I ALWAYS go through the literary columns of Dr Rauf Parekh with great interest and passion, though sometimes taking it with a grain of salt when some of his views may border on the controversial.

The recent column ‘Translations from Japanese, Russian and South Asian languages’ (April 25) was of great value, but inadequate to some extent in its substance. Talking about translations from the Japanese language, and particularly about the works of Yasunari Kawabata, one cannot ignore the translations of his works by Nikhat Hasan, a known writer of Urdu fiction in her own right.

Nikhat has translated Beauty and Sadness (1964), one of Kawabata’s classic novels, which was adopted for two movies and serialised on television. Urdu translation titled Husn-o-Hazan was published in June 2021.

Besides, she has translated Kawabata’s selected short stories from the Palm of the Hand (1971). Urdu translation Kaf-i-Dast was published in 2010 by Scheherazade, Karachi.

Both these translations are acknowledged in literary circles as well as by the readers. Nikhat is author of the famed Urdu novel Jogging Park (2010), and her short stories have been appearing in many Urdu literary magazines for long.

Hussain Siddiqui
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2022