GK Adiga's 'demon-past' haunts AK Ramanujan... ..from the darks of the nether-depths... into the grove of holy basil beyond...
In
which, behold, a Chicago University linguistics professor of a
multi-faceted Kannada-Tamil-English dead poet's humble translation work in
English, gets extensively modified (rather 'editoriated' / EXORcised) by a Kannada-medium village-bred faceless unhumble pedestrian indignant alive...
" The ex / The Buried / The Spirit of the Tense Past " (AKR-MGK's translation of GKA's 'Bhootha', but heavily edited / reworked by yours truly)
Here at haunting, the fetus-crypts of the tense-past: the stale air of the abyss inside the pent old well is crawling up, heads down, on all fours leaping on the back of the lullabying sunbeam is gushing even onto the canopy of the holy basil grove. The corded umbilical discarded at the bank the cut-mouse-tail writhes. To me who gropes with eyes stuck in darkness flashes, all of the sudden, a golden streak: a squirming feather-burnt star-- somehow fallen into the new-moon-moats.
The past ghosts all over the Current Affairs. One fold above the water, seven snow-capped peaks beneath; out of blue accidentally fire-speak spitting snow cowered innocent volcano. Fold up the paper if you will -- in the soundless skeleton rooms dumb beckoningmissing beats the carnival of reversed feet. In the waters stagnant in the inner depths heaping spermatozoa beating their hands; beneath the curtain-fall of the dais-noir, the speak-picking tail of glitter-point, - do these not desire out-yard's colorful canopy of creepers and flowers?
No water and no shelter for the fathers and forefathers. Shuttling tight through the high winds and rough tides toughly, the lands though found, seldom could they obtain. I know the tantra of exorcism, libation, yet have forgotten the mantra herein; just vacuously thus I am playing at waving the wand. Gosh! trusting the high priests, west we went; at least now must one dig into the est. hermeneutics: the stemming of karma, the cantos of action.
As one digs, first a chrysalis of clay; pushing the shovel deep and striking hard one might glimpse the streaking ore of gold. The alchemies of extraction, burning and decanting one should learn a little, at least now; the true craft of heating and beating the gold-- to cast it in the image of one’s own preferred god.
The water that rots in the well, steams well above; all along the sky--its causal pathway; the invisible seed of the void room of the overcast sky the all-nine-months longing fetus-shape-- rumbling of liminal ghost, troubling of thunderclap-- rain is the news-- presentationforthe past-form. The plowed and seeded fields donning the laboring earth; the garden of swinging fruits, paddy and wheat, the golden pinnacles of the temple towers.
We read with intrigue, the English translation of Gopalakrishna Adiga's celebrated Kannada poem "Bhootha", entitled '"Ghost and Past"', which is done by A.K. Ramanujan
(AKR, with MG Krishnamurthy, apparently). We find it somewhat
misconceived, especially on account of the 'tense' that is involved.
Simply
put, Adiga's original is purpousfully anchored in the present (recall
here, lines such as: 'ವರ್ತಮಾನ ಪತ್ರಿಕೆಯ ತುಂಬ ಭೂತದ ಸುದ್ದಿ'), and, as
such, most of this poem is in the present continuous tense,
wherein the action is continuously undertaken. However, for reasons not
readily evident to us, AKR has translated those present continuous
tense statements instead into a certain present-indefinite tense (a.k.a. simple present tense) statements, which makes them sound like rather timeless facts (while also sounding better style-appropriate).
Originally,
in 'Bhootha', Adiga, in present, thinks aloud regarding the 'spirit' in
which the past is (not) to be taken, so as to realize the 'golden future' of his ideals. In its initial portions, Adiga, utilizing dense metaphors -- most of which are in the present-continuous
tense -- describes the ways in which the 'past' is haunting him. In the intermediate portions, he shifts to discuss the prospect of exorcising
this ill-spirit of past. And then in the next portion, he talks about a rather positive spirit in which
the past could be taken, ultimately arriving at the 'golden future'. All in all, the poet is
situated in the present, and as such, most of his statements are in the
present-continuous tense. We must note here, to the best of what
we have come across, Adiga seems to be one of those poets who make
very thoughtful choices of words and phrases --- those who carefully craft their statements. (recall, e.g.,anecdotes regarding him finalizing his famous line "ಸುಟ್ಟಲ್ಲದೇ ಮುಟ್ಟೆನೆಂಬುಡಾಫೆ." ). For
such cases, it is not sufficient to think just factually by considering
how a certain passage is worded, but also to think counter-factually by
considering how else otherwise could it also have been worded (that the poet did not chose to do instead). Thus, the poet's omissions should also inform our
readings inasmuch as their selections.
