FB Live | “Many Tamil Words Don’t Translate Well”: Perumal Murugan

While Murugan answered questions in Tamil, Safvi read out lines in Urdu and Debroy spoke of the beauty of Sanskrit.

Perumal Murugan, Bibek Debroy, Rana Safvi and Kannan Sundaram discussed translations, in a riveting session moderated by author Namita Gokhale.

(Photo: Urmi Bhattacheryya/The Quint)

The fifth and penultimate night of ‘Penguin Spring Fever’ saw a meet-and-greet of some of the best minds in literary translations in the country. During a session aptly titled ‘The Line of Beauty’, Perumal Murugan, Bibek Debroy, Rana Safvi and Kannan Sundaram came together to discuss the various languages they have been writing and translating in – moderated by author Namita Gokhale.

While Murugan answered all questions in Tamil, Safvi read out lines she’d written in Urdu, and Debroy elaborated on the richness of Sanskrit shlokas – making it a gorgeously diverse melting-pot of an evening!

Watch this FB Live to hear more of their conversation.