KOCHI: Many years ago, as I received a copy of my first published work, I turned over its pages curiously. It was an occasion for rejoicing because it was a unique moment in my life - anybody's life. I was elevated to the rank of the honourable men of letters. Now, what is the difference between Lord Albert Tennyson and I? Both are poets. Certainly, I felt, I belonged to that rare fraternity of celebrities. My book was not a collection of ordinary love stories. It was a collection of rhapsodies. There is a big difference between these mortal love-story tellers and the immortal poetry composers. EM Hemingway, James Joys and William Faulkner belonged to the first category. Kaalidasa, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth and I belonged to the other. Hope you understood the difference.
But, alas, as I completed running on the inked pages of my first brain-child I lost in confusion whether I should cry or laugh. It was, rather than a collection of poems, a collection of misuses and misspellings. Printers' devil. One could not make out what was intended by the poet. Even I, the composer, could not make out the co-relations with my own letters, words and sentences.
Many more books were published later, one after the other, in certain intervals.It is obvious that when the author checks his own proof, there is every chance of spelling mistakes escape from his attention.In one of my books that was widely circulated among the students, it was found written: “The policeman was arrested as he was accepting a bride.”
Somebody brought this sentence to my notice. It was amusing. In this liberal world, does not a policeman have the right to choose a bride of his choice? I made a self-criticism. Actually what I wrote was: “…as the policeman was accepting a bribe.” The DTP operator, for an experiment, typed ‘d’ in place of ‘b’
In one of my other works: "Kaalidasa for Students", it read 'the princes were searching for an ideal "food" for the princess of Ujjain to marry with'. What I wrote was "ideal fool".
How does all this happen? Actually, there is not a professional proof-reader with this publisher. Therefore, I check and correct the manuscripts. Suppose there are one thousand corrections in a manuscript of ten thousand words at the first proof, only a few corrections were carried out by the printer and a second proof, corrections already made, will not be made available for the second check and correction. They say there is the time factor.
All of us know that DTP operator's job is a professional one. One should have good command over written English and should be an expert in keywords and spelling. Unfortunately, those who have completed plus two or SSLC come forward to learn DTP operation. These days, even a postgraduate does not have dexterity in the usage of good English nor has he a grasp in English spelling. What to say about an SSLC certificate holder or a plus two?
An educationist and chief editor of a leading Tamil daily asked for a set of my available books. I collected them from the publisher and gifted to him with a note:
"Beware of the Printers' Devil."He was highly amused and I escaped from his scrutiny and scorn.
K.K. Shanmukhan is a corporate trainer and author
(The views expressed by the author are his own)