Shakespeare in Native Languages of Jammu

Ravinder Kaul
It all begins with the two anchors Shyna and Divya, entering the stage, with soulful music playing in the background, and start reciting the opening lines of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, ‘Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day’. As both of them complete their 14 line recital, they are followed by other actors on stage who render the same poem in their respective native languages, Ajay Singh in Dogri, Umar in Gojri, Amanpreet in Punjabi, Ajaz Ahmed in Pahari, Ranjeet in Padari, Harsh Manhas in Khashki, besides Vivek Sharma in Hindi and Mahalqa in English. They are all wearing their traditional costumes, typical of their regional and ethnic background. The feeling and lyricism of their rendering makes one forget that the lines that they are reciting actually originated from the pen of an English poet more that 400 years ago.
As one immerses oneself into the ethereal experience of the moment, one realizes that this is something that is happening in Jammu for the first time. But the seeds of this unique experience were sown when Prof. Umesh Rai took over as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jammu in April 2022. He brought in with him a breath of fresh air by not only enhancing the quality and the level of academics but also transforming the University into a hub of arts, literature, theatre and sports, as any university ideally should be. He inspired and encouraged a number of faculty members, staff members and students to go beyond the straightjacket of their academic commitments and explore the possibilities of a far richer experience of life in a broader sense of the term. Together, all of them have metamorphosed the University of Jammu into a hub of excellence.
Coming back to the performance, Shakespearian poetry has elements which are familiar to the Indian ethos. Many of its conventions, like the use of imagery, free flow of time and space, narrative chorus and the grand gesture are concepts extolled and inculcated in the great classical treatises of Sanskrit poetics. Hence, when the idea of presenting Shakespeare’s poetry in native languages of Jammu struck Prof. Sadaf Shah, of the English Department of University of Jammu, she found his ‘Sonnet 18’, one of the most celebrated poems of the Bard of Avon, as the most appropriate as it carried a universal theme of immortalizing beauty through verse. Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 18’ concludes that unlike summer, which is fleeting and sometimes harsh, the beloved’s beauty is eternal, preserved forever in the lines of a poem.
The idea was discussed within the creative core of the UTSAAH Club, with Prof. Meena Sharma as its Convener and the project was handed over to Ifra Mushtaq Kak, the Cultural Officer of the University and a trained and award winning theatre director. She picked up students from different Departments of the University, after rigorous auditions, who eventually rendered the Sonnet into their respective native languages and presented these on stage.
Of the languages chosen, Padari is included in the list of endangered languages in the world, published by the UNESCO. There are 197 endangered languages in India out of which 42 are critically endangered. Out of these, 9 languages are from the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir (including the Ladakh Region) and Padari is one of these languages.
The idea to bring these languages to the centre stage is a critical step towards reviving these languages for when a language dies, we not only lose cultures, entire civilizations, but also, we lose people, perspectives, ideas, opinions and most importantly, we lose a unique way of being human. In future more languages like Bhaderwahi and Bhalessi, also included in the UNESCO’s critically endangered list of languages, need to be similarly showcased in order to achieve the goal of highlighting what Prof. Umesh Rai called ‘Jammuiyat’ in his speech.
Despite the fact that the stage of Brigadier Rajinder Singh Auditorium is not perfectly suitable for a theatrical performance, the creative team, with Rohan Sharma as Associate Director, Suraj Ganjoo, who designed and handled the Lights, Arif Paul, who managed the Sound and Avinash, who designed the Sets, did a creditable job under difficult circumstances.
The performance had a lyrical flow to it and the rendering of the poetry in the native languages of Jammu by students for whom it was probably not only their first attempt at transliterating a poem into their native language but also their first appearance on stage. They indeed did a commendable job under the expert direction of Ifra Mushtaq Kak, the Director of the show. The standing ovation that the presentation received at the culmination of the show from a jam-packed audience that included Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha, was an indication fact that the first attempt at presenting Shakespeare in native languages of Jammu had been a resounding success.
Veteran Indian playwright Vijay Tendulkar has said “Life is poorer without Shakespeare and we should meet him at a stage when we are ready for him.” It goes to the credit of the University of Jammu and all those associated with this performance that they prepared themselves to meet Shakespeare at a time when he is more relevant today than he ever was.

The post Shakespeare in Native Languages of Jammu appeared first on Daily Excelsior.

News