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Indian Library
DELHI THE HINDU Magazine
Sunday, March 3, 2019 33
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GEISEL LIBRARY News of a Kidnapping
Is it a spaceship, a concrete fist? An example of brutalist
architecture, University of California’s Geisel Library looks
weird if not downright ugly. The farthest you can get from
cosy, it could be the library that the Grinch built. by Gabriel Garcia Márquez
Appositely, it houses the complete Dr. Seuss collection.
SUDIPTA DATTA
he Colombian writer and
earmuffs, water bubbling in samovars, Nobel Laureate Gabriel
forest huts standing on chicken claws, García Márquez had devoted
and most of all, the scary witch Baba Tthree of his early novels, No
Yaga flying around in her mortar, none One Writes to the Colonel (1961), In
of which had any connection with the Evil Hour (1962) and Big Mama’s
reality of their lives in the sweaty Funeral (1962), to his native country
urban jungle of Calcutta. before going on to write his most
And yet Russian stories translated famous book of magic realism, One
into Bengali had an irresistible appeal, Hundred Years of Solitude (1967).
chiefly because the translations were When his friend Plinio Apuleyo
good, deftly combining the unfamiliar Mendoza pointed it out to him that
(for instance, the “Siberian cat” in the the Colombia novels contained
quoted text) with the familiar (the “neither magic or anything
“household cricket”, which translates outrageous”, Márquez explained it
into the onomatopoeic jhnijhni in was because they reflected the
Bengali, immediately conveying the reality of life in his country. Years
insect being referred to). later, in 1996, when Márquez would
To boot, the books, mostly narrate the abduction and sixmonth
published by Moscowbased Foreign captivity of awardwinning journalist
Language Publication House, Progress (Soviet Women) and Soviet Union. So Maruja Pachón (later minister of
(Pragati), Raduga or Mir Publishers, they narrowed the project down to education) by the gang of druglord Pachón, writes Márquez, “had
were handsomely illustrated. Parents children’s books and magazines (Soviet Pablo Escobar, News of a Kidnapping acquired the almost unconscious
loved the books too, since, purportedly Nari, targeted at homemakers, came managed to “make sense of the habit of looking over her shoulder”
propaganda literature, they came for a with colourful activity pages for chaos that was Colombia.” when the drug traffickers began an
song. children). Download Indian Library App unpredictable series of abductions
#70929
Till date, Dasgupta’s team has Collective abduction of journalists. What Pachón had
Ready to print posted 333 books on their blog. Since Márquez was well into his first draft missed was that eight men were
Objects of nostalgia now, these books the quality of the scanned books is when he realised it was impossible indeed following her, in a dark blue
are being sought to be preserved quite good, people have printed them to separate Pachón’s kidnapping Mercedes with phony plates and in a
through digitisation. A Kolkatabased freely, sometimes without from nine other abductions that had stolen yellow cab, while one was at a
group headed by Somnath Dasgupta acknowledgement. The last might be occurred at the same time in corner café masterminding the
and Prosenjit Bandyopadhyay started one reason why this labour of love is c Colombia. “They were... a single operation.
the project in 2013. Their friends, on the verge of running aground: the If books like collective abduction of ten carefully Pachón and Beatriz were taken to
Nirjon Sen, Souradip Sinha and Farid volunteers feel demoralised when Chuk ar Gek chosen individuals, which had been a room where they were shocked to
Aktar Porag from Bangladesh, joined strangers appropriate the books carried out by the same group and see an old acquaintance, Marina
later. The blog, ‘Soviet Books without credit. This apart, the or Dadur for only one purpose,” he says. Montoya, abducted months earlier.
Translated in Bengali’, is a veritable demands of their day jobs are making it Chashma are Maruja Pachón was the wife of the She sat on the bed, “a spectral
treasure trove — if books like Chuk ar difficult too. But Dasgupta is optimistic: your long-lost politician Alberto Villamizar and woman with limp white hair”. When
Gek (Chuk and Gek) or Dadur he says he will post just the raw scans if childhood sister of Gloria Pachón, widow of Pachón squeezed her hand, “it was
Chashma (Grandpa’s Spectacles) are he doesn’t get people to do the friends, you Luis Carlos Galán, who “had neither cold nor warm; it conveyed
your longlost childhood friends, you painstaking processing. He plans to can find them founded the New Liberalism, the nothing.” Of the 10 taken hostage,
can find them again as PDFs here. include translated Chinese books too. most serious force that opposed Montoya and Diana Turbay,
And like the proverbial best things The blog is a pleasure for yet again as PDFs trafficking.” journalist daughter of former
in life, they come free. All that the another reason — you get to know in this blog Márquez’s biographer Gerald president Julio César Turbay, were
bloggers demand is an something about the translators, who Martin calls it a “documentary killed. The kidnapping saga apart,
acknowledgement if any of the work is almost shaped the vocabulary of a novel,” but the narration of events Márquez recounts the history of
reproduced. particular generation of Bengalis, and gets the Márquezian treatment from Colombia and why narcoterrorism
Dasgupta says, “We started out with yet have sunk into oblivion now. the first line itself: “She looked over “stood out as the most virulent and
the aim to archive all Soviet books There is an Youtube clip where her shoulder before getting into the cruel.” Weeks after Márquez’s first
translated into Bengali: our intention Arun Som, one of the betterknown car to be sure no one was following conversation with Maruja Pachón
was to make these books accessible translators, talks about why he got her.” It was 7.05 in the evening in and her husband, Escobar was
again for everyone.” That turned out to interested in Russia: “Maybe because of Bogota, and Pachón and her sister gunned down on December 2, 1993.
be a Herculean task, since the corpus political inclinations, but also because inlaw Beatriz were in a “new and ..........................................................................
included not just children’s books but of my love for the Russian classics... I comfortable” Renault 21, asking the The writer looks back at one classic
also political and economic works, as wanted to make them more accessible driver to “please take us home.” each week.
well as magazines like Soviet Nari to Bengalis.”
Happy reading Murakami collection
McDonald’s restaurants in New Zealand are giving Haruki Murakami plans to entrust the Haruki
children Roald Dahl books for free to encourage the Murakami Library at Tokyo’s Waseda
reading habit. Some 800,000 books are in the University with all his papers and his vast
offing. McDonald’s has previously distributed books record collection. Waseda University is
as part of its global Happy Meal Readers Murakami’s alma mater: it is also the setting
programme. of his cult novel, Norwegian Wood.
