Translation: Where Angels Fear to Tread

Abdul Bismillah's Jhini Jhini Bini Chadariya was selected by Macmillan India Ltd. under their ambitious project sponsored by Education Society of Madras to render into English contemporary classics in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarathi, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi. This novel had earned the prestigious Soviet Land Nehru Award and the author was invited to spend a fortnight in the erstwhile Soviet Russia.

 Set in the mythological city of Kashi or Varanasi or more popularly known as Benaras, the novel weaves the sad and lamentable plight of thousands of weavers around Benaras, who become pawns on the chessboard of a capitalist system of merchants, brokers and bureaucracy. The glitter of Benarasi brocade is coloured with the blood of the weavers who live a hand-to-mouth existence. The woman folk who toil all their lives in helping the men weaving fabulous Benarasi saris die in poverty never draping themselves in the saris they help weave. The progressive and liberal policies of the government are masterminded by the horde of merchants to their own advantage by bribing the officials entrusted with co-operative movement. Hence Mateen's bid to form a society of thirty weavers is set at naught by the scheming Hajis Ameerulla and his henchmen.

 Amidst this stark exploitation are woven the political aspirations of local leaders who make matters worse by fanning communal passions. Hence, whatever little resistance the poor weavers could muster is reduced to surrender to the Hajis who rush to their 'rescue’ under the guise of charity.

 Aspirations of Aleemun, Iqbal, Rauf uncle, Najibuniya and Rehana are nipped in the bud thanks to a system of mass exploitation. While Aleemun dies of Tuberculosis, Rehana falls victim to illiteracy, poverty and superstitions when her hysteria (Seizures) is treated through prayers or witchcraft. The weavers are condemned to live a life of suffering with no prospects of a silver lining.

 Rashmi Govind, the translator, is a product of two prestigious universities of Delhi i.e. the University of Delhi and the J.N.U. The translation leaves a lot to be desired. She says every year the ninth month of Hindu calendar synchronizes with the ninth month of the Muslim calendar (p.29). She also blunders when the babool tree of the Hindi text is transformed into a neem tree in the English version (p.189).

 She also betrays some ignorance of historical or cultural facts. For example, Imam Sahab in the context of Moharrum is not a ‘ leader of prayers in the mosque’ (p.115). In fact, in the given context Imam Sahab stands for the martyr Hazrat Imam Hussain's taaziya. Similarly, in the dirge (p.116) Hazrat Hasan is described as  ‘going off to war’ whereas Hazrat Hasan was poisoned prior to the martyrdom of Hazrat Hussain at Karbala . Moreover, Imambara is not ‘a place in graveyard’a she has it. ‘Imambara’ is a building (and not a graveyard) where Taaziya and other things related to Moharrum are kept (p 219). Rashmi hurts the common man when she translates bahuji a popular endearment for Kamlapati's daughter-in-law into 'wife’ (p137).

 There are several odd expressions scattered all over the book that are either grammatically or contextually incorrect.e.g. which (p.11), extensive family (for extended/joint family) (p.249); Bevada (p.99) is not ‘clumsy’ but ‘drunk’. Similarly an atheist (or even kaafir) is not a ‘materialist’ (p.231)

 The work would have been better with academic consultations with colleagues.

The layout, the cover page and printing are extremely pleasing and befitting the name of the Macmillans. At the nominal price of Rs. 140 it can be recommended to people who want to have a glimpse into the world of the weavers or breathe in the exotic Benarasi environment.