Where have the values gone?

T

oday, values seem to have been lost in the allure of materialism.  A far cry from the older generation who lived by principles.

       In those days people might not have the materialistic comforts like today but nonetheless they were no more unhappy.  They were content with their means. Borrowing was the last option they would think of to come out of any difficulty. The loans were repaid promptly. If at all a person could not repay, his head would droop out of shame. He would die with that guilt and his children would take upon themselves the onus of repaying. The amount, however, would not have crossed a few thousands.

      On the contrary today people borrow not bothering about repayment. They brazenly confront the lenders.  Lakhs and crores of rupees are misappropriated.  Banks too tighten the noose around the neck of the small borrowers, while the big fish, is allowed to go scot-free. Such is the clout of the so called bigwigs. 

      Not a trace of shame, instead these swindlers consider that as their achievement. The umpteen such incidents at personal and corporate levels prove the point.  At the end of the race, even if they succeed, happiness somehow eludes them. Why?

      There is nothing wrong if one aspires to become rich.  But the means to achieve the goal should be fair. Money and comforts brought through unfair means definitely do not bring peace of mind. One may put on a bravefront for the outer world, but one cannot cheat one’s inner self. More than the pleasures in life, a clean conscience matters at the end of the day. All that begins well ends well.

K K Nair – Transalator par excellence

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bject poverty, lack of education and slavery are enough reasons for anyone to wallow in self pity.  But this is a heartwarming exception. A boy as young as nine years was drifted to many households as domestic help.  

     However, the rudderless life of this boy with just four years of formal schooling found an anchor in the world of letters.  His pastime later became his passion earning him laurels in the literary world. Today, Kallarakottarathil Kunhappan Nair aka K. K. Nair is a well-known name in both Kannada and Malayalam literary fields as a bilingual translator. 

     The Sahitya Akademi Translation Award 2012 for Hagga translated by him along with Dr. Ashok Kumar to be presented on August 23 in Chennai is yet another proud addition to the glittering cap of this self-made man.  The novel is the translation of Kayar, the Jnanpith Award winning novel of the renowned Malayalam writer the late Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai.

     K K Nair was born to Kunhambu Nair and Laxmi Amma in 1935 in a small village called Arathil in Northern Kerala. As he was the eldest of the six siblings in a family with limited resources, he was compelled to take up menial jobs at many households at distant places. 

     In due course, the fifteen- year-old boy happened to work for a Malayalee family in Kotekar near Mangalore.  It’s here where he was introduced to Kannada script.  During his servitude of eight long years, he gradually learnt Kannada by reading sign boards, name plates, headlines in newspapers.    “Though I slogged a lot throughout the day, my mind was free to think,” Nair says reminiscing those days.   He could write poems in Malayalam since he was only 10 years and now he started penning poems in Kannada too.  But his compositions were looked down upon as plagiarized pieces.  “People recognized my literary prowess once Balabharati section of Prajavani carried my poems,” says Nair proudly.

     That was the beginning of his illustrious literary saga. With just four years of basic education in Malayalam medium, Nair mastered his mother tongue Malayalam and adopted language Kannada as well.

     He later went on to translate great literary works in both languages. Though they are financially poor, the environment at home was culturally rich. “My father’s rendition of Bhagavatha and Krishna Purana had a great influence on me. Perhaps, I was subconsciously drawn into the beauty of words and mythology through those renditions,” admits Nair.

     He was in his hometown for a few years. Young Nair with an insatiable quest for reading would read many Malayalam publications.  As he was proficient in Kannada and Malayalam, he was hankering to express what he grasped in Malayalam into another tongue he was familiar with.  He chose Chinthavishtayaaya Seethe of Mahakavi Kumaran Ashan for translation. Meantime, he landed a job as a packer in Manipal Press and within a year he became monotype cast machine operator, the position which he continued to hold for about three decades until his retirement in 1994.

     While he was physically into his work, his subconscious mind was busy creating verses. The 192 quatrains of Chinthavishtayaaya Seethe struck him in the din of the monotype cast machine and it became Chintaamagna Seethe in Kannada.

