Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Parts of book have also been translated into Russian," says Syed Muazzam Ali.īusiness Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. I was impressed when Nazes Afroz pleasantly surprised me with the translation.
And I personally thought it would be very difficult, even impossible to translate 'Deshe Bideshe' into English. "Ali is a name to reckon with in Bengali literature. He is so highly remembered in every household for what he did," says Abdali. Sayed Mujtaba Ali was a friend of King Amanullah, a cherished king of ours, who brought modernity to Afghanistan. We are pleased that this book has been translated into English because we need to have more readers. "The book which has been translated has a great value for us.
The English translation published by Speaking Tiger Books, a new publishing house, was launched here late last evening in the presence of Shaida Abdali, Ambassador of Afghanistan in India, and Syed Muazzam Ali, Bangladesh High Commissioner who is also the grand nephew of the Bengali author. "All the modernisation programs, if the Afghan King Amanullah could carry it forward then Afghanistan would have been a different Afghanistan," says Afroz. According to the Bengali author, the bandit was backed by the British who wanted to maintain the power play in the region. The King was overthrown by bandit leader Bacha-e-Saqao. The then reformist King Amanullah tried to steer his country towards modernity by encouraging education for girls and giving them the choice of removing the burqa. "The book can be a very good introduction to Afghanistan, its society, people and history," says Nazes Afroz, the translator.Īli, a noted author, academician, scholar and linguist draws on his teaching stint in Kabul from 1927 to 1929 to provide an account of sociological changes taking place in Afghanistan in the 1920s. We will take the order for the books and deliver them to the place the purchaser wants to," she said.Ali's work provides an 'Indian perspective' brought to life by the contact he enjoyed with a colourful cast of characters- ranging from garrulous Pathan friend Muhammed, the gentle Russian giant Bolshov, to his servant, Abdur Rahman and his tennis partner, the Crown Prince Enayatullah.
"These coupons worth upto Rs 10,000 can be used to gift books to the children in the slum areas. The publisher's website would also provide the option to purchase books using gift coupons. Initially, this would be done on voluntary basis but there are plans to approach the state government education department so as to reach the masses in the rural areas, she said. It also has plans to go to different schools in the districts as well as to the remotest rural areas with the audio-books and provide students there the opportunity to listen to them so that the classic Bengali literary works reach them, she said. We are planning to have Bengali classics in that script to help people who are blind or have low vision," Roy elaborated. "There are not many classics in braille script. The publishing house is also planning to bring out the rich treasure trove of Bengali classics in braille. As for the audio-books, the publisher's website would have five stories mainly to woo children and school students, Roy said. The e-books will be made in such a manner that they can be downloaded from the website. In a collaboration SNLTR and Mitra & Ghosh will make use of technology provided by IIT Kharagpur Computer Science department to digitise some classics of Bengali literature, she said. "Soon, these literary gems will be available in the form of e-books, Braille books and audio books," Roy said, adding that these would be ready by September-October.