Khasi bard’s 76th death anniversary today
SHILLONG: “Many a man is wise, Who can deny this fact; If chance and luck aren’t his, How will he prove his worth.” These lines are excerpts from the poem ‘The English Pine’ (U Diengbilat’) as translated by Madeline Tham in her book ‘The Golden Duitara’ which consists of 33 poems translated from the works of noted Khasi bard U Soso Tham.
As the state is all set to observe the 76th death anniversary of legendary Khasi poet U Soso Tham on Sunday, Madeline Tham, professor of English at Lady Keane College feels there is an urgent need to translate all his works to English. “Translation is such an important factor because we have to share his Khasi worldview and philosophy. Language should not be a barrier to knowledge, wisdom. I feel in today’s world, language should not pose a problem when it comes to exchanging ideas, thoughts and wisdom,” she said.
Encouraging people to read Soso Tham’s works so as to acquaint themselves with Khasi culture as reflected in his poems and stressing on the need to recognise his works, she said, “He is a man for every season. Whether we feel sad or happy, we can look at his poems as it is all there.”
Expressing dissatisfaction over the younger generation’s unfamiliarity with the works by famous Khasi poets, she said “We grew up reading ‘Ka Duitara Ksiar’ (The Golden Duitara) and ‘Ki Sngi Barim u Hynniewtrep’ (The Ancient Days of the Seven Huts).”
Madeline added, “Surprisingly, during the Monolith Festival we staged a dramatic interpretation of Ki Sngi Barim u Hynniewtrep’ and the young students of NEHU performed it with enthusiasm. They remembered every line and were inspired with his works.”
On youngsters not taking to the works of Soso Tham, she said, “We educators are to be blamed for this, people who were there but who were not able to recognize his works.
“People should put aside their prejudices and concentrate on his works. His works are a gem for the present generation,” she said.
According to her, those who grew up reading his works are a ‘different set of people altogether’, inspired to work more for their ‘motherland’.
Madeline Tham released a translation of Soso Tham’s works in 2013 and the second edition was released last year.
When asked about the difficulties faced in translating his works, she recalled that it was a challenging task. “It was quite difficult as some words get lost in translation or sometimes we can get the words but cannot get across the metaphor. Besides, it is hard to get the meaning of some of the terms used by him,” she said.
Stating that there were obstacles in translating some of the words, she said, “The main problem was that some of the Khasi words did not have an English equivalent so footnotes had to be used.”
For instance, while translating the poem, ‘Ki Kber’ (The Winged White Ants) , she wrote a footnote explaining the word to the readers. Footnotes are seen in other translations as well.
“Ki Kber is a simple and sweet poem which has a lot of meaning and depth. It is an allegorical situation of the Khasis’ existence,” she said.
When asked about her next venture, she said, “I want to publish my thesis and convert it into a book and that will take a year or so.”
She informed that her thesis is on Colonial writing on the Khasis and that she had visited Harvard University and Yale University to convert it into a book.
On the other hand, Madeline, was all praise for her good friend Janet Moore, based in Cambridge University, who has taken up the arduous task of translating ‘Ki sngi barim u Hynniewtrep’ into English and informed that she will probably publish and release it next year.
“I am looking forward to the release of her book,” she said.
Madeline took to translating poems of Soso Tham after being encouraged by Moore to do so.
“Janet, a friend from Japan University wanted some South Asian poems translated into local languages. So I tried doing ‘U Diengbilat’ (The English Pine), as it is an iconic poem of his.”
“I suddenly became absorbed, luckily I was awarded fellowship from the UGC Faculty Development Programme where we get three years to complete our PhD. So I had the time to translate and work on the book, (The first edition of the Golden Duitara),” she said.
Madeline quoted some of her favourite lines from Ki Sngi Barim u Hynniewtrep’, “Ju don ki thwei ba iong ba ngiew /Nalor ki jong ka dohnud briew,” stating that there is a need now for Khasis to bond and reflect on the various themes of life.