The Butterfly effect

One is a noted poet, anthologist, literary critic and translator, the other an editor-author who has written a novel that paints a “portrait of young urban Indians”.

When father-son duo Arvind and Palash Krishna Mehrotra (of The Butterfly Generation fame) shared the stage at the Calcutta Literary Meet on Sunday, held in association with The Telegraph, it was to discuss “the writing gene” in a session titled ‘Raising the Butterfly Generation’. Journalist Sandip Roy was in the moderator’s chair.

Father and son delved into the question whether it was the “writing gene” that compelled the latter to become an author. And, if that were the case, how come Palash wrote books like The Butterfly Generation and Eunuch Park — worlds apart from poetry volumes like The Transfiguring Places, which his father is known for?

Palash confessed that growing up in Allahabad, having a private library and a family of writers contributed heavily to his being what he is today.

The freewheeling talk also probed the definition of an “Indian writer”, the pressure of writing an “India” book and English as a written language in the 1960s to the “Rushdie chutnification” of the 1990s, among other things.

“Nothing was taboo in the Sixties. You could say the most outrageous and blasphemous things,” said Mehrotra senior. “I wrote about the Ramayan in such words, and even published them as pamphlets, all at the age of 18.”

For Palash, it is painting the modern urban youth (The Butterfly Generation, if you will), their concerns and way of life, that takes centrestage.

He had the audience in splits when he read out from The Butterfly Generation. “My father’s name is Inu, and he teaches at the inuversity,” he read out the observation of a nursery toddler, the character based on himself.

“At Jaipur, it was something of a tourist spot, where the upper middle-class audience had come to see the tamasha,” Outlook editor Vinod Mehta, who was in the audience, told Metro. “Here, the people might be more humbly dressed, but the meet centres around books wholly.”

Author Anita Nair said: “It’s very focussed here. There is just one session at one time, so you don’t have to rush about to choose.”

The language of broken barriers – Speech babel: writers debate how faithful a good translation should be

Bengali is the most translated of all Indian languages and so it was in the fitness of things that the first edition of the Calcutta Literary Meet, held in association with The Telegraph, have multiple sessions on translation with about half a dozen author-translators attending.

Beyond Babel: Finding Other Literatures Through Translation, the first session on Day 4, saw Pawan K. Varma, Anita Nair, Arunava Sinha and Sampurna Chattarji discuss the significance of translation and the essential qualities of good translation. The session was moderated by Malabika Banerjee of Gameplan, the organisers of the Lit Meet.

Drawing from the Biblical reference, retired diplomat-cum-author-cum-translator Varma said: “The Tower of Babel is a colonial construct. The British were to take away our languages. One of the arguments was that there were too many languages.” India, Varma said, had 24 fully developed languages with well-constructed vocabulary and a fine corpus of literature. “This prompted Macaulay to comment in his Minute on Indian Education ‘You need a ladder to climb out the wall of languages’.”

Varma squarely blamed the British for the way the young generation believed that if one knew English, one could be less than sure in his mother tongue. “This is leading the nation towards becoming a linguistic half caste,” he said. Ruing that translations were greatly neglected, Varma, who has translated Ghalib, Kaifi Azmi, Gulzar and Atal Behari Vajpayee, said: “We are in need of a centre of excellence for translation. In the absence of avenues of good writing in regional languages, the vacuum is often being filled by mediocre English writing.”

But what makes a good translation? “Is it literal translation? But then exactitude is the death of translation,” Sampurna said.

Anita Nair, who has translated Kathakali texts, said: “I wanted to translate Nalacharita, a 19th century Kathakali text, narrating the story of Nala, which is both metaphysical and philosophical. And I decided that I would translate it as I understood it. The author had written it in the fishermen’s dialect and I had to be sure that I retained the flavour.”

Arunava is particular about retaining the author’s voice. “And that is particularly difficult when you are translating different authors. When you move from one author to another, you should be careful that there is no hangover,” he said. Both he and Nair spoke of Jorge Leal Amado de Faria’s writings. “We read him in English but he writes in Portugese and the country flavour is brought into the translated English text,” said Sinha.

Both Varma and Sampurna, who translate poetry, have had the authors of the original works congratulating them that the translation surpasses the original. Varma brushed aside the praise. “Gulzar and Kaifi Azmi are both generous and extremely cultured,” he said, going on to quote Gulzar: “Translation is like a mistress, if she’s beautiful, she’s not faithful and if she’s faithful, she is not beautiful.”

City woos ‘suitable boy’ – VIKRAM SETH AND THE TALE OF TWO FESTS

Q: What does Calcutta have that Jaipur doesn’t?

A: Vikram Seth.

Another star-studded chapter of the Jaipur Literature Festival has ended and the Calcutta Literary Meet is set to debut from January 26 to 31, in association with The Telegraph.

