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| Pa. Singaram |
This is an English Translation of “Puyalile Oru Thoni” written by Pa. Singaram. Translated into English by Saravanan Karmegam.
A word from the translator:
To be very precise, it is my daring and audacious attempt
that I have made up my mind to translate one of the classic novels of modern
Tamil literature, “Puyalile Oru Thoni” (I have translated as “A Boat in
the Storm”). It is considered to be one among the top ten best novels in
modern Tamil literature. Its author, Pa. Singaram, an unassuming writer born in
Singampunari town in Sivaganga District in Tamil Nadu, seems to have developed
a distaste for the so called literary limelight. Despite having been
gifted with enormous literary talent and writing skills, he had written only
two novels in his entire life time. His second novel is Kadalukku Appaal,
(i.e Beyond the Ocean. I am planning to translate this novel too under this
title). His bitter experience of getting his novels published due to petty squabbles
and priority politics prevalent in the publishing industry had forced him not
to write anything more other than these two novels. His Kadalukku Appaal
was published by Kalaimagal Publications only after the novel won the prize in
a fiction contest.
“Puyalile Oru Thoni” was written in 1962 and it didn't
find any publishers. With the unrelenting efforts of one of his friends, Puyalile
Oru Thoni was published in 1972 (after ten years it was written) by
Kalaignan Publications. Many modern Tamil writers consider this as an important
literary work published in Tamil in the 20th century. Several notable
film-makers have expressed their desire to make this epic novel into a movie
but conceded that it was an impossible task to do justice to the book. --- (Courtesy
Wikipedia)
This novel has been written in the backdrop
of Second World War in Indonesian and Malaysian regions. The novel is replete
with conversations in Indonesian, Malay, and sparingly Japanese and German
languages in an attempt to give an original flavour to the narrative. The
meaning of those sentences needs to be inferred either with the help of
subsequent paragraphs or just by assuming the nearest of its meanings. The
author seems to be untroubled with the concerns of readers who might face
problems in understanding “foreign language phrases”. He might have been under
the impression that they do not play any decisive role in altering the
understanding of narrative. As a translator, I faced a certain amount of
difficulties not only in terms of paraphrasing it but also in finding correct
spelling of those words in the event of being unable to find out their meaning.
This has forced me to ‘invent’ my own spelling purely on the basis of phonetic
transliteration of those words written in Tamil. These transliterations are not
authentic. It is just a reception of their sound patterns in Tamil. This area
will remain open for future amendments in the translation and will be amended accordingly
as and when I come across their correct spelling and sounds either though readers
or some accidental understanding. Till then, I request the readers to magnanimously
adjust with my ‘invented’ spellings. After all, they will no way affect
the literary merit and flow of the narrative and hence forgivable.
The foreword: (It is a translation of the foreword
to Second edition)
This is the second edition of “Puyalile
oru Thoni”. It is a work of fiction written in the backdrop of Second World
War in Malaysian and Indonesian regions. Other than the historical events and
figures, the narrative doesn’t mention about anyone or any incident in
particular.
Here are some explanations pertaining
to the narrative:
Indonesia, earlier known as East
Indian Islands under Dutch government is an archipelago with many racial groups
and languages. The island of Sumatra which is seven times bigger than Srilanka
is a part of Indonesia. Maidan, better known as Medan city and Belawan port lying
near to it are located along the North Eastern coast of Sumatra. The language spoken
in that region is Malay. The currency in vogue at that time under Dutch government
was known as Guilder. It was roughly equivalent to 1.50 rupees. The Tamils
would call it Rupee and Indonesians would call it Rupya.
Glossary of some important words used
in this book
Annamer - contractors doing renovation works.
Uppas – watchman, Kampong – Village, Kanthor – Office, Kitha
– rubber, Ling – Tamil people, Kirani – Clerk, Sado – Carts
driven by horses, Shakei – a type of Japanese liquor, Shamshu – Arrack,
Thavakkei – Owner, Thuvan – addressing someone with sir, Matskappai
– Company, Merdekka – Freedom, Independence, Bentheng – Fort.
(All these spellings are “invented”
spellings. They are not accurate)
The city of Penang is located along
the coast of Malaysia, which was earlier known as Malaya in the Penang islands. One Malaysian dollar was equivalent to 1.50 rupees. The Tamils would call it Velli.
It was a customary practice in those
days that people other than the Chettiar community, who were into money lending
business abroad were relegated to a status collectively known as Pillai. More
often, the Malays and Chinese believed that all Tamils who were doing money
lending business would necessarily be Chettiars. Any reference to “the person
from Chettiar house” would only mean the profession; not caste. The building
that housed the pawn shops were known as Kittangi (godown, warehouse). The
building where the staff of pawn shops, agents, helpers working in pawn shops,
cooks, and Nattukottai Chettiars stayed was known as the Nagara
Viduthi, ‘The City Lodge’.
The Bank of Ulantha –
Netherlands Urandal Company, The Bank of Ungakanjanghai – Hong Kong and
Shanghai Bank, Varaagan – 3.50 rupees (It was the currency known as Pakoda
during the British rule), Vathaviya Patteviya (known as Jakarta these
days) – the time taken by someone to close an account, Korankikaari –
woman from Andhra Pradesh, Vennilai Kadan – The debt not yet
compensated.
We wouldn’t be able to witness the scenes
of cars in Tamil Nadu which our hero Pandian was fortunate enough to do so.
Gone are the days where one could see the car agents roaming the streets with a
bundle of bidi and match boxes in one hand and trip sheets and pamphlets for
drama on the other, pencils on their ears and mouthful of nonsensical bluff. It
was the time when buses were known as ‘cars’, cars as ‘pleasures’ and one
tonner buses as biggest vehicles.
The portrayals of First Lane, Madurai
and Pallar Street are just the depiction of their existence at that time. They
have been converted into residential areas now.
Wilmette (Lemonade) was the name given to “coloured’
soft drinks sold in bottles.
A Military Division was a unit commanded
by a Major General. An army (Sena) consisted of many divisions. An Army
Group consisted of many armies. The strength of armies and volume of military
equipment varied from nation to nation according to the requirement. (For
instance, the 25th Japanese Army which conquered Malaya consisted of
sixty thousand soldiers. The 6th Army of Germany in Stalingrad
consisted of three lakh fifty thousand soldiers.)
Wehrmacht – German Army, Panzer – A German
striking force consisting of tanks, bullet proof vehicles, and soldiers armed
with motor vehicles, Task Team – a team of naval soldiers depending on aircraft
carrier ships as their major strength, B-24 – a notorious American bomber
aircraft popularly known as the “Flying Fortress”, Kembithai – Japanese
security services.
Our readers must understand that one
could buy roughly four to five Kilograms of rice for one rupee, and the jobs
which are fetching two thousand rupees now were once done for the salary of
somewhere between forty or fifty rupees. The value of thousand rupees that time
is approximately equivalent to fifty thousand rupees now. (This foreword was
written in 1985)
(The quarter of an Ana –
approximately 1.50 Paise. This quarter of an Ana was worth of three pennies. Things
were available to buy even with a penny)
Pa.
Singaram
August,
1985
.
***Translated into English by
Saravanan Karmegam
Note: Chapter 1 “Kerk Straat” will
be posted soon.