     His maiden prose translation was the novel Agnisaakshi of Lalithambika Antharjanam. Nair has also translated acclaimed writer S K Pottekkatt’s Malayalam novel Oru Desatthinte Katha into Kannada as Ondu Oorina Kathe.  Apart from many novels and anthologies of stories, he has translated more than two hundred short stories from Malayalam to Kannada which have been published in various popular Kannada dailies and magazines. The stories range from that of the first short story writer in Malayalam, Kesari Nayanar to the most recent modern writer Gracy.  Thanks to Nair, Kannadigas are able to read the works of the likes of M T Vasudevan Nair, Shankar Kurup, Madhavi Kutti, Etumanur, Subeir, Mukundan, Balakrishnan, Surendran and Vijayan in their mother tongue. Septuagenarian Nair has currently translating Thattakam of Kovilan.

     He has translated M K Indira’s Phaniyamma in the same name into Malayalam.  The Kannada novels Chandragiriya Theeradalli by Sara Aboobakkar and Sarasammana Samaadhi of Dr Shivarama Karanth are translated into his mother tongue by Nair. He introduced the works of Dr U R Ananthamurthy, Bolwar Mohammad Kunhi, K T Gatti and such others to the Malayalees.

     Initially poetry was his forte. He was composing poems both in Malayalam and Kannada.  The lines could come out lucidly.  “I don’t know the grammar of poetry,” admits Nair. But his efforts seem validated when critics don’t find any fault in them.  

     He was drifted to prose by a coincidence. The wealthy Brahmins of Sirsi in those days, he says, would marry Namboodiri brides after paying hefty dowry. Once a newly married man wrote a letter in Kannada to his in-laws in Kerala. None could read the letter.  “Finally, it came to me and I translated the letter to Malayalam and drafted a letter in Kannada in reply,” says Nair with a glint in his eyes. “And this became a routine,” adds Nair.  It was then Nair realized that he was equally comfortable with prose too. 

     Words of appreciation from noted scholar Bannanje Govindaacharya helped him to shed his initial inhibitions.  Ishwaraiah, the then editor of Tushara had many stories translated into Kannada by him for the digest.  Ishwaraiah’s trust in his ability made Nair further confident. Dr Ashok Kumar too has guided him a lot and co-translated many books with him. Thanks to Agrahara Krishnamurthy, Nair is translating books of Sahitya Akademi from the past 30 years.   “More than 3500 pages of translated works of mine got published by Sahitya Akademi alone, which no other translator is privileged to,”  claims Nair.

    His works in both languages are brought out by many publishers such as Sahitya Akademi, D C Books, Chinta Publishers, Navakarnataka Publications, Pratibha Granthamale, Yashawanta Prakashana, Lohiya Prakashana, Sapna Book House and Prabhat Books.

     Obtaining the rights for translation from original authors was hassle-free most of the time, but the frail Nair cringes with disappointment when he cites a couple of instances where rights did not come easily or did not come at all. 

 

Honours and awards

     His literary contributions are duly recognized.  Many have fetched him laurels and honours. Nair got the Central Institute of Indian Languages Award for his maiden translation work Agnisaakshi in 1989. In 1998, Nair and Dr. Ashok Kumar shared the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi’s Best Translation Award for Ondu Oorina Kathe.  In 1995, Nair was the member of the Senior Advisory Committee of the Kannada Shyli Kaipidi, a Kannada handbook of Style, for the Kannada University, Hampi.  His lifetime contribution to the field of translation was recognized with Kuvempu Bhasha Bharati Pradhikara Award in 2012.  Despite bagging many prestigious awards, Nair has remained humble as ever.  “Frankly speaking, I’m happier when my works get published than the awards that come my way, but nonetheless I accept the honours with all humility,” says Nair. Writing for him is relaxation and readers’ appreciation is a bonus.

