The Hand of Time
கண்ணுக்கு தெரியாமல் காலம் நம் மீது எழுதிக் கொண்டிருக்கும் வயதின் சித்திரங்கள் உலகியல் காட்சிகளை மாற்றிப் பார்ப்பதற்கு பழக்கிவிட்டிருக்கிறது.
- ’உறுபசி’ (முன்னுரை)
Invisible to our eyes, the lines of age that time is drawing on our bodies, make us accustomed to looking at the events of this world differently.
- ‘Urupasi’ (Foreword)
My translation doesn’t quite capture the sense of tiredness or resignation in the original. I came across these lines last night in ‘Urupasi’, a Tamizh novel by S. Ramakrishnan that I’ve just begun reading and was somehow much struck by them. Perhaps because, just two days ago, a friend and I had been discussing something similiar; how we felt that time was in a sense running through our lives, leaving us with a mild sense of dissatisfaction. I also thought about this expectation that most of us have when young, that adult life is what we are ‘really’ waiting for. All through the years when I was a teenager, I waited for my life to ‘really begin’.
Implicit in that belief was the assumption that I only had to grow up to do things, and then, I would really do things. Instead, here I am, living a quiet, contented sort of life, with my family and my friends, my work and my writing, my reading and my music. My friend and I wondered whether leading a honest and mostly-happy life is sufficient, or are we letting ourselves settle in too easily? Sometimes, I still feel like I am a teenager and waiting for something to happen.
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Nice catch. To be honest, I was slightly biased after I read the words “tiredness” and “resignation” in your post, and in my head, I could almost hear a lonely, dejected, old and firm male voice speak to me as I read the original. For “nam meedhu”, I felt it was perhaps better to translate it literally as “on us” rather than “on our bodies”, because you get the sense that the writer is talking about not just about the physical aspect, but perhaps mental and emotional as well.
Age brings experiences that in turn usher in maturity. We then realize that nothing really ‘happens’ in life. What actually happens is that we all live a life that is unpredictable a s to what awaits us the following day and this makes us wait for something to happen.
Sri - you should’ve read the original first
Another word I had trouble translating was ‘chithirangal’ which sounds very poetic in Tamizh, but literally translating it into ‘pictures’ in English wouldn’t…
Padma-ji, nice take!
I dont know how I landed on your blog, but I did on this post and have revisited the post ‘N’ number of times.
In my first reading, I thought the lines meant that we are better prepared for what life doles out… But I never got the “Sense of tiredness or resignation” in the tone. Is there something else before or after these lines that convey the feeling?
Sachita, are you referring to the lines in Tamizh or English? It could be my interpretation, but in Tamizh, the word ‘pazhakkivittirukkiradu’ made me think of someone who in a sense has been ‘forced’ to see things differently, not prepared in a positive sense.