ABSTRACT
This article, written by Sukrita Paul Kumar, who is also one of the translators of the novel (Nadeed in Urdu), is included in the book Blind by Joginder Paul as add-on material. The essay reveals how the seed of the novel was sown three decades before the novel was actually written and published in 1983 and it lays out its process of creation. The intense engagement of the writer in writing the novel and in locating the right idiom and language is communicated in this piece. Also, the writer of the article identifies challenges faced by the translators to transport the novel to a totally different linguistic domain. The use of metaphors for sight and sightlessness, vision and insight, blindness and inner eye, etc. are demonstrated with examples from the novel. This helps and directs the reader to a better understanding of the nuances of many words and expressions used in the original novel, thus enriching the experience of reading the novel in translation. Some theoretical issues of translation are also brought up in this article along with highlighting the significance of an editor for a translation.
