A DECADE IN THE HISTORY OF THULIKA.NET

Ten years ago today I launched this website. In the past ten years, I have learned plenty not only about running a site or translating stories but also about the history of Telugu literature and history of Telugu fiction. As a part of looking for materials, I have found and read books I never even knew existed. That is a great feeling.

I am pleased to note that scholars of Telugu literature from other countries such as Britain and France have been visiting my website and quoting from my articles. A few of my articles have been even reposted on other sites or forums. At times other scholars asked me questions. I consider this a validation of my work. Thank you.

Also, there are readers of Indian origin and Telugu origin, who are following this site zealously. Some of them read these translations since they are interested in Telugu literature but do not have the reading skills in Telugu. Some of them read these stories since the originals in Telugu are not available to them. In short, the readership is comprised of a wide range of readers from various walks of life.

As for the statistics, I do not have the exact numbers because the site builder deletes the numbers for posts not opened for some time. Also some posts got corrupt over time and so been deleted. Thus, I can take only a wild guess and say it would have been close to one hundred thousand. The number is big, considering its limited nature of the content. This site is devoted exclusively to modern Telugu fiction. I have published a few translations of poetry minimally. I may not do so in future. Basically my interest lies only in stories.

So far, … stories and … articles have been published. Of the … translations, 50 translations are published in three anthologies by reputable publishers in India, namely, Jaico Publishing House, Central Sahitya Akademi, and Lekhini Sahiti Organization.  I consider it an validation of the work being done on this site. Please, refer to the books page for details.

Originally my intent was and still is to introduce our Telugu culture to the non-Telugu speaking audience through these stories. Later I started writing informative/analytical articles also.

While I was focused on presenting the best stories describing our culture, I was also keen on presenting various styles of storytelling prevalent in our culture. I agree some of the stories published here have fallen short of my expectations yet I published them. I would rather not go into details but I intend to be more cautious in future.

The posts in the current issue may be considered typical of selections. First, the article on Nori Narasimha Sastry is highly relevant to my own preferences. We need to look back and understand our history and our culture well in order to catch up with the best in the world. Progress does not mean blind worship of everything foreign. Secondly, his explanation of historical novel is also relevant in the sense it tells how to incorporate history (which is culture in this case) into fiction.

The story “Andallu and onions” describes a few events in our everyday lives in Telugu homes—the interaction between husbands and wives, daughters and mothers-in-law, sisters-in-law and neighbors. The story fills the minute details that are not often given in the stories pushing for an ideology.

The second story, “Bug” depicts the curious bond a woman develops with a bug that accidentally flies into her apartment. Once again, this is a commonplace theme that is converted into a philosophical reflection on a small incident in our everyday lives. In Telugu, the story is entitled velugu meaning light. In the translation however, I was not happy with the word “light” and so changed it to “Bug”, the creature being an important character in the story. This is also an example of judgment call a translator makes during the process of translation.

To writers and translators: I have discussed at length what I expect in terms of both selection and translation for Thulika.net. However, I thought I should emphasize once again my goals for this site.

In general, my goal is to provide a comprehensive well-balanced view of our culture, which means stories describing all aspects, not just women’s issues or the atrocities committed by high and mighty. Since some such stories have been published, I am looking for stories depicting other aspects in our daily lives. For instance, stories may include minute details of our customs, habits, and games we play, clothes we wear, and the food we eat—there are so many things peculiar to our culture—which set us apart from others. I want those stories. In other words, consider this site as a site others may learn something valuable about our social history as illustrated in our fiction.

Therefore, my sincere request to translators is: Please read the stories published on this site and decide what you may contribute to this site. Thanks for your cooperation.

One more thing, which is a matter of pride for me is the way the website took off on its own possibly because this is the only site in English devoted exclusively to introduce Telugu literature to foreign audience.

Once again, thank you all for your support!

Click on thulika.net to read the latest posts.

Malathi Nidadavolu.

June 1, 2011.

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