Unobtrusive work in cementing literary bonds

HUBLI, Dec 10, 2010

At a time, when anything and everything said or done, provides grist to the increasing acrimony over the linguistic dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra, a Pune based housewife, has been ploughing the lonely furrow inobtrusively to promote amity and mutual understanding.

Mrs. Uma Kulkarni of Pune does not know Kannada. But this has not come in the way of her translating around 35 Kannada books of the famous authors of Kannada including Bhairappa, Shivaram Karanth, and Girish Karnad, Anantha Murthy, Mrs Sudha Murthy and others. . Her ally in this stupendous task has been none other than his life mate, Mr. Virupaksha Kulkarni.

How did they do it? “It is simple. My husband reads the Kannada books for me and I read the Marathi books to him” she says.

The couple incidentally is from Belgaum and has different linguistic background. Virupaksha's mother tongue is Kannada and Uma’s is Marathi. They have been helping out each other in discovering the intrinsic literary merit of the books and introduce the same for the benefit of the readers of their respective languages.

What has been a surprise has been the manner in which the Marathi readers received here books. Several of her books have undergone reprinting. Some cases, it has gone up to five or six reprints. That the translated works have evoked good response is evident from the several rounds of discussions in the literary fora of the works and original authors too. And even books have come out on the proceedings of the seminars and discussions held. On the celebrated Kannada author Mr. S L Bhairappa, several rounds of discussions have taken place (which is something not frequently heard in Kannada) and even Marathi papers are quite liberal in taking note of the developments in the literary firmament. She has been a recipient of the award from the Central Sahitya Academy too.

“You may have enjoyed reading the books for seven to eight days, the time you take to complete the reading. But in my case, I have enjoyed these books are eight to nine months, till my translation work is complete” Mrs. Kulkarni told the audience in Belgaum, the other day, where she had come to receive the award in recognition of her contribution by the Nadoja Pratisthan. Incidentally it was the first ever award she got from Karnataka. “When I have received several awards in Maharashtra, it is good and touching to receive the recognition from the mother in laws side” she remarked in a typical housewives’ tone. (The reference is to the fact that Kannada happens to be mother tongue of her in-laws family in Karnataka).

“I don’t know how the Karnataka and the Kannada people failed to take note of your signal contribution in cementing the literary bonds between Kannada and Marathi” remarked 90 year old Mr. Patil Puttappa, a veteran writer and journalist.

Mrs. Uma has a doctorate from S N D T University Mumbai, for her thesis on the Dravidian temple sculpture.

Eom .10.12.2010