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Kalki's translator
Nirupama Raghavan
 There was suprise in store for many Chennaivasis who crossed the Good Books store at Abhiramapuram. The store is meant for youngsters, but there was lot of senior people lined up. It was for the sale of the English version of the famous novel, 'Parthiban Kanavu', written by 'Kalki'
Krishnamurthy.
To our suprise, the translation was done by 16 year old (!!!) Nirupama Raghavan.
Ra. Kalki Krishnamurthy was born on September 9, 1899, and died on December 5, 1954. In 1941, he started the famous Tamil magazine 'Kalki' and was its editor until he died. He has written many novels in the semi-historic genre, where he mixed ancient tales, legends and historic facts with fiction. His famous novels include 'Ponniyin Selvan', 'Sivagamiyin Sabadham', 'Parthiban Kanavu', 'Alai Osai', 'Thyaga Bhoomi' and many more.
'Parthiban Kanavu' was Kalki's first historical novel. Young Nirupama has successfully translated this wonderful work. The task she has fulfilled is a commendable one.
The book release function was orgaised by Tulika publishers and 'Kalki' Krishnamurthy's granddaughter Gowri Ramnarayan was the chief guest at the function.
 Nirupama hails from Arasavang Kadu, near Tiruvarur, and is now persuing 'A' level course in Cambridge University. She is interested in reading books and this habit led her to translate Kalki's novel. "My grandmother Rathnam Sharma has the habit of reading books, I inherited that habit from her. I got impressed with Kalki's novels, as they were easier to read and understand," says Nirupama.
Nirupama's mother Aruna Raghavan runs 'Sikshadhan', a school in which nearly 100 students study and some of them are from Mumbai. Nirupama used to translate Tamil lessons into English for them. This is how Nirupama started her translation work.
Her mother motivated her to translate Kalki's 'Parthiban Kanavu' into English. Translation is a job in which the translator should be well-versed in both the languages. Nirupama, well-versed in English and Tamil, chose 'Parthiban Kanavu', which is a big novel with a lot of emotions and heroism.
"In the beginning I took two hours to translate one page of the book but as days went by, I even translated 48 pages in one day," Nirupama narrated about her exciting job of translation.
Tulika Publishers had orgainsed an educational conference at Bangalore, in which Nirupama's parents participated. In a chat with the publisher of Tulika, Nirupama's mother Aruna spoke about the translation work. Inspired by the great work, the youngster has been doing, Tulika agreed to publish the book.
 About 2,000 copies had been printed and the book is priced at Rs 165. "I got good recognition from my friends and Kalki's granddaughter also appreciated my work. She also said there was no problem in translating the book."
Tulika's chief editor Sandya Rao said they were publishing many books related to children. "As Nirupama's translation can be easily read by children, we took the task of publishing it," she said.
Speaking about her future, Nirupama said she wants to write many books and translate many Tamil novels into English.
Chennaionline wishes that her dreams come true.
For more information, please contact:
Tulika Publishers,
13, Prithvi Avenue,
Abhiramapuram,
Chennai-18.
Phone: 24981639.
E-mail: tulikabooks@vsnl.com
Website: http://www.absolsoftec.com/netact/index.htm
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