10 best Indian Translated Books you must read
I have to admit literary publications by Indian authors published directly in English are breaking the proverbial glass ceiling these days but, local Indian authors are not far behind with their translators in tow. Mind-boggling plots, simpleton characters, and eloquent writing are all part of the scene for Indian books translated into English.
These splendid Indian language novels translated into English most assuredly leave you thirsting for more stories from the enthralling Indian landscape. Also we are celebrating the 75th Independence day in India and I thought this post would be an ideal homage to the event.
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Indian Translated Books
Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbaug
Translated from Kannada by Srinath Perur
A family moves from a house infested with ants and shaped like the bogies of a train to a spacious bungalow, with independent bedrooms for each family member.
Everyone is happy with the move. But what they do not realize is the long-lasting impact it will have on a conservative South-Indian family that finds itself amidst an overnight rags-to-riches transition in more than one way.
The narrator, a sensitive young South-Indian man, does know how to process the changes in his family. So he runs away every day to an old-world café, where he finds companionship and life-changing advice from a prophetic restaurant waiter.
Shanbag’s deep insights into family dynamics will leave you thinking about the book long after you’ve finished it. A must-read story in Indian translated writing.
Cobalt Blue by Sachin Kundalkar
Translated from Marathi by Jerry Pinto
Cobalt Blue is the story of a Marathi family who has a paying guest. The brother Tanay and sister Anjali in the family both fall in love with the paying guest and the events that happen after that destroy the family.
There is an air of mystery and wonder to the story that kept me hooked throughout. I felt much attached to the characters more for the fact that they were from a Marathi family, the same as me.
Although the story has an LGBT theme to it, there is no vulgarity or obscenity of any kind which I liked.
We are left with questions like why did the paying guest elope with Anjali and then why did he leave her behind? But again that makes the storytelling all the more entertaining I think.
The Mother of 1084 by Mahasweta Devi
Translated from Bengali by Samik Bandopadhyay
A mother tries to find the truth of her son's death who has been reduced to a number '1084'. But the truth finds her on a new path to self-realization.
The plot is unique, I’m yet to read a story that portrays the youth of India and their woes so candidly. The book's theme is a subject tender to the nation, especially the citizens of Calcutta and its surrounding regions. Sujata’s reaction to the whole incident of her son is very realistic. Her thoughts about how if she had done things differently on a fateful day, her son would’ve been alive now, will touch the reader’s hearts.
Overall I think it was an okay read for me. I’d recommend it to readers looking for a translated read with a unique plot/story.
Indian books translated into English
The Liberation of Sita by Volga
Translated from Telugu by T.Vijay Kumar C. Vijayashree
Valmiki’s Ramayana is the tale of Rama’s banishment and subsequent return to Ayodhya, a prosperous king who'll always do right by his subjects.
In Volga’s retelling, it's Sita who, after being abandoned by Purushottam Rama, embarks on a laborious journey to self-actualization. Along the road, she meets exceptional women who have broken free from all that pulled them back spouses, sons, and their concepts of desire, beauty, and purity. The smaller women characters of the epic as we know it – Surpanakha, Renuka, Urmila, and Ahalya – steer Sita towards an unanticipated decision. Meanwhile, Rama too must review and weigh out his tasks as the king of Ayodhya and as a man deeply in love with his wife.
A significant subversion of India’s most famous story of integrity, choice, and sacrifice, The Liberation of Sita opens up new ways within the old exchanges, empowering women to reconsider their lives and gests anew. This is the Volga at her feminist perfection.
The Sickle by Anita Agnihotri
Translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha
Anita Agnihotri though her writing enlightens with crisp focus a series of overlapping themes: female feticide, sexual assault, the violence of caste, feudal labor relations, farmers’ suicides and Climate change in all its manifestations. She does so through the lives of farmers, migrant laborers and activists in Marathi and Western Maharashtra. Formally fundamental, inflammable and deeply compassionate, this novel tells the murkiest truths about contemporary India.
Pyre by Perumal Murugan
Translated from Tamil by Aniruddhan Vasudevan
Pyre is the story of a love-struck couple in the villages of India – Saroja and Kumarasen. They come to the groom’s village to settle after secretly getting married. But they are hiding a dangerous truth – that their marriage is an inter-caste marriage.
Kumarasen is confident in his belief that his mother and their relatives will understand their love for each other and he also believes that after some initial gossip, the villagers will also accept them into their community.
Alas, all is not well and life doesn’t always turn out how we believe it too. The writing of the story is so powerful that I was terrified for the innocent and helpless newlyweds.
The book paints a very disheartening and painful reality of rural India.
Indian Novels in English
Karukku by Bama
Translated from Tamil by Lakshmi Holstrom
Karukku is the first autobiography of a Tamil Dalit woman, Bama. Karukku means Palmyra leaves that have serrated edges on both sides, like a double-edged sword. In this book, we follow the author’s life from her childhood in a small south-Indian village to her educating herself despite all odds to become a nun in the Convent. But then she is compelled to finally quitting that revered position after she realizes, that what she thought would be her ultimate service to people like her, was a political fraud.
Dopehri by Pankaj Kapur
Translated from Hindustani by Rahul Soni
Amma Bi is an aging widow who lives unaccompanied in her derelict Lucknow haveli. Every afternoon, at sharp 3 o'clock, she hears the sound of unbeknownst steps. Every afternoon, she peeps out. but no one is there. In a state of growing fear, Amma Bi considers moving to an elderly people's home, before eventually taking in a tenant- a bright youthful woman named Sabiha. Her coming fills Amma Bi's solitary world with affection and happiness, and Jumman, the homely help, is transfigured as well.
When Sabiha finds herself in complications, Amma Bi must draw on retired reserves of skill and empathy in order to resolve the situation. Dopehri-fabled film and theatre personality Pankaj Kapur's first debut- is a wonderfully suggestive work of great charm, wry humor, and quiet power, a story that readers will fall in love with.
Monsoon by Vimala Devi
Translated from Portuguese by Paul Melo e Castro
Monsoon is a collection of twelve short stories varying in themes set in the times when Goa was a Portuguese Colony of India.
The themes vary as much as the emotions in each of these stories that discuss and reflect on the caste system, religious bias, language barriers, and privilege of superiority and property.
Overall I think it was a fascinating glimpse into a pre-independence colonial society that is very different from the British Raj that was then the major rule influence in India.
Manto’s selected stories
Translated from Urdu by Aatish Tasveer
The book consists of an introduction, a note from The Author and The Translator, and 12 short stories including very popular ones like The Dog of Tithwal and Toba Tek Singh.
Manto lived during India’s independence era. So a lot of the stories are based during the country’s freedom struggle or on the partition. But there are others like License which was my favorite and My name is Radha, that are women-oriented and portraying women in a positive light of strength, independence and giving us a glimpse of their helplessness due to lack of progress in the surrounding society.
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