I came to know about Yoonus uncle from
the time I first saw him judging a debate during a Tamil Cultural Association
event in the year 1996. Personal
communication started much later. As I
gave birth to my daughter, I missed few of the event in next three years. When Ilakkya vattam started, I was happy to
attend it once and I could not continue to attend the Ilakkya vattam programs due
to my family commitments. In next few years, I would have attended just two to
three of them only. I did not have opportunity to listen to him talking about
his life in Burma.
During the time I attend some of the gatherings,
I used to get a chance to talk to him. Moreover,
he attends all Tamil Cultural Association programs. So I used to meet him and talk to him. With this type of acquaintance, once I happened
to meet him at his place one on one. On
that day, he spoke about many things.
When this book project, I received the
mail from the compiler asking to help in this project for typing. During that period, I had severe pain in my
hand that led to quit my job later. Therefore,
I was not in a position to help in typing.
I requested them to give some proof reading task that I looked forward
to do. However, I missed that as well.
The book was published in a grand
manner on February 20, 2010. Everyone
appreciated.
After some months, I had a training
session in TST near to Yoonus uncle’s house.
So I thought of asking him about his Hong Kong experience as a
continuation of Burma experience.
Ramanathan’s group has to be congratulated for taking up the task of compiling
all the speeches he had made about Burma. Since it was a herculean task of
typing all the content, I thought of recording all the speeches and released as
youtube videos in the year 2011.
During that time, he was telling about
translating his book Burma Memoirs in English. When I met him for two Ilakkya
vattam meetings at his place, he mentioned it as well. Mr. Ramanathan was also having an idea of
translating it to reach more audience for this book.
My father wrote the translation for
Bhagavad Gita. I request him to check it
and publish it when he was alive. However,
he did not pay attention to that at all.
Nevertheless, when he passed away, I took his writings and made it a
point to read one of the chapter on the day of the death ceremony we had on the
third day. When it was well received by
our relatives, I took all the handwritten manuscript and requested my
sister-in-law to rewrite all the contents, as the digital publisher was not
able to understand his handwriting. Then
we gave it for typing. I always missed my father when I completed the typing
and later on making a CD on the same.
So when Yoonus uncle used to mention
his wish, I thought of taking up the translation work many a times. However,
because of tardiness, I was not able to do it. However, on April 19, 2013, when
I was in Bengaluru supporting my son during his undergraduate exam, I made up
my mind to translate how work and immediately started the task.
Why did I take up this task? Is it not
a foolish idea to take up the task for which lot of effort has been done by another
group? Am I thinking of taking some part
in the success of this project? All
these questions always haunt me while doing this work. There may be many more
questions from the team that had worked so hard in this project. I did not want to take any advantage in doing
this work at any cost. I just did it to
fulfil the wish of uncle and set off in the journey.
I liked the chapter on Netaji the most
and so took it up as my first step.
After completing it, I sent to Yoonus uncle on 20th 2013. He
was happy that I could do that task. I completed translating all the chapters.
I sent some of the chapters to the compiler Mr. Ramanathan and requested
whether my translation work was apt on 1st June 2013.
While I was waiting for the reply, I reviewed
it repeatedly and fixed my grammatical errors to certain extent. Once I completed, I thought of sending the
translated version to uncle. So I sent
it to Yoonus uncle by mail and he was really happy to reply. I met him in person and requested him to send
it to the compiler to get their consent.
Then I got the reply that they are planning to translate it using a
professional translator so that the true feeling of uncle’s experience will be
reflected well.
In 2014, I got the idea of publishing
an E-magazine named Tamil Malar to cover all activities by Tamil people in Hong
Kong and encourage the writing skill of local Tamils. I requested uncle to give
an article to start with. He was very
happy to give it and I published it happily. After receiving the monthly issue,
he used to call and comment on the published items.
During such conversations, he tells
about people contacting him after reading his book in Tamil. He wished to have it in English to reach more
readers all around the world. Then I thought that I would present the
translated version as 90th birthday gift to uncle.
Since there was no reply for my
earlier mail, I thought that my work is not to the expected standard. I know
that I am not that good in translation. This
was my maiden attempt in doing it. Thought
of getting some help from someone. So I
thought of giving it for review to one of our friend. During that time, Mr.
Sampath Kumar use to be in contact through mail. Then I requested him to check my translation if
he has time to do so in the month of March 2014. Thanks to him for he corrected the mistakes
in my writing and sent the reviewed copy by May 2014. All the chapters were revised and I informed
uncle about it.
I am lucky enough to see the happy face
of uncle when he saw the complete translated work in hardcopy. He told all his plans of publication. However, I told that permission has to be
sort from the compiler before going forward.
He then asked Mr. Ramanathan to find the progress of translation.
Again, I sent the mail to the compiler
with the new translation on May 23rd. This time I got the reply
immediately from the compiler on June 3rd 2014.
“Thank you for your interest in
translating Bhai's Memoirs. But I have already got it translated through a
professional translator. Bhai has also reviewed and made few corrections. I am
trying to publish through a reputed English language publisher. Copyright
formalities are also being processed simultaneously. My contact person has
asked me to add a chapter on the political developments subsequent to Bhai's
exit; and I am currently working on this with Bhai,
Thank you again for your interest, and sorry that I could not
use your text.”
I was really happy that the work was done and we can see the
book in the near future. I put my translated content into the shelf.
Uncle passed away on November
23rd, 2016. I had a chance to present my acquaintance as eulogy in a ceremony organised by our friends. It is two years
of his passing away. However, I did not hear about the English version of the book until year 2018.
Meanwhile, I completed my Ph.D and had improved in my English
writing. I had written many articles and
translated stories. I went through all
of them and compile them. During that time, this work also came to my
notice. I went through some of the chapters
and understood that it needed some revision to make it complete. So during the
month of November 2018, I thought of revisiting my translation work. This time, I was able to use better words to
explain the situations narrated. I revised it to best of my knowledge. Hope now the translation is much better than
the one done four years back.
I don’t know much about copyright problems. I thought of
dedicating the work of mine to uncle on the day of his 95th birth
Anniversary 25th December 2018 though it will stay in my Laptop.
Looking forward to see the translated work in immediate future.
