Editorial Discussion Ret Samadhi Tomb of Sand This World, a Mirage

About The Editorial

The author begins with a confession and an apology to the non-Hindi readers of Ret Samadhi by Geetanjali Shree, translated by Daisy Rockwell into English as Tomb of Sand. The author has resisted reading the translated version, which is the winner of the International Booker Prize, because even though it must be very good, it may not replicate the resonance of the original. 

Today, writers in languages other than English face a tough choice. But the sheer brilliance of Gitanjali’s art leaps over a digital world that is forever pushing us to settle for a uniform, universally understood voice: loud, full of hyperbole and easy comparables. Her protagonist defies all efforts to generalize- language, gender, mother-daughter relationship and partition of nations. Throughout, she speaks in one voice to her rambling, widowed mother Chandra Prabha, in another to her bureaucratic brother, yet another to his wife and, of course, to the working classes who visit the home.