Translator and writer Kamna Prasad first met celebrated Urdu poet and bureaucrat Kanwar Mohinder Singh Bedi 'Sahar' years ago at the home of writer Khushwant Singh. Prasad has now translated Bedi’s memoir Yaadon Ka Jashn into English as A Celebration of Memories (Speaking Tiger).
Prasad said she could never have imagined that she would one day translate his memoir. “Life often weaves such connections long before we understand their meaning,” she tells TMS. “I had already read the memoir and felt strongly that a work which captures a world in transition — historical, cultural, social and intellectual — deserved to travel beyond the language in which it was first told,” So when the author’s grandson, Ashwajeet Singh, approached her to translate it into English, she was happy to take it up.
Portrait of an era
The memoir introduces the readers to Bedi’s early life, his literary life, and public service. Bedi was born in 1909 in pre-Partition Punjab’s Chak Bedi, into a family that traced its lineage to Guru Nanak, of which he was immensely proud. The book opens with his account of his ancestors.
Writing about his youth, he fondly recalls village life. His love of hunting and wrestling is also impossible to miss. Despite holding several high-profile positions — including that of a magistrate, deputy commissioner of Gurugram, and director of public relations in Chandigarh with the government of Punjab — Bedi also writes about his role as a ‘neem hakim’, or untrained doctor.
He recalls an incident in which a man is brought to him in a charpoy, because he couldn’t walk due to extreme exertion. The man told Bedi he had consulted several doctors without finding relief. Unsure of how to help, Bedi writes that he simply handed the man a cotton pad soaked in eucalyptus oil, more as consolation than treatment. To his surprise, the next morning the man returned on foot, cheerfully declaring he had been completely cured by Bedi’s remedy.
The book narrates the poet’s journey from pre-Independence Punjab to post-Independence Delhi, where he settled after retirement. One chapter is completely devoted to his literary and artistic circle of poets such as Josh Malihabadi, singer Mohammad Rafi — and to political figures including former President Dr Zakir Husain and former Punjab CM Partap Singh Kairon, as well as several nawabs and maharajas.
More than a memoir
According to Prasad, translating the memoir meant more than swapping Urdu words for English; it involved preserving the text’s emotional and cultural essence. “The challenge was to preserve the spirit, rhythm and emotional texture of the original while allowing it to breathe naturally in English,” she says. She remained faithful “not only to the words, but also to the mood and sensibility of the narrative”.
Prasad said one of the book’s strengths is its layered richness. The memoir shifts between humour and sorrow, friendships and literature, history and daily life, famous cultural figures and ordinary people. “The memoir, therefore, is both intimate and panoramic — a portrait of an era and its shared human experience.”
Prasad points out how the memoir is told through short stories and meetings, not chronologically. While translating, she adds that she found sides of Bedi that went beyond his public image as a poet and government official. “He was equally at ease with people from every walk of life, untouched by narrow divisions of religion, class or status,” she says.
Keeping Urdu alive
Prasad also reflects on the relationship readers have with Urdu today. She doesn't think Urdu readers are shrinking by itself, but believes people in general read less across all languages than they used to.
She feels Urdu continues to survive and evolve through poetry, cinema, music, everyday speech and digital platforms, where younger audiences are engaging with the language.
“Like every living language, Urdu must evolve with changing times and the communication needs of newer generations; otherwise, languages become static,” she says. “After all, we no longer speak Shakespeare’s English, just as we do not speak the Urdu of Ghalib or ‘Sahar’.”
For her, translating A Celebration of Memories also becomes a way of building bridges for younger readers who may feel connected to Urdu literature but cannot always read the original script.
“Languages survive not merely through institutions, but through transmission across generations,” she says. “Every reader who returns to Urdu — in any script — helps keep that world alive.”