Sunday book pick: In ‘Karmachari’, VP Kale reimagines what contentment for urban Indians looks like
The book, published as ‘Karamachari’ in Marathi too, first came out in 1973. It was translated by Vikrant Pande into English and published in 2018.
Join our WhatsApp Community to receive travel deals, free stays, and special offers!
- Join Now -
Join our WhatsApp Community to receive travel deals, free stays, and special offers!
- Join Now -
A few days ago, while talking to my translator friends, I discovered that once upon a time, Marathi was more prolifically translated into English than Malayalam. Most old translations are out of print and now there’s only a trickle of new translations. While it is still easier to find anti-caste and historical nonfiction writing, contemporary fiction is experiencing a serious shortage of Marathi voices.
Vasant Purushottam Kale or VaPu as he was lovingly called, was a stalwart in Marathi fiction. A through-and-through Mumbai man, Kale was probably one of the first writers globally who could also be read as audiobooks. Not audiobooks the way we understand the format today, but a writer whose writings were popularised as recordings on audio cassettes. He understood the multi-media format before it was a thing and his stage shows – Kathakathan – made him a familiar face and a household name. By the looks of it, every Marathi speaker and Mumbaikar in the late 1900s had encountered Kale’s stories in some form or the other.
A new era
Karmachari, Kale’s short story collection about the ever-fascinating common man was published in Vikrant Pande’s translation by HarperCollins India in 2018. Comprising 12 short stories, Kale’s characters are...
