After Kashmiri, Gandhi autobiography to be published in Bodo language
The life story of an apostle of peace and non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi, is all set to go to another conflict zone in India - Bodoland in the state of Assam.
After publishing Gandhi's autobiography 'The Story of My Experiments with Truth' in Dongri language for Kashmir, the Gandhi-founded publication house Navajivan Trust has decided to cater to another conflict zone. Unmitigated with the difficulties in supplying and selling copies of the book in Jammu & Kashmir region due to various reasons after publishing in local language, the publication house has firmly embarked upon an opportunity to send Gandhi's message to the violence-ridden area in the North-Eastern region of India.
Navjivan's managing trustee, Vivek Desai said that the publication house eagerly waits for such an opportunity that it can spread the message of peace and non-violence in an area that is mired with violence. "When we got an offer from a group of local scholars from Bodoland, we happily agreed to the proposal. We are aware of the difficulties in getting correct and good translation of Bapu's main work in a language that is not widely spoken, but when we got an opportunity, we did not want to lost it," he told TOI.
Gandhi's autobiography has remained the essence of his teaching of non-violence as it talks about his formative years as well as early stage of political career in South Africa, where he had found an innovative technique of non-violent protest against the power of the state. Over decades, this book remains the bestselling title by the publication house.
Navjivan has published Gandhi's autobiography in all major languages of India. The title is also available in 30 foreign languages across the world. A couple of years ago, the autobiography was translated and printed in Punjabi and Kashmiri languages. Navjivan did not get a good response from Kashmir because it faced difficulties in distribution of the copies, Desai said.
However, Navjivan plans to come up with limited copies of the autobiography in Bodo language edition. "We may print the book on Print on Order basis and we aim to publish it in a year's time," Desai said and added that nearly 75% of the book has already been translated and the publication house is working on the script, and the process of verification of translation would be over soon. The Bodo language edition of the book will be in Devnagari script.
