Ullanghana is the Telugu translation of an anthology of 21 stories in Oriya by the well known writer Pratibha Ray. First published in 1998, it won the Sahitya Akademi award in 2000.The Akademi has also brought out Turlapati Rajeshwari's Telugu translation of the anthology. The Telugu translation retains the title of the original.
Pratibha Ray has her own absorbing style of story- telling. She attempts to present human nature in all its variety. Her portrayal of women needs special mention and we meet some extraordinary women in many stories in the present anthology. The anthology gets its title from the first story Ullanghana(Transgression). It is the story of Bhavanath, an old widower totally dependent on his daughter-in-law Manju. Old age is also the theme of the story AnticAntique.' Children and grandchildren of an old couple are only interested in ancestral antique material. Aren't the old couple antique enough to evoke interest? Aatmaabhimaanam(Self respect) also deals with old age, but its main concern is the dwindling trust in human relations. ‘Gandhiji cheppaaru ‘(Gandhiji said) is the sad story of a genuine and disabled freedom fighter in the Gandhian mould and his young daughter Masaal. The vagaries of urban middle class are depicted in different shades in ‘Javaabuleni prasna'(Answerless question), ‘Paachikalaata'(Game of dice) and ‘Anaamadheyudu' (Nameless person) . The story ‘ Jnaani' ( Wise person) begins with the statement that all the aged people are orphans. It deals with three old men, interestingly, after their passing away. One of them, who used to wash clothes, says that he knew no philosophy and the pot in which he boiled the soiled clothes, his toil, the river water and the sun did not discriminate between caste and creed, it was concerned with only removing dirt.
‘Sonta chirunaamaa ‘(Address of the self) is the story of a man who is in search of himself, suffering from a false identity. ‘Manasulo maata'(Inner feeling) depicts the other side of the life of a non-resident Indian beyond the façade of his success. ‘Duhitha' (Daughter) could not be simply classified as a story. It is in the form of a long monologue from a mother to her daughter. It raises many issues on the status of women, pragmatically.
Pratibha Ray enriches her narration by thought -provoking comments. Turlapati Rajeshwari needs to be complimented for her successful effort. The stories are translated with such ease, that they appear like original writings in Telugu. The translator has thoughtfully provided a brief introduction on the pronunciation of Oriya language and short foot notes at the end of some stories, explaining culture- specific terms used in the original. The titles of the stories in Oriya could have been mentioned. Care could have been taken to spell the name of the original author correctly on the imprint page. Also a perspective on Pratibha Ray's contribution to literature would have been useful .The Sahitya Akademi could consider addition of such overviews on writers while publishing translations of their works.