Kishwardesai
Posted: Sat Feb 27 2010, 23:37 hrs
Very few crime novels have been written in
English in India, but it is a relief to know that the genre has been
thriving in other languages. Coincidentally, two publishers, Blaft
and Random House India, have brought out two very different books —
one by well known Urdu writer Ibn-e Safi, and the other by famous
Hindi author Surender Mohan Pathak.
Translations are usually very tough — and
it is remarkable how well Pathak’s novel Daylight Robbery reads in
English. The pace is racy, the tone is just right. Pathak himself
has said in a recent interview that he does not believe in long
passages of description and, therefore, the book is a page-turner
with tightly written action. The book succeeds because it quickly
taps into our psyche, peopled as it is with characters we are
familiar with from Indian cinema. Even the book cover luridly
acknowledges it, with bare-bosomed babes, racing trucks and masked
men. This is unadulterated literary kitsch heaven and one reads
Pathak with a relaxed sense of fun. There is no struggle with
graceful or elegant prose out here — rather, the testosterone
directly injected into the writing throws us back to an era when we
read James Hadley Chase in which, as they say, men were men and
women were, well, women.
Pathak started his career by translating Ian Fleming, Chase and
Mario Puzo — and their fingerprints are all over the book. The plot
is thickened with smoke-filled rooms of card sharps betting on
horseracing, and eager voluptuous women (no doubt the hook for most
male readers!) flinging themselves at pious, well meaning but
wrongly convicted men. The latter prototype here is reflected in the
garage mechanic-turned-thief, Vimal, who is on the run from the
police, and gets persuaded into burgling a factory along with a gang
of desperadoes. But Vimal is the anti-hero of 38 other novels, so we
know that he will survive the ensuing shootouts.
One of India’s most prolific authors with
over 25 million copies of books sold, at the last body count, Pathak
creates a taut and clever plot with enough blood-curdling twists and
turns that keep your sweaty fingers clinging to the book. There are
no underlying messages or social comments — but all characters are
carefully thought through and laden with plausible flaws and
motivations. The perfect book when you have an afternoon to kill.
The House of Fear, by Ibn-e Safi, on the
other hand, is more of a cult book and less of a thriller. Asrar
Narvi who adopted the nom de plume of Ibn-e Safi was a gifted
author, recognised by many as a child prodigy. Though he began by
writing mature and serious prose, in the 1950s he decided to explore
the genre of the mystery novel — and thus was launched a series
called Jasoosi Duniya. After he relocated to Pakistan, he began
another set of books, called the Imran Series. In India, sadly, we
have completely missed celebrating this author and there has never
been the excitement that apparently accompanied the publication of
his books in Pakistan, where people queued up to buy them. He wrote
them very fast, refusing to be bowed down by literary czars who
considered murder mysteries lowbrow. Often writing three or four
novels a month, he steadfastly maintained that elitist literature
was meaningless for the masses, and he wanted to write for them.
After a nervous breakdown, he died in 1980, having just completed
his last book.
“The House of Fear” and “Shootout at the
Rocks” (both included in this edition) are regular whodunits, but
unusual for its large dose of humour. While the Vimal series might
be chilling in its cynicism, the Imran series encapsulates a certain
innocence along with wit and so it is a brilliant idea to re-issue
these slim novellas. I found myself laughing helplessly time and
again at the wonderfully written character of Imran, who is the
chief of the secret service, has a PhD in criminology from Oxford
and is a polyglot—and, yet, at times, seems to be fantastically
confused and totally insane. Obviously, a carefully devised cover to
hide a really brilliant mind! He is a sort of Pink Panther
detective, but cast in a slightly more heroic mode.
Unlike Daylight Robbery, the translation of
Ibn-e Safi is clunky. The carefully calibrated original prose of
innuendo and puns that Imran is so famous for, falls flat many
times. The translation of famous Urdu couplets is also very weak —
and the reader is sometimes left groping for what the book would
have been like in the original. The plot, too, often appears dated —
with certain characters and circumstances very peculiar to an era
that no longer exists. There is also too much emphasis on Bond-ish
gadgetry to resolve problems — doors opening in walls, etc. However,
some of these problems can be addressed if these otherwise excellent
(and hilarious) books are better packaged and presented. Once the
translation is cleaned up, and the book presentation improved
(including the paper used), this series will be a wonderful glimpse
into light-hearted crime fiction which has been inaccessible to
readers in English, thus far.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/they-did-it/584951/0
