Well,
Sometimes, things that you dread might give you pleasure. I am actually referring to a Hindi translation of the brief that we handed over to the first year class for the upcoming AD project. Initially I thought it was really tedious, but soon I realized about the brilliant google translator. I quickly put the text in it and - there it was! Translation was almost done!
I sent it over mail to my student. And pop came a reply, saying that ‘it wasn’t enough’. Initially I was irritated on the lack of acknowledgement, but I thought I rather not get into all that, and looked at the translation carefully. I understood that it wasn’t a 100% translation. But what fascinated me was the perfect translation of some specific words. That provoked me to deal with the brief myself!
So I went on, and explored my Hindi vocabulary trying to test if I was still as good in Hindi, as I was as a student. But apart from that, the language came to me very easily! I remember my father making me stand besides him, making me read arduous English answers and translating certain difficult words into Hindi. It was easier to digest the English answers then. Actually, he pushed us towards learning Hindi during the summer vacations, before the subject was formally introduced to us in school. So we used to actually maintain Hindi word meaning books. Every day we would collect words and show it to him when he returned from office.
The play in language fascinated me then. I had started writing poetries since the age of 10? It was a hybrid kind of poem - exploring the homophony in the word 'bus' in Hindi and English. That was when my parents laughed at my 6-line poetry! But I continued…because that laugh was an encouraging one. I don’t know why, but I started writing in English after that. Perhaps Hindi was not formally introduced to us as a subject then and I wasn’t equipped with the vocabulary of the language. And also, I had already learnt English words which would rhyme. Well that was how they taught in schools – easier words first – so pot, hot, cot – and cat, mat, bat… all these became a part of my poetry…
But I had no idea about how a poetry is structured, or why does one write it. I wrote poetries purely for enjoying the vocabulary I had learnt. The structure of my poetries also came from the kind of poetries we had…cat sitting on the mat, and eating the rat! And all that… At that time, I thought that even I could make poetries. And I did make some.
As eventually Hindi language was formally introduced, I could feel a step ahead of others. We used to get only Hindi newspaper then – because mummy could read Hindi better than English. What intrigued me then was the crosswords in the Hindi newspapers. My mother would ask me religiously for a pen or a pencil to fill up the blanks of the Hindi crossword. She would sometimes ask my father for cracking answers, when stuck. This dialogue of my parents was a part of our formative years. But later on, a weird phenomenon followed – I was still not prepared to solve a Hindi crossword puzzle. So I would start filling them in English! Yes – the Hindi cross words in English! It sounds funny! Well, even my mother laughed at it. But again, the laugh was encouraging. I started making my own English crosswords for others. I would give it to my friends to solve. And they would happily solve it! But that was not enough! Anyone can pose a problem…the fun is in solving them. So I now started taking the Hindi crosswords seriously. Initially, I could solve only 3 or 4 words in the cross words in Hindi. But as I kept practicing, later, I would almost solve half or 3/4ths of it. There was only one instance when I solved it completely (or perhaps one blank remaining?). But by then, I had learnt the trick. The crosswords were so silly, that they used to play around with the same words…it was within a limited vocabulary! Once I figured the pattern of the repetition, then I slowly started to get out of that whole thing again!
Later I learnt figures of speech in English – and a new structure of poetry dawned upon me. Initially it was difficult. I always was influenced with the more rhyming ones, the more rhythmic poems. So the abstract ones were never really appreciated by me.
During this time, I wrote some really nice poems; one of them actually got published in an American anthology! I have never seen it (in physical sense) yet, but hope to see if life gives me an opportunity to travel to America. Anyway, I think it was this time when my parents would see the ‘kavi-sammelans’ on doordarshan. (Till 10th standard, I did not have the luxury of a cable television). But the way my parents would sit and enjoy these poetry recitations made me feel that perhaps poetry and poets are some kind of magical people – but what are they saying? That I did not understand. Neither did I ask my parents that time. But I continued writing.
By 10th standard, I had some 30-40 ideas for poems, sometimes, some interesting words which rhymed. I kept noting them in my notebook. But I never actually found time to string them into some context. So they remain as incomplete poems. I enjoy reading them now.
In the meanwhile, during 11th, I met my friend Nikhil, who is a classical singer. He used to sing classical verses to me, he used to compose songs, and make me listen. I was learning music too, and I could understand the expressions that he could bring out. I would also see my guru composing verses in different ragas. I think it was then, when I got interested in Hindi poetry. I have some experiments in Hindi too. But I always felt more comfortable with English. Thereby, one of my poems is published in the Bhavan’s annual journal too (2002-03?). During this time, my poetry slowed down, I was occupied too much with studies. By 10th I had taken to writing, maintaining my own essay book. Later in 12th, the chairman of Agrawal Classes (where I was trained), suggested that one must maintain a diary. It helps to know one’s own character. I thought about it and started writing. I maintained it for about 2 to 3 years. Till 2nd year architecture? And its then when the blog occurs.
However, the criss cross of language was an interesting one. My Hindi professor was very fond of me (actually many teachers were!), because I was an excellent Hindi student. So today when I translated this text, I revisited those days, when I would produce excellent Hindi essays. And in this writing, there is so much of the detail in the language that I have missed…I think it will take another mail to point the interesting words out! But I have more to say about the language. And meanwhile, I give you the text which Prakriti and I have translated and edited.
