A Bengali Lady in England – A review
Navamalati Neog Chakraborty reviews “A Bengali Lady in England” the translated version of Krishnabhabini Das‘s “Englandey Bangamahila” by Nabanita Sengupta.
Way back in the later part of the 19th century, a young Bengali bride set sail with her husband to England. Krishnabhabini Das, a daughter from a Brahmin household, found in her husband in her foreign abode, a support system to help her look around, learn, read, and write about what she saw, realised, and generalized within her mind. It was a down-to-earth astute narrative that is focused not only on the Englishmen but also on the French and the Indians.
The clear intent behind her writing with nationalist sentiments to a certain degree, makes the book neither a political statement nor a travelogue. The British considered it to be a dangerous book and had banned it in India during that time. Her intent was to make people back home know the details behind the lives and ways of the colonizers, as well as to inspire Indians to treat their womenfolk better and see to their education. Whatever she saw, she observed minutely with a keen perspective of understanding and generalization. Her sharp gaze noticed everything. When she found the English people happy with their lives and with an all round prosperity her heart cried for the people of her home soil. But that was the very reason that she tried to find out how these people are thus living in a congenial economic situation, as well as leading a socially comfortable and amicable life with their women and children accommodated in luxurious homes with the blessings of life!!
The saying goes that, daughters are God’s benediction for mankind. Thus this Indian daughter was not prepared to accept the jibe of “backward East” and “progressive West” at any cost. It was for her a slur. Nevertheless, her vision was balanced as she looked on with eager eyes at her homeland where the colonial rulers ruled, with a disdainful attitude, ruthless and merciless. The writer observed with a very level headed pan-Indian consciousness. What made these people of tall muscular build, so daring by nature, willing to face dangers, very selfish by temperament, and exceedingly leaning towards economic gain come to be masters over the Indians? As she thought so did her heart cry out. The thought came to her mind that pride goes before a fall. She evens her anger to square up her reasonings. These people have no distractions like a caste system, though they have class discrimination, and their culture is derivative. They are proud people who never talk or laugh with anyone who aren’t family or acquaintances. On the other hand, they are laborious, never idle away time, are greatly united, self-reliant, and meticulous at their work. With such qualities, they are bound to prosper.
Krishnabhabini read from many other sources but exhaustively from Taine’s notes. In her narration, Taine’s notes were just not produced as she found them but were used as reasonings and descriptions where necessary. “Englandey Bangamahila” is beautifully written and is not the mere shredded fabric of Taine’s notes. She logically took bits and pieces of it in the right way and with her own experiences honed the presentation, so much so that it was a beautiful tapestry. Her work was clinical with the strength of her dispassionate but wonderful narrative.
There is a constant cinematographic realism, that reaches its momentum with grace and style. This was the richest tribute she could pay to her homeland in a down to earth honest bid. There is beauty, grace, wonder, colours, tastes, comments, amazement, and even surprises. The book explores English life on many levels with solid logical reasonings punctuating the narrative.
Nabanita Sengupta has beautifully translated the book with an essential foretaste of sentiments. This makes the translation priceless in its presentation. As she wrote, she described and she esteemed. Nowhere is truth amiss. The translation is nowhere exuberant, nor does it suffer due to stiff sentences. There is an easy flow, as she unfurls data and figures, smells and taste, architecture and history, economics and social life, colour and focus, lapses and transgressions, and above all the truth of the lives of the rich and the poor in England.
As a translator, Nabanita followed the narration categorically as one would the long testament of a people on foreign soil. It was all the more important as a book of its time, to know about the colonizers, their culture, and their essential condition in their very homeland.
As the original text was candid and disarming, so was the translation. The breath and sentiments of the common people and the gentry are impacted with an ease of interconnectedness. The vigour in bringing out descriptions of Aryavarta tradition, prior to even the coming of the Greeks, and highlighting oriental spirituality, civilization, and education, is unique. It makes Krishnabhabini loathe the sectarianism and the subservient mentality, as well as the fears of the Indians. She stands up boldly for her Indian sisters and urges their need to evolve and modify. She asserts that “A fire rages within my heart” as she thinks of her homeland. A beautiful metaphor of a termite has been graphically placed, to suggestively point out the true state of affairs.
“A Bengali Lady in England ” is Nabanita Sengupta’s success as a translator. The Englishman develops his own land, is hard working, unfazed, and know how to make money multiply and flourish in international trade. That is just one side of the coin. The other side has them as looters of India’s wealth, and their dynamism has made them evolve from their barbaric stage to a developed country.
The book therefore is a genial bid to show the lighted path to development by abhoring indolence and casteism. The English are appreciated for their true qualities. Such translations are really a wonderful opportunity for people to read and know, as each of the chapters propel the narrative forward to the interest of an English reading public. The enduring richness of the book’s essential purpose will thus be served.
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