The Rebelle blog

Now that there are a ton of exams that I'm preparing for this year, and one of them happens to have a compulsory paper on my mother tongue. It suddenly seems daunting to take on a language I've loved since my childhood. And, not just loved, I was (am?) very good at it. How did I assess myself to be good? Because I read a lot of Marathi books, children's magazines, newspapers. These days, and ever since I started Architecture school, the only language that I've conversed, breathed, thought and read is English. It's the universal language. Everybody in India understands English these days. Speak of Globalization. So, Marathi is where I am a bit nervous. Not that I don't speak the language anymore or I've any trouble with it, but increasingly over the years the relation and affinity have spiralled downwards. Not that I had many friends who spoke the language and the few that did, were speaking a horrible mix of English, Hindi and Marathi. Nothing gets mor...

I came across a beautiful hindi translation of William Wordsworth's Daffodils. Yes, Hindi. It's done by Ian Woolford. In his own words, he is an UK born American in Oz | Hindi Lecturer @La Trobe University | Language, Literature, Folklore | फणीश्वरनाथ रेणु पर किताब लिख रहा हूँ. He is writing a book on one of the most influential modern hindi writers, Phanishwarnath Renu. Woolford translates quotes in hindi as well, and they are really good. Case in point this: मज़ाक एक बहुत ही गंभीर चीज़ होती है. ~ विंस्टन चर्चिल His translation of Daffodils is what blew my mind. Absolutely brilliant. I felt so pleased upon reading it. घूमते फिरते मैं—मेघ एकमात्र जैसे घाटी-पहाड़ मंडरा रहा था एकाएक देखा क्या—भीड़, समवाय सुनहरा, सुहावना डैफोडिल की ~ विलियम वर्ड्सवर्थ My love for hindi poetry has rejuvenated since last december, and when I see the wealth of hindi literature available on the internet and the choicest bookstores, I am only too inspired to read and write m...