hindi into English, I am adamant about preserving the cultural universe of the text as it is. I am almost stubborn about leaving the original Hindi word in the English translation, even without © SHUTTERSTOCK

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