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Ep 72: Botox, Me Too & migration: Guruprasad Kaginele & Narayan Shankaran on 'Kaayaa'
“Are all beautiful people happy? Are all happy people beautiful?” is something that Guruprasad Kaginele addresses in his book Kaaya, a satirical comment on beauty and identity through the story of a US plastic surgeon caught in the Me Too movement, inspired by a real life incident. It has been translated from Kannada to English by Narayan Shankaran.
Here, they both discuss getting the cultural beats right during the process of translation, such as deciding on the phrase “boob job”. Guruprasad, a doctor based in the US for the last three decades, confesses to Kannada still being his language of “emoting”, while English remains of transactional value, and often erupting in “Aiyyo” to the bafflement of his American colleagues. They also touch upon issues of migration and enhancement culture, with walk-in botox clinics and lunch-hour collagen injections.
Guruprasad is a prominent voice in contemporary Kannada literature. His novel Hijab received the 2017 Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award. Narayan Shankaran, a management professional, who enjoys writing and translating between Kannada and English, has earlier also translated a collection of short stories by Guruprasad, published as The Preferred Pronoun and Other Stories.
Listen in!
Related episode: Ep 39: Chandan Pandey & Sayari Debnath: Stories of desolation & translation
Timestamps
01:40 How the collaboration happened
03:53 Writing Kaayaa, his process
06:14 Narayan on the book
10:33 Guru on themes of sexuality in Kannada literature
13:55 Thinking and writing in Kannada
18:24 Reacting with an “Aiyyo” instinctively in the US
20:06 Narayan’s process of translation; reading out the excerpt
28:06 Translating “boob job” from Kannada
30:17 Inspiration for the story of Kaaya; the God complex of a plastic surgeon
34:42 Commenting on the enhancement culture
36:18 Guru on creating his women characters; cosmetic demands on beauty
40:00 The migrant experience
44:50 Narayan on the characters in Kaayaa
Follow Anuradha on LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
Email: [email protected]
Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed are personal. Listener discretion is advised.
Want to be a guest on Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma? Send Anuradha Varma a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1750746513391971e921bbda5
Here, they both discuss getting the cultural beats right during the process of translation, such as deciding on the phrase “boob job”. Guruprasad, a doctor based in the US for the last three decades, confesses to Kannada still being his language of “emoting”, while English remains of transactional value, and often erupting in “Aiyyo” to the bafflement of his American colleagues. They also touch upon issues of migration and enhancement culture, with walk-in botox clinics and lunch-hour collagen injections.
Guruprasad is a prominent voice in contemporary Kannada literature. His novel Hijab received the 2017 Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award. Narayan Shankaran, a management professional, who enjoys writing and translating between Kannada and English, has earlier also translated a collection of short stories by Guruprasad, published as The Preferred Pronoun and Other Stories.
Listen in!
Related episode: Ep 39: Chandan Pandey & Sayari Debnath: Stories of desolation & translation
Timestamps
01:40 How the collaboration happened
03:53 Writing Kaayaa, his process
06:14 Narayan on the book
10:33 Guru on themes of sexuality in Kannada literature
13:55 Thinking and writing in Kannada
18:24 Reacting with an “Aiyyo” instinctively in the US
20:06 Narayan’s process of translation; reading out the excerpt
28:06 Translating “boob job” from Kannada
30:17 Inspiration for the story of Kaaya; the God complex of a plastic surgeon
34:42 Commenting on the enhancement culture
36:18 Guru on creating his women characters; cosmetic demands on beauty
40:00 The migrant experience
44:50 Narayan on the characters in Kaayaa
Follow Anuradha on LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
Email: [email protected]
Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed are personal. Listener discretion is advised.
Want to be a guest on Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma? Send Anuradha Varma a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1750746513391971e921bbda5
View all episodes
By Anuradha Varma“Are all beautiful people happy? Are all happy people beautiful?” is something that Guruprasad Kaginele addresses in his book Kaaya, a satirical comment on beauty and identity through the story of a US plastic surgeon caught in the Me Too movement, inspired by a real life incident. It has been translated from Kannada to English by Narayan Shankaran.
Here, they both discuss getting the cultural beats right during the process of translation, such as deciding on the phrase “boob job”. Guruprasad, a doctor based in the US for the last three decades, confesses to Kannada still being his language of “emoting”, while English remains of transactional value, and often erupting in “Aiyyo” to the bafflement of his American colleagues. They also touch upon issues of migration and enhancement culture, with walk-in botox clinics and lunch-hour collagen injections.
Guruprasad is a prominent voice in contemporary Kannada literature. His novel Hijab received the 2017 Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award. Narayan Shankaran, a management professional, who enjoys writing and translating between Kannada and English, has earlier also translated a collection of short stories by Guruprasad, published as The Preferred Pronoun and Other Stories.
Listen in!
Related episode: Ep 39: Chandan Pandey & Sayari Debnath: Stories of desolation & translation
Timestamps
01:40 How the collaboration happened
03:53 Writing Kaayaa, his process
06:14 Narayan on the book
10:33 Guru on themes of sexuality in Kannada literature
13:55 Thinking and writing in Kannada
18:24 Reacting with an “Aiyyo” instinctively in the US
20:06 Narayan’s process of translation; reading out the excerpt
28:06 Translating “boob job” from Kannada
30:17 Inspiration for the story of Kaaya; the God complex of a plastic surgeon
34:42 Commenting on the enhancement culture
36:18 Guru on creating his women characters; cosmetic demands on beauty
40:00 The migrant experience
44:50 Narayan on the characters in Kaayaa
Follow Anuradha on LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
Email: [email protected]
Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed are personal. Listener discretion is advised.
Want to be a guest on Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma? Send Anuradha Varma a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1750746513391971e921bbda5
Here, they both discuss getting the cultural beats right during the process of translation, such as deciding on the phrase “boob job”. Guruprasad, a doctor based in the US for the last three decades, confesses to Kannada still being his language of “emoting”, while English remains of transactional value, and often erupting in “Aiyyo” to the bafflement of his American colleagues. They also touch upon issues of migration and enhancement culture, with walk-in botox clinics and lunch-hour collagen injections.
Guruprasad is a prominent voice in contemporary Kannada literature. His novel Hijab received the 2017 Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award. Narayan Shankaran, a management professional, who enjoys writing and translating between Kannada and English, has earlier also translated a collection of short stories by Guruprasad, published as The Preferred Pronoun and Other Stories.
Listen in!
Related episode: Ep 39: Chandan Pandey & Sayari Debnath: Stories of desolation & translation
Timestamps
01:40 How the collaboration happened
03:53 Writing Kaayaa, his process
06:14 Narayan on the book
10:33 Guru on themes of sexuality in Kannada literature
13:55 Thinking and writing in Kannada
18:24 Reacting with an “Aiyyo” instinctively in the US
20:06 Narayan’s process of translation; reading out the excerpt
28:06 Translating “boob job” from Kannada
30:17 Inspiration for the story of Kaaya; the God complex of a plastic surgeon
34:42 Commenting on the enhancement culture
36:18 Guru on creating his women characters; cosmetic demands on beauty
40:00 The migrant experience
44:50 Narayan on the characters in Kaayaa
Follow Anuradha on LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
Email: [email protected]
Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed are personal. Listener discretion is advised.
Want to be a guest on Swishing Mindsets with Anuradha Varma? Send Anuradha Varma a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1750746513391971e921bbda5