Translator Daisy Rockwell on ‘Tomb of Sand’, first Hindi book to reach International Booker shortlist

In a world ruled by mundanity, it takes courage and a sense of unadulterated adventure to break the system, which is no more relevant or even exciting, that has been set for decades, if not centuries.

Geetanjali Shree’s 2019 Hindi novel Ret Samadhi is such a benchmark-shattering, genre-defying work that has reached the shortlist for this year’s International Booker Prize in the form of its English translation, Tomb of Sand.

It is an unusual book from start to finish. The sentences, its literary form, narrative, its prose, all of it is categorically unusual. It takes some 100 pages to really dig into the pace of the novel and even then it takes one to dig one’s heels to stay rooted in place.

The book, translated by Daisy Rockwell, cannot be read. It has to be imbibed, to be lived. It demands its reader to be in the room that is silent as a graveyard, except for the light snoring of a bundle in the bed. The book demands its reader to look through the window that opens to a lush garden full of football-sized chrysanthemums. The book demands its reader to walk, or hobble, with the protagonist who has decided to rise after months of facing a wall.

When first published in 2019 in Hindi, the book took critics and readers by surprise for its experimental style of storytelling. As difficult as it could have been, Rockwell has kept the translation true to the original literature. She has kept the atypical prose, the unrestrained wordplay, and the characters of the characters therein haven’t been lost in translation.

Translating the novel into an International Booker-shortlisted book was no mean task for Rockwell, who admitted it to be challenging.

“Experimental writing is very difficult to translate, and Ret Samadhi was no exception to that rule. The experimentation had many facets that were peculiar to Hindi and it was a challenge to convey that, but ultimately if the translator is in tune with the author’s voice, everything works out in the end,” she told Firstpost.

The book, which can be “quite difficult” for casual readers and even more difficult, in either language, for readers “with inflexible notions of what a novel should be and how a story should be told”.

“Ret Samadhi/Tomb of Sand seeks to break down those norms which can make it challenging for some.”

The funny, engaging and deeply original novel tells the tale of an 80-year-old woman somewhere in northern India who has slipped into deep depression after the death of her husband. Resigned from the world she turns to the wall and almost becomes a part of it, unspeaking, unmoving and unresponsive even to her dearest grandson.

And, then one day she gets up, unbeknownst to all in the house, and disappears into the early morning air. The turn of events leads to mass hysteria in the household as people start looking for the grandmother in the most unusual of places, under the newspaper, or the quilt and so on.

Throwing caution and convention to the wind, Ma insists on travelling to Pakistan, befriends a transgender person, reevealuates what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a woman, and a feminist.

Based on a tragic premise, the story however has a playful tone and exuberant wordplay.

“At the same time, it is an urgent and timely protest against the destructive impact on borders and boundaries, whether between religions, countries, or gender,” reads the book cover.

With each woman character having authority over her decision, her choices and opinions make it a feminist novel at its heart. If for Beti, it is about leading her life in her own way, it is different for Ma. And entirely different for Bahu. The story’s strongest feminist character is a transgender person named Rosie.

“The point of feminism being that each woman makes her own choices and governs her own world…Throughout Tomb of Sand, she practices and preaches a philosophy of self-reliance, self-determination and self-actualization for both herself and for Ma and Beti,” Roswell said.

This isn’t the first time that Rosewell has translated a Hindi book into English since getting a PhD in South Asian literature from the University of Chicago in 1998.

She has translated a number of books since then, starting from 2013, including three by Hindi author Upendranath Ashk, apart from translating Bhisham Sahni’s timeless work Tamas, The Women’s Courtyard and A Promised Land by Khadija Mastur.

She also translated Krishna Sobti’s A Gujarat Here, A Gujarat There, and Fifty-Five Pillars, Red Walls by Usha Priyamwada.

Some more books by Krishna Sobti and Usha Priyamvada are in the pipeline for the translator along with an Urdu novel called Nagari Nagari Phira Musafir by Nisar Aziz Butt.

Even though she’s passionate about translating iconic Hindi works by some of the legendary authors, she does not see it as a career option.

“I don’t really consider it a career, since very few people can live off the earnings of literary translation. Literary translation is a labor of love for most translators. It is different, of course, for some language pairings, but not in India.” she said.

The aches of a translator don’t end with an improper financial situation, it continues to add up with the lack of recognition that they receive for the work.

Even though translators and authors share a tight bond, it is “an unfortunate tradition” that there is a significant gap in recognition of the two.

“I think in eras past, translators were held in great esteem, but for whatever reason, over the past century, it has become fashionable to erase them, both literally from the covers of the books, and also from reviews, etc. Because the translators’ names are not on the covers of the books, readers are not aware of specific translators and do not buy books on the basis of who translated them,” she said.

Rockwell insisted that if it becomes a norm to have translators’ names on the book covers, it would help readers find their favourite translatores.

“…you will find that you have favorite translators, and that they have oeuvres, just like authors do. Think of your favorite translators as curators–if they picked out a project, it is likely to be well done; the authors will change and the writing styles will be different, but the execution will be flawless,” she said.

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