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| Leela Sarkar, Anuradha, Neruli, Mumbai |
It was perhaps for a mundane reason that Leela of Kodakara started learning Bengali language. After her marriage to Dipesh Sarkar of Mumbai she could have managed with Hindi but in order to enter the heart of her mother-in-law in Bengal, she had decided to learn the language.
She therefore joined Banga Bhasha Prachar Samithi in Dadar, Mumbai to learn the language. That interest progressed steadily till it culminated in a doctorate in Bengali.
It was during this time that she felt compelled to share with Malayali readers some of the Bengali stories that had moved her heart. These translations soon started appearing in leading Malayalam periodicals. Today, after translation of 70-odd literary works into Malayalam, 79-year-old Leela Sarkar is still going strong in her chosen labour of love. During these 34 years, she has translated Tagore, Sathyajit Ray, Bibhuthi Bhushan Banerji, Mahasweta Devi and a host of other leading literary lights of Bengal.
The accolades to come her way include Kendra Sahitya Academy award of 1993, Kerala Sahitya Academy award of 2000 and C.P.Menon Memorial award in 2011.
Her son Anoop is a professor of Computer Engineering in Canada. Her daughter-in-law is Chung-He Han, a linguistic professor in the same college. Meera is her granddaughter.
On the verge of her 80th birthday, she sits at ‘Anuradha’, her home in Neruli, Mumbai, recreating Bengali characters for the Malayali mind.
Apart from the literary translations, she has authored a voluminous Bengali-Malayalam dictionary also.
Courtesy: N.Sreejith (text), Mathrubhumi, August 4, 2013
