Salvation And Passion (A Collection of Sindhi Short Stories & Poetry)

When my mom, Maya Rahi, won the Sahitya Academy Award, in 2016, for her collection of Sindhi short stories, Mehangi Murk (A Pricey Smile), along with other family members and friends, I was also proud. "Great job, Mom!" "So proud of you!" "What a wonderful achievement!" These words easily slipped off my tongue, but I had never read my mom's work. I cannot read and write in Sindhi! Sometimes, when I visited her, on the spur of the moment, she would read me one of her stories or poems. I only heard her voice pick the words off the page, carefully caress them with her melodious voice and scatter them into the ether. On the page, the Sindhi script held no meaning for me.

Why does any author write? To express themselves? To be read? To be heard? To spread their message? To present Life on a printed page, so that any reader can see aspects of their life and their experiences manifested in those words? I believe that my mom writes for all of the above reasons. And there may be many more! It is for those reasons, in my opinion, that she wanted some of her work, written originally in Sindhi, to be published in English.

Obviously, translation is a daunting task! To absorb an author's words, feelings and emotions and present them in another language is an odyssey only for the brave. Translation, in my opininon, has three crucial components: structure, language, and meaning. Each component is imporant and none can be compromised.

Dr. Vinod H. Asudani has done a phenomenal job in maintaining the sanctity of all the components in this translation. It is because of his time, energy and skill, that you hold this book in your hand.

Having read, studied and taught English Literature, I was very excited when my mom told me that some of her stories had been translated into English. When she visited me in Texas in July 2018, we spent hours editing the stories. While this was an arduous task, it was also an incredible learning experience! For both of us! Having prepared a thermos of tea infused with ginger and lemongrass, we would sit at the dining table with my computer, pens, pencils, and the stories. Mom would read each sentence in Sindhi, and I would read the English translation. Sometimes we would look up words in the online dictionary; sometimes we would discuss the connotation of a word, and sometimes we would struggle with the structure of the sentence. Many times, we would pause for a sip of tea and look at the birds outside the window, feasting on the birdseed we had put out for them.

**Contents and Sample Pages**