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Dec 6, 1999
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A
SEASON OF GHOSTS
Bond's Gems
Mystery stories in the best
traditions of old Ruskin
By Urmi A
Goswami
A SEASON OF GHOSTS
BY RUSKIN BOND
VIKING
PRICE: Rs 295 PAGES: 210
Sir,
do you believe in ghosts?" Ruskin Bond begins A Season of Ghosts with
this age-old question. He tells us that we need not believe in ghosts to
see them. But this book is not just a collection of ghost stories. Some of
the stories are reminiscent of childhood tales replete with fairies and rakshasas.
While some have more of what we traditionally expect in a ghost story, a
couple even have a twist in the tail. And finally, a detective story.
Written in the first person, Bond draws
his readers into sharing his emotions. In "Wilson's Bridge",
when Mrs Ray kills herself thereby re-enacting a century-old tragedy, we,
like the author, wonder whose ghost we would see on the bridge -- Gulabi's
or Mrs Ray's? In "Reunion at the Regal" we feel the author's
sense of loss and experience his bewilderment.
The author writes of some "sensible
and practical people" who have experienced the presence of ghosts.
Iterating that seeing ghosts has nothing to do with the state of one's
mind, Bond writes of the emotional attachment ghosts have to certain
places -- like old houses -- perhaps?
"Who killed the Rani?" is
probably the most memorable story in this collection. It is here that we
get a glimpse of the Bond we know from The Room on the Roof. He writes
about ordinary people in not so ordinary situations in extraordinary ways.
The detective, Inspector Keemat Lal, is no Poirot or Holmes. He is heavily
built, rather ponderous and inclined to be lazy. He's intelligent but a
failure. Unimpressive as he is, at the end of the novella we look at him
with respect and compassion. Keemat Lal emerges the quiet hero. One would
have to disagree with Bond's description of the novella as a light-hearted
attempt at writing a detective story. The collection is no less than what
one would expect from him.
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AUTHORSPEAK
T.P. ISSAR
Better and Verse
A devotee's tribute to Ghalib |
| Though many,
indeed, have made their mark/in the practice of poesy's art;/Ghalib,
they say -- with his way with words -- /stands in a class apart!
-- Mirza Asadullah
Khan 'Ghalib'
The notorious 19th century poet did
a good job of describing his art. But it will perhaps be T.P.
Issar's renderings of the great poet's "way with words"
that will help many understand this "class apart" element.
At 65, Issar is ready with his "labour of love", Ghalib,
Cullings from the Divan, rendered into English and published by
himself. The book recreates some 550 couplets of Ghalib in versified
form. Ghalib's subtlety and allusions have always made him difficult
to translate and at times to understand. The poet himself wrote,
"What I say is complicated, what I write is complicated."
Says Issar: "When I started translating, I did some Sheikchilli
calculations -- if I do three translations every day, in one month
it will be these many, in a year it will be ..." It worked out
to three years. The coffee-table book has reproduced colour plates
of Abdur Rahman Chugtai's Ghalib-theme paintings. With the verses
enclosed in a border similar to the original Diwan-e-Ghalib, the
book is a feast for the eyes.
Issar spent 35 years in the ias and
retired in 1992 as chief secretary, Karnataka. He has written books
on architectural heritage, the arts and flowering trees -- City
Beautiful, Royal City, Blossoms of Bangalore and Goa Dourada. So
where does Ghalib figure? "Friends would ask me to explain the
nuances of a particular Urdu couplet, or the meaning of a phrase. I
realised there was a world out there eager to access this literary
heritage of our country." Issar's fluency with the language
helped. The footnotes and commentary are a bonus. Sitting in his
Bangalore home he recalls, "When I started, I looked at it as
an altruistic undertaking. I was trying to make Ghalib accessible to
others. But the gain was my own."
Even so Issar feels translating and
appreciating "Ghalib's self-deprecating humour, philosophical
reflections, romantic outpourings, and tremendous wit" is a
never-ending quest. Quoting (who else?) Ghalib he says, "My
paper is all used up, and yet/ much of Thy praise is left."
Another book?
-Rehmat
Merchant |
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