Caught in the World of Binaries: Selected Poems of K S Nisar Ahmed
₹310.00
Professor K S Nisar Ahmed (b 1936) is a geologist by profession and a major writer in Kannada. His first collection of poems, Manasu Gandhi Bazar (?My Mind is like Gandhi Bazar?) was published in 1960, and since then he has published poetry (15 collections), prose (five collections), and translations from Shakespeare and Neruda. He has been honoured with many awards, including ?Padmashri?, Honorary D Litt (Kuvempu University), and Pampa Prashasti (Karnataka Government). Living between two languages and two cultures, Prof. Nisar has successfully achieved the balance necessary for the tight-rope walking as a poet. He believes that, ?Only when you understand another religion (or culture or language), you really understand your own religion (or culture or language).? The present volume of 100 selected poems exhibits the multifaceted poetry of Nisar that reflects his creative pluralism. The 13 translators of the poems in this volume include A K Ramanujan, V K Gokak and Tejaswini Niranjana.
Categories: | Fiction, Translation |
---|
Author | |
---|---|
Format | |
Editor |
Related products
-
If we meet again we shall smile
People leave our lives. Some simply walk away from our world while some leave this world altogether. Through visuals, poetry and short stories, the author has a dialogue with the reader that takes them both through a journey full of characters that are no more, and yet have shaped the story. This fictional dialogue is a short trip down memory lane that visits the relationships one keeps hidden beneath.
Anushua Chakrabarti, originally from Kolkata, is a wandering minstrel. She lives on travel and music. Anushua has completed her MBA from TAPMI, Manipal, India, post which she worked in top technology brands like HP and Microsoft. She is presently back in Kolkata, driving social service through her acquired experience. Anushua has faced several childhood traumas but she believes she is what she is today, not in spite of it; but because of it.
-
Mahaammaayi
Mahāmmāyi is the story of the legend of Shatavithaayi – the Goddess of death, and her adopted son Sambhashiva. Out of affection for her son, Goddess Shatavithaayi blesses him with the “power of life”. The blessing was that death will evade the people who are treated by Sambashiva. But a certain condition set by Shatavithaayi forbade him from healing every ill man. The condition was that, if Shatavithaayi stood on the right side of the patient, Sambhashiva could treat that person and he would live; but, if she stood on the left side of the patient, he should not treat that person as his death was inevitable. Through a distinct method of story-telling, the story follows the life of Sambhashiva as he begins to question the ideas of fate and destiny. Thus, the conflict between fate and human efforts to change that fate is vividly described in this play. -
Saga of the Uprooted
This English translation of Visthapanachi Katha, a Konkani Khanda Kavya, depicts the saga of the migration of the Konkani community from Goa to a land far away from home. This collection of poems encapsulates the reign of a colonial power over the region of Goa that began with the entry of the Portuguese in the 16th century. It illustrates the displacement of the Konkani people and their resurgence at Cochin port. The poems describe the transformation of Goa ? both culturally and topographically ? and the people of Goa who were plundered, displaced, uprooted, and were forced to strip off their culture and identity. The poet is unfolding the tale of his very own ancestors by tracing out these events and graphically portraying the plight of the Konkani people. Saratchandra Shenoi, the author of this English translation, is a multilingual translator and a Sahitya Akademi Award winning (Antarnad ? 1999) Konkani poet based in Kochi. He has over twenty books to his credit which include collections of poetry, works of fiction and non-fiction, translations, edited anthologies and language guides. Ranga Hari is the author of the Konkani original text titled Visthapanachi Katha. He has written more than twenty-five books in different languages, and was associated with Bharatiya Sikshan Mandal and Vidya Bharati.
-
The Gandhi Cap and Other Short Stories by Raja Radhikaraman Prasad Singh
The book The Gandhi Cap and Other Short Stories offers a glimpse into the lifetime of work of a forgotten pioneer of Hindi fiction, Raja Radhikaraman Prasad Sinha. It is ironic that one cannot find a single book by this author who was so dedicated to Hindi literature. The stories in this collection are a testament not only to the contributions of Sinha to Hindi fiction but also, reflect the depth of political and social milieu of the times. Many readers will be moved by the elements patriotism, feminism, secularism, and spiritualism in these stories. Strong female characters are common in most of these stories. These characters provide both a moral fulcrum to the stories as well as reflect the struggle of women to balance prevailing customs with modernity. Some of these stories provide sharp political and social commentary that still have currency (The Gandhi Cap). Sinha incorporates a unique style of writing that uses lyrical prose and poetry together. He even employs a dialogue between the storyteller and a social gathering in the form of an epilogue, to offer a discourse on social dilemma about women?s plight to become modern while admonishing them to retain their Indian essence (An Expensive Bargain). We hope the readers will enjoy this wonderful collection.
