Words and other words

The second day of the Hyderabad Literary Fest started on a pleasant note, with poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar reciting his poems much to the delight of the audience. These poems were from his books ‘Darkash’ and ‘Lava’, translated into English as ‘In Other Words’. One of the translators, Ali Husain Mir also shared the dais with the ace poet.

“When you pour the perfume from one bottle to the other, some of the fragrance is lost, but if the act is not done the perfume gets lost in time. Without translation the world would not have known the likes of Hugo, Pushkin and others,” Akhtar said. “I got a call from Javed-saab one day, saying he wanted me to translate some of his works.

When I asked what the deadline was, he said, ‘Koi jaldi nahin hain, kal de do’,” shared Husain Mir. ‘Kamra’, ‘Aansu’, ‘Yeh Khel Kya Hain’, ‘Meri Dua Hain’, ‘Itaf’ and ‘Waqt’ were some of the poems that were recited. Akhtar recalled that ‘Itaf’ (confession), was being recited for the first time at an event.