More than words: Rituparna Sarkar on her new book

How an Instagram challenge led to the discovery of some of the world’s untranslatable words, and a book deal

December 14, 2018 03:14 pm | Updated December 20, 2018 06:49 pm IST

Rituparna Sarkar’s debut book consists of illustrations and whimsical writing that explore words that have no perfect translation in English. Pictured here is Scottish verb ‘groke’, which means to look at someone else while they are eating, in the hope that they will share their food with you

Rituparna Sarkar’s debut book consists of illustrations and whimsical writing that explore words that have no perfect translation in English. Pictured here is Scottish verb ‘groke’, which means to look at someone else while they are eating, in the hope that they will share their food with you

Those of us who are bilinguists (which is many people in India) know what it is like to translate a word that has no equivalent in English. “It’s kind of like this,” we might say, before adding lamely, “but not entirely.”

Rituparna Sarkar is no stranger to this challenge. In April 2017, the illustrator and designer was reading Meik Wiking’s book The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well , when she stumbled upon the word tokka. The Finnish use the term to describe a large herd of reindeer, and Sarkar started ruminating on how words are a “function of the unique culture, heritage and geography of different lands”.

It was around this time that she had decided to embark on the #The100DayProject, the Instagram challenge taken on by artists who, for 100 days, commit to sharing their creations. Sarkar decided that she would illustrate untranslatable words like tokka , compiling a database drawn from chance occurrences, recommendations and lots of Googling. The idea was to provide through illustration what a standalone translation might not be able to. Thus started #100DaysofDiscoveringWords.

Zen and illustration

Her motivation, she tells me, was to escape the everyday monotony of commercial, client-driven projects at the design studio she runs. “It was a way for me to get off the computer and do something just for myself.”

The response she got was “surprisingly enthusiastic”, with strangers on Instagram pitching in their own suggestions, like xiaohuangdi (a Chinese word which describes ‘the little emperor’ phenomenon, where single-child households would “spoil their kids rotten”).

More than a year later, Mumbai-based Sarkar is out with her first book as author. Wonder Words: Untranslatable Words From Around the World is a pictorial representation of over 60 words from across various languages, accompanied by a short paragraph of whimsical writing.

Local attraction

Sarkar’s tone is almost childlike. There is awe at the world’s cultural diversity that gave rise to these words in the first place. Some terms like bhaat-goom (the West Bengali siesta) and the French feuillemort (which describes the colour of a faded or dying, autumnal leaf) are specific to certain cultures. Mumbai’s famous black cab taxis, the kaali-peeli , and India’s favourite word to describe everything from rogue politicians to annoying neighbours — jugaad — also make an appearance.

But others are more universal. The Japanese, for instance, have a term to describe the phenomenon of looking worse after a haircut ( ageotori ) and Bahasa Indonesia nails it on the head with desus , which is the smooth sound of someone farting quietly. “A desus has the quiet sophistication that a loud explosive fart doesn’t,” writes Sarkar, cheekily.

The 35-year-old illustrator — who studied animation and film design at the National Institute of Design — has lent her visual creations to books ( Mrs Funnybones by Twinkle Khanna is one of them), but Wonder Words marks her debut as author. She credits the Instagram challenge for getting her work noticed by Penguin, who offered her a book deal.

Many of the words in the book are from Sarkar’s original list, but some illustrations are recent. “The book is also much more well-researched, and we’ve added a lot more trivia, stories and cultural nuance to some of the words,” she explains. With a personal style that involves bright colours “and a bit of quirk”, she is inspired by classical animators like Michael Dudok de Wit and animation studio giants (Nate Wragg of Pixar). Up next, she says, is probably something that continues to explore words. Perhaps puns. “I have a penchant for puns – a punchant,” she concludes.

Wonder Words: Untranslatable Words From Around the World , published by Penguin, is priced at ₹399

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.