Garg in translation

Mridula Garg, a familiar name in the Hindi literary scene, is noted for her emphasis on women centric narratives. Extensively translated into languages including English, Marathi and Japanese, the author has been introduced to the readers of Malayalam fiction with the translation of her award-winning novel ‘Kathgulab’. The work is considered a landmark in the fictional oeuvre of this activist-writer who strongly identifies with the cause of women empowerment and environmental protection.

The translation by noted  scholar and writer K G Balakrishna Pillai and former department head of Hindi at the Kerala University, S Thankamani Amma, has earned the author a commendable readership in the state. The original text, which won Garg the ‘Vagdevi Samman’ in 2003 and the ‘Vayasa Samman’ in 2004, is a work that voices the disquiet of disintegrating patriarchal structure, falling apart to the inevitable female power that is striving to break free.

The story is divided into five parts, four named after the female protagonists - Smita, Mariyan, Narmada and Aseema - whose lives overlap each other’s in the mysterious patterns woven by fate. The translation has successfully carried down the vigour and life of the tale.

Full report here New Indian Express

A question of options

Mridula Garg wrote Anitya set against the backdrop of Indian freedom movement 30 years ago in Hindi. An interplay of personal and political choices, the novel weaves in the ‘violent' form of the freedom struggle put forth by leaders such as Bhagat Singh and Chandrasekhar Azad and the non-violent movement led by Mahatma Gandhi with the lives of the protagonists.

“It is more relevant today,” the author says. Mridula was at Reliance Timeout, recently to launch her book Anitya- Halfway to nowhere, translated from Hindi by Seema Segal and brought out by the Oxford University Press (Rs. 395).

“It is not a historical novel and there is no dramatisation of historical events, it is about personal lives set against the freedom struggle,” Mridula says. There is angst, anger and frustration, as the characters feel responsible for the self-destructive choices they make. A kind of transition from “why not I” to “Why me?” “When I started writing about my central protagonist Avijit, he had to be a political being, because his personal life is co-ordinated with the political developments,” adds the feisty writer, known for her ‘audacious and lively' themes.

Full report here Hindu