English Translation: T.S. Chandra Mouli
BOOK REVIEW: LEONARD DABYDEEN
Author: Enugu Narsimha Reddy
Translated from Telugu into Engish by T.S. Chandra Mouli,
New Delhi
Indialog Publication Pvt. Ltd 2020
Pp 120 250 INR
ISBN: 81-8443-064-7
When the original book, titled Moola Malupu (meaning Corner Turn) was written by author, Enugu Narsimha Reddy in 2018 in Telugu Indian language, it was rhapsodized in a hedgemonic cultural reflection of India’s colonial and post colonial historical overture. The book won the Palamooru Saahitee Paraskaram award (2018). In 2020, Dr.T.S. Chandra Mouli of New Delhi tapped on this book with an English translation, titled A Bend in the Corner. It is a collection of 62 poems in a bundle of 120 pages.
Both Reddy and Chandra Mouli are accredited authors, poets, critics and translators. Their literary acumen and established literary writing prowess are not easy on each other to bring the English translation to fruition.
In the front portal of the book, A Bend in the Corner, Reddy promulgated in a Poet’s Heart his deep following of poets Devarakonda Balagangadhara Tilak, Sri Sri and English poet Dylan Thomas. They brightened his poetry path.“It is like a safety valve for any creative person.” He was immensely gratified that his poetry was expanding to audiences beyond marginal periphery to boundaries beyond eclipses of Telugu language.
Reddy felt euphoric that an entire book of his poems have been translated into English. He acquiesced that his poems have relocated and avouched themselves in the outer world of English literature. Andhra Pradesh was not alone. He immensely regaled in appreciation of English translator of the book, Dr. T.S. Chandra Mouli.
Dora Sales, Senior Lecturer, University of Jaume I (Spain) unequivocally posited in a Note on a Bend in the Corner, that “Prof. Mouli’s translation impacted with respect “the cultural identity of the original, deliberately leaving certain terms untranslated, and providing information through notes to the text” His paradigm was a symbiosis of Indian English translation of Reddy’s poetry.
Chandra Mouli, as English translator of A Bend in the Corner and his 27th book published, is a prolific literary master in Indian English literature. He has in his oeuvre over 9 anthologies of poetry, 2 plays, and 5 volumes of short stories in Telugu. More than six books have been translated into English. He has accolades of several literary awards, and boasts of representing India in many international literary forums world-wide. With this magnificence in literary portraits, it is best to indulge the literary eye in A Bend in the Corner.
Take a look at …
Poem #1, Shore on the Other Side, (23)
(first four lines in the first stanza)
I am wandering
in the soil I walked along
I am collecting tunes
The poet’s mind becomes rooted with firmness on the soil he walked on. Mind at ease “collecting tunes”. Determined to cross the stream to the other side. A philosophic mind-set, embracing the environment with a cornucopia of life.
(first six lines in the second stanza)
When we leave a shore
trusting a boat is inevitable.
Not for me
to the onlookers
this journey is ecstatic.
One should trust the putti,*
Here “putti” is a telugu word for round basket vessel. The poet sees the journey across the stream as euphoric. Shows trust in crossing the stream with determination.
(last two lines in the second stanza)
Delightful shore on the other side of the river
rushes rapidly towards me!
Here the poet arrives at the other side of the stream, feeling excited. The imagery of crossing the stream with a positive outlook. A picturesque landscape.
In poem # 6, Fragrance of Flowers (33)
(first stanza)
Among narrow lanes of
faded walls that look stressed
he keeps walking.
Beyond the tar roads
busy in colourful decoration of
palatial buildings
on dusty roads purposely he walks.
The translator sees Reddy travelling with determination in the streets, imaging decorations on buildings along dusty roads along his sojourn …but he sees
(second stanza – first four lines)
Torn kites flutter on
electric lines on left and right.
Among flapping plastic covers
that look like thrown away used cotton balls …
With the translator picturing the environment in a dilapidated condition, in a sense of societal breakdown. As the poet walks …
(in the last three lines of the last stanza)
A battle began somewhere
unconscious of its own origin.
