Echoes and Exuberances: Baidar Bakht's Recent Translations of ...
Echoes and Exuberances: Baidar Bakht's Recent Translations of ... Echoes and Exuberances: Baidar Bakht's Recent Translations of ...
CARLO COPPOLA • 143strike one as being less varied than those found in the collaborative effortof Bakht and Jaeger; 2 (3) the availability of the Urdu original opposite thetranslation allows for both playful and serious comparisons of the two,and is a highly desirable feature of the Bakht-Jaeger anthology; and (4)the extensive distribution and ready availability of Penguin booksgenerally, and Jamal’s anthology in particular, will bring tens ofthousands of English-language readers to Urdu literature for the firsttime.Baidar Bakht and his associates have since this anthology producedfive volumes of translated poems by individual poets, and in what followsI shall review and discuss them individually, roughly according to theirdate of publication. 31. Balraj Komal was born in 1928 in Sialkot, Punjab, and teachesEnglish at Delhi University. The author of eight volumes of poetry inUrdu and Hindi, as well as a volume of Urdu short stories and a volumeof criticism in Urdu, he has received numerous awards, including thosegiven by the Uttar Pradesh Academy, the Mir Academy (Lucknow), theMinistry of Education (Government of India), and the Delhi Urdu2 I have suggested elsewhere that Jamal’s renderings of Faiz bear an uncannyresemblance to those of Victor Kiernan in Poems of Faiz (London: George Allen& Unwin, 1971). See my “The Language of Faiz and His English Translators,”South Asia (Australia), 14:2 (December 1992), which discusses five differenttranslators’ renderings of Faiz’s poems.3 They are: (1) Balraj Komal, Selected Poems of Balraj Komal; edited by BaidarBakht; introduction by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi; translated by Leslie Lavigneand Baidar Bakht (Delhi: Educational Publishing House; Toronto: UrduPublications, 1989; 113 pp.; Rs. 40/-; US $7.00; bilingual texts); (2) Shahryar, TheGateway to Dreams is Closed; translated by Baidar Bakht and Leslie Lavigne (NewDelhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1990; 120 pp.; Rs. 25/-); (3) Akhtar-ul-Iman, TakingStock: Selected Poems of Akhtar-ul-Iman; foreword by the poet; edited by BaidarBakht; translated by Baidar Bakht, Leslie Lavigne, and Kathleen Grant Jaeger(Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications, 1991; 146 pp.; Rs. 90/-); (4) Amjad IslamAmjad, In the Last Days of Autumn: Selection of Poems of Amjad Islam Amjad;selected by Baidar Bakht; translated by Baidar Bakht and Leslie Lavigne (Lahore:Sang-e-Meel Publications, 1991; 66 pp.; Rs. 90/-); and (5) Kishwar Naheed, TheScream of an Illegitimate Voice: Selection of Poems of Kishwar Naheed; selected byBaidar Bakht; translated by Baidar Bakht, Leslie Lavigne, and Derek M. Cohen(Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications, 1991; 166 pp.; Rs. 90/-).
144 • THE ANNUAL OF URDU STUDIESAcademy. Komal also won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Urdu prize in1985 for his collection Parindå B^ar≥ ¥sm≥n (Sky Full of Birds).In his introduction to Selected Poems of Balraj Komal, which containsthirty-three translations drawn from Komal’s various collections, criticShamsur Rahman Faruqi notes that Balraj is the poet’s single given name,and Komal, meaning “gentle” or “tender,” his pen name. Komal’s poetry,continues Faruqi, is “gentle, often understated, often complex andambiguous. Sometimes puzzled and questioning, sometimes sad andlonely and occasionally rapturous, especially when he contemplates theantics of little children” (p. 1).Many of Komal’s poems feature children as personae, depict the“innocent” world of children, or use children’s seemingly unaffectedwords as both perspicacious and perspicuous commentaries on the humancondition. According to Faruqi, Komal has “an awareness of children andhas a creative identification with them” (p. 2), much like Yeats.In this context Komal’s poem “The Paper Boat” (pp. 12–13) isnotable. Here the small son of the speaker, also a poet, asks his father thesame litany of answerless questions with which every parent is inflicted bya child wishing to avoid going to bed: “Why is the moon so far away?,”etc. Finally, the child falls asleep and the speaker writes a poem. The nextmorning children are happily shouting, sailing “the fleet of tiny, wobblyships” “in the lake of last night’s rain.” His son’s boat is made of “Theelusive form of the poem, / Familiar piece of paper, / Familiar words.” Ifthat isn’t enough, the child calls