A Teashop in Kamalapura & Other Classic Kannada Stories

 A Teashop in Kamalapura & other classic Kannada stories, a collection of 18 stories, begins with the dedication - ‘To the many forgotten translators who forged the paths we tread.’  Luminous notes from the editor and translator that dissect complexities associated with the process of translation and detail the evolution of Kannada short story (sanna kathe) through its different phases of development - Navodaya, Pragatishila and Navya mark its beginning. That these notes don't analyze the stories that follow leave the pleasure of reading and comprehending them intact for the readers. 

Panje Mangesharaya’s story At a Teashop in Kamalapura set in a bustling harbour town, light-heartedly reveals the trouble that the owner of a tea shop runs into by serving his customers tea and coffee along with colorful tales of his travel adventures riddled with lies. The shortest story in the collection, The Child, A Teacher by Nanajangudu Thirumalamba packs a mighty punch, the writing strongly reminded me of Tamil author Jeyamohan.

Equations between man-woman assume the centre stage in many stories, these brim with love and desire but there’s restraint too. Passion doesn't break boundaries and there is an earnest happiness in staying selfless. Kodagina Gowramma’s ‘Vani’s Confusion’ and HV Savithramma’s ‘An Episode’ depict the above with an understated charm.

Who decides what's moral and immoral, that social reforms can have terrible side effects is highlighted in Ajampura Sitaram’s ‘The Girl I Killed’. Giribale’s ‘The Battered Heart’ opens with the murder of a compassionate yogi and his murderer, a young woman, has a different and chilling story to tell, but who will listen?

From the first Navodaya short story to be ever published to a story by the first woman writer and editor in Kannada, this collection reveals all that has changed over years and a little that hasn't. Reading these stories felt like looking at an infant's toothless grin with a sparkle reaching uptil the eyes - you know the smile is precious & timeless, but you also know that the simplicity and naivety at its core will definitely erode over the passage of time. A lovely collection!

Notes:

This series also boasts of collections of classic stories translated from Malayalam and Odia as well. I picked the collection of Kannada stories first as the translator is a favourite of mine. Without her efforts, I couldn't have read Vaidehi’s stories - Krauncha Pakshigalu and other stories or Na D Souza’s Dweepa, books that are firm favorites. Reading authors - Kodagina Gowramma, Triveni and Sara Aboobacker in this collection has rekindled my interest in looking for their works in translation. While Kodagina Gowramma’s collection of stories, translated by Deepa Bhasthi is available, Triveni’s Sharapanjara and Sara Aboobacker’s Chandragiri Theere remain unavailable/out of print.

It is the editor Mini Krishnan’s Oxford Novella series that significantly enhanced my interest in works translated from different Indian languages, so it's only befitting that I end the post sharing a few lines from her note - “Languages are like opposing reigning powers, and translators are the ambassadors who flit between two kingdoms. The encoding they pack at one end and unpack at the other for another language readership naturally calls for great skills. Translation is a deep reading of a text. Every story or poem has a voice , inward, human. It asks you to believe the feeling locked into the printed word, and it reaches you through your reader-ear. We read as listeners because the origin of stories is orality.”