Wait for it to spread across the country.
In the deep subconscious terrain of his mind, the author expresses a longing to bring change that will ‘spread across the country’ with a ‘fragrance of flowers’.
In poem # 13, titled: Father (45), we can visualize a concatenation of circumstances in which Father becomes the nexus. Take the first stanza, thus:
Around life
reminding entangled environment
like a lightning reliant on cloud
twirling round conscience like a creeper
natural armour of love is father!
(last three lines):
just as mother was created ,
to extend strength to mother
God sent father.
Father brings hope and faith. Chandra Mouli sustained this elegance in metaphors and similies in the translation; evocative imagery.
Look at the last stanza:
When the entire universe
attacks us as adversary camp
father alone stands by us
to march ahead.
Just like a lamp
emerging from one lamp
moulds children with paternal magnanimity.
Father becomes the backbone of survival. Chandra Mouli’s English translation did not miss a beat.
Take a read of poem # 28, Nectar of Life (65):
(first stanza)
Shukra satiated himself cheerfully with divine nectar.
swinging episodes of Nawabs
who were overwhelmed by Hukkha’s power,
several tales of drinking that forced
Heaven to descend on earth abound.
Here the author brings cultural anecdotes to speak of Shukra, a divine guru, advisor and teacher, about tales of Nawabs of the Mughal Empire. The Nawabs enjoyed a life of drinking and drugs
(second stanza: 11-13 lines)
How can one visualise old city
sans Falaknuma
or Hyderabad without Irani chai?
The people in the community enjoy Irani chai.
(second stanza: last six lines)
Chai alone stands for life, say citizens here.
It is the beverage loved by all
it is easily accessible nectar of life for all.
If one misses it for a day
or denied for a while
liveliness of all vanishes in thin air!
Here the poet tells us how members of the community enjoy chai as part of their life style.
Poem # 59, A Bend in the Corner (113)
When it is disclosed
that a white spot noticed on body
free advice arrives
to scan the conscience within.
As the song of dove
misses the rhythm
direction follows to check
pollution of the river bund.
All investigations
to be carried out, it is said.
This is a considerate land
where massive clashes strode along
does any expression of acceptance
arrive at all?
It being a fertile field
of endless conflicts
does the crop survive ultimately?
In the twists of tricky paths
in the topsy-turvy gallops
perhaps traces of corns
of broken thorns discernible.
In the peculiar pace of
solitary scamper of individuals
can the body remain sans sun-tanned?
For exploring exclusive realms of moonlight
without caring for self and shelter
does ray of brightness bloom
on veil of darkness?
Like a sort of scare
as white handwoven woollen blanket
spreading across the body
while confirmation report
is under process after all investigations,
like a calf that strayed
staggers on looking
at the pen that collapsed,
like uncovering lungs
while spraying pesticide
in cotton field in a trance–
agitation!
As one conquers a summit
and slides on a slope,
swimming across mighty rivers
as one gets trapped in irrigation canals
path invisible
in bend in corner.
The bend has to be spanned
irrespective of status of path
journey has to be sustained.
This is the title poem of the book. It spans an evocative, thoughtful, cultural, effervescent soul of the soil. The caveat lector of the full collection of poems.
In “Poet’s Heart”, author Dr. Enugu Naarsimha Reddy says:
When I have gone through the English version of my poetry I am astonished to note that the translation carried the original fragrance intact.
In “Note on A Bend in the Corner”, Dora Sales writes:
Prof. Chandra Mouli has produced a superb translation in several senses.
From the PREFACE: Dr. Chittaranjan Misra writes:
Dr. Reddy flaunts no desire to exhibit scholarship and avoids use of verbose. As a son of the soil his description revolves around friends and people he is familiar with. Love for family constructs poetic images of human relationship in a number of his poems.
A Bend in the Corner – Time to read.
Poems Jogging in the Mind 