     Considering the bulging publications nowadays, Nair sees bright scope for writers and translators. So what’s his advice to the present breed of translators?  “The original work should be understood properly before taking up translation. Then only you can give justice to the original work,“ opines the veteran translator.

     K.K. Nair lives a quiet and peaceful life with his wife Janaki in Manipal. He made it a mission to educate well his children, two sons and a daughter and succeeded too.  His autobiography Kunhappan brought out by Kannada Sangha, Kanthavara, is no less colourful than the novels that he has translated. He is a destiny’s child. Translation, for K K  Nair was not a conscious decision, it happened by sheer chance. The turn of events in his life has indeed benefitted the literature aficionados of Malayalam and Kannada.  Nair who made a humble beginning could not have asked for more in life.

(The artile co-written with my friend Savitha Shantapriya was carried by 

Deccan Herald on the 20th of August 2013) 

What ails Indian TV Today?

W

hen the limited transmission of Doordarshan was the only succour for the entertainment-deprived class, many private players made inroads into our drawing rooms. Pleased were we. Today we have an overdose of entertainment in terms of countless television channels. Quantity is increased, the quality, unfortunately is not so. Chaos galore. Every kind of trash is dumped on us.

     At the outset, let me admit that this is not a “breaking news”.   If I say so for an oft discussed topic, it will be akin to a dime a dozen news channels that flash the same news as any other channel, yet claiming it to be a “breaking news”. All we want is news and we don’t bother about who broke the news. In this age of live coverages, the difference anyway is just a fraction of a minute.

      In a zeal to be the first to bring the news to our drawing rooms, sometimes even the facts are not cross checked. News channels sometimes don’t use any discretion even while divulging some sensitive information as has happened during the Mumbai terror attack.  Constantly scouting for some fodder, these round-the-clock channels make a mountain out of an anthill many a time. Sensationalizing trivial news goes in a similar vein. The same visuals and sound bites appear again and again. After all, seeing is believing.

     Why do the anchors on the channels argue with the panelists, instead of discussing the issue threadbare? At the beginning they stick steadfast to a certain point of view and even after discussing (?) with experts, the conclusion, at the end, is the same.  It is back to square one. Then what is the point in wasting so much of time?  Are they fooling us? Well, then we are free to switch channels.

     When it comes to general entertainment channels (GECs), we are shocked to see a different person altogether in place of our favourite character. It takes time for the audience to accept the new person in that role. And lo, we may see another actor replacing the character by then. Why is the protagonist in the family soap always submissive and another person scheming forever? Even we the audience feel like retaliating, why don’t the protagonists? When the truth is at your side, don’t fear to stand up is what we are taught.

      Astrologers in different hues predict our future for the day in as many channels in morning hours. The hapless audience is confused as to which one to believe. To top it, they come out with the weirdest of solutions.  So are the financial pundits who offer their “valuable nuggets.”

     Indian classical music, dance and other art forms do not get adequate coverage in any other channels except the Doordarshan channels.

      Even the children’s channels have remained no more such channels.  Most of the plots revolve around how to bunk class, cheat parents and such other things.  When the talk on gender sensitization has reached a crescendo, the concept of boy friend or girl friend is fed into the little minds at such an impressionable age.  Why to prefix a friend with a boy or a girl. A friend is a friend.

       I abhor the most the reality shows for children. The disparaging comments by the judges lower the self confidence of the children who are yet to explore the world.  Have anyone done a follow up on these losers?  They might be wallowing in low self-esteem. The insult may go the extent of committing suicide as reported from Kolkata a couple of years ago.

     In other reality shows too, controversial persons are brought in the hope of grabbing maximum eye balls.  The more the controversy, the more is the popularity, the channels believe. Notoriety is the ticket to participate in these shows.   We are made to believe that entertainment is entertainment, be it in any manner.

     Earning more TRPs to attract more advertisers is the root cause of these anomalies.  Some political interference and staid programmes not withstanding, I give a thumbs up to Doordarshan channels for their balanced coverage of all facets of life. It too has evolved with time. Besides, some niche channels are doing a good job.

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