But this coming together of writer and reader on the Calcutta Book Fair grounds might have remained a dream had it not been for an email, two months ago, signed “Vikram”.

“We wrote to so many authors, almost all of them sent their polite regrets. On November 24, we got in touch with literary agent David Godwin for Vikram Seth, not even daring to hope. But within three hours, a mail landed in my BlackBerry in exceptionally large font size, signed ‘Vikram’,” revealed Malabika Banerjee of Gameplan, the organisers of the Lit Meet.

So, what clinched it for Milan Mela over Diggi Palace for the author of A Suitable Boy?

“Vikram told us he had very fond memories of Calcutta, he had grown up here and he would love to come here, not only to be a part of the Literary Meet but to enjoy Calcutta as well,” Malavika revealed.

But ask the organisers of the Jaipur Literature Festival and they suggest a walkover rather than a tug-of-war over the boy from Batanagar.

“Penguin told us about his new book [The Rivered Earth] two months ago but we had used up our travel budget by then,” said festival co-director William Dalrymple.

“But we said we would love to have him if he was in India. He said he was in London and at that time the Calcutta Literary Meet popped up and offered to pay his fare, so they got him. Fair enough.”

With Seth on board, the story in Calcutta changed and how!

Come Thursday, the literary meet will embark on its maiden journey with over 30 sessions spread over six days, featuring authors from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Italy, France, England, America and more, apart from city writers in English as well as Bengali — and a top draw called Imran Khan.

Seth will inaugurate the meet and discuss his works with author Ruchir Joshi on January 26. On the closing day, January 31, he will sit in conversation with his mother Leila Seth, a retired judge and author.

Seth, often described as India’s greatest contemporary writer, is in India from his home in Salisbury, England, for a little over a month, of which three weeks were devoted to Delhi and some 10 days kept aside “for enjoying” Calcutta.

“It’s great news for the city that an author of the stature of Vikram Seth is coming for the first Literary Meet. I have loved reading his books, now I can’t wait to see him in person,” said young city author Devapriya Roy.

In both January 2009 and 2011, Jaipur was in Seth’s itinerary. In 2009, he ran foul of local Hindi newspapers, who went after him with front-page editorials for sipping a glass of wine during a session.

The next year, Seth, who even friends describe as a “gregarious hermit”, gave the Jaipur jamboree a miss. He was back in 2011, sipping from a glass and insisting that it was “Coca-Cola”, tongue firmly in cheek.

It is not known if a Jaipur organiser, on condition of anonymity, was being tongue in cheek when asked on Tuesday if Seth was missed this year. “With 258 authors around, how can anyone be missed?”

The shadow — or spur — of Jaipur was on Mamata Banerjee’s lips too. Inaugurating the 36th International Calcutta Book Fair on Tuesday, the chief minister said: “This is the first time that a literary meet is happening in the city. It has happened in Jaipur but never in Calcutta… Shuru holo, shesh jeno na hoy…. I hope we will be able to continue with it every year.

Action-packed weekend at the races

With the chill making a return to the city, the time is just right for the races hotting up.

Royal Calcutta Turf Club (RCTC) will see two days of back-to-back racing excitement this weekend. “We have two top races this weekend. With the weather holding up and winter coming back, we are hoping for an exceptional weekend,” said Jayant Jaipal Singh, the CEO of RCTC.

Eight races are lined up on Saturday. The action begins at 12.45pm but the feature race of the day, the Police Commissioner Trophy organised in association with The Telegraph, is scheduled for 2.45pm.

The Police Commissioner Trophy, traditionally a part of the winter races, draws the who’s who of Calcutta to the stands as they turn out in their fashionable best to cheer contenders, place bets and enjoy a day out in the winter sun.

Nine horses will run a distance of 1200 metres to vie for the Police Commissioner Trophy, a class II race. The trophy and the prize money, sponsored by Diamond Beverages, will be handed over to the winner by Calcutta police commissioner R.K. Pachnanda.

“Each year, one of the races is picked for the Police Commissioner Trophy and the prize is given away by the commissioner of police,” said the race course manager and commentator, Anit Casyab.

If Saturday’s racing highlight is the Police Commissioner Trophy, Sunday belongs to The Eveready Calcutta Derby Stakes held in association with The Telegraph. It is the sixth of nine races on the cards on Sunday.

The blue-riband race of the season, the derby is also the city’s richest with a total of Rs 1 crore at stake.

The derby was to be held last Sunday but was cancelled after overnight rain had left the racetracks slushy.

The derby, which has stepped into its eighth year, has always been popular in Calcutta. This time, there will be eight participants and the top contenders are Dandified, hailed as the prince of Calcutta, and In The Spotlight, the queen of the South. The horses will be meeting on the tracks for the first time.

Adding to Sunday’s excitement is the carried-over jackpot pool of Rs 15 lakh. For those looking for entertainment beyond the races, there will be live music by the band, The Orchids, a well-stocked food court and a bar.