Washingtonil Thirumanam was first serialised in the popular Tamil weekly, Ananda Vikatan in the early ’60s
Translation of books originally written in Indian vernacular languages into English may now be said to have taken wing. Ratna Books’ latest offering, A Wedding in Washington translated by Nandini Vijayaraghavan from the original Tamil comic classic, Savi’s Washingtonil Thirumanam, is a welcome addition to that genre.
Washingtonil Thirumanam was first serialised in the popular Tamil weekly, Ananda Vikatan in the early ’60s. Depicting a typical Tamil Brahmin wedding in the then unlikely locale of Washington D.C., the author Savi had his readers in stitches week after week. Humour and satire were Savi’s weapons of choice. Without giving away too much, special mention must be made of the Sambandhi Sanday, the much- anticipated petty quarrels between the “rival” bride and groom factions without which no wedding is complete. With the fictional Rockefeller family sponsoring the entire wedding, the situation was rife with comic possibilities. Readers waited with bated breath for the next issue of the magazine.
The challenges facing the translator would have been humongous. Vijayaraghavan has an impressive track record in bringing to readers English renditions of such literary Tamil classics as Kalki’s Sivakamiyin Sabadham (Sivakami’s Vow) and Parthiban Kanavu (Parthiban’s Dream).However, A Wedding in Washington, in its Tamil avatar, would have been refulgent with subtle nuances in the chaste, Sanskrit-inflected way Tamil Brahmins spoke.The kind of aphorisms, idioms, colloquialisms and word-play that would have characterised their everyday patois is almost impossible to replicate in another language. It is to Vijayaraghavan’s credit that she smartly eschews attempting to take the reader into the innards of the cloistered, ritualistic world of TamBrams in the conversations. Instead, she plays it straight. Read it as you would a first-time comic novel in English, she seems to be telling the reader.
What this means is that the book can still be enjoyed for its own sake by those not familiar with Savi’s original masterpiece. If you are a Tamilian, and a Tam Bram at that, and are au fait with the original, you are bound to be somewhat underwhelmed. The English version, however, opens up a new world to all English-speaking Indians and foreigners. The induction of Americans and their capital city into the mix provides the reader with an opportunity to enjoy this unlikely scenario.
Nowadays, destination weddings are the norm and Indians marrying Americans or Europeans are a commonplace. The ceremonies associated with such weddings have become homogenised and universalised, depriving us of the uniqueness of a marriage as described in A Wedding in Washington. Vijayaraghavan has been painstaking in guiding the reader through every aspect of a Tam Bram wedding ceremony. No detail has been spared, be it the actual rituals, the dress code and, above all, the mouth-watering vegetarian menu from breakfast to dinner, and the impromptu tiffin in between. For the benefit of the unfamiliar, she has provided a detailed, translated glossary of the various terms employed during the wedding rituals as well as a list of food items.
One of the highlights of the original Tamil, serialised version was the brilliant illustrations of the late maestro, Gopulu, which brought to life the inherent comedy of the narrative. We are fortunate that Vijayaraghavan was able to source these precious gems. That she had the good fortune to meet the great cartoonist shortly before he passed away would have been a bonus.
The writer is a brand consultant
A Wedding in Washington
By Savi
Tr. By Nandini Vijayaraghavan
Ratna Books
pp. 192; Rs 560
