My new translation of West Bengal's favourite sleuth Feluda, and why I undertook this project- (swipe for more, explanation below)
Although having been born and brought up in a proud Bengali household, I never got much exposure to Bengali literature from a young age, even though my father is an avid collector of Bangla books. I was introduced to English literature instead- Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl, Conan Doyle and more. Apart from listening to Sunday Suspense every afternoon, the world of Bangla sahitya was completely unknown to me.
At around the age of 8, I visited the Kolkata Boi Mela, and The Complete Adventures of Feluda- an English translation of Kolkata's favourite detective by Gopa Majumdar- caught my eye. I was hooked, and I finished the 2 books in a matter of weeks. Desperately wanting more, I turned to the original Bengali text by Satyajit Ray, and I discovered that Majumdar's translation, however commendable, lacked the essence and flavour that Ray had put in his writing. As I grew older, I realised that applied to all translated works, regardless of genre, author or translator- but I couldn't help but feel like Majumdar would have done a better job. It would be impossible to completely convey the Bengali atmosphere and emotion in another language, but it felt sometimes like the English translation I read had just directly changed the words from Bengali to English, and not bothered with the heart of the stories. If I had not already been enamoured by detectives and Feluda himself (thanks to Sabyasachi's excellent narration on Sunday Suspense, as I mentioned earlier, and of course Ray's own 2 films that I had probably watched more than a 100 times by then) when I went to the Boi Mela that fateful day, would I even have given a second glance at the Feluda omnibus? I doubt it.
So, from the day I read the originals, I wanted to write my own translation of Feluda in English, to encourage more readers like me to dive into the amazing and beautiful world of Bangla literature. And here it is!