Bhawana Somaaya

Friday August 14 was a special day for me. I celebrated Janmashtami festival with a Gopika lunch organized at my home. DNA carried excerpts of Krishna-The God Who Lived As Man in their Janmashtami edition and Mr Bachchan mentioned the book in his blog.

It seemed as if Krishna had got it all scripted for me.

There is a story of how it all began for me…Of why I agreed to do this book and the story began at a funeral…

A college friend had lost her father and I was visiting their home to offer my condolences. While the last rites were attended to the body lying on the floor I found myself distracted by an arresting idol of Lord Krishna placed on a cabinet. About two feet tall and draped in yellow pitambar and jewels he stood erect smiling, both his hands tucked on his waist.

The ceremony over I asked my friend where she found the idol because the family is known to be not very religious. “Somebody presented it to my father just a few days and now he is no more” she explained. Four days later, I was back to their home for the prayer meeting and again I could not take my eyes off the beautiful idol. Where ever I went I felt his dark, shinning eyes following me him staring at me and I longed to look at him again and again.

Some weeks passed by and I felt I saw him in my dream covered in dust and ill at ease. It was a disturbing dream and I phoned my friend to inquire if all was well at her maiden home. She said they had locked up the house and her mother had shifted with them. “And what about the Krishna idol…?” I asked. “Every thing is as it is and it will take a while for all of us to sort our life.”

A few more weeks passed by and I gently mentioned to my friend that if her family had no objection I was willing to take responsibility for the idol. She said she would reflect over my suggestion but when she did not get back to me for some time I assumed the answer was ‘No’.

Then one Sunday afternoon all of us friends had assembled for our monthly lunch when my friend told me that she had got something for me. My eyes sparkled. “Krishna…?” I whispered. Finally, it was coming true!

I watched as my driver gently carried him from her car into mine and diligently placed him in the front seat of the car. He lowered the shade and tightened the seat belt for him. As we drove home together I watched over him from the back seat. The deity who rides the entire universe in his chariot was today driving home with me in my Lancer.

When the car entered the building gate the watchman was spellbound with what he saw. He began to blow his whistle excitedly and suddenly the car was surrounded from all sides. Little children playing in the garden joined them and wanted to know what the idol was doing in my car.

I got out of my car and raced up the staircase. I unlocked my door and instinctively prepared a puja thali to welcome him home. My mother had taught me to never place an idol without a mat so while I looked for an adequate aasan for him, Krishna determined his space in my home – my study where nobody can see him except me.

A few days later, a PRO gave me an audio book of Krishnaayan by Kaajal Oza Vaidya in Gujarati. I heard just five minutes of the CD and was mesmerized. I decided that I would translate the book into English. As fate would have it I met the author the following week and we agreed on the project.

It was when I began actively working on the book that the enormity of the subject dawned on me. I felt that I had perhaps made a mistake in taking up the assignment.

This was not my subject. It was fiction and that too translation. I had not studied Gujarati and was unfamiliar with the script and the vocabulary. It was too late to back out and I had no option but to find a way out of the maze. I purchased several copies of the book and distributed them amongst relatives well versed in both languages. I would read a chapter at a time and highlight words I did not comprehend. Then I would call a relative and ask her to explain all those words to me in English after which I sat down to write the chapter in my own words.

It was a long and a laborious process to internalize another person’s thoughts into your own and I worked tirelessly for 12 hours a day. Transcreation requires a special skill and generosity to imbibe another identity into your own and it was Krishna’s calling that I was able to accomplish the task. Perhaps he held my hand and wrote the book for me…

It took me approximately three months to complete the book and another three months to get it published. It was released on Janmashtami day last year in Mumbai. Shabana Azmi and Ashutosh Gowariker read passages from the book and Rani Mukherjee released it.

This year as the book goes for a reprint it dawns on me that Krishna was the eighth child of his parents Devaki and Vasudev. I’m the eighth child of my parents and it is no minor co-incidence that Krishna : The God Who lived As Man is my eighth book released in the year 2008.

Bhawana Somaaya
contact@bhawanasomaaya.com
www.bhawanasomaaya.com

It is the morning of Govinda. As I listen to the familiar songs on the radio with my morning cup of tea a friend sends me a text message that I have been mentioned in Amitabh Bachchan blog. I check out the site and reproduce his reference to the Krishna book in Day 480:

Krishna Janamashtami !

The celebration for the day Lord Krishna was born. An auspicious day for us and one that is always spent in recreating Krishna’s life and singing the joy of his presence and birth.