-
A Bond So Sacred
A Bond So Sacred tells the story of Raman, a satyagrahi, who adopts Kokila, an orphan. He leaves the five year old in the care of his mother while he plunges into the freedom struggle. His nationalist fervour, however, clashes with his love for Amina, his charming neighbour who wants parental approval to their marriage. Raman’s mother is as staunch a Brahmin as Amina’s father is a Muslim. Will Raman be able to get their consent? The joy of India becoming an independent nation is marred by Gandhiji’s death. Raman’s fellow satyagrahis have gone their ways and he finds himself with no role to play in a rapidly changing country. Meanwhile, Kokila, his protégée, has her own battles to fight. As the years bring them together again, Kokila discovers truths about Raman that she would never have imagined. She is forced to confront the ghosts of the past, his and hers.
-
A Shrine for Sarasamma
A Shrine for Sarasamma is the English translation of Sarasammana Samadhi written by K Shivarama Karanth in 1937, in his early thirties. It offers one of the most authentic and searing accounts of Indian womanhood, which consistently, and through the ages, has suffered deep anguish, humiliation and crushing insult from the oppressive patriarchal culture prevalent in all parts of India and among all castes and classes. The novel is a classic in Kannada and the English translation is an attempt to bring to the English reading audience a taste of the regional classic.
-
Sati Kamale
This eponymous novel is centred on Kamale, who is an embodiment of wifely virtue. For fifteen long years Kamale lives the life of a widow to the outside world, nurturing the hopes of reuniting with the husband one day. Alone in the room, each night she wears her marks of a married woman with the dagger gifted by Umesha next to her. It could be seen as an exposition on the then existing indigenous discourse in India in the 19th century and early 20th century. Kamale, in her rigorous commitment and in retrieving her husband from ‘death’, is fashioned after Savithri in an intertextual reference to Mahabharata’s episode of “Satyavan and Savithri”. The novel might look conservative for the present-day reader, but it is a representative literary work of the time when Paniyadi, among many others, wanted to regain the independent status of the Tulu language which had somehow slipped out of its pedestal.
-
Ati Sannakathe: Swarupa, Siddhi Mattu Sadhyate
Author: T P Ashoka Translator: Prakash Nayak
ಕಲ್ಪನೆ ಎಂಬುದು ಸತ್ಯಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಸತ್ಯ, ಕನಸು ಎಂಬುದು ವಾಸ್ತವಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ವಾಸ್ತವ ಎಂಬುದು ಅತಿ ಸಣ್ಣಕತೆಗಳು ನಮಗೆ ಮನದಟ್ಟು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಡುವಂತೆ ಕಾಣುತ್ತವೆ. ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಅತಿ ಸಣ್ಣಕತೆಗಳು ವಾಸ್ತವವಾದೀ ಮಾರ್ಗವನ್ನು ಬಿಟ್ಟುಕೊಟ್ಟಿರುವುದಕ್ಕೆ ಪ್ರಾಯಶಃ ಇದೇ ಕಾರಣ. ವಿವರಣೆ-ವರ್ಣನೆಗಳ ಹಂಗು ಇಲ್ಲದಿರುವುದರಿಂದ ಸಂಕ್ಷಿಪ್ತತೆ ಮತ್ತು ಸಾಂದ್ರತೆಗಳು ಇವುಗಳ ಸಹಜ ಲಕ್ಷಣಗಳಾಗಿವೆ. ಅಂತರಂಗದ ಆಳವನ್ನು, ಅಮೂರ್ತವನ್ನು, ಸಾಂಕೇತಿಕವಾದುದದ್ದನ್ನು ಮತ್ತೊಂದೇ ಸ್ತರದಲ್ಲಿ ಗ್ರಹಿಸಿ ಅಭಿವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಸಲು ಲೇಖಕರಿಗೆ ಈ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಹೇಳಿ ಮಾಡಿಸಿದಂತಿದೆ. ಹಾಗಾಗಿ ಜಗತ್ತಿನ ಎಲ್ಲ ಭಾಷೆಗಳ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಲೇಖಕರು, ದೀರ್ಘವಾದ ಕತೆ-ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳನ್ನು ಬರೆದವರನ್ನೂ ಸೇರಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು, ಈ ಪ್ರಕಾರದಲ್ಲಿ ಕೃಷಿಮಾಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ತುಂಬ ಸೂಕ್ಷ್ಮವಾದ, ನಾಜೂಕಾದ ಸಂಗತಿಗಳನ್ನು ಸೂಚ್ಯವಾಗಿ, ಕೆಲವೊಮ್ಮೆ ಪರೋಕ್ಷವಾಗಿ, ಇನ್ನೂ ಕೆಲವು ವೇಳೆ ಮುಚ್ಚಿಟ್ಟು ಹೇಳಲು ಈ ಪ್ರಕಾರವು ತನ್ನ ಸ್ವರೂಪದ ಕಾರಣದಿಂದಲೇ ಅನುವು ಮಾಡಿಕೊಡುತ್ತದೆ. ಇದು ಆಧುನಿಕ ಪೂರ್ವದ ದಂತಕತೆ, ನೀತಿಕತೆ, ದೃಷ್ಟಾಂತ ಕತೆಗಳ ಆಧುನಿಕ ರೂಪವಾಗಿ ಕಂಡರೂ ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ.
Also available on
eBook available on