Contested Legacy
Rabindranath Tagore is perhaps the most popular foreign author in China, more than say Tolstoy or Mark Twain, as Tagore spent time there. But now a new translation of some of his poems, Stray Birds, by Tagorean Feng Tang has run into trouble. Many thought these poems were too racy and the publisher has been forced to withdraw the books. Most readers grew up thinking Tagore was mild and romantic, all stars, gardens and flowers. “So, with my translations many felt their Tagore, the one from their childhood textbooks, had been challenged,” Tang told the reporters.
Old Tunes
Sulaiman Addonia, author of the acclaimed Consequences of Love, spent his early childhood in in Sudan after the Om Hajar massacre. He says all the entertainment they had there were pirated videos of Hindi films. The kids would huddle together to watch the Mithun and Jitendra superhits, without knowing a word of the language (or even where India was). But they loved the melodrama, the song and dance sequences. So, Addonia can still hum songs of Hindi films from the mid-'70s to the '80s.
Peer Pressure
Drink Urine and Live Healthy, written by Prof Dr C.S. Rayudu (Yogasree), is being brought out by GenNext Publishers. It says drinking urine can cure AIDS, VD, arthritis, cancer, eczema, diabetes, herpes, asthma, bronchitis, sinus and about fifty other ailments. The practitioners have formed associations—the Second World Conference on Urine Therapy took place in Germany in 1998. Clearly it is worth the commitment—any takers?
