Spectators at a cricket match between India and Pakistan | Dibyangshu Sarkar / AFP
In 1996, a day after India’s fantastic win over Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup quarterfinal, I was sitting in the offices of a leading English daily in Patna. At that time, I used to be a freelance contributor to this national paper’s local edition.
The paper’s features team and I were, of course, discussing cricket. Everybody was trying to guess which strategy the Indian team would adopt against a resurgent Sri Lankan team in the semi-finals.
All of a sudden, the discussion meandered to a new topic: “Is it true that every Indian Muslim secretly cheers for the Pakistan cricket team”? Later, a more specific question was thrown at me by one of the sub-editors: “Tell us what is more important to you, being an Indian, or being a Muslim? If you had to decide between one or the other, which one would you choose?”
This book celebrates the composite culture of India that gave birth to and nurtured the Urdu ghazal
Gopi Chand Narang’s study of the form links it to a flourishing liberal climate in the country.
English readers have loved Russian classic writers, the French naturalists, and the Latin American greats without even bothering to know the names of their English translators.
The Translator’s Invisibility, the famous title of Lawrence Venuti’s 1995 book, can best represent the outstanding effort of Surinder Deol in making Gopi Chand Narang’s exposition of the history, beauty, and formal intricacies of the ghazal a memorable affair and yet remaining unsung.