Over a number of years since his retirement from a teaching and research career as Professor of Physics in India, UK, USA and Australia, Dr. Kaushal Srivastava has enthusiastically carved out a special niche in contemporary Hindi literature as a writer of bilingual Hindi and English poetry and short stories, with a focus on 21st century globalisation and multiculturism, with particular reference to India and the Anglosphere. (Bibliographical details are given at the end of this article.)
His latest volume of poetry (Kavita Saagar. Naye Yug Kee Tasveer) adds a valuable new dimension to his work by showing how the use of a simple roman transliteration system for Hindi’s Devanagari script can expand the readership, and the spread, of the Hindi language (both in northern India and in the enormous Indian diaspora). He is especially interested in the needs of those whose ability to read and write Devanagari is limited. In his praakkathan (Preface) he himself acknowledges a debt to Google Transliteration, just as many others, including myself, acknowledge the boon of Google Translation’s magical instantaneous transliteration of roman script into Devanagari to further our studies.
Dr. Srivastava is in very good company. In a 2016 blog and e-book, I quoted prominent Indian intellectuals Ramchandra Guha and Harish Trivedi on the relevant subject of the decline of full bilingualness in contemporary India.
As a quick reference to Wikipedia’s article on Devanagari Transliteration will show, the various (mainly academic) transliteration systems of Devanagari to roman are effective but much too complex for quick writing or typing (for example in text messages or social media).
The attraction of Srivastava’s simple basic transliteration system is immediately obvious in this new bilingual book of poetry, which should inspire other poets and short story writers to follow his example. It is also to be hoped that Urdu writers will be able to find a similarly simple but effective transliteration system from Urdu Nastaliq script to roman. This would help Hindi speakers to read Urdu more easily and to appreciate how very similar the two languages are.
I would respectfully suggest that, in the revised edition of this work, it would be preferable to give a very short explanation of the transliteration system chosen. In the meantime, since Dr. Srivastava’s painstaking translations speak for themselves, interested readers should go straight to the roman versions of the poems to see the details. The following short extracts will give a good idea of the usefulness of the system. In the three extracts, readers will notice the vowels aa, ee, and oo, as well as consonants Na, NNa, Ta, Tha, Ra, Sha and Ta. Other symbols used by Srivastava in the book are ii, uu, RRi, Da, Dha, Rha, and Ma. (He also uses capital letters for proper nouns and in titles.)
Note: In my own lexicographical work and especially in the documentation of a few thousand English loanwords in Hindi, I have used all the above, as well as one or two more roman vowel combinations and a few more capital letters (taking advantage of the fact that Devanagari does not use capitals). I intend to reveal my system in a later blog.
Samples from Dr Srivastava’s book
2.14 VarShaa Raanee BaRee Suhaanee
griShmakaal meN tapatee dharatee sookhe baag bageeche
phooloN ke sundar chehroN par paR gae kaale dhabbe,
sooraj kee teekhee garmee ne kiyaa haal behaal
peene ke paanee par bhee aayaa saNkaT kaal,
bheeR bharee saRakeN jaise lagatee haiN khaalee-khaalee
khatma ho rahee tejee se khetoN kee hariyalee.
*
4.8 Teen Akelee LaRakiyaaN (Verse 7)
agale saptaah ek shaadee samaaroh meN gayaa
vahaaN teen yuvatiyaaN apane puruSh-mitroN ke saath theeN,
preeti-bhoj raNgeen thaa
saboN kee nazar un yuvatiyoN par thee,
ek buzurga pitaa ne un yuvatiyoN se kahaa
‘beTee, paarTee meN akelee mat aayaa karo
samaaj kee dRiShTi kutsit hai.’
…
2.13 Jalavaayu Parivartan
yah hai Melbourne kaa vistrit praangaNN
jisakaa prakriti karatee hai anupam shriNgaar
isake aabhooShaNN haiN
Dandenong pahaaRiyoN par hariyaalee kee shriNkhalaa
door-door tak phailaa sunahalaa samudra taT
aur chaturdik lahalahaataa vrikshoN kaa vriNd.
jise kaee baar milaa hai
sarvashreShTha vaishvik shahar kaa sammaan
jo hai Australia ke mukuT kaa chamakataa ratna,
yahee hai hamaaraa Melbourne!
[Suggested amendments: melborN, DaNdeenoNg, ausTreliyaa]
Kaushal K. Srivastava’s bilingual poetry:
Kavita DarpaNN, New Delhi,Vani Prakashan, 2013.
English Translations: Beyond Blue Oceans. One World, One People, Kindle edition, 2013. ISBN-10: 149279970X
Kavita Kalash (SaaNskritik SaNgam kaa DarpaNN), Kindle edition, 2014. ISBN-10: 1502909855
English Translations and Adaptations: Reflections: Poetry of Composite Culture, Kindle Edition, Amazon.com, 2014.
Kaushal Kishor Srivastava, Kavita Saagar, Naye Yug kee Tasveer. (In Devanagari and Roman scripts), May, 2017. [Sea of Poetry, A Picture of the New Age /Era.] ISBN-13: 978-1544088259. ISBN-10: 1 544088256. Available from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.in, Amazon.com
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