By Saumya Devrani

Mahadevi Verma (26 March 1907 – 11 September 1987) was a Hindi poet, freedom fighter and educationist from India. She is widely regarded as the "modern Meera". She was a major poet of the "Chhayavaad", a literary movement of romanticism in modern Hindi poetry ranging from 1914–1938 and a prominent poet in Hindi Kavi sammelans (Gatherings of poets)

अब यह चिड़िया कहाँ रहेगी is one of her poems, carved beautifully that talks about a bird, her journey and her struggles after a storm deprive her of her nest and eggs. The language is plain and simple but the value and impact it carries are very heavy. I read this poem as a child and it has left a huge impact on me. It is one of my most favorite works of Indian literature and always will be!

Hindi excerpt

आँधी आई जोर शोर से,
डालें टूटी हैं झकोर से।
उड़ा घोंसला अंडे फूटे,
किससे दुख की बात कहेगी!
अब यह चिड़िया कहाँ रहेगी?

हमने खोला आलमारी को,
बुला रहे हैं बेचारी को।
पर वो चीं-चीं कर्राती है
घर में तो वो नहीं रहेगी!

घर में पेड़ कहाँ से लाएँ,
कैसे यह घोंसला बनाएँ!
कैसे फूटे अंडे जोड़े,
किससे यह सब बात कहेगी!
अब यह चिड़िया कहाँ रहेगी?

French translation

 La tempête a éclaté et a fait beaucoup de bruit,

La branche s’est cassée rapidement,

Le nid détruit, les oeufs cassés,

A qui, parlera-t-il de tristesse?

Où vivra cet oiseau maintenant?

On a ouvert l’armoire,

Appelons l’oiseau,

Mais il hurle et crie,

Il ne restera pas dans la maison.

Comment apporter les arbres dans la maison?

Comment reconstruire le nid?

Comment ressusciter les oeufs cassés?

A qui, parlera-t-il de tout cela?

Où vivra cet oiseau maintenant?

Notes:

जोर शोर- hindi expression that wants to say very loudly or with a thud

झकोर – very rapidly or suddenly.

Problems faced:

• Some words like जोर शोर and झकोर could not be translated exactly into French, so to use a different word while making sure that the meaning was not changed was a bit challenging. Even finding their English equivalents was a bit tough!
• A poem is loved because of its rhythm and while translating the text into French ,the rhythm of the poem was compromised. It was no longer a rhyming poem.

Pros:

• Could find the differences between the 2 languages ( Hindi and French) and how both are so different from each other and yet beautiful.
• The literary translation was possible to a great extent as it was an easy piece to translate.
• No changes or compromises were made with words and meanings.

Cons:

• The rhythm of the poem was changed.
• While trying to convey the actual meaning, various tenses were employed ( present, past, and future) which was a bit taxing.

Conclusion:

Quite frankly, I was pretty satisfied with the method I used for translating. Though the rhythm of the poem has been sacrificed, the meaning and essence still hold the same value. There were certain problems like translating the Hindi expressions which were vernacular but could be replaced by normal French words.

The main job of a translator should be to try to be in the author’s shoes, so as to get an idea of what he is trying to convey via his text, so that originality is not compromised.

Good knowledge of vocabulary is a must, especially for literary translation which can be demanding but is a very important aspect of translation and is used tremendously.