Friday, July 21, 2006

excerpts

Here are some excerpts from the stories that i've come to love. One concern is that it all of it produced by Indian authors.....Oriya, Bengali and a variety of others translated into English. The other important point to be noted is that it is lifted material. I need to be banished, if, i've trespassed rights regarding, reproducing material without prior permission.

The Trap
-Yasodhara Mishra

It revolves around the listless relationship between a son and a mother. The mother is divorced.......works hard to bring up the son. The strained existence is depicted with the grimness in the shortage of money ....avoiding the topic of the father....the blatant excuses....of the son.....to flee the depressing conditions at home.....being tired of hearing the pitiful words of the mother. They talk of a new living....a better apartment.....a restful life for her after retirement....and ends in the unexpected mention of the forgotten (or rather in the process of doing so) father. Shoba is the mother....and Manu is her son.


'Manu recalled how life in this house had felt so warm....so happy in his
childhood........ But it had vanished suddenly, dissolved into nothingness
overnight......he was engulfed in pitch darkness......Ma had gathered him into
her arms....covered him with her saree, and made him forget the secure comfort
that the warm blanket had offered him. But Ma had also rudely woken him up and
harshly reminded him. " See what i am doing for you. i freeze myself to keep you
warm And you drop into sleep as if nothing happened." '

Man and the Mob
-Akhil Mohan Patnaik

A truck driver had unfortunately....got his vehicle in a ditch......traffic had accumulated on both sides.....thus he faced the wrath of many people. The truck was actually carrying medicine....which the latter mistook it to be drugs......as the driver was not making enough efforts in saving his truck or letting the traffic flow. The reasons that people come with is very shocking. Considering the fact that most of the truck drivers are Punjabi in origin.....the others curse his tribe. Finally....the goods are destroyed....and the driver is seen crying........for his wife....for his aged parents...and for his three year-old daughter who had never seen her father. And the crowd accomplished it's mission that of.......getting their vehicles, safe from the place of desparity.


'Darshan Singh climbed into the driver's cabin. The moon, like a flower of
silver paper, was suspended from the wertern sky.......In the mmisty moonlight
Darshan Singh's mind swam across the wheat fields of his village.........He was
not aware when the arm started bleeding at one place and his salty tear drops
mingled with his blood. Darshan Singh was crying after so many days.


The chariot of the sun sped across the eastern sky like an arrow.'

'Chariot of the sun'....it reminds me of another novel....by U.R Ananthmurthy ....where..... the story is narrated in the first person. It is of his friend.......and the latter's broken family. The carelessness of the mind.........trying to pretend that things are allright when it is not so. What made it interesting is that.....the use of the local tongue.....whereby it makes good reading, as the translator did not bother to translate everything into english.


The Rogue
-Atulnanda Goswami

Man has always been trying to understand the life of animals....but has he reached anywhere? This story in Assamese....talks about a peasant, Gajala.....who wanders into a forest......whereas the village is lamenting on a rogue elephant.......the crops destroyed by it...amongst other matters. The truth...lies in the fact that the animal is hurt......went on a rampage....to ease it's pain. Gajala....realises this....helps the animal to come out of suffering. The talk between Gajala and the mute elephant is simply mind-blowing......while the beast is being treated with the juice of a wild herb. Keeping in mind the nature of the human mind.....it is not surprising that the animal is killed.

'No, he would not return to the
village. It would mean sure death to the elephant.......As he worked briskly,
Gajala started talking to the elephant, ;But how could you have fallen into such
a hole? Have you lost your senses? You are a creature of the forest and
yet...


The hunter, equipped with a license to kill
the rogue..........."Look!" he said, pointing. "The rogue has killed yet another
man. The seventh so far, isn't it?"


The villagers
too heard the shot........they set out. in search of Gajala.'


Many other languages do exist....with their material......but i'm exhausted after having spent twelve hours on the roll. Will continue some other time....if the mind permits.......

2 comments:

Shiv said...

Mouna,

Wonderful stories indeed !
Thanks for sharing them..
Is it a collection of stories in different languages translated to English??

mouna said...

howdu shiv.........it is so...i've got a quite a collection of ttranslated stuff actually....in fact these are some of my favourites...god knows how many times i've read them!!