out, perhaps to add insult to injury,perhaps to put everything, including the ruined poem, into properperspective: “Anyone who doesn’t clap his hands today / Is nothing but afool.”Whereas most of Komal’s poems about children are gentle andtender, several of them also contain images of extreme violence. One suchpoem entitled “A Girl Alone” (pp. 8–9), written in 1948, brought Komalimmediate literary attention. Being the period of the post-Partition riots,it is not surprising that the poem deals with a young girl victimized bythese events. She addresses a “stranger” and tells him that she has no oneleft in the world andThat small home under whose shadeI listened to the melody of lullabies,Picked flowers,Sang songs,Smiled:
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CARLO COPPOLA • 143strike one as being less varied than those found in the collaborative effort<strong>of</strong> Bakht <strong>and</strong> Jaeger; 2 (3) the availability <strong>of</strong> the Urdu original opposite thetranslation allows for both playful <strong>and</strong> serious comparisons <strong>of</strong> the two,<strong>and</strong> is a highly desirable feature <strong>of</strong> the Bakht-Jaeger anthology; <strong>and</strong> (4)the extensive distribution <strong>and</strong> ready availability <strong>of</strong> Penguin booksgenerally, <strong>and</strong> Jamal’s anthology in particular, will bring tens <strong>of</strong>thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> English-language readers to Urdu literature for the firsttime.<strong>Baidar</strong> Bakht <strong>and</strong> his associates have since this anthology producedfive volumes <strong>of</strong> translated poems by individual poets, <strong>and</strong> in what followsI shall review <strong>and</strong> discuss them individually, roughly according to theirdate <strong>of</strong> publication. 31. Balraj Komal was born in 1928 in Sialkot, Punjab, <strong>and</strong> teachesEnglish at Delhi University. The author <strong>of</strong> eight volumes <strong>of</strong> poetry inUrdu <strong>and</strong> Hindi, as well as a volume <strong>of</strong> Urdu short stories <strong>and</strong> a volume<strong>of</strong> criticism in Urdu, he has received numerous awards, including thosegiven by the Uttar Pradesh Academy, the Mir Academy (Lucknow), theMinistry <strong>of</strong> Education (Government <strong>of</strong> India), <strong>and</strong> the Delhi Urdu2 I have suggested elsewhere that Jamal’s renderings <strong>of</strong> Faiz bear an uncannyresemblance to those <strong>of</strong> Victor Kiernan in Poems <strong>of</strong> Faiz (London: George Allen& Unwin, 1971). See my “The Language <strong>of</strong> Faiz <strong>and</strong> His English Translators,”South Asia (Australia), 14:2 (December 1992), which discusses five differenttranslators’ renderings <strong>of</strong> Faiz’s poems.3 They are: (1) Balraj Komal, Selected Poems <strong>of</strong> Balraj Komal; edited by <strong>Baidar</strong>Bakht; introduction by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi; translated by Leslie Lavigne<strong>and</strong> <strong>Baidar</strong> Bakht (Delhi: Educational Publishing House; Toronto: UrduPublications, 1989; 113 pp.; Rs. 40/-; US $7.00; bilingual texts); (2) Shahryar, TheGateway to Dreams is Closed; translated by <strong>Baidar</strong> Bakht <strong>and</strong> Leslie Lavigne (NewDelhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1990; 120 pp.; Rs. 25/-); (3) Akhtar-ul-Iman, TakingStock: Selected Poems <strong>of</strong> Akhtar-ul-Iman; foreword by the poet; edited by <strong>Baidar</strong>Bakht; translated by <strong>Baidar</strong> Bakht, Leslie Lavigne, <strong>and</strong> Kathleen Grant Jaeger(Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications, 1991; 146 pp.; Rs. 90/-); (4) Amjad IslamAmjad, In the Last Days <strong>of</strong> Autumn: Selection <strong>of</strong> Poems <strong>of</strong> Amjad Islam Amjad;selected by <strong>Baidar</strong> Bakht; translated by <strong>Baidar</strong> Bakht <strong>and</strong> Leslie Lavigne (Lahore:Sang-e-Meel Publications, 1991; 66 pp.; Rs. 90/-); <strong>and</strong> (5) Kishwar Naheed, TheScream <strong>of</strong> an Illegitimate Voice: Selection <strong>of</strong> Poems <strong>of</strong> Kishwar Naheed; selected by<strong>Baidar</strong> Bakht; translated by <strong>Baidar</strong> Bakht, Leslie Lavigne, <strong>and</strong> Derek M. Cohen(Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications, 1991; 166 pp.; Rs. 90/-).
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