For example, consider Adiga's opening lines: "ಕಾಡುತ್ತಿವೆ ಭೂತಕಾಲದ ಭ್ರೂಣಗೂಢಗಳು ''. It would rather sound more abstract, more general, and arguably more stylish if he would instead open either like "ಕಾಡುವವು ಭೂತಕಾಲದ ಭ್ರೂಣಗೂಢಗಳು", or even "ಕಾಡುತ್ತವೆ ಭೂತಕಾಲದ ಭ್ರೂಣಗೂಢಗಳು". But Adiga, resisting such temptations, chose not to go that way. Instead he prefers to resonate a continuous action via 'ಕಾಡುತ್ತಿವೆ...'. And he persists with the same tense throughout the stanza, ending it with "ಹಾಯುತ್ತಿದೆ ತುಳಸಿವೃಂದಾವನದ ಹೊದರಿಗೂ". Highlight here must also be on his intentional usage of the almost explicit first-person forms (e.g., "... ತಡಕುವ ನನಗೆ" / "To me who gropes...").
However, AKR-MGK, in their opening stanza of the translation, have switched to the present-indefinite tense: "Secret embryos of the demon-past haunt..." ans so on. And they persist with it, to end with "...and go beyond into the garden of the basil bush".
(And lest we dig into the evident misconception
of them in the same opening stanza. It was the 'stale air' that was
gushing out into the holy grove for Adiga -- metaphorically. But, for
AKR-MGK, it is literally the secret embryos themselves --" 'in' the stale air...'they' crawl up.. and gush out"..! 🙂↔️)
To us, summarily, this translation of AKR-MGK is inappropriate at least on two counts.
Firstly, in his original 'Bhootha', that the poet Adiga is anchored precisely in the present, it is crucial for the very poem. After all, the poem itself is in parts a meditation on the tenses and times. It is all about the
continuous actions in the present, while keeping in mind the pasts and the futures. The structure here is meant to be shaped by a careful choice of tenses, so as to prove again that the form/structure itself is also the content/message of the construct.
Secondly, and arguably, for Adiga, the haunting of the
spirit of past is NOT a timeless
fact that is aught to go on indefinitely. These spirits are
haunting at the present for sure, but he intends to exorcise them in his very next stanzas. He laments to find a better way of engaging with the past, so that
these spirits of past should no longer persist with the haunting business.
Further more, and more arguably, unnecessarily, some of the the originally glorious statements somehow have
become rather underwhelming in AKR-MGK's translation. For example: "...and the rain is the present of past forms", which, while intelligently brings in the dual meaning of the English term 'present' (i.e., gift, present-tense), still misses another important interpretation of the original kannada term 'ವರ್ತಮಾನ' (i.e., 'news'). That the "rain is news" (to the seeds buried) happens to be a celebrated motif of Adiga's poetry. "ಕಾದುಗಾರಾದ
ನೆಲದೊಳಗಿರುವ ಬೀಜ" ಕ್ಕೆ ಗುಡುಗುಸಿಡಿಲು ಎಂಬವು ಮಳೆಯ ವರ್ತಮಾನವನ್ನು ನೀಡುತ್ತವೆ...
Thus, as we go
through the choices that AKR-MGK make in their translation, we are tempted to suitably modify it, at the least as an exercise. So, here we are, with this
heavily modified translation. As thus, it is not an
entirely from-the-scratch written original translation. And, let us emphasize it,it is done here just as an exercise, with no commercial interest
whatsoever to infringe any copyright otherwise.
We have also taken the opinion of certain LLMs like GPT, LLAMA etc on our translation. And lest we be triumphant, the feedbacks from LLMs over time have immensely boosted our ego! They are all mostly vindicating our translation--our
choices of words and tense forms--over those of AKR etal!!! And lest
again we clarify, it seldom involves any original translation in it self
by any LLM --every word and sentence in English in here is either from
AKR or from yours truly highness, (except perhaps the choice of 'sunbeam' over 'sunlight shaft', thanks to Sumathindra Nadig's translation of 'Bhootha' that we encountered recently ).
So, read-n-reread-n-joy, and critique!
And
if time permits, ask chatgpt / duck.ai / any good LLM of your choice to compare it with the work of AKR et.al., as also with the GKA's original, by suitably copypasting it all (including the premise
above) into the mouth of your fav LLM...
