English translation of Dastak Na Do praised for retaining original novel’s flow

The Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP) on Thursday hosted a discussion on an English translation of Altaf Fatima’s famous Urdu novel ‘Dastak No Do’ that was published in 1965.

The English translation of the novel was attempted by Rukhsana Ahmad and it has been published with the title ‘The One Who Did Not Ask’.

The discussion on the translation took place during the Writers and Readers Cafe’s weekly sitting in the ACP’s Josh Malihabadi Libaray on Thursday evening.

Poet Tanveer Anjum moderated the talk between the translator, Durdana Soomro and Owais Ahmed Khan while Shama Askari performed a dramatic reading of a passage from the book.

Speaking about the translation, Durdana said it offers a smooth reading of a simple story revolving around a rich family that goes through ups and downs.

She said a character named Gayti is the main protagonist of the novel, who is different from her siblings. “Gaythi looked like a Chinese person and mingled with everyone regardless of their social status, against her mother’s wishes who wanted to control her and crush her spirit, but could not be successful.”

Durdana opined that the book offered a feminist theme for her, while for others like the moderator, it did not. She said the book highlighted importance of family relationship.

She said that the overriding theme in the book was of alienation and gave the example of Gaythi’s father’s concerns about his family bonds being shattered. She added that the book also highlighted the week bond between the children and the father.

She said the book pointed towards important issues such as the origin of all humans was same, yet social class and other things separated them. “It speaks about a mother who did not want her children to interact with their poor relatives,” she said adding that it reflected on the elite’s class own set of rules and values.

She said the book unveiled the notion of freedom which the society depicted in the novel deemed harmful for girls from the families of lower status.

Durdana said the book had another interesting character of a Chinese vendor, named Safdar Liu Chu, who was the most cultivated person than the rest of the characters. She added that the book also shed light on the cultural differences in society and pointed attention towards the notion of “us and them.”

On the question by Tanveer why she chose Dastak Na Do for translation, Rukhsana said there were very few novels in which the female protagonist was as interesting as Gaythi who was a lively person.

She added that the book was readable and had a flow that that made it for her very difficult to stop reading.

The translator said the novel carried a philosophy, speaking about the issues that differentiated civilisations and the layers that divided the countries.

Commending Altaf, she said the author had looked deep into the causes that prevented people from mingling with each other. She said the book showed two daughters of a rich family, one was a compliant person and the other a rebel. She said that individuals were rarely focused in the novels, but this book did it.

Owais said the novelist had been inspired by Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ in her writing. He added that the book had a philosophical meaning inspired by teachings of Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu.

He commented that the Chinese character was a plot device to bring Tzu’s philosophy in the novel. He said that it was a dialogue driven novel and the essence of the dialogues were kept in the translation. He remarked that a translation should come out as effortless and should not sound labourious.

He said the book provided a pre-Partition complexion through a post-colonial lens, providing an interesting view on the Partition. He said that it provided insights into how Pakistani society viewed Partition before Ziaul Haq’s military dictatorship.

Tanveer said Zia’s era compelled the Pakistani society to look at feminism more deeply. She said that Khadija Mastoor’s Aangan was a novel similar to Dastak Na Do, however Aangan could be held as a more literary piece if both were compared.