The Hindu : Down memory lane

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 13, 2002

National

National

Down memory lane

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 12. But for the settings, the telling evidence of the passage of time, and the blossoming of an idea that was sown 25 years ago, very little was different today when the President, K. R. Narayanan, played host to the launch of The Book Review Literary Trust's "Translation Project'' from the day his bungalow in Pandara Park provided the space for the launch of The Book Review itself in 1975.

Like the host on both occasions, the key players were the same — the founder trustees Chandra Chari, Uma Iyengar and Chitra Narayanan — as were many in the audience.

While the three works with which the `Translation Project' was launched in the silver jubilee year of The Book Review occupied the pride of place, nostalgia came a close second with the President himself walking down memory lane.

Setting aside his Presidential mantle to don the wrap of a proud father, Mr. Narayanan recalled how The Book Review and later the Trust had grown "before my own eyes''.

Recalling how the idea of bringing out a review journal grew out of his daughter, Chitra Narayanan's desire to launch a children's journal, Mr. Narayanan said The Book Review had come a long way for a publication that started with an original capital of Rs. 1,500 with each founder trustee putting in an equal sum of Rs. 500.

Lamenting the irony in the fact that English had become the window for Indian language writing, Mr. Narayanan said the Translation Project would help foster "literary unity'' in the country.

While Mr. Narayanan and Meenakshi Mukherjee — the general editor of the `Past Continuous' series of which two of the translated works are a part — indulged in nostalgia, the women who steered the genre of "literary reviews'' through 25 years during which time later entrants to the league packed up, did not allow themselves that luxury. Instead, they went about their task of introducing the Translation Project and the individuals who translated the three works.

While Potheri Kunhambu's Malayalam novel, `Saraswativijayam' has been translated by Dilip Menon; Gurajada Venkata Appa Rao's Telugu play, `Kanyasulkam' was entrusted to C. Vijayasree and T. Vijaya Kumar; and Chokhamela's Marathi poems, `On the Threshold', to Rohini Mokashi Punekar.

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