UI User Interface to Uppimaniasm Homagic ode to his high anthem -:ದಕ್ಷಿಣೆಯುತ್ತರ:-
what does not lie what does not lie between U and I what does not lie does naught at all lie
not the truth sembling lie
is not true all that lies
lie's truth where does it lie
the days pent beneath they lie
in remembrance nothing seems to lie
poles apart pupils see to lie
backward to answer dig what may belie what may be lie
The heart has poured it all out, yet here I hear you lie The jasmine, the champak, seldom would you bring them by Oh dear, the match of black beads, thou shalt get not to tie thou shalt get knot to tie
Not the truth-resembling lie Not all the lies are true Truth of lie is not lie
ಕಳೆದ ದಿನಗಳಲೇನೂ ಇಲ್ಲ ನೆನಪುಗಳಲಿ ಏನೇನಿಲ್ಲ ಉತ್ತರ, ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಸೇರಿಸೋದೆಂಬರೆ ನೀನಿಲ್ಲ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗೆ ಉತ್ತರ ಹುಡುಕಿದರೆ ಏನೇನಿಲ್ಲ ಕೆದಕಿದರೆ ಏನೇನಿಲ್ಲ
what/nothing is in the days-spent what all is not there in memories the north, the south to join them, you are not (t)here for the question, the answer if it is searched, what all isn't there(?!) if it is digged up, what all isn't there(?!)
ಮನಸಿನೊಳಗೆ ಖಾಲಿ ಖಾಲಿ ನೀ ಮನದೊಳಗೆ ಇದ್ದರೂ ಮಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಸಂಪಿಗೆ ತರದೆ ಹೋದರು ನೀ ನನಗೆ ಓ ನಲ್ಲ ನೀನಲ್ಲ ಕರಿಮಣಿ ಮಾಲೀಕ ನೀ ನಲ್ಲ
in the heart, its just emptiness even if you are there in the heart the jasmine, the champak, if you do not bring them for me oh dear, you aren't, the owner of the 'black bead' (mangalasuthra / thali), aren't you dear!
No! No! Don't...
onto this third track as it runs between
the two trains in opposite directions
as do they pause through this station
please, do not bring forth your own thoughts' train
ain't a platform for that illegitimate mean
You ask, why this pic, is my pick
That one fine dawn, was this click
and for best, it is its dark, deep symmetry
that it remains here for the keeps
And then you feel, it is all so formulaic,
heart rendered clueless, with so much of logic
To this with apologies, as often that I disclaim:
these over-verbalizations, these high-rhetorics,
the cliche that are these metaphors, similes...
these are at my own disdain
And seldom a poet that I am in my profession,
albeit, possessed I am, with these versations
This mere Bayesian by the bay
bears all that barges by the by
thence upon by a tsunami, is in this disarray
chances for a needle, in the vast hay
to call it an aberration, or is this the very anomaly
to update the priors, or just to cut short the tail...
..is the trial derailed? or yet just on trail??
Thus far as we could, we came, to now, that we blame:
logic, language, the very vocabulary of the inner flame
What remains of any reality, in void of the representations Bayne's ballet for Fauré’s Requiem
or
abstract fluctuations in a quantum of vacuum
In summation, as we wind and rewind, consonance, did we mean
till again it all bifurcates, harmonic series, no constant mean
As the churning goes on and on
butter accumulates, but then, again, bygone
As the symmetry brakes into prakruti-purushan
time reverts to balance -- charge-parity violation
'ts what I thought! 'ts quite the banger!! nom thom thomping on the inner door
*
The intermittent silence resonant to the ambient out cuts the evidence to this very haunting chant 'ts me, soham, under the tranche.
*****
-:Catalogue:- White-tusker, dark-chamber, for sure, a blinder, is this blend. The blind may yet set out to render, the deafening trumpet is to defend.
*****
-:Interlogue:-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It is high(tea) time (so) that we
address the (white) elephant in the rum(or)!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
it is bylaw that is the rumor out and out here the roomer white tusker
*
-:Enter & log:-
so much of a room out in this plain; without a beginning, without any end; and this ligand, such a legend, that I hear, in my ear, as thus they say, 't all might just be the hearsay
**
Where there is room, there ought to be the rumor, whispering hall it all; To track the roomer, suffices a huskier, darkrooms highlight it all; Behind the back, should the sledger bark, the flaunting buttocks could care: Fresh droppings are to just break the back bone tracker, beware!
***
As the blind, out in void, would often find; the external auditor would, in tern, remind; white tuskers remain in plain, ledgers and ledgers behind; just glimpses, partial are the worldviews, all eye mind...
*****
-:Epilogue:-
The elephant casually swings its trunk as if just to make some room
'ts quite the big-bang, the atharva-head bang re-verb: the cosmic boom
'ts the murmur, the transfinite tinnitung Shanti Shanti Om
a light breeze passes by, shivers a branch, fell a flower. * of the breeze, none; nor of the flower; whose fallacy it is!? * fragrance lost - in the thin air, nothing lasts!?
