Finding your roots through reading: ‘Vasundhara’ in Powai piques visitors’ interest in Indian language books

"Why should one read in a regional language or their mother tongue? It is because that is where the true compassion, the feelings, and the cultural bond exist. The roots are there and it is important to sometimes go back to the roots and understand your own language," says Jitendra Bhatia, writer and co-founder of ‘Vasundhara Prakashan Ltd' in Mumbai.

Despite its location in a commercial building of Powai's posh Hiranandani gardens and closer to the famous Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Vasundhara is far from being a commercial entity. Rather, its sustenance is fuelled by the passion of its founders, Bhatia and Sudha Arora, who are celebrated Hindi writers and a couple. With only a specific group of frequent visitors, this compact and cozy space has been thriving in the city for 20 years now and continues to boast of a diverse collection of regional literature and translated works.

"We wanted to start a small bookstore where people could read books, which are not normally available in the run of the mill bookstores, and where some of the writers could meet and informally discuss their thoughts," adds Bhatia.

From plays to children's books in regional languages

The collections - meticulously categorised as ‘Urdu poetry', ‘Hindi plays', ‘International authors' and popular literature - intrigue the visitor, boasting titles which are not regularly available at more mainstream bookshops in the city. This includes celebrated Urdu authors such as Saadat Hasan Manto, Ismat Chugtai and Kaifi Azmi, Hindi literary stalwarts including Bhisham Sahni and Mahadevi Varma, and Marathi activist writers Madhu Karnik and Jyotirao Phule.

The bookstore mainly stocks Hindi and Marathi books, including originals and translated works, in addition to English reads. There are also Hindi translations of Marathi books like ‘Achhoot' by Daya Pawar, one of the most-read writers of Marathi Dalit literature, and ‘Gulamgiri' by social reformer Jyotirao Phule.

"You will find individual writers who are very popular, which is why their translations work a lot. Though Arundhati Roy is read by many, we have observed that Saadat Hasan Manto is one of the most popular writers here, who is read in English too. And you will find Bhisham Sahni in English, Marathi as well as in the original Hindi. So it's a very interesting blend," says Bhatia, a former IITian who has authored and translated several books in Hindi. His most recent work being 'Socho Sath Kya Jayega', a four-volume compilation of world literature translated by him, which focuses on works from Asia, Africa, America, Australia and Europe. Sudha Arora, meanwhile, is a Hindi writer best known for her 18 collections of short stories and a feminist take in her writings. Her award-winning works include 'Ek Aurat ki Notebook', 'Yahin Kaheen Tha Ghar', 'Yuddhviram' and 'Kaanse Ka Glass', some of which were also converted to short films and plays.

There are several things that make Vasundhara a unique bookstore. In a separate section of international authors, one finds an interesting mix of fiction and non-fiction books of writers such as Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ernest Hemingway, Noam Chomsky and Elnathan John, among others. A set of books on politics, geopolitical issues, Dalit feminism and contemporary global issues, lined next to a Fidel Castro poster, also give a hint of the founders' interest in different socio-political movements from India and the world.

The Hindi children's books on display and a vast collection of dictionaries, thesaurus, grammar books and anthologies of plays are another telling feature of the bookstore - one which caters to readers with niche preferences. These Hindi books have helped encourage kids, who visit with women from neighbouring areas, to develop an interest in regional books in an education system, which is predominantly all about English.

With some amount of research and a track of Booker Prize winners and other recognitions, the managers diversify and regularly update the sections at the bookstore. According to Bhatia, books which are available in translations in all the three languages are tough to find and making them available for the readers is what sets their effort apart from some of the well-known bookshops in the city.

Founders Jitendra Bhatia and Sudha Arora. Image courtesy: Sudha Arora

A space for literary gatherings

Though a small space for a bookstore, Vasundhara has been a safe space for enriching conversations and lively gatherings among the close-knitted community of well-known writers, cinema and theatre enthusiasts and for people from contemporary social reform movements. In tune with its primary objective to encourage dialogue, the founders have successfully hosted poetry recitals and cultural discussions and similar programs at the bookstore and at IIT.

These gatherings have seen visitors from different networks who chanced upon the sessions to visit, even if that meant squeezing in in the corridor so that 20 to 30 people could attend at once. Moreover, personal visits and recitals by well-known writers like Nida Fazli and actor Atul Tiwari and theatre actors from Delhi, among others, have expanded the scope of interactions at the bookshop.

"We've had a long history of interaction with the writers and more importantly with the people who love books, and who would like to read different genres - slightly serious, fiction, poetry, social issues, cinema, theatre, etc. And this interaction between the writer and the reader is what we are aiming at. In our own limited way, we try to do that," says Bhatia.

Of originals and translations

Translations are important as these enable us to appreciate literature in other languages not known to us, Bhatia reflects. However, the quality of the translation is extremely important. Some of the finest books in Indian languages are not yet known to the English readers, because they have not been translated or they have not been translated in the proper way, he reckons.

"A bad translation kills many sensitive nuances or language flourishes of the original. Ideally, a good translation flows in the translated language to such an extent that one forgets that it is a translated piece. This is not easy," he says, when asked about the reception to translated versions of regional literature among the visitors. "This is why all the works of a famous international writer are always translated only by a particular translator. Translated works from Indian languages often suffer from bad translations. Good translators are few and are always in demand."

In the past two years, the sale of original and translated English books have shot up by 60 percent at Vasundhara. Yet, Bhatia champions reading and writing in one's mother tongue. Bhatia reads out the opening paragraph of the famous ‘Raag Darbari' by Bhisham Sahni to explain how translations may sometimes fail to capture some of the nuances in a book. The words ‘bharatiya dehaat ka mahasagar', as Bhatia explains, would clumsily translate in English as 'the ocean of Indian countryside', and ‘jaise ki satya ke kaii pehlu hote hai, iss truck ke bhi kaii pehlu the' would translate to 'as truth has many facets, so had this truck', which sounds strange in English. "It only illustrates that idiomatic usage in each language is different and cannot be captured fully even in the best translations."

Although he mainly speaks in English, his own writing and translations are in Hindi. "The most compelling reason to read a book in your own language is that no matter how good a translation is, it cannot capture the original thoughts that cross the writer's mind, emotions and beauty of the language. So, wherever possible one must read a book in its original language," he concludes.

Read the eighth part of the series here:

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