Sometimes, things that you dread might give you pleasure. I am actually referring to a Hindi translation of the brief that we handed over to the first year class for the upcoming AD project. Initially I thought it was really tedious, but soon I realized about the brilliant google translator. I quickly put the text in it and - there it was! Translation was almost done!
I sent it over mail to my student. And pop came a reply, saying that ‘it wasn’t enough’. Initially I was irritated on the lack of acknowledgement, but I thought I rather not get into all that, and looked at the translation carefully. I understood that it wasn’t a 100% translation. But what fascinated me was the perfect translation of some specific words. That provoked me to deal with the brief myself!
So I went on, and explored my Hindi vocabulary trying to test if I was still as good in Hindi, as I was as a student. But apart from that, the language came to me very easily! I remember my father making me stand besides him, making me read arduous English answers and translating certain difficult words into Hindi. It was easier to digest the English answers then. Actually, he pushed us towards learning Hindi during the summer vacations, before the subject was formally introduced to us in school. So we used to actually maintain Hindi word meaning books. Every day we would collect words and show it to him when he returned from office.
The play in language fascinated me then. I had started writing poetries since the age of 10? It was a hybrid kind of poem - exploring the homophony in the word 'bus' in Hindi and English. That was when my parents laughed at my 6-line poetry! But I continued…because that laugh was an encouraging one. I don’t know why, but I started writing in English after that. Perhaps Hindi was not formally introduced to us as a subject then and I wasn’t equipped with the vocabulary of the language. And also, I had already learnt English words which would rhyme. Well that was how they taught in schools – easier words first – so pot, hot, cot – and cat, mat, bat… all these became a part of my poetry…
But I had no idea about how a poetry is structured, or why does one write it. I wrote poetries purely for enjoying the vocabulary I had learnt. The structure of my poetries also came from the kind of poetries we had…cat sitting on the mat, and eating the rat! And all that… At that time, I thought that even I could make poetries. And I did make some.
As eventually Hindi language was formally introduced, I could feel a step ahead of others. We used to get only Hindi newspaper then – because mummy could read Hindi better than English. What intrigued me then was the crosswords in the Hindi newspapers. My mother would ask me religiously for a pen or a pencil to fill up the blanks of the Hindi crossword. She would sometimes ask my father for cracking answers, when stuck. This dialogue of my parents was a part of our formative years. But later on, a weird phenomenon followed – I was still not prepared to solve a Hindi crossword puzzle. So I would start filling them in English! Yes – the Hindi cross words in English! It sounds funny! Well, even my mother laughed at it. But again, the laugh was encouraging. I started making my own English crosswords for others. I would give it to my friends to solve. And they would happily solve it! But that was not enough! Anyone can pose a problem…the fun is in solving them. So I now started taking the Hindi crosswords seriously. Initially, I could solve only 3 or 4 words in the cross words in Hindi. But as I kept practicing, later, I would almost solve half or 3/4ths of it. There was only one instance when I solved it completely (or perhaps one blank remaining?). But by then, I had learnt the trick. The crosswords were so silly, that they used to play around with the same words…it was within a limited vocabulary! Once I figured the pattern of the repetition, then I slowly started to get out of that whole thing again!
Later I learnt figures of speech in English – and a new structure of poetry dawned upon me. Initially it was difficult. I always was influenced with the more rhyming ones, the more rhythmic poems. So the abstract ones were never really appreciated by me.
During this time, I wrote some really nice poems; one of them actually got published in an American anthology! I have never seen it (in physical sense) yet, but hope to see if life gives me an opportunity to travel to America. Anyway, I think it was this time when my parents would see the ‘kavi-sammelans’ on doordarshan. (Till 10th standard, I did not have the luxury of a cable television). But the way my parents would sit and enjoy these poetry recitations made me feel that perhaps poetry and poets are some kind of magical people – but what are they saying? That I did not understand. Neither did I ask my parents that time. But I continued writing.
By 10th standard, I had some 30-40 ideas for poems, sometimes, some interesting words which rhymed. I kept noting them in my notebook. But I never actually found time to string them into some context. So they remain as incomplete poems. I enjoy reading them now.
In the meanwhile, during 11th, I met my friend Nikhil, who is a classical singer. He used to sing classical verses to me, he used to compose songs, and make me listen. I was learning music too, and I could understand the expressions that he could bring out. I would also see my guru composing verses in different ragas. I think it was then, when I got interested in Hindi poetry. I have some experiments in Hindi too. But I always felt more comfortable with English. Thereby, one of my poems is published in the Bhavan’s annual journal too (2002-03?). During this time, my poetry slowed down, I was occupied too much with studies. By 10th I had taken to writing, maintaining my own essay book. Later in 12th, the chairman of Agrawal Classes (where I was trained), suggested that one must maintain a diary. It helps to know one’s own character. I thought about it and started writing. I maintained it for about 2 to 3 years. Till 2nd year architecture? And its then when the blog occurs.
However, the criss cross of language was an interesting one. My Hindi professor was very fond of me (actually many teachers were!), because I was an excellent Hindi student. So today when I translated this text, I revisited those days, when I would produce excellent Hindi essays. And in this writing, there is so much of the detail in the language that I have missed…I think it will take another mail to point the interesting words out! But I have more to say about the language. And meanwhile, I give you the text which Prakriti and I have translated and edited.
