When Tagore Meets Magic Realism

A detective, a string of disappearances, and a restaurant with an unforgettable name — V Ramaswamy discusses translating Bangladeshi writer Mohammad Nazim Uddin's best-selling cross-border hit, Tagore Never Ate Here.

- PANKIL JHAJHRIA

Detective Noore Chhafa's arrival in Sundarpur sets the stage for a thriller filled with disappearances, secrets, and a restaurant with an unusual name. The Bengali novel, Tagore Never Ate Here (Harper Collins) written by Bangladeshi author Mohammad Nazim Uddin, takes its name from this very restaurant, curiously named Tagore Never Ate Here.

Excerpts of a conversation with translator V Ramaswamy on bringing the story to English readers, of a bestseller that is a cross-border hit, picking up pulp fiction, and more:

How much freedom do you think a translator should have when approaching an author's work compared to a classic or historical text?

Given that I began my translation with a master writer, Subimal Misra, fidelity to the original text has been a fundamental aspect of my work. I brought that to bear in this work as well. That being said, I also believe that a translator still has sufficient freedom to exercise his or her own creativity and leave a stamp in the translation.

You have translated other Bangla writers before; how is Nazim Uddin's style and storytelling distinct from them? What kind of stories do you prefer taking up for translating that aligns with your own style?