It is perhaps beyond coincidence that just a few days ago, Bhawana Somaaya, journalist and friend of several years, enquires about a book she had sent me to read as a draft. She has done this often during the making of some of her other book releases as well. She has felt, somewhat presumptuously, that I have sufficient qualification to give an opinion on its content. If only she knew!!

The book has a predominance of the color blue in its folder, perhaps in keeping with Krishna’s own skin color and it smells good. There is something about a new book that instantly attracts you and invariably it is the smell coming from its freshly printed pages. Krishna, is all that and a little more. The impression on the cover page shows just the feet and toes of the Lord, almost stepping away from a footprint carelessly, by its side. There are some red flowers, a green leaf in offering over the feet and by the edge, a gentle glimpse of peacock feathers – perhaps dislodged from its position of eminence from the golden crown that has always adorned Krishna’s head. I turn the book around to the back. This is where invariably a paragraph from the book is displayed to attract the reader to it. This is what it reads ~

The Translator’s Note wishes to discover the presence of the four extraordinary women in Krishna’s life, of the charismatic individual, of wholesome relationship coming with requisite baggage of pathos and pain, of love bringing enrichment and enlightenment, of how the involvement of our dear ones adds hues to our life and concluding, that it includes both the Supreme Entity and us ordinary mortals.

Amitabh Bachchan

Courtesy: AB’s Blog bigb.bigadda.com

It is amazing what star status can do to a product.
A month ago Kreate conceived a website for me and a few days later, I began writing a blog like many others wherein I expressed my views and opinions. It was a new role that called for a new mind frame. The endeavor called for commitment and responsibility. I would say it was extremely difficult and also very easy because unlike writing for a newspaper/ magazine which is territorial there is instant feedback from readers who either agree or disagree with the comments.
In a strange way the website world is like the theatre world where the performer is instantly applauded or condemned by his audience. Also just in the way the theatre has some good shows and some bad shows, the blog site has some memorable and some forgettable columns.
I was writing my weekly posts but not many people knew about it then on day seven my lucky number a miracle happened. Amitabh Bachchan reproduced my column on his blog and ever since it has been raining reactions.
Naman Shah, the brain behind my blog called to say that I had crossed 500 hits in two days and more were on the way. “It is a big victory,” he said “and all credit goes to Big B.”
I agree.
***
Among the many reactions I received on the mail one anguished letter that needs mention is Kunal Baikunth Singh, an Executive Committee member of IFTDA. He is pained at what is happening in the association and pleads support from the media. Singh suspects foul play in the functioning of the Association and informs that the members have decided to voice protest in a public meeting on June 11…
The letter is written in Hindi and there is a possibility that I have missed out on some vital information but there is definitely more to the story than meets the eye. I would like to support you Mr Singh but not unless I’m completely convinced of the crisis.
May be it is time to stay calm and gather yourself…to introspect and find a solution. There is always a way of resolving the worst of crisis.
***
In the previous blog I wrote about the musicals I visited in London. Besides these three enriching stage shows I was privileged to be a part of a very special, quiet and dignified event in London.
Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan UK was celebrating a cultural week and had on the closing ceremony invited me to speak about my translation work-Krishna-The God who lived as Man from Kajal Oza Vaidya’s Krishnaayan in Gujarati.
It was an enlightening evening that started with a Kathak performance in praise of the deity performed by the students of Abhay Shankar Mishra, teacher at Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan.
The event was ably chaired by Subhanu Saxena, President and Ceo, Novartis UK Ltd who is well versed with mythology and Krishna. As the author I spoke about what inspired me to attempt my first translation and how different the experience was compared to writing my eight cinema books.
Shabana Azmi who launched the book with Rani Mukherjee when it was first released in Bombay last year (that time she read passages of the book with director Ashutosh Gowariker) was shooting in London for Gurinder Chadha’s It’s Wonderful Afterlife for the last two months participated in the function and once again charmed the audience in her strong and powerful voice.
Javed Akhtar who was on a holiday visiting his wife shared the podium and recalled some amusing anecdotes while writing bhajans for films. He had the audience spell bound when he spoke about the magic and mystique of Krishna.
For a week-day evening in London it was a packed auditorium filled with admirers of Shabana and Javed Akhtar incidentally voted the Best Couple in Bollywood in a poll conducted by the Bharatmatrimony.com.
Dr Nandkumara, Executive Director of Bhavan Centre, the moving force behind the event, a Sanskrit scholar and a PhD in Krishna welcomed the guests with shlokas from Bhagwat Gita and concluded the evening on a warm, earnest note.
The fragrance of the evening and the sentiments shared by the audience in the room were so special that they lingered for days to come…

Bhawana Somaaya